<p>Strangely enough I was told that my parents and I should book a hotel room for moving day this week or so to ensure that we have a spot come August. Does anybody know what day freshmen move into their dorms? On the letter I received it says that classes start on the 28th (of August) I believe and people move in on the 22nd, but is there some sort of orientation that freshmen move in early to? Basically... for what date should my parents book the hotel room if I were to attend all pre-orientation events?</p>
<p>they'll mail you something. for my year it was august 17</p>
<p>thanks AnbuItachi, I'll keep my eyes open!</p>
<p>I think you can find the info on the Cornell website if you scout around. Look for a calendar of events for Fall 2008. I would not wait unless you want to be sleeping in a hotel an hour plus from campus on that first morning.</p>
<p>You parents should book their hotel for Orientation and First Year Family Weekend (if they are coming of course) ASAP.</p>
<p>Orientation - Friday, August 22, 2008 (you should check-in on Thursday)</p>
<p>First Year Family Weekend - Thursday, October 24- Saturday, October 26, 2008</p>
<p>To answer your question about Orientation - there is no required pre-orientation, unless you are a special case, i.e. international students, ROTC, etc. Orientation happens simultaneously with moving-in. It sounds chaotic but it's extremely organized. </p>
<p>There are some pre-orientation elective opportunities - POST (Pre Orientation Service Trips) and Wilderness Reflections - they are described on page 4 of the attached PDF. You'll find out more about signing up for these programs in the Spring. If you are uber-curious, I've attached last year's Orientation guide. The Orientation programs vary each year, but this gives you a decent idea. <a href="http://newstudentprograms.cornell.edu/orientation/PDFs/Orientation_Guide2007.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://newstudentprograms.cornell.edu/orientation/PDFs/Orientation_Guide2007.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here's last year's Family Handbook... you can download the PDF directly from that site if you want. It offers all sorts of information for your parents, including info about travel. Cornell</a> University Family Handbook</p>
<ul>
<li>Last year's New Students page:
Cornell</a> University :: New Students</li>
</ul>
<p>Be aware that not only do Ithaca hotels/motels fill up for Orientation very early, they also charge more at that time than they normally do. Like double the usual rate, in some instances.</p>
<p>If your parents do not mind driving back and forth, they can save money by getting a motel room in a different community instead. The prices will be higher than normal in nearby communities as well, but not to the same extent as in Ithaca.</p>
<p>I recommend Cortland; it's about a half-hour away from the campus on a good road, and there are some motels conveniently located right off the I-81 exit. Also, there are some useful stores on the road between Cortland and Ithaca, where parents can pick up things that the student needs but forgot to bring (like an extra extension cord).</p>
<p>Even if you're staying in Cortland or another nearby community, get your reservation early. Those who procrastinate end up sleeping in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>If you prefer to stay in Ithaca, you might want to make your reservation at the Ramada. It's right near the mall, which has a multiplex movie theater attached, so you would have something to do on Thursday evening besides just sitting around being nervous.</p>
<p>Get a motel room/rooms for Thursday night (the 21st) for the student and the parent/parents who are coming. The parent(s) will probably want to stay for at least some of the Parent Orientation activities on Friday and Saturday and thus will need a room for one or two more nights, but the student will only be in the motel for one night. </p>
<p>Move-in for Cornell freshmen is amazingly efficient. It has to be because there are very few parking spaces near the freshman dorms. Thus, it is essential for the move-in helpers to get each car unloaded FAST so that the next car can take its place. And they do. You will be impressed. My daughter is a freshman at Cornell this year, and her move-in day was so much more efficient than her brother's move-in at a another university that I was amazed.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add that there is a school of thought that says that your family should get their room reservations for graduation now, but I think this is a bit extreme.</p>
<p>Marian what a terrifying thought! </p>
<p>Thank you everybody for your help, very informative.</p>
<p>Any other info?</p>
<p>Another note: some hotels will have a three night minimum ... Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Friday was move-in and We found there was plenty for us as parents and younger sib to do on Saturday. I particularly enjoyed the Ithaca Farmers Market. We then got up on Sunday, took our freshman out to breakfast and drove home.</p>
<p>(Oh yes -- we also had a car catastrophe in Ithaca with a car that decided to develop major electrical issues in the Target parking lot during a thunderstorm. We had 2 cars in Ithaca for the weekend -- the cargo car and the people car so that wasn't as big a problem as it could have been -- but it did take a lot of time to resolve.)</p>
<p>One other thing to think about: You will be taking a swimming test during Orientation, and for some people it is scheduled on move-in day. </p>
<p>If it were a few decades ago and you were male, you would be taking it in the nude. But this is no longer the custom.</p>
<p>Here are some details about the test: [url=<a href="http://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=1060837200%5DDear">http://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=1060837200]Dear</a> Uncle Ezra - Questions for Thursday, August 14, 2003 - Cornell University<a href="See%20question%201">/url</a></p>
<p>Don't worry if you can't swim well enough to pass the test. All that happens if you flunk (or if you are a complete nonswimmer who can't even attempt the test) is that you have to take Beginning Swimming for PE instead of cooler stuff such as bowling or belly dancing or rock climbing or transcendental meditation or whatever.</p>
