I have been lurking a long time as I have been almost afraid to join in-you are a tough crowd, but also very informed, caring, and helpful in a lot of situations, so here goes.
My D is a freshman at a "top" school. She eagerly enrolled in a freshman seminar since they are touted as jewels of the freshman experience. She soon discovered that the seminar which was described as a physical science course incorporating an introduction to programming is actually a programming class utilizing scientific data.
Since the class only meets weekly it took a couple of weeks for her to realize that she was in over her head with the programming and by that point it was too late to switch to another class. She has been working 20+ hours per week on the class but just can't get a grasp on the assignments. Two weeks ago as an assignment deadline loomed she realized that even if she stayed up all night she wasn't going to be able to figure it out, and was going to have to take a zero. After a breakdown on the phone with me she decided to email her professor and let him know that she was struggling and would like to meet with him.
The next day she met with him and explained the difficulties she was having and shared that she had had a panic attack the night before and really needed help getting back on track. She didn't even mention the zero she was going to receive on the assignment as she wasn't looking for an extension. His response was, "panic attacks are common here. Just keep trying and get help from your peers." She asked if he had any available hours that she could get help and he responded that she could come to the weekly precept(which she was already doing).
There are 2 TAs associated with the class which she has emailed and both were "too busy." There is also an assistant professor and she emailed him last night with her preliminary work for this weeks assignment and asked if he could help her get to the next step. He replied that he was out of town but she could try going to the department building and looking around for students in the major and asking them for help! Today was precept day so he approached the primary professor again and explained that she was still really struggling and needed help getting started on the next step. His response this time was, "this is a science class-in science you have to figure things out yourself."
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So I encouraged her to take the next step, meeting with her director of studies. The response there was pretty much the same, keep working. Since this is a seminar there is no support available in the way of tutoring, study sessions, ect. At this point she feels she needs to drop the class, take the W on her transcript and cut her losses. It is a rough spot to be in 1st semester and she feels like a failure.
As a parent I am shocked the incredible support system we were sold seems to be nonexistent and I am so frustrated. Please, any advice is appreciated.
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