<p>My daughter is going to Penn State in the fall. Parents' Day is in early October. When visiting, I got the strong hint from a couple of the current students that Parents' Day is a less than ideal time to visit. Just think about it. There are 36,000 undergraduates. If each invited both their parents... So we were thinking of visiting the weekend before instead, thinking we would avoid crowds, etc.
Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this?
Any help appreciated!
Thanks.</p>
<p>I have no experience with this, but my inclination would be to go on the actual Parents’ Weekend, crowds or no crowds. A friend of mine from college whose parents never came to a Parents’ Weekend dreaded it because she felt so lonely when everyone else was with their parents and she wasn’t (we took her out to dinner with us every Parents’ Weekend). I realize you would be there the weekend before, but if all of her friends are off with their parents…it’s hard.</p>
<p>I would make a hotel reservation for the parents weekend. You could always cancel it later if your daughter doesn’t need you to come on that weekend. We went the first year. It was nice to see her settled into her new environment. The second year we went the weekend after parents weekend. It was less hectic and easier to get a hotel room. By then our daughter was so into her school it didn’t matter we didn’t go for parents weekend. Parents weekend is really more for freshmen. Your daughter may feel more left out if you didn’t go the first year. On the other hand, she may not care. It was as much for me as it was for her the first year.</p>
<p>We always went on the actual PW when each of the kids were freshmen for all the reasons previously mentioned. It really is more geared toward freshmen families although lots of upperclassmen families also attend. After that first year, we visited at other times and planned our visits to coincide with campus activities we wanted to attend like exhibits and sporting events. It’s really nice if you can go, but plenty of parents schedule their visits at other times.</p>
<p>If you are thinking on going I would make a hotel reservation now. As you said there are thousands and thousands of other parent who may also be going, you do not want to end up 60 miles from the campus if you decide in the end to go.</p>
<p>We went to parents weekend at PSU when my son was a freshman. The weather was glorious that weekend and the campus looked beautiful. We made hotel reservations for Friday night, took him out to dinner, and then did the parent events on Saturday. Went home Sat. night. </p>
<p>Yes, some of the events were crowded but it wasn’t horrible. I also remember we got some really impt info on housing…things my son either didn’t know or didn’t share with us. </p>
<p>I thought it was fun. </p>
<p>A couple of tips though:
- If you’re willing to spend the extra $ (we were), find restaurants that take a reservation. Otherwise you could be waiting for hours. Zola’s (in town) and Kellys Steak and Seafood are good. Most do NOT take reservations that weekend. </p>
<p>2) Contact them to see if you can get a copy of the schedule before you go. That way you can plan your attendance and determine how long you want to stay. Also, check with any specific programs your kid belongs and see if they’re offering anything. We visited the honors college and met the dean.</p>
<p>3) Get a hotel res NOW. If you can’t find anything in town, look a bit outside…there are some nice bed and breakfasts within a short drive. </p>
<p>good luck -either way you’re sure to have a fun weekend!</p>
<p>^^ I would take this offer. If it is a football weekend, it is already too late to get rooms. My niece is a senior, and last year for her birthday weekend my sister was unable to get ANY room even outside of town because she waited too long. </p>
<p>We went to Rice parents’ weekend when D was a freshman and I thought it was a waste of time. We preferred to save our visits for other events or when she had performances.</p>
<p>mow…it’s an away game that weekend. PSU would never a schedule parent’s weekend for a game weekend…that would be WAY too many folks.
