<p>1st and 3rd year ending for my 2 girls. Soon to be senior loves it more than ever, and freshman doesn’t want first year to end…except for chemistry, which she will be glad is over. Just wanted to second, third …whatever freshman writing seminars. My daughter ended up with her 12 (!!!) choice. Not her favorite class, but made it through. She also slept through her second registration time, and ended up with all 8:00 and 9:00. I haven’t been involved in any class registration or decisions, only have heard complaints of what they didn’t get! Advisors have been somewhat helpful, but mostly they do it on their own. Family weekend is really fun, and we had season tickets to the games, which was great as well. I am really excited for the new families to experience it all!</p>
<p>mama496–Our experience with Move-in was identical to the one described by swim4school, including Saturday afternoon run to Target for extra power strip (no dinner with roommate on Friday night but did dine with the other family during the planned dinner on Saturday night under the tent on Peabody Lawn). We headed home late on Sunday morning with tears in our eyes but happy because our daughter was so obviously happy. We have not attended the Parents Weekends but pick a weekend near her birthday in the winter to visit, walk around campus, and take to her shopping, to brunch & dinner–less hectic than the official Parents Weekend and easier to find hotel and no lines at the restaurants.</p>
<p>How likely is it that a Peabody student would be able to pick up a First Year Seminar? Sounds like they have to try to get in during the first week on campus, but I can’t imagine anything would still be open.</p>
<p>Does the school have “activities” for the parents at Move-in Weekend? you mentioned a dinner under the tent–is that something organized by Vandy, LHSCary? Also, what kind of activities do they have planned for Parents’ Weekend? We want to connect with some friends while we’re in Nashville and I don’t want to double-book!</p>
<p>@go2mom, I would like to know about Move-in weekend as well but here is something I found showing the schedule of events for Parents Weekend from last year. I assume this year will be similar.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/families/familyweekend/eventschedule/friday/”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/families/familyweekend/eventschedule/friday/</a></p>
<p>Mimama;</p>
<p>HIghly unlikely. If they do get to pick up one, it will be obscure, really boring or taught by a professor everyone is avoiding. Most CAS kids try to get a writing seminar first semester, so there is a lot of pressure on the system. Now, second semester is slightly more likely, but by then, your S or D will most likely have identified some really cool seminar in Peabody to take. </p>
<p>There was a dinner move-in night. It was a casual dinner under a giant tent. The freshman are scheduled down to the minute, so the dinner doesn’t go long. It was over pretty early. </p>
<p>We skipped almost all the Parent’s weekend activities and were only there freshman year. I think we went to a big lecture hall to hear a Dean talk for a while. One thing is to remain flexible as your student may be preoccupied with academics or deadlines even if they are glad you showed up. Make some quiet time eating out or walking with your student happen…their lives are already filled to the brim with “activities” and schedules. It is nice if they are attached to some people already and want to meet up with other parents for a meal-- but our sons didn’t go in that direction so early on. They were more eager for us to meet their closer friends/parents in their final college years.</p>
<p>go2mom–As I recall, there were a few planned activities (all optional) for families during move-in weekend. We grabbed lunch at the Commons Center Cafeteria, good chance to sample the food and see where our daughter would be spending much of her time. We left the teen-aged siblings in the hotel, they weren’t interested but on that Saturday afternoon we stood in the receiving line to shake hands with the Dean of the Commons, have punch and cookies and walk through his house which is next to the cafeteria at the Commons. Late in the afternoon on Saturday was a large meeting for each of the 4 undergraduate colleges with their deans–A&S met at Langford Auditorium (the largest non-athletic venue on campus) It was an opportunity to see and hear the dean; there was also a brief Q&A session where both parents and students asked questions but no personal interaction with the dean, at least for A&S, maybe with a smaller school like Blair it was more personal. Finally, for dinner on Saturday night, each dorm had an outdoor picnic dinner (no charge) for families under a tent on Peabody Lawn; I believe the head of house introduced himself and met with parents during dinner. Following dinner, we returned to the hotel because our student had a mandatory dorm meeting. Sunday morning there was a breakfast at the Commons (free, I think) but the line was so long, we decided to eat elsewhere. We left after that to head home but recall there is a talk aimed at parents about college life and how to say goodbye. Parents are politely kicked off campus after that so students can meet with their Vuceptors, bond with their hallmates and do other traditional things on campus like the class photo and Founders Walk.<br>
