<p>im trying to book my plane tickets as early as possible in order to avoid the holiday rush. but im a little bit confused as to what date i should pick for departing. i dont plan on being home for thanksgiving. finals are from dec 16-19. and the website says that houses close on dec 20 at 10am. i would prefer to leave campus on dec 19 because apparently airfare keeps getting significantly higher as you move closer to christmas. ($60 difference between dec 19 and 20) </p>
<p>so my question is, how are finals at smith scheduled? i once heard that students were able to schedule finals with their professors individually. if so, would a flight home on dec 19 at 4pm be a safe enough choice?</p>
<p>Finals are self-scheduled, so you have a series of four days to take your final exams. You may not have a final in every class (in some, you might have a take-home final or a final paper), and the last time to take them is the 19th at 2 pm. You don't need to choose a time with your professor ahead of time, you just show up when you're ready to take it. (The only exceptions are some language and art history classes, which have a component to the exam that doesn't allow it to be self-scheduled, but I've never seen them scheduled for anything other than the first two days of an exam period.)</p>
<p>You can leave whenever you want, provided you have your work done, so the 19th is probably fine. Worst case scenario, you might have four self-scheduled exams (assuming that you take four classes) and you'll have to double-up on exams in order to leave on time.</p>
<p>So yes, the 4 pm flight will be fine. You could even take a 9 am exam that morning if you pushed things off. </p>
<p>It really depends on what classes you have. Some people skip Mon and Tues, but there are professors who schedule quizzes and stuff during that period to discourage students from leaving early.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving will really depend on your classes AND your profs. I would wait until you're registered and have your syllabus so you know what the policy is about missing classes. Some are really strict about attendance, others don't care as much, others allow a couple of absences, so be aware. </p>
<p>For Christmas/Winter break, I like to always schedule my plane tickets for the day after the last day of finals. That way you don't have to rush to get your exams or papers done AND pack to go home AND buy presents all at once. </p>
<p>But, they don't offer nighttime finals on the last day anyway, so a 4 PM flight on the 19th would probably be okay.</p>
<p>thanks for the input! what about for move-in day? students traveling from a distance are given the option to move in a day earlier than the actual start of orientation. do you suggest moving in a day earlier?</p>
<p>makes no difference to move in early for orientation. all those days are just filled with non-essential meetings and such so you won't be missing anything, by taking some time during that to unpack. I know my roommate and I spent like all of the afternoons of orientation sleeping cause we were used to summer laziness and they schedule events for like 7 in the am. soooo, have fun with THAT. LOL</p>
<p>If you have the option, it doesn't hurt to move in a day early. It gives you that much more time to get settled before classes start and the rest of your house arrives. Just remember to coordinate it with your roommate. I moved in a day early my first year, and I was still in bed, fast asleep when my roommate, her parents, and her boyfriend came bursting through the door. Not something I wanted to have bed-head for. </p>
<p>Just a note about orientation, it can be a little boring. Especially if you're doing a pre-orientation, don't worry about trying to do everything in the orientation schedule. Just pick a few things you want to do and spend the rest of the time shopping, picking out your courses, and getting to know campus.</p>