<p>S tried inShuttle this morning and they were 30 minutes late. Said he won’t do it again. The good news is that he made his flight and is sitting in Miami for his connection. Looking forward to picking him up at the airport in a few hours. </p>
<p>We are attending a family reunion to celebrate my husband’s parent’s 65 wedding anniversary in Cancun. S should enjoy his Thanksgiving Break. I can’t believe there is only 1 more week of this semester and then finals.</p>
<p>Mine drove the 30 minutes home on Friday in time for my sophomore’s birthday celebration and dinner. I did hear the airport shuttles were really slow from my girls. My daughter said it took her 1:45 minutes to drop a friend at the airport!! This year is different with them home… they just want to hang here, and haven’t left the house since they got home except to work. It’s been bliss! I bet that changes when their friends arrive from their various colleges. We are getting graduation stuff in the mail for the senior… all kinds of parties, events… have no idea what to sign up for! </p>
<p>Moonpie, we paid for the lunches (bags) that you pick up on graduation day…just so we wouldn’t have to tromp around to eat --with the thought that elders might be with us and the Keep It Simple Rule. We ended up without the elders and I noted that not that many people were doing the bag lunch deal, so it might be fine to pass on that. Water bottles are plentiful and offered at graduation. If you are having a table full of out of towners, you might do that rent a table deal and cater a little lunch on campus. There is a nice strawberry and champagne mingle occasion that flows well through the campus and allows for lots of meet and greets directly after graduation. We made reservations for dinner at Etch…very nice choice. The night party on the Commons was pleasant, relaxed, mingle oriented… with a rather good band and some chances to run into other families but in my opinion…it was also skippable. We had an indoors graduation and a little light rain but not enough to ruin the reception with strawberries and beverages right after the ceremony. Vanderbilt runs the graduation ceremony itself with a great deal of speed and organization. In general…I think people enjoyed the ceremony. We had a great speaker the day before, the great Toni Morrison. I got the idea that about a third or a half of the graduates attended that offering, and most were in fairly relaxed clothing. She had written a truly luminous and challenging talk, even though she was wheelchair bound. She was unforgettable. It is especially happy to see those few singled out for honors in each subschool. Definitely a day to Anchor Down and be grateful.</p>
<p>So… @faline2 being local, we thought hosting a graduation party here would be good? Thinking it might be nice for her friends and their families to have a place to gather that doesn’t require reservations? Don’t know…maybe I’ll start a new thread with advice seeking after the New Year? </p>
<p>@moonpie, that’s a wonderful idea. One of S’s best friends, who was later his best man, is from Nashville and his parents are both faculty members for the medical school. They hosted a post-commencement party at their home for friends and family. We had to trudge through Hillsboro Road traffic to get there, but it was really a fun event and I enjoyed getting to know some of his friends and their families. With D, I had met a number of people at moms weekends for her sorority, but had never had that chance with S. Lots of people will love you for doing a party like that if you decide to go forward 
</p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope you’re enjoying family time with your students.
@moonpie – your Senior planning sounds exciting. Congratulations on making it to that point.
As a freshman parent, I’m still worried about D getting through these first finals and then sorority rush!</p>
<p>I see that the dorms open on Sunday, Jan. 4th after winter break - but can they come back on Sat. Jan. 3rd? I read the email that was sent to the kids, and while it says they can request to stay during break, nothing is really said on coming back a day early.</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>@KaMaMom- they can come back early. They just need to go onto the housing web site and log onto My Biz. From there they can register for break access.</p>
<p>@KaMaMom - S will register to get into his room earlier. He’s taking a red-eye Friday night that gets him into Nashville Saturday morning. Vanderbilt is very accommodating and allows students to stay in the dorm all break if they need to. They just need to register. The University wants to know who is there. It’s one of the things I wish that the University communicated better with parents on. I know that they are helping our students make the transition to adulthood, but we are the ones buying the airline tickets.</p>
<p>Hope your students are all hanging in there this week during finals. Our D has already had one (which ended up being a few days earlier than originally thought…her misunderstanding). Stressing about a couple of classes which have borderline, not-ideal grades right now, where these exams could make a big difference. Realizing that maybe she should’ve studied a little more over Thanksgiving break…. Lesson learned, hopefully!</p>
<p>DS flight back to Nashville arrives Sunday morning 7:30am. Will dorm be open all day Sunday?</p>
<p>I am a little anxious about DS’ finals. Since we don’t have any updates from Vanderbilt about their grades (unlike high school), I really don’t know how DS is doing on his classes. </p>
<p>I believe dorms should be open on Sunday (our D’s last exam is Saturday afternoon, so we were toying with idea of her coming home on Sunday also; ended up with a late flight out Saturday), though you will want to make sure he contacts RA/housing and lets them know when he’ll be leaving. </p>
<p>"I am a little anxious about DS’ finals. Since we don’t have any updates from Vanderbilt about their grades (unlike high school), I really don’t know how DS is doing on his classes. "</p>
<p>Did you ask him?</p>
<p>@MaynardGKrebs, I asked him plenty of times. The answer has always been…“I am doing ok… but it all depends on the curves.” That’s not telling much. I miss the parent access we had when his was in high school - all homework and test grades are updated in the system for us to see at anytime.
I get the sense that, now, even DS doesn’t know for sure how he stands in the class. Is that the case with other students?</p>
<p>S flies home on Saturday. I’m flying back from Atlanta on the same day and we are meeting in Phoenix for our final flight home. I know he’s looking forward to coming home since he didn’t come home at Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>In reality the last week of classes was more stressful than this week of finals. He had 3 papers, 2 projects and a final last week. He took another final on Saturday. He has 3 more finals and really only one that he needs to study for. That is the advantage of engineering courses - you either know it at this point or you don’t. Cramming information doesn’t help since the tests are problem solving. Both husband and I are engineers and have had this experience.</p>
<p>@4beardolls - OAK is available for students to see their grades, but all instructors don’t input the scores. Your son is correct about the curve. We learned last year that the syllabuses stated grades based on percentages. It seems that that’s the minimum grade you will receive. Last semester we thought that S would get a C in Chemistry based on percentage. He ended up with a B-. Must have been the curve. He also received a higher grade than he expected in Chemistry the first semester. I can’t guarantee that a curve will help or how it was done. It was just our observation. </p>
<p>@Go9ersjrh, thanks for sharing your experience. I am always on alert when I hear an evasive answer from kids. It seems like, in the case of college grades, it’s a correct response. </p>
<p>@4beardolls: For the trip back to Nashville, I believe the dorms officially open at noon on Sunday, Jan. 4. My D flies back on Saturday, so she signed up with Housing to be back in the dorms early. She did the same at Thanksgiving - no problem as long as they sign up.</p>
<p>Indeed, some professors curve the course grade rather than individual exam grades, making it very difficult to know how you’re doing in the class. It can be frustrating. </p>
<p>S comes home tonight at 10PM!! Didn’t get to spend much time with him during Thanksgiving so I’m really looking forward to spending 3 weeks with him. He finished his last two finals last night and we are praying for a curve on the Calc III grades. He too will be flying back on Saturday the 3rd and signed up to do so. </p>