Was your DC’s freshman year all it was cracked up to be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid was really happy. Got involved in lots of campus activities, made more friends than in high school. Academically, she needs to improve her study skills. We have a plan to support that next year.

She's in college for Pete's sake

[Anonymous]

Great for everyone whose kid had a good first year. We (parents, social media, the colleges, the students) may all be guilty in varying degrees of building up “the college experience” to be this “magical time”. It’s best for all kids to go into it with realistic expectations. There will be bad days, imperfect things and they may not find their people the first week of school. My kid had a good first year- I warned them to take things slowly and that not everything is going to jell immediately or all at the same time.

[Anonymous]

It's normal for there to be ups and downs, sometimes significant ups and significant downs. I certainly had these myself and my parents really had no idea. I don't think we're helping our kids by knowing as much as we know, a bit of salutary neglect would do everyone well.

[Anonymous]

It probably depends on the student more than the school.
We know more than a couple of friends whose kids have dropped out during freshman year this year and last year, with no plans to return, others finished the year then transferred, others hated it but never transferred because did not get in anywhere better.
Others thrive entirely and are incredibly grateful they get to go to such an amazing school.