<p>I have a question about graduation activities for parents (this is for next year - God willing, knock wood, etc.). I know that graduation is on a Friday, but when do parents typically arrive? Are there activities during the week before graduation? I apologize for being redundant if there is a thread somewhere about this that I missed, but I searched and couldn't find anything. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I love this forum. You give and you get!</p>
<p>There are a number of activities during senior week, but they are for the students. There’s a menu of events that the students pick and chose from - a game at Wrigley, Goose Island tour, the “Last Lecture” by a professor chosen by the class at a bar in Wrigleyville. The events change from year to year - if you google Northwestern Senior Week you can find a calendar of events for the last couple of years (I wasn’t able to paste the link here).</p>
<p>I got in to town on Tuesday night because I planned to visit my firm’s Chicago office on Wednesday. We took our son and some of his friends out for dinner Wednesday night. Thursday morning the official events started with an honors day reception, then there was a President’s reception for all families mid day. I think many out of town parents arrived late Wednesday/early Thursday.</p>
<p>Edited to add this: If you want to stay in Evanston, make your hotel reservation now!</p>
<p>There’s really no place for a parent before Friday morning so reservations should be for Thursday night until Sunday. Friday early morning is the full university graduation then sometime over Friday and Saturday are the particular school convocations (which is what the smaller graduations are called, when each students name is called, etc.). My daughter’s convocation isn’t until Saturday at 5:00PM after the 9:30AM graduation on Friday. We’ve rented a space at the Orrington for her roommates and closest friends and their families for a dinner on Friday afternoon, not sure what we’ll do during the other time or if our daughter will even want to see us given that she’s already a basket case about leaving her friends and profs. I of course would love for her to finish packing up her apartment so she’s ready to move out on Sunday but that’s a fairy tale from my imagination I fear.</p>
<p>amtc, we were invited to two events on Thursday - one in the morning, and one at lunch time. There were a lot of parents at both events, so it can vary.</p>
<p>Weinberg’s convocation was Saturday morning - we were done with all the formal events by around noon on Saturday. I don’t know if they change the schedule of convocations for the individual schools each year or if the schedule is always the same.</p>
<p>Last year, we too arrived on Wednesday night, to attend honors reception on Thursday morning. After university commencement on Friday, my son’s both convocations (School of Music and WCAS) were on Saturday morning, followed by a departmental luncheon. I reserved our hotel room a year ahead and was very glad I did!</p>
<p>We went to a couple of parent invited activities when our D graduated. There was a co-op lunch Wed, and then an Engineering Brunch on Thursday, and graduation was spread out over 2 days. Friday night the big commencement speech, shortened by a tropical downpour… then the degree award- college graduation on Sat.</p>
<p>We had the relatives come in just for the college graduation.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. This is really helpful. It gives me some guidelines to work from. To all whose kids are graduating this year (and to all the graduates), congratulations!!</p>
<p>One thing that was not mentioned…Our DD and her roommates (all seniors) invited the parents over to the house for a potluck graduation dinner Friday night. We offered to bring wine-which as you might expect was not turned down. The rest was done by our kids.
It was great fun-relaxed atmosphere.</p>
<p>That’s fun APOL. I asked my son if he wanted to do a cookout at his house, but he and his friends thought it was probably not in the best shape for hosting adults with anything beyond minimal cleanliness standards. So we all went out for a big group lunch after the all school graduation on Friday - around 7 families, at a restaurant in one of the suburbs just north of Evanston. It was really fun - one of the highlights of the weekend.</p>
<p>Great to get all this info a year in advance. AMTC, my student is in the same school as your D, and I am really hoping that NU rotates when the convocations are so that we are not last next year. 
