<p>Been around too long; I am recycling stories.</p>
<p>Student panel for parents of admitted students (prospective students were off doing something else):</p>
<p>Parent: What did you being with you freshman year that you didn’t need?</p>
<p>Male student: Well, there was the dust ruffle my Mom packed…</p>
<p>Dust ruffle LOL here. DS considered the comforter and top sheet a major waste.</p>
<p>Ebeeeeee, many kids consider the top sheet a waste but go for the european sheet-weight duvet with down comforter inside. Why have more than one thing to straighten up in the morning? (Should you be inclined to actuallly do that…) H and I have become converts.</p>
<p>I am needing to move my D 1500 miles to Poughkeepsie, NY. This is my first time for this kind of thing. I went to my home college, as did pretty much everybody I knew. The info I glean from CC is invaluable and I thank everyone who posts. It lets me see that many of us are in the same boat, more or less. I do have a question for you. How much time do you normally spend at the school during move-in? I reserved a hotel room for the night before the dorms open up but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s soon enough. Are parents welcome during orientation? Should I stay? I’m at a loss. Any thoughts or advice would be incredibly helpful. Thank you, other parents.</p>
<p>I’m no expert, but at DS’ school they had a parent orientation. After that was done there was a little down time to spend with him, then it was “the students now need to go to this meeting and the parents need to go home.” There was just time for a quick goodbye – I thought that it was handled really well, actually.</p>
<p>^That’s exactly the way it worked at our son’s school too. Some activities on Sunday, free time for a last dinner and then a firm - “now you parents go home” followed by a week of orientation activities for the freshman.</p>
<p>Thanks for the posts. If Vassar handles move-in like you both have described, I think I can handle it. Where would I be without CC? I’m plagued by the thought that we’re going to get there and I will have forgotten something or screwed up somehow. Again, thanks for the help.</p>
<p>musicmaker, I can just about guarantee that something will have been forgotten! There are stores nearby and the flat rate boxes from the post office are wonderful.</p>
<p>Musicmaker, my son went to college clear across the country. Dorm move-in was on a Sunday morning, and so he and I arrived on the Friday night before that. It’s a 13 hour, three-leg trip, so we arranged to arrive when we did so we’d have a free day (Saturday) before the Sunday morning move-in. Since we flew out we couldn’t take very much with us, but we’d pre-ordered some things from Bed, Bath, and Beyond so we picked that stuff up on Saturday and did some other miscellaneous shopping. We also went to the campus and walked around exploring a bit. That was nice because we’d only been there once before for a couple hours during a college visit trip.</p>
<p>We got to eat dinner out together for a couple nights that way before move-in day. He and I had traveled a lot together in the past due to his sports activities, so it was kind of like that for us. Very fun.</p>
<p>Sunday, move-in day, was busy with both student and parent activities. He and I had lunch together in the dining hall, and with his roommate, too, who was an international student who traveled there by himself. I was kind of temporary mom for him for a couple hours.</p>
<p>My son and I crossed paths from time to time that day. The next day, Monday, there were more orientation activities for parents up until lunch. At that point I took my son out to lunch and then we said goodbye.</p>
<p>The college didn’t have any more activities for parents past that point, but neither did anyone say “now go!” or insinuate parents were unwelcome. I appreciated that. Saying goodbye is a different thing for different families, and also there’s a difference for families that live a few hours away and who will see their kids on breaks and whatnot, and families like mine that will not because of the distance and expense.</p>
<p>I’m all for a more organic, personal process and less of the “get rid of the parents” attitude. I think kids and parents can work that out for themselves. By the time I left my son there were still quite a few parents around but I could tell they were in the process of their goodbyes (whether those would take a few more minutes or a few more hours) and would be leaving at some point fairly soon. Could there be some that stayed longer than others would approve? Quite possibly. But in the grand scheme of things, so what? Whose business is that anyway… it’s between the kids and the parents. Families have different styles and an hour longer, a day longer, even a week longer – it’s none of my business.</p>
<p>Thank you for your lovely message. That was exactly the kind of info I was looking for - if only I could find it on the Vassar website. I’m going to see if I can add a day to my hotel res - hopefully I can. The extra day before it all begins sounds like a good idea, although it might make the process even harder than I’m anticipating. Only child, you know. My best friend, really. Well, thank you again.</p>