<p>If I've got the right Virginia Congressman, his kids chose Swarthmore over dad's legacy status at Amherst.</p>
<p>"We're looking forward to Parents' weekend this year: my only complaint is that I wish they had it in October rather than April."</p>
<p>Yup, we're not going to Parents' weekend. I would have gone if it was in October, when the need to see what Swat is like was more urgent. Now, I go there quite often and neither my son nor any of us seem to be that interested...maybe next year.</p>
<p>
[quote]
my only complaint is that I wish they had it in October rather than April
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</p>
<p>I disagree. I think having "family" weekend in the Spring makes perfect sense. New students have a chance to settle in my son, for example, actually knows his way around (most of the) campus. This could not be said in October (as relatively compact as the campus is). He feels as though he belongs at school now.</p>
<p>Friendships stabilize. Its not just the roommate and floor mates who make up the entire circle of friends. For the socially slow starters (my son included), this means everything. People to introduce to his parents.</p>
<p>Three quarters of the academic year are behind them. The anxiety of whether they can cut it at Swarthmore has passed (since they all can, indeed, cut it). A far more relaxed weekend, I suspect.</p>
<p>Finally, the place looks great in April (I was there last weekend; I cant make it this weekend). They didnt name all those flowering trees for nothin.</p>
<p>Have fun.</p>
<p>I think the beauty of the campus with the dogwoods and everything in full bloom is the reason for the April date. We are doing split duties here. Wife is flying down for Parents Weekend. I get to do the driving duties in a few weeks for the end-of-year pickup.</p>
<p>ohhhhhhh it sounds beautiful. I hope s gets off the wait list!! He should have applied ED!!!</p>
<p>achat and interesteddad, I just want you two to know that you make amazing advocates for Swarthmore and are responsible for the fact that my S was looking it up in Fiske the other day after hearing me talk about how great it sounded.</p>
<p>Thanks, Alumother. My son is happy there, so happy kids make for happy parent-advocates!</p>
<p>Ok... I'm too curious. Even though the other siblings at home will prevent parents visiting Swat, I'll ask. How did you parents get invited to this Parent's Weekend? (And how come I don't know anything about it?) What is it exactly - what do you do while there? Is it the same weekend as the RTT?</p>
<p>It's the annual weekend for parents of current Swarthmore students. I haven't looked at schedule, but basically you take your kid out to dinner and attend a lot of activities geared towards parents.</p>
<p>It's the weekend before Ride the Tide.</p>
<p>Here are a few photos to get everyone pumped for Parents Weekend. </p>
<p>BTW, I any of you visiting haven't gone over to the Scott Arboretum office, I'd recommend strolling around the gardens there and picking up a map of the various gardens around campus. The Aboreteum Offices are just up the hill from Willets, sort of behind the library.</p>
<p>The events are listed on Swat's website:
<a href="http://swarthmore.com/parents/family_weekend/events.html%5B/url%5D">http://swarthmore.com/parents/family_weekend/events.html</a></p>
<p>thanks for the link, casualresponder. Has anyone been to the Crum Regatta? Is it worth seeing? We had to skip it last year.</p>
<p>A photo essay on a recent Crum Creek Regatta:</p>
<p>Hi Janesmith,
I am the parent of a Swat soph and we went to the Crum Regatta last year. It was absolutely hilarious. The Registrar dresses up in ancient (?) Naval costume and officially starts the race. A bunch of random groups of students dragged "boats" which they had constructed down to the water. They were of every material, variety and size, from the sophisticated to the pretty pathetic, the latter which sunk almost immediately. The students climb into their boats and "race" them. It isn't very time-consuming and was a fun way to end the weekend.</p>
<p>Hmmm...after all this discussion, my enthusiasm level went up. We're planning to go on Saturday. Not sure about Sunday - 3 days is a bit too much for the two of us. We'll register there on Saturday. On the other hand, the regatta seems interesting...hmmm.</p>
<p>The Crum Regatta was a lot of fun this year! The "Engineers" won. I took a ton of cheesey photos of the teams and lots of the beautiful foliage all around campus during the Arboretum tour. Since Parents Week-end, the campus has been inundated again - with specs during RTT. Only now are the students settling down to Swat normalcy.</p>
<p>Hi,
My son told us not to come.....he said he is sick of seeing us so often. So we did not go. I do see him quite often, in fact, I saw him this weekend in Philadelphia when we went for a concert. Anyway, thanks for the description.</p>