The school is large enough that there aren’t many opportunities for personally meeting or spending quality time with the various deans, etc. but I was glad to be able to put a face with names I would hear later and am glad we participated in those large group activities. Overall, I was impressed with how move-in weekend was organized and handled, especially the precision with which the actual move in is planned and executed–we never left the car as it was swarmed by singing /shouting upperclassmen who unloaded everything and cheerfully carried it to the 3rd floor of the dorm for us. Within minutes, Dad was directed to the lot for empty cars and I was upstairs helping to unpack. You have a lot to look forward to in late August 
P.S. Book your hotel room NOW if you haven’t already, they fill up fast!</p>
<p>Do students usually rent or buy textbooks from the VU B&N bookstore ? </p>
<p>Students do a varaity of things for books. S predominately buys / rents his books from Amaon. He has also used B&N online as well as the bookstore. We’ve bought the book if he was going to use it for 2 semesters (chemistry) and plan to sell it back to Amazon. He has rented books for 1 semester (math). He has also had classes with no books where everything is online (physics). There are many options. You just need to do some price checking.</p>
<p>we sat down on holidays with son who had already scoped out best prices and paid for his book orders. More than once the “least expensive used or new book” was late in arriving. So if you shop online, look for very good delivery promises. Cheap got son in trouble a couple of times having to borrow classmate’s books. never worth it. </p>
<p>Half.com is another common source for renting/buying. There are a lot of good rental sources out there. B&N is convenient but usually pretty pricey, whether renting or buying. </p>
<p>Engineering students tend to keep textbooks-- they are sometimes useful in other classes and often kept into career world.</p>
<p>From the looks of the shipping tent at move-in, a lot of kids preordered books from the bookstore. S waited until he had syllabi or heard from the prof about books, then he rented digital textbooks from a site that had a deal for 6 books for $200. He found out on the first day of class that one prof required an actual book to be used in class. Even so, the $200 was still a good deal for the other books. I think he only needed 1 book in the spring though. </p>
<p>We went in on Friday and did our shopping at the stores near the airport. The BBB was dead, but they said the Opry store was insanity. There were other shopping at the target near the airport, but it wasn’t busy at all. The drive on Saturday morning for move in was really quick as there was zero traffic. We also purchased a lot on amazon and had it shipped to campus. It took us about 5 minutes for them to roll it up on a dolly for us to push to the dorm. It is a super efficient move in process, but make sure you write your name on all boxes, rugs, etc…he had friends that had stuff never make it to the room never to be found. </p>
<p>I have a question about banking and ATMs. I am trying to decide which bank to open an account in for my Son and me. I currently use a local bank which is not very easy to use for transferring money. From what I have read, there are several Sun Trust ATMs on campus, including one in the Commons Center. My Son’s father uses Bank of America so it would be ideal to use them so that he could easily transfer money as well. I know there is a branch nearby and that there are ATMs in the Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital on campus. My question is: how accessible are those Bank of America ATMs? I assume they are located in the lobby. Are they available for use at any time? </p>
<p>B of A is fine. There are ATMs in the medical center as well as the Chipotle parking lot on West End. If cash is needed urgently, you can of course use the Suntrust ATMs for a small fee (like $2).</p>
<p>Are the ATMs in the Medical Center available to students at any time? Are they right in the lobby?</p>
<p>I found this :
<a href=“http://nationsofnashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Banks-Comparsion-Vandy1.pdf”>http://nationsofnashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Banks-Comparsion-Vandy1.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks to Google </p>
<p>@jrmama496 - S2 just finished his 2nd year at Vandy, we were also concerned about banking. He kept his Bank of America account and can honestly say that he has had very little need for cash. All transactions are done with credit card or his vandy account. He has only had to withdraw actual cash very few times in the past 2 years. He may be an exception, but would love to hear other parents experience with need of $. </p>
<p>There is an ATM right at Commons Center and one in Rand if one ever needs to withdraw cash.</p>