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Ask Deanie
| Archives Deanie Kepler's previously published columns |
SMU Parent Liaison Deanie Kepler offers advice on helping your student. |
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Incoming! A Parent's Checklist for First-Year Students
Welcome to Southern Methodist University! We are thrilled that your student has chosen SMU, and we welcome parents, siblings, grandparents and other relatives and friends to the SMU family.
This is an exciting time for new college students, but it can also be very challenging as they adapt to unfamiliar environments, make new friends and discover different ways to do things both in and out of the classroom. We hope this timeline will help you understand the highs and lows your student may experience and prepare you for the adjustments you and your student will go through this year. Visit this site regularly for timeline updates.
JUNE
- Excitement continues about the college choice, but questions are inevitable. Assure your student and yourselves that SMU has been doing an orientation for years and understands what first-year students need to know before starting classes in the fall. Our summer orientation program – Academic Advising, Registration and Orientation (AARO) – is our way of providing you with this information.
- Be sure to register for an AARO session as soon as possible so it does not conflict with other summer plans.
- Parents are encouraged to participate in AARO as well. The more you know about SMU and the resources available, the better able you will be to help us help your student should the need arise.
- Don’t forget to join the Mothers’ and Dads’ Clubs! These organizations provide friendly support and fun activities for both students and parents. To get involved, contact Mothers’ Club President Lucy L. Masters.
JULY
- College Orientation is often called “deer in the headlights” time – students know they must register, but the information will come fast and furious and may seem overwhelming. Students begin to “act” they way they think a college student should.
- Discuss finances, behavioral issues related to drugs and alcohol, academic expectations, class attendance, campus resources, etc. – but avoid giving the “These are the best years of your life…” speech. Your students will have many good times, experience many successes, make many new friends...but they may also make some bad decisions, be unhappy at times, feel lonely or confused. Parents that perpetuate the “best years” myth are really working against their son’s or daughter’s already difficult self-development. Your student needs you to accept the “highs and lows” and provide support and understanding when it is needed most.
- Encourage your student to fully participate in the AARO experience and to sign up for Mustang Corral August 11-13.
AUGUST
- Encourage your student to contact his or her roommate when assignments are received in early August so they can discuss their room (refrigerators, study habits, stereo systems, televisions, etc.), which will fast become their “home away from home.”
- College students want to be “cool” – and sometimes being “too cool” for University activities can be the biggest mistake a student can make. Students should read and be prepared to discuss the Common Reading and should fully participate in Week of Welcome activities. Research-based studies of student development in and out of the classroom form the basis for much that SMU offers. Trust us, trust our years of experience, and trust our determination to help your student be successful.
- Encourage your student to attend the Involvement Fair on Wednesday, August 16, where he or she can sign up for at least one student organization, intramural team or class-related activity. Remind them to attend the Opening Convocation and Rotunda Passage later that same day – at Graduation they’ll be glad they did!
- Be prepared for Move-In...Dallas is hot in August.
- Students with cars must abide by SMU’s parking regulations – tickets can add up quickly!
- Talk to your students about safety on campus and within the city of Dallas, about locking their cars and rooms, about protecting their valuables and about not walking alone on campus after dark!
Question for Deanie? Ask Deanie at gkepler@smu.edu or 214-768-4797.