That said, i still think it’s fun to visit. Check the Bryce Jordan center to see if they have any events. Lots of places to walk around (or run around in your case!) The Creamery. Museums. Great college town atmosphere (lots of bars of course, lol).</p>
<p>Our D attends UCLA. It is mostly freshman parents who attend so that cuts it down quite a bit. You should go.</p>
<p>My older brother was a freshman at penn state last year, and while originally my mom planned to go, she changed her mind bc it’s extremely crowded, etc. and my brother didn’t really care.</p>
<p>We ended up visiting during the spring</p>
<p>(If you do end up going, make a hotel reservation ASAP.)</p>
<p>We attended Parents’ Weekend during both our boys’ freshman years. With our older son (not at PSU) we particularly appreciated the chance to meet the parents/families of his suitemates, which would not have happened on another weekend. We had dinner together, emailed photos and kept loosely in touch after the weekend. The boys remained close and we got together whenever everyone was in town, right up to commencement in June, when we attended all the activities together.</p>
<p>PW at PSU is crowded, but relatively tame compared to a football weekend.</p>
<p>Good luck getting a hotel room now for parents weekend in October… I’m not sure this is true for PSU, but my experience has been that most parents only go out to parents weekend for the kids freshman and maybe sophomore years. That’s what we did at our kids colleges. I think the parents weekend takes the pressure off the kids because there are usually events that you can attend with or without the students and they don’t feel they have to come up with something to do.</p>
<p>I vote for going when a visit fits yours and your D’s schedule. My family skipped all 4 Family Weekends for S1. We went when S2 had long weekend from HS, and S1 had a music performance. Really, are you there to visit your kid or be entertained by the schools many parent oriented activities? </p>
<p>S2 just moved in to college, and we won’t visit unless he has a performance, especially since we are 600 miles away and he is a music major.</p>
<p>I am not a “crowd” person anyway, and don’t think my family missed a thing on parents weekends. But then, I don’t go to move-in either. That is my H’s deal.</p>
<p>I think you should attend the first parents weekend. After that you could skip it or go another time. The first one is somehwhat meaningful to both students and parents. It can be nice to partake of the various activities offered with your child. Take lots of pictures…I have fond memories of our first parent weekend. It’s never the same after that, kinda becomes been there done that.</p>
<p>At UCLA we saw no reason to visit on parents’ day and visited on the weekend before. There really wasn’t anything on the schedule for parents’ day that we thought would have helped us - we’d already done tours, attended a special School of Engineering day, etc. </p>
<p>I suggest checking the agenda for parents’ day and seeing if it’s something that’d be beneficial or not and then deciding whether it’s worth attending on that day vs. just going some other weekend where you can walk the campus more leisurely and maybe spend more quality time with your student.</p>
<p>Both of my kids are at big state u’s. We have never been on Parent’s weekend. DH’s job usually precludes travel in the Fall months. Parent’s weekend at their schools is usually on a home football game weekend. They are both instate so it’s not a such a big deal. We see them anytime. S1 once insinuated that he had tailgating plans with his friends for that weekend and that it would not be a parent friendly event,lol.</p>
<p>S is a junior at University of Michigan. We did visit during parents weekend freshman year. I think it was as important for him to us there that weekend as it was for us to be there. We are oos, so we don’t visit often. The school had a great weekend planned for the parents. However, we only did that once. The down side is that everything was very crowded. I do think it’s impt to go to parent weekend freshman year and then you can skip it in the future.</p>
<p>You can usually get a calendar of the events planned for Parents Weekend well in advance. Take a look at it and see if there is anything that you feel might be particularly useful and/or interesting that you would miss if you visited at another time. Most schools will have some special sessions for freshman parents that are helpful. </p>
<p>If nothing on the schedule jumps out at you, then talk to our daughter and visit when it’s most convenient for both of you. She may want you there on Parents Weekend if all of her friends’ parents are coming, or she might prefer that you come another time when it is less hectic on campus. </p>
<p>My son preferred that we schedule our visit for mid-semester because Parents Weekend was “too close to when we just said good-bye.” That way we also got to spend some time with his friends (and he had had a few more weeks to make some friends) and we probably wouldn’t have seen much of them if they were busy with their own parents visiting. After freshman year, my son told us not to bother coming – not that he didn’t want to see us, but he felt it was just not worth the time and money. (We were 2500 miles away from his school.)</p>
<p>I agree that it’s probably already too late to find a hotel room, although it’s worth a try.</p>
<p>One of my kids graduated PSU last May, and also discouraged us from trying to come up that weekend. The crowds are unbelievable. We went up on another weekend instead. </p>
<p>When you pick a weekend, DO NOT PICK A WEEKEND WHERE THERE IS A FOOTBALL GAME. We made the mistake of coming to campus on a football game day once. We sat in traffic for miles. Campus roads were closed and traffic was being directed to alternative roads. Parking was nonexistent. The restaurants were full. The streets were full of partying people. The fields were full of motor homes and tailgaters. Come to think of it, seeing Penn State on a football day was incredible! You’ll want to see it at least once.</p>
<p>I did buy S tickets on Ebay for a few games, since he didn’t get them in the lottery. While S is more of a BBall fan than a football fan, it’s an important Penn State experience before graduation!</p>
<p>Both DH and I are PSU grads and S1 graduated from PSU, too. We still have our season tickets, over 25 years, and he was in the Blue Band. We were there for football games and saw him then. We never went to parent’s weekend and there were enough others without parents that he never felt deprived. At a huge U there will be a LOT of freshmen without parents there. Let student decide.</p>