freshman class scheduling; helicopter parent or legit concern?

[Anonymous]

I'm sure you've been "that parent" his whole life. Parents with control issues like you have no idea how they mess up their kids. You should br embarrassed and ashamed OP

[Anonymous]

Are you sure that schedule is correct? Because it looks like an overload. No advisor should recommend SEVEN courses for a first year student.

His focus should be not he overload, not the schedule (because honestly, these kinds of schedules are not that terrible--having an almost full day to complete coursework each week can work for many students).

The rest of your post is nutty--you should not be worrying about his bathroom breaks, chatting opportunities, and travel time between buildings (to the point of mapping it!)

[Anonymous]

Parents like you are horrible parents. You think control and overshadowing is a good thing....but it's not. You've basically taught your son that his choices are wrong and that he can't make good choices for himself. Hopefully he will spend college relearning that, and also learning to back away from you

[Anonymous]

College Professor here. Some kids do great with schedules like this, some do not. Since he is a freshman there's really no telling how he will do with it.

You should leave this alone, and you should not have gone to the advisors. If it is too much he'll figure it out and drop a class early on (you can do that without penalty). In the future, I'd focus your energy on making him aware of those dates so that you do not lose money on a drop, and leave the rest alone.

It's a fairly common schedule, though 6 classes is a lot. The walk is not really a concern for a healthy kid. Also, office hours are not usually right after or before class, and most professors are not going to go over (and kids can make it known they have to leave at X:50, and leave they should).

[Anonymous]

He sounds smart, I didn't figure out the all T/Th or all M/W/F schedule until I was a junior.

You sound like a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your son is in college, you won't let him set his own schedule and you have to ask if you are a helicopter parent?

lol, yeah.

[Anonymous]

I bet Op never comes back. Parents like her cannot admit they are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College Professor here. Some kids do great with schedules like this, some do not. Since he is a freshman there's really no telling how he will do with it.

You should leave this alone, and you should not have gone to the advisors. If it is too much he'll figure it out and drop a class early on (you can do that without penalty). In the future, I'd focus your energy on making him aware of those dates so that you do not lose money on a drop, and leave the rest alone.

It's a fairly common schedule, though 6 classes is a lot. The walk is not really a concern for a healthy kid. Also, office hours are not usually right after or before class, and most professors are not going to go over (and kids can make it known they have to leave at X:50, and leave they should).

+1 Former professor, and all of the above is exactly what I was thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both! That schedule is a disaster (assuming the buildings aren't all tiny and adjacent) but he needs to find that out himself. Beyond low-key "wondering" if that schedule is too tight you should have kept quiet.

This. This is his experience to have, his potential mistake to learn from, not yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College Professor here. Some kids do great with schedules like this, some do not. Since he is a freshman there's really no telling how he will do with it.

You should leave this alone, and you should not have gone to the advisors. If it is too much he'll figure it out and drop a class early on (you can do that without penalty). In the future, I'd focus your energy on making him aware of those dates so that you do not lose money on a drop, and leave the rest alone.

It's a fairly common schedule, though 6 classes is a lot. The walk is not really a concern for a healthy kid. Also, office hours are not usually right after or before class, and most professors are not going to go over (and kids can make it known they have to leave at X:50, and leave they should).

Another college professor here and I completely agree. But it appears that he might have 7 courses? 6 on Monday Wednesday and one on Tuesday Thursday plus a lab?

[Anonymous]

Super duper helicopter move.

[Anonymous]

Well you can assured your kid won't come to you for anything now. Good job!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My student's orientation was yesterday. Class registration was at the end of the day (students were separate from their parents, who had their own orientation events to attend) so students did this on their own with the help of an academic advisor/upper classman volunteers.) When I saw my kid's schedule I was upset. It wasn't the type of classes he was taking, but the fact that he was taking them so close together, with little time in between, and mostly on m/w/f with almost nothing on t/ th.

He is taking a total of 18 credits, and I'm specifically being a little vague with the exact subjects of his classes. I will mention that the math class is the highest level students typically start off at for this major, most students for this major/school start their freshman year at a lower level. Students have to test into this, and he just barely made the cutoff to qualify for it, so I was already feeling a little apprehensive about too much "overload."

M/W/F

9:00-9:50 Math (building A)
10:00-10:50 English (building E)
11:00-11:50 "class required for major" (building B)
12:00-12:50 Spanish (Building E)

2:00-2:50 Science (Building C)
3:00-3:50 "Class #2 required for major" (Building D), Wednesdays only


For Tuesday he had just one class scheduled for about an hour in the morning, and on Thursdays that same class, plus the lab for his Science class in the afternoon--so Tuesdays and Thursdays were extremely light.

So just right away, looking at the schedule, I was concerned that he was scheduled so tight from 9-1, with just ten minute breaks between each class. Then I looked at a map of where exactly these classes were located, and I was more concerned. Buildings A, B, C, and D are all fairly close together, but Building E is a ways off--according to Googlemaps it's half a mile away and about a ten minute walk, and that's just building to building, not accounting for actually getting into the classroom, and getting in a seat. And with the schedule above, he'd be making that trip EACH TIME he switched classes in the morning (3 times.)
If the walk to each building takes the full ten minutes, that leaves no time for a quick restroom break, to account for those times the professor keeps lecturing past end time, a minute to chat with a classmate about setting up a study group, etc.

I told him no way. This schedule was practically pre-destining him for stress and failure. I wanted him to see about moving at least one of the classes to T/Th to help balance the load. He gave me a hard time, saying he didn't want too much of a break between classes. I ended up going to where the advisors were and asking them to help change his schedule.
I did NOT want to do this. I did not want to interfere, I do NOT want to be "that parent." But I'm about to drop $40k a year, we are not wealthy and I will be making major sacrifices....and that schedule just seemed set up for failure.

Was a wrong? Should I have just let him keep that schedule, even if I'm pretty certain it was way too overloaded and would be stressful to navigate. Was I "that parent?"

Yes, you just answered your own question. You did not want to do this, did not want to interview, and do not want to be "that parent", yet you did interfere/micromanage this young adult's (I assume) schedule and went up to the adviser to speak up on behalf of DS. You better not be one of those people who complain about incompetent millenials when you're the one who perpetuates that baseless perception. So when sonny gets his first job, are you also going to be "that parent" who calls on his behalf to the employer to negotiate his benefits to make sure he gets ample work life balance?

[Anonymous]

Wow OP. You are that parent. Butt out and maybe give your kid a financial stake in his.

[Anonymous]

This cannot be true...but OP's post is too long/well written for it be a troll....