<p>Does your D or S's school have its own parent forum? If so have you found it useful? Both of my kids' schools do (did) and it was a valuable resource for all kinds of info (dentists, car repair, rides, holiday info, moving in, etc). Just wondered how many other CCers found them at their individual schools.</p>
<p>Carleton has a parent email list, which has been quite active in the past year or so. There has been a lot of advice posted - clothing, doctors, travel service, study abroad, etc. From the posts, I've noted that most of the parents would have fit right in at Carleton too.</p>
<p>S's school also has a parent's forum which I found especially helpful during the summer before S started and during freshman year - when I, of course, had the most questions! </p>
<p>Another thing I liked at S's school was the student forum that was available solely for incoming freshman; once they received their student ID, they could access a student account page that was more limited than the one for current students, and tailored specifically for new students; it included a forum where they could submit questions which were then read by a group of currently enrolled students who monitored the board and found/posted answers to their questions.</p>
<p>University of Chicago has one.</p>
<p>I love the Carleton forum; it's been invaluable, especially when figuring out which winter coat to buy (don't want to look like the Michelin Man but don't want to freeze either . . .)</p>
<p>University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa has one. A parent can create their own profile page and upload photos.</p>
<p>My sil followed both the Carleton and Harvey Mudd parent listserves. She said Mudd was a much more active group - her assumption is that the Mudders are much less communicative with their parents than Carls.</p>
<p>Though the one at D's school is brand new this summer (and freshman orientation was just this week where they formally announced it) it already has fairly active participation. One from where S graduated was wonderful.. He was at a fairly isolated school so there was always a flurry of activity over the holidays when the closest "cheaper" airport was 5+ hours away. Lots of offers of parents volunteering their kids to drive, parents offering to drive, parents offering to pick kids up at airports, house them overnight and then transport to bus terminal the next day. One year a kid was "lost" when the bus was stopped due to a mudslide that closed the road and the kid tried to find his own means of transportation from that point. Lots of offers from other parents to help find the kid (whose parent was incapacitated and couldn't do so herself). The network evolved into a close knit community and continued to do so with each new group of parents. Many parents had kids at other schools and thought this one was the best they had ever encountered. I even posted the question "how did your kid hear about this school" and the admission office ended up using responses in their advertising.</p>
<p>USAFA has one started by a parent!! USAFA</a> Community. Brand new and growing fast.</p>
<p>Or you can easily create you own right here on CC:</p>
<p>Creating one on CC works fine for the big name schools. Smaller ones like the ones my kids attended seem to do better working through the school.</p>
<p>The College of Charleston has a parent list serv. It has been pretty informative as the college administration participates to answer questions directly on the forum. This was especially helpful last week with Tropical Storm Hanna threatening the city of Charleston. Some parents were in a real panic about the impending storm but the administrators were able to assuage their fears.</p>
<p>Nah, but then, I feel like I have very little in common with other parents, because they're all so old! :-) I participate on my son's college's LiveJournal community, instead.</p>