Calling all moms!

carnation · #1 07-27-2006, 03:15 PM

I only wish my kids knew about helicopter parents that I've known or heard about. Parents who call college professors and curse them for their child's grades, harass principals 24/7, I've heard it all in my years of teaching. The worst helicopter parent we know did everything she could to make her kid the queen of everything, no matter how it hurt other students. The kid went downhill fast after she graduated--went to a state university and pledged but spent all her weekends getting blasted at another university and had to come home after 1 semester. She now has a newborn and doesn't know who the dad is.

Hey, could you guys tell me some of the best threads to copy from college confidential?

alum · #2 07-27-2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

Hey, could you guys tell me some of the best threads to copy from college confidential?

Any of the "assess my chances" threads. These are the typical 2300 SAT, Intel Scholarship, NMS students wanting to know why they didn't get into HYPMS.

Parent's Cafe is amusing sometimes. Search the entire board with "sorority and "Greek Life" in quotes and you'll pull up interesting thoughts and opinions.

Warning: the political views on this site are very liberal. Lots of New Yorkers and New England parents and kids are on CC.

exlurker · #3 07-27-2006, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alum

. . . why they didn't get into HYPMS. . . .

Is that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford ?

proudmom · #4 07-27-2006, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Is that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford ?

ex-lurker: the first post you'll want to go to on CC is the sticky "abbreviation thread" on the parents forum -there is a whole other world of lingo there! And yes HYPMS is exactly that. There's some discussion of greek life there but most of it tends towards the parental head scratching of "why would my child want to do that?" Much of the discussion centers around the correlation between being Greek and alcohol use. Parents there can seem to be helicopter parents but they're mostly just like the moms here: care deeply about their kids and want them to be happy. They're trying to do the best they can by getting as much info as possible to help them in the grueling admissions process. I have often thought of rush and college admissions as similar from a pick me! pick me! point of view. Both of them can be a parent's nightmare.

alum · #5 07-28-2006, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proudmom

ex-lurker: the first post you'll want to go to on CC is the sticky "abbreviation thread" on the parents forum -there is a whole other world of lingo there! And yes HYPMS is exactly that. There's some discussion of greek life there but most of it tends towards the parental head scratching of "why would my child want to do that?" Much of the discussion centers around the correlation between being Greek and alcohol use. Parents there can seem to be helicopter parents but they're mostly just like the moms here: care deeply about their kids and want them to be happy. They're trying to do the best they can by getting as much info as possible to help them in the grueling admissions process. I have often thought of rush and college admissions as similar from a pick me! pick me! point of view. Both of them can be a parent's nightmare.

Ditto, proudmom!
I think many of the CC parents are very willing to make the next major investment in their child's education (about $200,000 for a 4 year "top-ranked" private university or LAC), but want to get advice from fellow parents about the process, the school, etc.

With the advent of the Common Application, the most competitive kids are applying to 8-10 schools now, and many are applying to more than that. The above 4.0 GPA, perfect SAT and AP scores, 3 sport/4 year varsity athlete who is student body president and long-time volunteer at a local charity will not necessarily get into the college of his/her choice. Colleges love this trend of applying to many schools because more application fees are added to the coffers and also the selectivity rate increases because there are still only x numbers of spots going to be offered even when there are more applications.

dvs-dz · #6 07-28-2006, 07:39 PM

Another CC reader/poster here! (But I think I was on GC before CC)

Anywho, my daughter will not be attending a college with a Greek system. However, I was a Girl Scout leader and I can't wait to find out if/where my other "daughters" pledge!

And on another note, I have had a blast writing recommendations for so many girls I know this year!

rusheemom · #7 07-28-2006, 08:24 PM

My daughter will be starting recruitment in 2 weeks at a competitive school (not SEC), but with 13 sororities for 1100 rushees. I went through rush at the same school 30 years ago and joined a sorority I loved. I had a blast during rush, even though I was cut by some of my favorite sororities (I wish I had paid more attention to my grades in hs.) Anyway, I'm with "proudmom" on the fact that I'm so anxious for my daughter, but excited as well. I know how disappointing it can be to get cut by a house that you love, and we moms don't like our children hurt. We all know that our daughters are the smartest and the cutest, but we can't hold their hands during rush (I would if I could!). I too, like "proudmom" have helped with recs, clothes shopping, advice (probably too much), and now after finding this wonderful network, realize that I need to back off and put this all in my daughter's hands. She is a capable young woman, and I need to let her guide her own destiny. I will still be a wreck from Aug. 13-18, and will try try try not to offer anything but a sounding board, and pray that she finds her happy home. I'm hoping also, that being a legacy won't hurt her chances. I have absolutely no strong feelings about her joining my house, and have conveyed that to her explicitly. Anyway - good luck to your daughters, good luck to you moms on keeping your sanity during the process, and good luck to the dads and brothers who have to deal with us all!! Happy Rushing!!

PinkandGreenJ · #8 08-25-2006, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alum

Warning: the political views on this site are very liberal. Lots of New Yorkers and New England parents and kids are on CC.

Cause there are no conservatives in the North nor liberals in the South, right?

Teasing!

pinkyphimu · #9 08-26-2006, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

helicopter parents

i hadn't heard this term before thursday. i was at the library and while waiting, a newspaper targeting people over 50 caught my attention. the article was about helping parents adjust to sending their kids off to college and how some colleges are responding to helicopter parents. i will post some of the things from the article if i have a chance this weekend. it was funny.