<p>A little advice/reassurance for a first timer -</p>
<p>We will be bringing #1 son on Thursday but we have to head back home by noon on Friday. Just how involved are the parents in orientation? We assumed that most of the events would be directed at the news students but after reading some posts of parents staying until Monday evening we are feeling a little guilty. Will there be plenty of things to keep him occupied?</p>
<p>Most of it is directed towards the students, and parents generally don’t come along – except for convocation. I think most parents probably stay till monday to make sure their kids are settled down, their kids have all the stuff they need for their dorm, etc.</p>
<p>We’re leaving early too. Look at it this way, kx, this will give your son the push to start bonding with his new classmates, instead of hanging out with his parents all weekend.</p>
<p>I honestly wish my parents had left earlier than they did, because I felt so guilty over how little time I was spending with them.</p>
<p>(I was certainly happy to have them there though).</p>
<p>Your son will be plenty busy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info - we definitely are not helicopter parents & he is fairly independent but it is reassuring to know we won’t be leaving him with to much time on his hands.</p>
<p>I went through it last year. The only real parental necessity is convocation ---- you seriously do NOT want to miss that. Other than convocation, you can stay or leave, attend “stuff” or not attend “stuff”. I’m here a year later to say I survived it. I agree with Johnson181, in that my son was very busy.</p>
<p>Tomorrow, he departs for WashU as a sophomore. (He’s heading up one of the Pre-O’s.) I had a whole bunch of sappy nostalgia written out, but then realized this is a WashU forum, and not a Parents forum thread entitled “OMG, my baby is leaving!!!”</p>
<p>:::straightening up, putting on the poker face:::</p>
<p>kx, we too will have a very short visit. We arrive Wednesday evening and take a 6:00am on Friday, so we won’t be hanging around either. Hopefully we won’t miss the convocation. </p>
<p>Our schedule gets a bit confusing since DS will already be in St Louis for pre-O, but he’s off campus until Wed evening.</p>
<p>Convocation is thursday, the 26th, if any parents were interested to know.
(It’s always the first day of orientation)</p>
<p>It says in the online schedule that the overflow seating is in the Rec gym. Does that mean that parents need to get there early to get a seat in the main building? Also, is the 9-10 PM celebration in the quad after convocation just for students?</p>
<p>Yes I’d recommend getting there early to get seats. And the celebration is for everyone, it’s really casual and they give out Ted Drewes custard. Nothing really scheduled goes on…just a chance to mingle, congratulate kids, etc.</p>
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<p>Last year convocation was packed. Get there early, sit up in the balcony, and you’ll see a sight (and hear sounds) that will stay with you the rest of your life.</p>
<p>Afterwards, parents “light the way” to the quad, as the students walk between the lines of the parents. It’s quite moving; as a parent, I still get chills when I think about it.</p>
<p>So, if convocation starts at 7:30, how much in advance should we get there? </p>
<p>@heyalb, it sounds like a wonderful evening, especially the part about the students walking between the line of parents. I’m sure I’ll get all emotional. </p>
<p>@marcdvl, I’m unfamiliar with Ted Drewes. Is it a local custard, or something that is available throughout the Midwest?</p>
<p>Ted Drewe’s is a local custard. The pre-packed cups that they hand out on campus are okay, but the real fun is to go to the original store-front on Route 66 and order it there. It’s an experience. <a href=“http://www.teddrewes.com/Drewes.asp[/url]”>http://www.teddrewes.com/Drewes.asp</a></p>
<p>I’d go like an hour early to Convocation. Ted D. is a local frozen custard with several stores in St. Louis. Wash U has it every year for convocation, and other random events.</p>
<p>[Ted</a> Drewes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Drewes]Ted”>Ted Drewes - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>HeyAlB: your descriptions give me the chills. What else should we do during our trip?</p>
<p>limabeans, I was so burnt out from a combination of the long trip, emotional convocation, and the sadness of “abandoning my son on a different planet”, that it wasn’t until Parents Weekend that I was able to really enjoy myself. All we did (beyond convocation) was attend a lecture by the WashU prof who wrote “Letting Go”.<br>
It was a tough couple of days for me.</p>
<p>We didn’t need to move in our son, per se, because he got there early to do Pre-O. By the time we arrived for Parents/Freshman Orientation, he was all settled in. So all I needed to do was be sad.</p>
<p>If you’re moving your son in on that first day, it would surprise me if you actually had time to take in any of the “fluff stuff” that was offered.</p>
<p>Parents Weekend, now that was a blast. But that’s a different thread. ;)</p>
<p>heyalb, thanks for your post. Took D to the airport this morning to leave for Pre-O. I must admit this is far more difficult than I anticipated (even knowing we will see her later this week). She sincerely is perfectly fine with it (has been anxious to go all summer). That is all that matters, of course. I wll be sure to attend the “Letting Go” seminar (I certainly seem to need it…!).</p>
<p>Yep, we dropped off our son to the airport and pre-O this morning. I’ve been sad all day. No tears or anything, but sadness nonetheless. I hate change. I so dislike the fall and soon-to-be cold weather. My son is beyond ready, but I’m not there yet.</p>
<p>He also didn’t want me to bother going to Parent’s Weekend. He went to both my other kid’s weekends (different schools) and felt we should skip his. But that’s a different thread. heyalb, I’ll have to ask you about that.</p>
<p>Parents Weekend is somewhat pointless – there’s noting really going on, hotels are double their usual price etc. I’d pick some other weekend to visit.</p>
<p>Is it harder for freshmen living in singles to find others to hang out with during orientation, since they don’t have the ready made friend of having a roommate?</p>