<p>I’m attending cal poly in the fall as a transfer, and I’m definitely attending SOAR, but I was curious how important it is for my parents to attend. They already went to open house with me and checked out the campus and downtown and stuff, so I was just wondering if it was worth the fee and the hotel for my parents to attend, seeing as I would just stay with friends or something. Thanks!</p>
<p>Believe it or not, SOAR is actually just as important for your parents as it is for you. The students and parents get separated immediately upon arrival and have different programs. You will not see your folks until the end of the day. The parent program covered a lot of very important issues including financial topics. As a parent, if I had missed SOAR I would have had about $4,000 in refunds delayed or sent to the wrong place this year. Also, my timing of how and when to pay would have been off and my kid could have lost his classes. I knew nothing about these things prior to the program.</p>
<p>Additionally, I learned a lot about the Cal Poly parent program and got several contacts that ended up being central to my kid’s success they year.</p>
<p>Can somebody explain what SOAR is? I got a very glossy piece of literature in the mail from Cal Poly about it, which I’m sure the school spent thousands of dollars printing, saying “You should come!” but not a single sentence of it actually explained what it was. D’oh!</p>
<p>I learned a lot from SOAR. The format is going to be a bit different than it was 2 years ago when we attended, but I’m sure there will be an abundance of information. I realize it’s not mandatory and you will hear from others who don’t think it’s necessary at all. However, for me, I’m glad we went as a family. I registered myself and our daughter (I got a free canvas bag with goodies), but just paid for the box lunch for my husband. That way he could attend all of the events and presentations, as well as getting lunch. He just didn’t get the bag. “Who cares!”, he said. :)</p>
<p>To LizW47:</p>
<p>Here’s the schedule explaining a bit about SOAR:</p>
<p>[Soar</a> - Summer Orientation Program - Schedule - Student Life & Leadership - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/soar/schedule.php]Soar”>http://www.studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/soar/schedule.php)</p>
<p>Liz, I believe SOAR is more geared for freshmen undergrads…kids leaving home for the first time to go away to college. At least that was the impression I got when we attended back in 2010 when our daughter was a barely-18 year-old freshman. I could be wrong, of course. But, I don’t think I would fly all the way out here just for SOAR. Of course, you mentioned that you’ve never been to California, so it might not be a bad idea to kill two birds with one stone. I know you work fulltime, though, so it might not be feasible.</p>
<p>2Leashes, you have been very helpful! The SOAR program for out-of-state students is apparently on September 12th, and I will have already been moved in and started classes by then (my program starts earlier than most). So since I am already going to be on campus, maybe I will register!</p>