<p>My son is starting this fall and I have a few questions. Any help is appreciated. Is there any need for him to bring a suit? He doesn't have one that fits so it would be an added expense. When do you buy/rent your books? Should they be ordered before he gets to campus? Does he need a printer for his room? How difficult is it to arrange flights back and forth over the holidays? Thanks for any help</p>
<p>a suit is not necessary yet, but it would be useful if he plans on going to career fairs.</p>
<p>get books after classes start to make sure the listed books are actually required. </p>
<p>most people find printers unnecessary as printers are readily available on campus.</p>
<p>It is always easier to purchase tickets ahead of time, but it is usually expensive around the holidays.</p>
<p>I personally would advise buying the books ahead of time. Prices are already starting to shoot up. I purchased a few used books and rented another. The current prices to the prices when I purchased the books weeks ago is nearly double. On the course guide, you can look through old syllabuses to see if the books are required or not. You can also check wolverine access. A printer is not necessary, as there are printers all around campus. I would strongly suggest purchasing airline tickets months in advance. </p>
<p>Agree with buying used books ahead of time to save $. Also agree with looking for TG and X-mas airline tickets early; now is not too soon. Related, my experience is that students can fly home the Tuesday evening of Thanksgiving as they won’t likely have class that Wednesday.</p>
<p>Is it true that classes are often cancelled the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? We live in Phoenix and it is hard to get home after a class that ends at 4 on Wednesday. Many schools have that Wednesday off but we don’t like our S to miss classes. It is annoying when they cancel at last minute because it doesn’t help with airline reservations He has four classes on Wednesday so we figured it would be stretching to think all 4 would be cancelled.</p>
<p>My son’s UMich science labs were always cancelled during weeks consisting of less than 5 school days (such as Columbus/October break, Thanksgiving week, or last-week of school). However, I can’t recall his Profs ever cancelled any of the lectures during any of those periods.</p>
<p>(P.S.: Instead of saying that labs were cancelled, I probably should’ve said that labs were typically NOT scheduled for weeks with less than 5 school days.)</p>
<p>Yes, used book prices go up when it getting close to semester. I have already purchased a couple used books more than a month ago for my D. Try Amazon, half.com, and ebay.</p>
<p>I’m another parent that would never want my son to miss a single class. But, after three years I’ve learned, classes are very, very likely canceled on the Wed before Thanksgiving. It never was a problem for him to come home Tuesday evening after classes.</p>
<p>It sure would be nice if they didn’t have class on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Those of us making plane reservations now aren’t really helped by cancellations during the semester.</p>
<p>While Wed-before-Thxgiving lectures were never cancelled in my son’s previous UMich classes, he said that usually there were very few students in the room. In some cases, students had exams either the week before Thxgiving, or early that Thxgiving week, and the Wed lectures were used to discuss exam problems/results, term projects, and/or misc Q&A. In other cases, some Profs would choose to go “slow” on the Wed lectures, allowing students to [hopefully] quickly catch up when they return the next week.</p>
<p>My son’s experience in his Fall-term classes was similar to what’s described in this old thread:
<a href=“Wednesday before Thanksgiving - University of Michigan - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/522628-wednesday-before-thanksgiving-p1.html</a></p>
<p>See some samples of Fall syllabi here for Bio 172,173, Chem 210, 230, etc:
<a href=“Sign in - Google Accounts”>https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/courseguide/</a></p>
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<p>Yes, there is undoubtedly. Though he can buy a suit there if that makes the logistics easier. </p>
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<p>If the suit is a problematic expense, the good news on this one is that the books will be available in the library for free. Usually can be checked out for 2 hours, 4 hours, or 3 days at a time. If he really wants to buy them he can buy them after the first class.</p>
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<p>No, there are plenty of printers around campus.</p>
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<p>They’re not “supposed” to be canceled, if I remember correctly they were kind of sticklers about not canceling for the prerequisite classes that everyone takes. Further into the curriculum they’ll be canceled. However, even in the prerequisite classes, they’ll expect that a very large portion of the class won’t be there and they probably won’t teach any new material.</p>
<p>I do think however that any class that is scheduled to go past 5pm is canceled that Wednesday.</p>
<p>If he plans on rushing a social or business fraternity, then a suit will definitely come in handy. </p>