<p>What is the parent orientation like? My S will have orientation on Monday and I am attending the parent version. Will there be walking tours like we did in the spring? Just wondering, because of the SC heat. What else should I expect?</p>
<p>I’m not sure which department your son is in, but my S in in the engineering dept and we took the bus to the engineering building and did not have to do any walking. Other departments depending on how close they are may walk. Be prepared on placement test day that the testing process is about 2 hours. I always travel with a good book so I was able to entertain myself but many were caught off guard. I had not been to campus yet when we went so I wasn’t familiar with it at all or where I might be able to find a bottle of water, but walking or not, it sure was hot and I was extremely thirsty! Be sure to bring quarters for the meters if you will be driving to campus, they are extremely strict about the parking and issue tickets like crazy. I thought the student guides were very helpful and candid in their answers to parents questions. You will be split up from your S after the initial speaker and will go separate ways until lunch time where you will meet up again and then after lunch you will both go separate ways again until the end. It is a long day, but I found it to very informative and overall kind of fun!</p>
<p>MeKimber provided a great overview of what parents might expect. I know last year parents of honor college students walked over to Maxcy to meet with the Dean. Wear comfortable walking shoes and appropriate clothing for the SC summer heat. MeKimber was not joking about quarters for the parking meters. It wasn’t until my last visit to Columbia to pick up my daughter from her freshman year that I managed to leave town without a citation. Thankfully the penalities are a lot less than in the DC area!</p>
<p>I agree with MeKimber. Our S is an engineering major as well and we did not have alot of walking. I found the initial group session, department session, and the student orientation leader Q and A the most interesting. You should be able to know your S’s dorm by lunch and hopefully can visit it during the housing tour at the end of the day. We skipped out on a few scheduled sessions and just relaxed or explored ourselves. But it is a very fun and informative day. Enjoy!</p>
<p>PS> MeKimber…maybe we can keep in touch since both of our S’s are Engineering majors and are out of state. what dorm is your son in?</p>
<p>My S is in capstone. How about you? I would love to keep in touch, please feel free to PM me if you’d like. I also have a daughter that will be looking at colleges in Virginia for the Fall 2010. She is very interested in Virginia Wesleyan and Roanoake. Do you know anything about either of those schools?</p>
<p>Thanks for the great tips for orientation. I am anxious to find out my son’s dorm assignment. Good luck to both of you, as well as for your sons. Who knows…maybe they’ll all end in the same place. My son is planning on going into nursing.</p>
<p>MeKimber and proud2baHoo,
My son also was a computer engineering major for 2 years - and just switched to computer science. He was also in Capstone and Capstone year 2. This summer, he’s on campus doing research for one of the engineering professors. We have all been very pleased with the computer science and engineering depts. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer them!</p>
<p>Thanks Greenville. It would be great to have an experienced someone to turn to as needed. And I sure I will be “in need” plenty of times…haha. Thanks, I will definitely keep in touch.</p>