Things Our DC Need to Know Before Leaving for College

[Anonymous]

Roommates & friends will end up taking care of each other.

DS's roommate taped a list to the door of things my son shouldn't forget before leaving the room : keys, ID card, phone, etc.

Very sweet.

[Anonymous]

Every guy has one goal in mind and it is to get in yoru pants. Some are more direct, some will string her along all sememster long to establish the nice guy image but in the end it is all they want.

signed a scared dad of daufghters.

[Anonymous]

and women have a sex drive too.

[Anonymous]

If you or a friend have a problem with drinking and drugs, you can always attend AA or NA.

[Anonymous]

For young women - if she is not already on birth control - discuss family health history specifically if anyone in the family suffers from blood clots. That way if she chooses to get birth control, she can at least have good medical info to provide. Seems like a benign silly thing but as someone who suffered a severe blood clot from birth control I can tell you it would have made a difference knowing.

[Anonymous]

I need to let my studious, introverted child know that it's OK to go to the library or sit in his room and study instead of going out to bars or parties on Saturday night. I need to teach my child to seek out other studious, non-drinking introverts to hang out with in college so he won't feel alone or feel pressure to hang out with the kids who are partying all weekend.

Also, my DS needs to make sure any girl he has sex with is 18 or older. A friend's son had sex with an underage girl who lied to him about her age. Later he broke up with this girl and she went crazy and threatened to go to the police and charge him with statutory rape! This boy was so traumatized that he ended up leaving school! I'm going to tell DS to check ID before he has sex, as well as always wear protection.

[Anonymous]

How to make a pipe or a bong out of just about anything you find lying around.

How to seal your dorm room off so that tell-tale sickly-sweet aroma doesn't leak out (does not apply in CO or WA).

How to evade the door charge at house parties.

[Anonymous]

No means no. No exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No means no. No exceptions.

+1. And inability to legally say yes also means no. No exceptions to that either. And hesitation doesn't mean 'pressure me into it', it means 'respect my limits'. The only thing that means yes, is yes.

[Anonymous]

-Call your professor Professor or Dr. until told to do otherwise. Always use his/her formal title in email

-Make sure you understand the absence policy in your classes. If you have a class where more than X absences will count against you that may be true even if you have a note from the health center, were at a job interview, or had some other reasonable excuse.

-Know that lots of people have trouble adjusting to college-despite what every movie ever tells you. Lots of people are lonely not just you, give it some time.

-If you are ever sexually assaulted call the police (the real police not campus security) as soon as you are able.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Warn about over drinking and that he can and often does lead to rape.

ANY drinking can easily lead to rape.
See today's front page of NYT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No means no. No exceptions.

+1. And inability to legally say yes also means no. No exceptions to that either. And hesitation doesn't mean 'pressure me into it', it means 'respect my limits'. The only thing that means yes, is yes.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- How to use the college meal plan OR how to cook their own food without poisoning themselves or starting a fire.

- What does not go in the washing machine (dry-clean-only suits), and what does not go in there together. How to use the college washing machine, which will be very different than your home washing machine. What does not go in the dryer (frisbees. Frisbees do not go in the dryer. Neither do suits, see above).

- What health insurance they have and how to use it if they need to see a doctor (do they need to have/show an insurance card? Will they have a copay at CVS minute clinic or the student health center, and how much? Do they have to find out first if a provider is in network? HOW do they find out if a doctor is in-network at 6AM on Sunday before finals when they are sick and sure it's not a hangover?)

- Money management. How to use an ATM, how to not get charged stupid little fees at the ATM, how to write a check, how to void the check they messed up writing, how to use a debit card and/or a credit card, when to use which type of card, how to keep track of accounts/bills/balances, how to pay bills, what to do when they forget to pay bills

- How to navigate the campus bus system, especially if they've never used a public bus before (probably not a problem around here)

- That if they are in their friend's dorm room while their friend is doing stupid illegal stuff -- like underage drinking or drugs or hiding stolen street signs from last night when he was very, very drunk -- and if they get caught in there by the RA, they will probably get written up for it too even if they weren't drinking/smoking/whatever just because they were there at the time.

- That if somebody has made bad or illegal choices and is in need of medical attention as a result, it is a far better choice to call 911 for them and deal with any consequences from that than to not do so and deal with the guilt of a friend possibly having a medical emergency or even dying. IF they end up in trouble as a result of a situation like this I might be disappointed in the choices that led to it but I will still be proud of them for looking out for a friend.

- How to mail letters or packages. Real ones, with envelopes, and stamps, and mailboxes or trips to the post office.

- How to write a decent professional-sounding email. (so they don't end up on a professor's wall of shame for using no titles, text speak, and no proper opening or closing)

- How to write a cover letter and a resume -- career and internship fairs, on-campus jobs, and research opportunities all start early.

- Basic first aid, and what medicines or treatments work for a variety of common minor illnesses. Otherwise you will get phone calls at strange times of the night from your normally very tough or independent child that start with "Mom, I feel like crap and I have an exam in the morning, help!". Actually, you will probably get these calls anyway.

- What a spam/phishing email looks like and that the bank will NOT send them one.

- How, when, and with what frequency you expect to hear from them (especially boys, most girls seem to contact home pretty frequently)

Great list! Sounds like you speak from experience. LOL at the mailing letters part; it's strange to think that most kids heading off to college now have never actually had any need to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every guy has one goal in mind and it is to get in yoru pants. Some are more direct, some will string her along all sememster long to establish the nice guy image but in the end it is all they want.

signed a scared dad of daufghters.

Just because you were a sleazeball doesn't mean everyone is.

[Anonymous]

I'm a mom of a son and no he does not want to get in every girl's pants. He's had female friends through high school. A steady girlfriend this year. Really!