<p>woah woah woah! swimming test is the day OF orientation!??! I just had a mini panic attack! so how is moving/orientation/swimming all supposed to happen in one day??? What even IS orienation?</p>
<p>Orientation takes the better part of a week.</p>
<p>You go to lots of meetings.</p>
<p>Very few of these are scheduled on move-in day. You register (not for classes -- just some administrative stuff) and move in to your dorm in the daytime on move-in day. Some people may also take their swim test that day. (If you're female, this is easy. The women's swim tests are given in a building right near the freshman dorms on North Campus. The men have to trek to a different part of the campus. Hah!) Other people will take the swim test later in the week. Then in the evening of move-in day, there will be additional meetings you will have to attend at your dorm.</p>
<p>After that, there will be plenty of other things to do -- some required, some not. By the end of the five days or so of orientation, you will have been fully indoctrinated into all sorts of things, you will have taken placement tests, you will have met with your faculty advisor, you will have obtained a class schedule, and you will have met a lot of people and attended a lot of events where food is served. The food is very good.</p>
<p>There will be plenty of people to help you through all this and plenty of literature sent to you before it all happens. It's not as hard as it sounds.</p>
<p>Hey! I heard some ppl say to like...fly into syracuse (i'm coming from california) and to buy everything up in syracuse (like lamps, extensions cords, bedding, etc) cause ithaca runs out, and then...live there on the night of the 21st. and drive up early the morning of the 22nd? </p>
<p>is it cheaper to live in syracuse...is it smarter to do this? any truth in this at all? </p>
<p>and how long do parents need to stay? can they just fly in the 21? and leave teh 22nd?
thanks!!</p>
<p>You can buy everything you need at Bed Bath & Beyond online and it will be all ready for you to pick up at their Ithaca location. If you change your mind about what you ordered, you can return it. During Orientation week, BB&B is incredibly organized and well-staffed. They set up extra cash register stations on temporary tables... it's really wonderful.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and how long do parents need to stay? can they just fly in the 21? and leave teh 22nd?
thanks!!
[/quote]
It varies...there are a number of factors. If you stay close to Ithaca, as Marian and cnp55 stated, the prices are high and they usually have "minimum stay" requirements. </p>
<p>Other than that, it's a family decision. There will be various activities planned for students with and without their parents (mostly without). You can consult the Family Guide linked above because it's similar every year. I would say about an equal number of parents say good-bye to their kids Friday or Saturday... and there are a few stragglers who enjoy a Sunday brunch with their children. Some kids arrive alone... so parents aren't mandatory! </p>
<p>Flying to Syracuse is a good idea because it's a reliable international airport, as compared to Ithaca which is great when it works - but it's very weather sensitive. I wouldn't stay in Syracuse just to save money. If you want to save $ take Marian's advice and stay in Cortland.</p>
<p>as we had d# 2 with us who was then beginning to look at colleges</p>
<p>we dropped off d # 1 at Cornell- stayed north of Ithaca -- and checked out some upstate schools for d # 2.
and then came back a few days later. This allowed d # 1 to settle in and tell us what she still needed for her room. We picked up all the necessary items in Target or BB and Beyond in the Rochester or Syracuse area. The Ithaca stores were "picked dry" very quickly so we were able to get All the necessary items outside the Ithaca area.</p>
<p>if your parents are able to take a "mini-vacation" and then return to Ithaca for a day, let them know the Finger Lake region and wineries is a great place to vacation.<br>
I do not feel we really missed anything by not staying for parents orientation. I do not think there was too much going on.
But we did go up for Parents week-end. Make your reservations NOW!!
and I agree- if you choose to save money and want to stay outside Ithaca, Cortland is the closest town to Ithaca.</p>
<p>Do parents ever come up for the Apple Festival (I think that's what it's called!) at the end of September and visit their kids? I really want to go, but don't want to be the "parent that's always here to visit"! I guess my question really is...do parents come and visit during the school year, aside from school functions? Thanks!</p>
<p>I now have 2 kids going to school upstate. We haven't made any other visits to either school other than the designated parent week-end-- with one exception.
we took the grandparents to "visit" the grandkids on an "off" week-end. (coincidentally it was the Apple Festival week-end) The grandparents are both over 90- and we decided for MY sanity sake, they were not going to attend graduation. guilt played a bit of a role, so we decided to make the extra trip up to Cornell, so the grandparents could see the campus and where the kids went to school. My other kid is at Cortland, so it really was quite convenient.
we promised our kids that we would do an early dinner, and they wouldn't have to spend Friday/Saturday night with us- so they were fine with our visit.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn't make it too much of a habit to visit the kids while they were at school.<br>
I don't think I would have appreciated my parents visits when I was away at college. But if you genuinely want to Attend Apple festival (too crowded for us to walk around with the grandparents-- and do the Farmers Market too) then you should feel free to make that extra trip or 2 up to Ithaca.
Hotels get booked for the festival week-ends too- so reserve early.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! That's the only weekend I was thinking of, and if I get even the slightest indication that my daughter doesn't want us there, then we definitely won't go!</p>
<p>When is the Apple Festival? and is it in Ithaca?</p>