<p>I kind of remember this coming up on here but I couldn't find the thread.</p>
<p>According to info I read recently there are actually two move-in days.</p>
<p>They list August 31st as a kind of early arrival day, they say especially for people coming in from a long distance, that will go from 1pm until 4pm. Nothing other than the move-in will go on that day. </p>
<p>The "regular" move-in day is Sept. 1st from 9am until 12pm.</p>
<p>I just wanted to post this in case anybody hasn't seen this notification as yet. </p>
<p>If you can, I recommend coming a day early - my D no 1 started at Smith 2 yrs ago - we did that. You can get your room key and start settling in - but dining halls do not open for the girls until the next day - so she stayed with us in the hotel until the next day. There are always things to buy to set up the room - so the obligatory visits to Target and other stores need to be done. Even with the extra day, things tend to be rushed, exhausting and tensions can run high. This also gives us parents a chance to look around Northampton.</p>
<p>And setting up local bank account, going <em>back</em> to Target to get the stuff you forgot the first time, the drug store and book store to get things that weren’t worth the cost of shipping or for which there wasn’t room in the car. And if you’re obtaining a refrigerator other than through the convenient but otherwise not terribly good rental service, there’s <em>that</em> trip to Best Buy…</p>
<p>N.B., we didn’t forget stuff at Target, TheMom had thoughtfully produced an all-inclusive spreadsheet showing various items as in luggage, shipped, or to be bought locally, neatly organized by categories. But doing all that stuff required trips to more than one store. Oh yeah…picking up some of the stuff for the room, everything from a desk lamp to fan to… For those of you living close enough to drive, this is no biggie. For those of us who flew in, the two-suitcase limitation meant doing some serious triage re cost/efficiency.</p>
<p>Banking tip - if you want to easily deposit money for your child - you can use either TD Bank or Bank of America and open an account before you reach Northampton. I live in NY and am able - when the emergency arose - to add money to her account.</p>
<p>akebias- this was my thinking exactly, so I’ve booked our hotel room for the 31st. We are only 3 hours away, but we would have to leave too early on the 1st to make it on time plus it will be better having extra buffer time for all the setting up and last minute shopping. I’m sure it could all be quite overwhelming on Sept. 1!</p>
<p>Any recommendations on banks? There are quite a few in the area. We are from out of state and, unfortunately our hometown bank does not have a branch anywhere in MA. This will make sending D money less convenient </p>
<p>Can anyone recollect what the parents’ portion of the orientation includes?</p>
<p>My D has TD Bank - and - you just need the account no. to deposit money. Fill out a deposit slip - they are happy to take your money. We do not bank at TD Bank - we use a credit union. TD Bank has worked fine for her - but it was a coin toss for us which bank to choose. Good luck!</p>
<p>I used Bank of America, because I wanted to be able to access my account back home on the West Coast and have my parents be able to deposit money in my account if necessary from BofA branches back home (this turned out to be a very useful feature), even though they do not have BofA accounts. Once I got set up with my BofA account in Northampton, that became my primary account, and I stopped using the account at the local credit union where my parents bank (though they keep it open for me, in case I ever want to leave the smothering embrace of corporate banking). </p>
<p>It was also convenient when I did study abroad and semester in Washington, because BofA has reciprocal deals with banks throughout Europe that allowed me to withdraw money without paying fees and also, obviously, there are BofA’s in Washington, DC. </p>
<p>I know some people have had issues with BofA’s customer service (or lack there of…) but I’ve banked with them for years now and had zero problems as far as checking and credit goes (I do savings elsewhere). </p>
<p>TD Bank is good if you live on the East Coast, but they don’t have branches everywhere. As far as I know BofA is the only coast to coast bank with a branch in Noho.</p>
<p>Also, they will have (or they did have when I was a student) representatives from the various banks at central check in, so you’ll have the opportunity to peruse their wares while you pick up your keys.</p>
<p>D used TD Bank with no problems. When living in DC, she used Citibank, which has branches both in DC and California, for that ability to have local deposits that she could access there…was helpful when she received some checks here that we could deposit. Her account was out of the local California branch, part of establishing and maintaining a paperwork trail for in-state residency if the issue ever came up. (Undergraduate college generally isn’t considered a problem for residency issues, working after college is a little trickier.)</p>
