<p>I'm the mom of a current student who will be a sophmore this year. We attended Parents and Family Weekend last year. I am wondering if this is basically only attended by parents of freshmen. I was hoping to squeak one more year in (wouldn't dare try this junior year!). Any parents from last year - are you planning to go this year??? I don't want my daughter rolling her eyes claiming we are the only parents of non-freshmen attending!</p>
<p>My older son is a senior at Duke this year. We went to Parent’s weekend his first year only. Other parents told me they picked a different weekend to go and a roommate’s parents went parent’s weekend and took them both out.</p>
<p>That said, I think each student will feel differently, so I would go by the student. I will go this year for my son at UD and then see what he wants next year.</p>
<p>We went every year. I’m sure in the latter years she saw it as a few free meals out!</p>
<p>We went freshman year but do not plan on going for sophomore year. The hotels and restaurants really book up and it’s a bit of a mob scene along Main St. We decided that we’d visit another weekend to go to a football game, and take him out to dinner (which is what we’d do on parent’s weekend anyway).</p>
<p>We were part of the group of parents that last year had a priceline reservation and got bumped at the last minute (there’s a CC thread on this from last year).</p>
<p>Here’s a football game question for parents weekend. I know the tix go on sale on Monday. I don’t need to buy for my D since she will get a free student tix, right? (Although, if they aren’t expensive, maybe I will buy her one in case she wants to sit with us – or even visit with us – during the game. LOL.)</p>
<p>We’ve had our hotel reservations since she decided to attend. I heard about the priceline fiasco last year, so made direct reservations with a hotel. I’m sure we will go another weekend next Fall (2011), unless she actually wants us to come for parents weekend.</p>
<p>Ok, so I am confused. Did you say football tickets go on sale this Monday for parents weekend? Is there a schedule of events for the weekend that I am missing?</p>
<p>If you go to the UD website and place your mouse point on the “Community” in the top right of the page you will see a drop down that includes Parents. This will take you to the Parents website and you can click on the Parents Weekend to get the full schedule for all the days. I would recommend parents go at least once.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen a schedule yet. They mentioned at NSO that the tix go on sale on Aug. 2.</p>
<p>On the website they have a general listing of the events for each day. The complete schedule with times and registration should be up on 8/2 (or thereabouts).</p>
<p>Thanks. Will check it again on the 2nd.</p>
<p>I must be the worst mom ever. I can’t stand the though of attending any of those events.</p>
<p>Just saw the schedule and made all our reservations. Looks awesome! H is very excited about Steven Wright at the Bob on Friday night! My S will love that too. Football game, ghost tour. Will be a great weekend with D.</p>
<p>I spent a little extra and bought a ticket for my D for Steven Wright and the game - should she wants to sit with us. In the grand scheme of things, it is totally worth it if she chooses us for at least part of those events!</p>
<p>Zoosermom: Try to get in the spirit of the school! I’m sure you will get enjoyment out of watching your D enjoy it all! It must be hard if you didn’t have this experience yourself. However, it will be good bonding with your D if you can share it with her. </p>
<p>(Sorry for the soapbox. I just finished reading the book recommended by the UD psychologist at NSO: Letting Go - Parents Guide to Understand the College Years. Some is basic, but it does offer a perspective on college life today and what your D/S is going to go through. Really worth reading for anyone who did not go away to college.)</p>
<p>
Yeah, I don’t know about that. We’re not the townhall meeting kind of people. (You may not have noticed, but I snuck out of part of the NSO!) I’m totally up for spending the day with her and having dinner, whatever, but I don’t love the planned activities. I wonder if other people just do their own thing.</p>
<p>I’m sure plenty of people do their own thing. They just have all these activities for those who want to get involved in the college experience while they are there. It’s not for everyone. You never know… you might love the rah-rah of the football game!</p>
<p>My H will not be thrilled about some of the meet and greet type of things. But the Steven Wright concert is a big draw for him, as well as for my S! H has not even been to UD yet… I definitely want him to get a feel for the place (in addition to the craziness of move-in, which he will definitely be a part of!).</p>
<p>My daughter was a freshman last year and we attended parents weekend. The only school sponsored activity we did was the football game and the barbeque before the game - which had horrible food. The rest of the weekend we just hung out and explored. On Sunday we made a side trip to Longwood Gardens which was about 1/2 hr away. It was a very nice weekend.</p>
<p>We will be attending again this year, but it will probably be our last year and we will be skipping the before game food sponsored by the college.</p>
<p>We went last year and did not go to the football game because the timing was bad and I wanted to go out for a good meal (it was Delaware Dines Out week, aka Restaurant Week so there were good deals). It was probably the only game my son missed all year.</p>
<p>If you’re going, you might want to make reservation at the student-run restaurant on campus for Friday lunch or dinner. I was sorry we did not do that last year, but I don’t think we were there in time for lunch, and we went to Hillel for dinner.</p>
<p>Also, since I wasn’t getting any of the pay tickets and refused to pay their $5 service charge for ordering tickets to free events, I did not have any tickets. However, we were able to walk right up and do the ghost tour by showing up at the appropriate time, even without tickets. We found it very entertaining, I definitely recommend doing it.</p>
<p>BTW, despite the Priceline fiasco last year, I would still use them, even for parents weekend. Worst case make a cancelable reservation with another hotel as a backup (just remember to cancel it in time). I have a Priceline hotel in DE this week (my son is doing Arrival Survival and moving in Thursday but we are staying 2 nights so we can go to Green Dragon Market in Ephrata, PA Friday), and I got the Courtyard by Marriott for $42, which was surprising since I’d gotten the Hilton previously and I thought that was their hotel of choice down there.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember you do not need to buy brunch tickets – your child should have guest passes as part of their meal plan which can be used for your meals. That is what we did.</p>
<p>What was the priceline fiasco last year. I was about to book through priceline for parents weekend?</p>
<p>The Hilton had several guests that did not leave as expected and a few days before the weekend were informed that our rooms would not be available. Those of us with Priceline reservations for that weekend were left with only 2 choices - money back or the Quality Inn in New Castle. I’ve used Priceline without incident for years and found their customer service to be incredibly poor with this incident. I would strongly suggest for high demand weekends (check the Dover NASCAR schedule!) making a refundable reservation elsewhere and cancelling once you arrive at the Hilton (or other Priceline hotel.
Also, to parents of seniors - make your graduation reservations now! Most of the hotels have nonrefundable, higher rates and 2 night minimums for that weekend.</p>