<p>Can anyone tell me how long the festivities last on Sunday of that weekend so I can make travel arrangements to get back to the West Coast? </p>
<p>Also, how was parents weekend which is in October this year?</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses :)</p>
<p>i believe the kids start getting pretty busy with meetings etc. by noon on that Sunday…you can stay around and see them again (possibly) later in the day but I seem to recall that their day was pretty full and we left in the afternoon. Parents weekend is great. I find that most of the parents do come (esp. the freshman parents, but we went every year and many of the upperclassmen’s parents were also there.). The activities are scheduled on Friday and Saturday, and includes some special classes for parents (last year we attended one about the elections), receptions, tours and of course the football game on Saturday (you have to buy tickets in advance esp. if they are playing one of their SEC opponents…when you get info about parents weekend, there will be info about the football tickets.) We leave fairly early Sunday – after brunch (if we can wake the kids…) as the kids want to get back to their lives (and studies) by then.</p>
<p>We did Parents Weekend the first two years our d was at Vandy. If I could do it over again, I’d try to arrive the previous day (Thursday), so as to be able to take advantage of all the Friday programming, particularly the lectures.</p>
<p>With all three of our kids (at two different schools), we found what they wanted most on Parents Weekend was to go shopping - Target, the grocery store, and the outlets. We also took our d’s friends whose parents weren’t there to lunch or dinner. So we weren’t on campus as much as we’d expected.</p>
<p>If you do any of the special campus tours, and it’s possible to sign up ahead of time, I suggest doing it - you can always not show up if you find you’re still in line at Pancake Pantry 
. I also suggest sticking close to the tour leader in order to be able to hear - we dropped out of tours both years because there were so many people in the group.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure we left after a mid-morning breakfast on the Sunday of move-in weekend. That was the year before last, so I suppose schedules may have changed, but I suspect the students will have plenty to do (and will be happy to get to those things w/o the parents in tow!)</p>
<p>We missed last year’s Parent Weekend due to a conflict, but I enjoyed going during son’s freshman year. I plan to make it this fall, especially since son will be staying in Nashville all summer for a research job. We are in ‘seeing kid when we can’ mode now, I guess.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the Move-In Weekend schedule [Common</a> Place — Class of 2013 Information](<a href=“Vanderbilt University”>Vanderbilt University)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses. It sounds like for parents weekend we will get there late Thursday night to be able to participate in all the Friday activities. We definitely will get tickets to the football game! </p>
<p>What about “Founders walk”? Are parents present for that on Sunday? Isn’t that when the kids all walk in through the gates of the school, the same ones they leave through when they graduate?</p>
<p>Basically, regarding move-in weekend, it sounds like we should have no problem catching a 6:00 pm flight back to California and not miss out on anything. True?</p>
<p>i believe founders walk is for the students only
and if you mean 6 pm on Sunday, that would be fine. And I agree, getting in Thursday afternoon or evening is ideal for parents weekend. The first year we arrived late friday afternoon, to hear that many of the parents had been in the evening before; luckily my son’s roommates parents invited him out to dinner that night.</p>
<p>Yes, 6pm on Sunday, I left that out of my post! Thanks Bridie.</p>
<p>hi, good post. I was wondering all of this too. From videos & other info I read somewhere on website, I believe founders walk includes parents.</p>
<p>I’m probably confused, but I thought Founders Walk was on Saturday the year my son was a freshman, just before a picnic meal for students and families and a bunch of welcoming talks by luminaries. I remember participating in something that involved a procession through the gates, with a lot of current Vanderbilt students lining the sidewalks to cheer the new students on. If it has been moved to later in the day on Sunday, then parents probably won’t be involved.</p>
<p>Things changed last year when summer orientation was dropped in favor of orientation at the start of the semester.</p>
<p>Just as meal plan options have changed almost every year, so has Founders Walk. S participated in the first Founders Walk and it was on Tuesday evening. They moved it up for parents to participate a few years ago, but I think moved it back last year since upperclassmen weren’t back yet other than Move Crew, Vuceptors, etc.</p>
<p>one of the films online about Vandy has freshman parents walking with students.
I must admit the whole thing made me misty!<br>
(I would be just as misty if only our son takes this walk…and we are on the sidelines or gone by then…whatever! I think the schedule has shifted a bit each year with the Commons etc) It is a very nice welcoming ceremony indeed. William and Mary does something like it at the Wren Building…</p>