Seems like quite an added expense for another hotel night…</p>
<p>I stand corrected, I guess some schools have events for families the day before graduation, the Theatre Dept. of SoC does not, so from our point of view it is a two day (Friday early AM and Saturday) affair with parties and celebrations (official and unofficial) beginning after the Friday big graduation. Our daughter’s Acting Class is toying with having a family barbecue Friday afternoon after the University-wide graduation but that’s just what this class of 15 have decided to do and then our daughter and her friends are having the family dinner at the Orrington later Friday. </p>
<p>For the SoC the “official” family event is after their convocation Saturday. And actually the SoC is having two convocations dividing up the different departments to keep the numbers more reasonable. </p>
<p>Oh, and you can’t make reservations more than one year or slightly less than one year in advance, but do mark your calendar for the one year mark and begin calling then.</p>
<p>momof3sons - I don’t know if they’ll change to Friday next year but I do know that the Theatre Dept. was originally at the 1:30 convocation with RTVF which made my daughter very happy as that took care of most of her two groups of friends but it was then switched to the 5:00 convocation with the Comm. Sci. and Disorders dept. and Performance Studies dept. So within the SoC there is some flexibility. Honestly, after four years, what’s another hotel night?</p>
<p>Absolutely true about the extra hotel night, AMTC. I was thinking about any relatives who might come. I do think that it would make some sense to have Theatre and RTVF majors together. For example, my Theatre major son worked in films being produced by RTVF majors. </p>
<p>In any case, have a wonderful graduation weekend!</p>
<p>Well, McCormick’s Saturday festivities are at 8:30 a.m. this year (uggh) so I hope they are changed or I’ll probably get a grumpy, hungover daughter for the rest of that day next year ;)</p>
<p>Maybe we will attend COM’s stuff as well in that they haven’t quite realized that our daughter is no longer in the department. </p>
<p>Again, thanks for all the comments and ideas.</p>
<p>momof3sons - we’re too far away for relatives to join us (unless we paid for their flight!) and my husband doesn’t want his mother because of all the walking so that’s not an issue for us. </p>
<p>As far as which departments have convocation together - it’s a numbers game. This is when they call out all the names and really it’s better to even out the totals than for them to be with friends just for this. I don’t know yet but I have a good feeling they will probably attend each others ceremonies.</p>
<p>We will also only have the immediate family at graduation as our son is in CA and we are in MA, and all of us will share one room. It would get outrageously expensive otherwise.</p>
<p>I would surmise the Orrington is already fully booked. We are from the Chicago area (1 hour away from Evanston) so it’s a moot point for us, but for anyone else who is traveling in, if you can’t get a hotel in Evanston within walking distance, I think it’s worth it to just go ahead and get a downtown hotel and spend some time in the city. You can always get hotels along the North Shore / Skokie, and they’ll be fine for your needs, but the city is really fun. I have fond memories that when my parents would come to visit me, they’d always stay downtown, never in Evanston itself.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - you’d be surprised. When we tried to book for daughter’s graduation this year the Orrington (because it is now part of the Hilton chain) did not open up for reservations for about 2-3 weeks after the one year mark. There’s also the Best Western (I think that’s the chain), the other Hilton, and the Margarita European Inn which is scheduled for renovations over the winter. But yes, I would hurry to make reservations for both hotels and restaurants for next years graduation.</p>
<p>Hilton just sold the Orrington. We booked there exactly a year in advance, at the same time that we got a reservation at the Hilton Garden Inn for other family attending graduation. The reservation policy may change with the new owner.</p>
<p>The Orrington rooms became available last Monday (my birthday). I reserved a room for four nights about 30 minutes after it was possible to book. The rates were outrageously expensive for normal mortals (not everyone can afford $400+ per night), but I decided to go for it anyway until rooms in Skokie became available. Within an hour, the least expensive tier of rooms was gone (I checked). The Orrington actually charged our credit card immediately, and there is a 60-day advance cancellation policy. I have already canceled our room, and we will, once again, be staying in Skokie, all of 3 miles away, where we have free parking, free hot breakfast, and a pool, all for less than half the price. I’ve got flights to pay for and, basically, if I have a clean room, I don’t need frills. Oh, the Orrington is still a part of the Hilton chain, as far as I can tell. All my correspondences with them have been through the Hilton.</p>
<p>EnoughAlready,
We stayed at the Best Western in Evanston once, for freshmen move-in I think and would never do it again. It was really run-down when we were there. Since then we’ve mostly stayed in the northern suburbs, and once in Skokie, I think. Can I ask if you picked the Hampton Inn in Skokie? If you don’t want to give the name, I understand, :), but I 'm starting to realize that I have to deal with these reservations for next June very soon!</p>