<p>Did anyone attend any of the Eagle Summit programs this summer? Did it seem to be worthwhile to go during the summer, rather than participating in the “makeup” Eagle Summit orientation held during Welcome Week?</p>
<p>I noticed that there is actually not that much scheduled during Welcome Week.</p>
<p>I know that, at some schools, registration for courses takes place at various orientation visits over the summer, and that getting to an early orientation session is advisable because courses fill. But AU registration was over and done with in June, so there doesn’t seem to be a big advising/course selection component of the orientation program.</p>
<p>What exactly do the new students do for the ~10 days before school starts? Just hang out? Or are there lots of things going on that aren’t reflected in the Welcome Week schedule?</p>
<p>Most students participate in Discover DC or the Freshman Service Experience. If you’re not participating in either of those, and you’ve already done orientation, I don’t think there is much to do on campus until convocation. Some parties and events in the evenings.</p>
<p>Do you know if the Discover DC and Freshman Service Experience programs are compatible with doing the “makeup” Eagle Summit? Looks like there is an overlap mid-week, but I can’t tell whether the Eagle Summit stuff is over in time for the kids to join up with the other programs.</p>
<p>looks like there are some evening activities and the clubs that you might be interested in will probably be starting to get active. S has already been on some groups and clubs facebook pages and will be getting together with them during the first week.</p>
<p>My kid was accepted to Class of 2015 but is deferring for a year. However, she will be away all next summer (as she was this summer) and might not be able to do Eagle Summit. I’m collecting as much information as possible this fall to plan for next year. Sounds like it won’t be a huge problem to miss Eagle Summit in the summer? </p>
<p>She already went through the course registration exercise, so she knows how that works for next year. (And now she has her AP scores.)</p>
<p>I found the Eagle Summit amazingly valuable, as did my daughter. There was almost too much information, but it was all useful. There were some students who attended without parents but i can honestly say that I was happy I attended.</p>
<p>A note about Welcome Week–it’s a LOT of fun but it can also be a bit expensive. My son is a very frugal kid who likes to live within his budget, and he found his money went a lot faster than he had intended that week. </p>
<p>There is a lot to spend on…a few purchases for the new abode with the roomie (my son and his roommate invested in some room-darkening curtains, for example), sometimes dues for a club or activity he wanted to become involved in (for example, some intramural teams have a fee for each team, divided up among the members), and then things like t-shirts for an intramural team or floor group. And of course a Metro card!</p>
<p>And some of the unplanned social things during the first week can cost too, and I felt it was important for my son to partake. For example, when my son was a first year, a bunch of kids went to the Mall at night and then out to Georgetown for sushi one night, and another night a group of kids that were forming an intramural sport team all decided to go to a sports bar to watch the U.S. National Men’s team in a friendly. And of course there is the informal ordering of pizza at 2 a.m. just because they can.</p>
<p>My H and I expected this because this son was our third–and we didn’t want our son feeling he had to stay home in the dorm if there was something he really wanted to do or some people he wanted to get to know–so when we planned his budget with him, we discussed this and included a “gift” amount of a little extra for that one week.</p>
<p>Even with this planning, our son discovered that DC was very expensive and that he had to make careful choices. He also has some pet frugalities–for example, he never orders a drink in a restaurant, he walks wherever he can. etc</p>
<p>I feel orientation is a must for the students, for the parents it’s hit or miss. If this is your 1st off to college then I think you should have done it. If its not your 1st then its optional. Even for new-bies after the first day it gets repetitive. By day 2 its the same questions being asked, over and over.
Last year my daughter really enjoyed FSE, so much so that this year she is an FSE leader. It helps the kids find out about the city and how to use the Metro in a safe, productive and fun enviroment.
As for expensive, each student has to learn their budget. Some students choose to go out to eat everyday, while others dine at TDR for every meal. Its up to the students to learn to pick and choose their own entertainment and meal expensnes. Its all part of growing up. They can blow their whole semester budget in the first month or they can learn to make it last all year long,its up to them. I suggest a serious sit down talk about MONEY before you get there.</p>