SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

My daughter starts O.U Athens soon.Any tips or comments for us.

An armed body guard 24/7 and you should be okay.

OMG!!!

just kidding

get a checking account at a local bank! No one will cash grandma's or mom and dad's checks if sent for spending $$$ that way if a check is sent to your daughter and she can deposit it to an account..
peoples bank Citizens bank also and Chase make sure you get her a debit card also! Tell her to walk in groups!

FOR SUCCESS AS A COLLEGE FRESHMAN ...............BY J. MICHAEL ADAMS


You were a star in high school, made all the right moves, and now you think you're ready for college. Better think again. The rules are different, the expectations have changed, and the stakes are a little higher.

College is a rare opportunity to redefine yourself. What do you want to be known for when you graduate? Frankly, what makes you think you are going to graduate? Half of those starting as freshmen graduate in four years. I've seen high school valedictorians not last the fall semester. I've also seen average students graduate with a 4.0.

What makes the difference? From my experience, there are 10 rules every freshman should know.

1) Be a warrior. Warriors are never surprised. That means listening in class, staying alert and asking questions. That means doing all the assignments on time. Go into each class expecting an unannounced quiz.

2) Always carry a pen and paper. You look uninterested and are ill-prepared if you walk into class without these basic tools. This seems fundamental, but one professor told me, "Thirty percent don't come on the first day with even a pencil. Most of them won't last the first two weeks."

3) Recopy your class notes. You can't write as fast as professors can talk. The purpose of "notes" is to jog your personal memory on key points and the flow of ideas in a lecture. Recopying will reinforce the information, fill in the blanks and reduce study time before the test. You will own the information.

4) Never miss a class. Woody Allen once said that 80 percent of life is just showing up. There is no substitute for presence. Ever ask someone to take notes for you? Did you ever understand them?

5) Master the information flow. Use devices like three-ring binders to manage class notes, assignments, readings and hand-outs. Or, if you prefer, record notes and file important information electronically, but organize data by class and backup everything. By keeping information well ordered, you'll feel more in control of your world.

6) Highlight the dates. Time is real and can get away from you. Use wall or electronic calendars and mark when assignments are due, test dates, the night of that concert and anything else that is important and time-sensitive. Tracking the time helps you pace yourself and look ahead. Never be surprised again.

7) Divide and conquer. Henry Ford had it right. Break major assignments into small steps. Have to read a 487-page textbook? Impossible -- especially the night before the test. Consider that a 16-week semester has five workdays per week, which totals 80 days. Eighty into 487 roughly equals six. Read about six pages a day and you are done. The same approach works on every assignment.

Give double. Don't be a minimalist. Always give twice as much as expected. When your professor assigns a paper, you will look less than ambitious if you ask: "How many pages does it have to be?" In reality, you are asking: "What is the least I have to do to pass?" Always deliver more content and substance than expected.

9) Develop a network. Nobody does it alone. Seek out others who can help you and whom you can help. The world works through networking. Create allies by giving unsolicited assistance and practice random acts of kindness. It will all come back to you.

10) Have fun. Play is good for you and helps you refocus on other pursuits. It truly does recharge your batteries. Find the balance between recreation and dedication. Neither extreme brings ultimate satisfaction. Viewing life as only a party or only a chore will never satisfy your soul. Life -- and especially college -- is an adventure. Don't get so caught up in the ultimate goal that you forget to enjoy the journey.

When you walk into your first class, you face a new frontier -- a world full of ideas and opportunities that can last a lifetime. But you must seize them. Education is not something given to you. You must be an active participant. You must be a warrior. The choice is yours!

Put her money straight onto her Bobcat account. no need to worry about checks then.

Do not panic if she gets busy and forgets to call. but do send that pesky e-mail to check up.

she will meet many new friends and settle in right away. once they have been there a quarter they cannot wait to get back for the next one.

she will have a great time there and learn a lot. don't worry she will be fine. the parents are the ones that have a hard time with it not the kids. I just went through this last year with my son. now this year, I just sent him down with his truck and told him call when he was settled in. and he did.

Flowers in a dorm brighten the place up. We kept a couple of cacti in our dorm room. Also get in good with the maintenace and food servers. These guys will make your life easier. We needed paint one time because we had some marks on our wall. Since we were friends with the maintanance guys they got us paint and we didnt have to pay room damages.
Also any papers she has top turn into the office at OU she needs to make at least 3 copies. They lose papers all the time. They are probably the worst school when it comes to turning stuff in and them misplacing it.
Most importantly she needs to have a balance between fun and school. To much emphasis on one of the other can be bad.

You will also get LOTS of mail from OU throughout the year.
stuff like Birthday club. where you can purchase a cake from OU and she will receive a birthday card from the dinning hall to tell her someone who loves her remembered her birthday and you have a cake waiting for you and however many friends.

You will also get a letter telling you to let your child know you are thinking of them at finals by purchasing a fruit basket, or coffee basket and such. a word from my son is DO NOT DO THIS. he said some of his friends got them and they were crap.

Best thing to do for them that I have found is I went down one weekend. took him to ALDI and he spent like $70.00 on food he could keep in his room. (soups, mac &cheese, peanut butter Pop Tarts stuff like that) that way IF he missed the dinning hall for whatever reason he had food on hand to eat. and $70. from ALDI fed him the entire quarter and then some.

aldi is the best place to shop... my daughter is at OU 2 afternoons a week this year and will hopefully be a student there next year.. but due to the fact we live so close no dorm fees or worry about her eating that is a plus!!

i agree with NYBuckeye96...NEVER, under any circumstance walk alone after dark. just this weekend i walked some girls home after a party because it is rather dangerous so i refused to let them go alone.

-high heels+alcohol+bricks(Court Street) = embarassment and scraped knees (alcohol optional, i just witnessed a sober girl bite it this weekend because she had about 5 inch heels on )

-get familiar with Blackboard, it's a program on the internet professors often use for announcements, assignments, readings, etc.

-if she's on a meal plan, do NOT eat at nelson dining hall. i worked there for 2 1/2 years and i cant even begin to explain the horror (actually, OU dining services as a whole arent very good but Nelson is just nasty)

-Athens has some great food:
-Peking Express (otherwise known as $3.95 Chinese)
-D.P. Dough (anything you could ever want in a calzone, they've got it. not to mention it is AMAZING!)
-Big Mama's Burritos and Chipotle (basically the same thing but I prefer Big Mamas)
-Courtside Pizza (try the Ranch Pizza, it's really good)
-Taco Johns (56 cent hard tacos every Tuesday)
-BW3's
-I am yet to have it myself but i hear Pita Pit is really good
-Cold Stone
-McHappy's Doughnuts

that's all the really good stuff anyway, there's also a few Wendy's, McDonalds and generic crap like that.