How important is it for parents to go to orientation. Where is a decent place to stay and do you need to rent a car?
I don’t think anyone can answer how important it is for parents to attend orientation, it’s going to be different family to family, kid to kid. we attended orientation for our oldest son, not knowing what to expect. In the end we didn’t learn much but it helped us feel better about leaving him. since we had a car, we were also able to shop for staples and things he’d forgotten. The other aspect of this is supporting your kid. He (i’ll use he instead of he/she) may need a gradual separation, and certainly will notice his parents are missing while many (most?) parents attend.
We’re planning to attend orientation and parents weekend, we made our hotel reservations for both a long time ago (he was an ed 1 admit), I think tripadvisor is your best at this point. A car is a nice to have, not sure how you’d get to and from the college otherwise, also, at this point, you’re probably not staying in the town of oberlin.
We’re definitely planning to go. Our older D really appreciated our being there to help get her moved in and settled, and was much less excited to see us on parent’s weekend. We reserved too late to get anything in Oberlin, but found a hotel room at a Hampton Inn in Elyria, 10-15 minutes away, and since we’re driving our D and all her stuff we will have a car.
Just want to be sure everybody understands that only the first couple of days of Orientation include parents–their part concludes at 4:30pm on Wednesday, August 26th. And it’s strictly optional–lots of parents (including, obviously, almost all the international parents) don’t attend, or only stay for the first day, and their kids manage just fine. But parents are most welcome if they want to come.
We’re planning to go for the first day and part of the second. We’re staying at a B&B about a half hour from Oberlin. In general, these orientations are more for the kid than the parents, so that’s why we’re going. After this trip, he’ll be taking a plane to and from school by himself, until we drive out for graduation in 2019!
If your kid doesn’t care if you go to orientation, don’t worry about it. When we took our oldest to college a few years ago, many students did not have their parents there, and since the events for the parents are separate, no one knows who belongs to whom anyway. There’s no shame in not going if your child doesn’t seem to need you there. You know your kid!
I don’t think it matters all that much! My parents came to help me move in (I’m from California) and I really appreciated that. Then they left me alone to go about my orientation week activities and they went to theirs. From what I heard, there wasn’t all that much information, so it’s up to you! I’m sure your kid would appreciate you helping him/her move in, but staying for orientation isn’t too important for parents. If you want to stay in the Oberlin Inn on campus, then you need to book way in advance; however, it isn’t all that nice from what I’ve heard from literally everyone. I would say try to stay at a B&B nearby (there are really nice ones) or a hotel/inn in Elyria or a nearby city.
DD is a Oberlin graduate. I remember orientation as being well done- went to a few of the parent programs. The parent picnic was quite nice. In our visits to Oberlin, we usually stayed in Westlake or University Circle area of Cleveland. Half hour to 45 minute drive to Oberlin but better hotel and more dining choices worked for us. DD liked the expanded shopping opportunities with the 'Rents!