Duke versus Northwestern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd just started at Duke. Her dream school. We just spoke last night and was in tears. She is having second thoughts. Even though she has met people she feels a little isolated in the campus. They’ve already been to Durham and not impressed. She is hoping once she joins some clubs, it will get better but wishes there was a more accessible downtown area, even just a few shops and restaurants. She also got accepted to Boston college which also has a similar campus but close to Boston and although she liked BC more, went with the prestige. She is also not happy with one of her teachers since he has already made some mistakes in her calculus class. I really hope it gets better for her. She didn’t realize how important off campus would be to her.

I am sad to hear this. The first week of any place can be a transition - is it possible it's just homesickness? 9th street has a bunch of shops and restaurants and she can easily get over to Chapel Hill for more options. Are you from a more urban area?

Exactly. The first week of everything sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd just started at Duke. Her dream school. We just spoke last night and was in tears. She is having second thoughts. Even though she has met people she feels a little isolated in the campus. They’ve already been to Durham and not impressed. She is hoping once she joins some clubs, it will get better but wishes there was a more accessible downtown area, even just a few shops and restaurants. She also got accepted to Boston college which also has a similar campus but close to Boston and although she liked BC more, went with the prestige. She is also not happy with one of her teachers since he has already made some mistakes in her calculus class. I really hope it gets better for her. She didn’t realize how important off campus would be to her.

I am sad to hear this. The first week of any place can be a transition - is it possible it's just homesickness? 9th street has a bunch of shops and restaurants and she can easily get over to Chapel Hill for more options. Are you from a more urban area?

I think it's often like this. The first weeks can be very lonely. The kids are excited to be there but don't have familiar faces or friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd just started at Duke. Her dream school. We just spoke last night and was in tears. She is having second thoughts. Even though she has met people she feels a little isolated in the campus. They’ve already been to Durham and not impressed. She is hoping once she joins some clubs, it will get better but wishes there was a more accessible downtown area, even just a few shops and restaurants. She also got accepted to Boston college which also has a similar campus but close to Boston and although she liked BC more, went with the prestige. She is also not happy with one of her teachers since he has already made some mistakes in her calculus class. I really hope it gets better for her. She didn’t realize how important off campus would be to her.

I am sad to hear this. The first week of any place can be a transition - is it possible it's just homesickness? 9th street has a bunch of shops and restaurants and she can easily get over to Chapel Hill for more options. Are you from a more urban area?

I think it's often like this. The first weeks can be very lonely. The kids are excited to be there but don't have familiar faces or friends.

Kids need to know that the first year will be hard. Even at your "dream" school (which isn't really a thing) you will have days where you are super lonely and you will wonder if you made a mistake. That's normal, especially in the first few months! If the feeling is pervasive and doesn't subside by the holidays, then you start thinking about Plan B.

[Anonymous]

First weeks are hard, there is also so much build-up and glamorizing of college after all the efforts to get into these top schools that the reality can be a crash initially.