<p>I had to miss the ceremony for the first-years on Monday. Anyone want to share a description?</p>
<p>Holy cow! Why in the world did they decide to spread move-in and convocation over two days, one of which is a work day? That is so awful for parents! It’s terrible for anyone with a job, and even if you can stay it subjects you to dealing with your kid after a first night of partying in the dorms, something no one should want to do. Plus, it stretches out what is already a looooooong goodbye if it happens on one day. What value is there possibly in having parents around for the better part of two days? How utterly awkward!</p>
<p>I am sympathetic with the idea that maybe O-Week is a tad too long – it seems to pack two or three days of activity into eight – but this shortens it only by one day, and renders Monday useless for actual business. For the money families are paying, Zimmer, Boyer et al. can certainly suck it up and show up for work Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>Awful, awful, awful idea! I am so glad I got to go to the convocations when they happened on Saturday, with kids who were not yet hung over, and I could go home Sunday morning. If my kids were starting at Chicago now, I would feel much less warmly about the University without experiencing the emotional thump of convocation.</p>
<p>I logged in to CC to see if anyone else was sharing the glow from Sunday and Monday. Despite the rain putting somewhat of a damper on moving in, we had a wonderful time. I loved having two days to spend getting to know the campus better, eating in the dining halls and enjoying the last moments with my daughter. Since we had to drive from Philadelphia, I knew I would have to take vacation from work one way or the other. I planned ahead and felt absolutely no resentment. The sessions on Monday morning were very informative and the questions posed by parents were largely succinct and helpful. We lingered over lunch and thought we wouldnt make it into Rockefeller Chapel for the opening convocation, but we did. Some of the speeches were a tad on the long side, but the overall feeling was one of excitement and pride. After the convocation, as we followed the bag pipers through the quad, the admissions office folks were lined up with funny signs that said things like Youre Welcome. That made our family smile at a time when we were feeling a little blue as we anticipated parting. My daughter hugged her parents and sisters, went through Hull Gate, and that was that. It was nicely symbolic. No awkwardness at any time during the two days. There was a nice reception for parents and other family members. I saw no young persons who looked hung over on Monday. If any were, I feel sad for them that they lacked the foresight and self-control necessary to avoid drinking themselves into a stupor on their first night at college.</p>
<p>While I thought it was stupid that convocation was on Monday, I was pretty stressed out during O-Week (picking/registering for classes, taking the placement tests, auditions, attending info sessions, learning about RSOs). I didn’t have much down time until the weekend with the Explore Chicago trips, so I don’t how effective it would be to shorten it. Of course, many of those activities are optional, so it definitely could be shortened…but it was nice to have an entire week.</p>
<p>I agree with JHS about the two days for the families. Even though we stayed through Monday we had to catch a flight back and were not able to go to the bagpipe ceremony. As it turned out, Sunday was exciting, stressful, kind of sad, and wet enough that on Monday morning we ended up at a museum and let our son start making his own way at the university. </p>
<p>A UChicago story: I was worried my son’s Sirius Black poster might come off a little nerdy but when we walked into his house they had decided to play up the Harry Potter angle and decorated the place with Hogwarts type things, including photocopies of the Sirius Black wanted posters.</p>