<p>Go as early as you can, or arrange to meet your roommate at the same time so you can be as fair as possible in divvying up the space. I attended Mount Holyoke in the 1980s, and my roommate got to our room about an hour before I did, thus claiming the best bed and the closet inside the room (I was relegated to using a closet in the hall). She was not a nice person and didn’t even offer to flip a coin or anything - she just staked her claim and the heck with me. It was a good insight as to how the rest of the year would proceed.</p>
<p>She transferred the following the year, to pretty much everyone’s relief. :)</p>
<p>Ah. Roommates. D and her connected via e-mail and…I’m a guy, I never would have thought of this…not only coordinated who was bringing what for the “only one needed” items but decided upon their decorative color scheme.</p>
<p>Alas, after such a promising start, I think that was the peak of cooperation.</p>
<p>My roommate and I also communicated via email and worked out what to bring (which was nice because she was driving so she brought our fridge). </p>
<p>I arrived several days before my roommate, but the bed and closet space was equal where we lived, so I just took the one farther away from the door. If there is a big discrepancy, it is considered nice to wait and talk to your roommate just to be fair, but if it’s all pretty much equal, I say to go for it.</p>
<p>It seems like there is an inordinately large amount of single rooms. Do freshwomen get those or are they mostly for upperclasswomen? My d is hoping for a roommate. And the townhouse-style houses (4 bedrooms, kitchen, living room etc.) are those mostly for seniors?</p>
<p>:-) They’re First Years, like in Harry Potter, not freshwomen (it’s less of a mouthful). First years do sometimes get singles, it depends on what house they’re in and what the availability is. Smaller houses, especially those on Green Street or certain ones on Center Campus are less likely to have singles for first years. Larger houses, or houses that are all singles, like King-Scales, are obviously different. </p>
<p>The Friedman Apartments aren’t available to first years (nor are the co-op houses) and after that they’re pretty much just available to seniors. Demand is very fierce for them and oftentimes seniors don’t even get them unless they have a senior with extra seniority in their group when they apply (meaning a senior who accelerates so that they graduate from Smith in January instead of graduating with their class in May. They have extra seniority over other seniors).</p>
<p>Is there any reason parents should plan to stay overnight on September 1st? Are there events that include parents after that day? We just got a parents’ letter giving us a heads-up about Orientation starting on Sept. 1 but it doesn’t have details about that, though we are encouraged to make hotel reservations. We have family 45 minutes away so we could stay with them the evening of Sept 1st if we are free to leave (expected to leave, even?) but it would be a bit of a hassle if there is a reason to be back in the morning on the 2nd.</p>
<p>Honestly, there’s not much reason for parents to be there past move in and last minute trips to the store. Yes, there are a few events, but none are terribly compelling so my parents skipped them. Unless your the type to want to sit through them, I’d say plan to leave after move in. Your kid will be making new friends and will want to be off on her own</p>
<p>I remember vaguely some parent seminars - but there is an assembly of parents and students in Greene hall and a reception on the lawn afterwards. After that parents are advised to cut the cord.</p>
<p>With D’s permission I wandered around the event on the green where there were reps from the various departments. Glad I did; based on input from one of the departments, D decided to take Latin I the first semester, preserving the option of becoming a Classics major. This necessitated tearing apart her schedule and putting it back together again. I borrowed a master schedule from one of the professors and found that her schedule could be rejuggled such that she took mostly the same classes at different times. The net was Latin I in, one other class to be deferred out.</p>
<p>D was somewhere between panicked and ****ed at the professor who told her (accurately) that if she didn’t take Latin I first semester, that was foreclosing the option of the Classics major. </p>
<p>Obviously, she didn’t become a Classics major but in the long run she was still glad she took the two semesters of Latin so it all worked out. But in the heat of the moment, I don’t think she could have focused on the pages of the schedule and she had other profs to talk to.</p>
<p>So about what time is “cord-cutting” time (LOL) in reality? Smith told me everything ends at 5 pm for parents. I booked a hotel for that night just in case because although we’d like to get out asap, we may be too tired for the 3 hour drive home.</p>
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