Hi! Son SIR’d Davis today.Woo! We live in Southern CA.
Anyone can weigh in on the option to stay an extra night before orientation for ppl 3+ hours away?
Is it worth it? ~50ish dollars more per person? We probably won’t get in til some time after 9pm. Is it better to just stay at a hotel at that hour? Any one have experience with this event? Esp the family portion of the even? Any advice or input?
Thanks!
Aggie parent here. My husband, son and I did the extra night option (Pre-orientation event) for Freshman orientation. We are also from Southern California and we flew up to Sacramento and used the Davis Airporter shuttle to campus which allowed my son to get familiar with flying home on Winter and Spring Breaks routine.
We arrived late afternoon so son checked into the dorms for the 1st night while my husband and I stayed at the Hyatt Place on campus during the orientation. We wanted to give him a little independence and the ability to see how it would be in the dorms on his own.
The orientation can last till 5 pm the 2nd day since all students will register for classes, so if you are driving home, you might want to stay an extra night and start fresh in the morning. This will give you time to explore the town and the surrounding area a bit.
The Hyatt Place is a great option and they have bikes for use so after the 1st day of orientation, my husband and I explored campus while the students had their own night time activities.
Much of the information you will receive during the Family (Parent orientation) can be found the UCD website, but I found networking with other Aggie parents was helpful. Since it was our first experience as parents having our son going off to college, I wanted to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible. It also gave my son time to find a roommate for his first year. One of the two students which were assigned for his dorm during Freshman orientation became his 1st year roommate.
We had a good experience at the Freshman orientation and consider making it a nice mini vacation for the family. If you have extra time, consider visiting Sacramento, Capital park, State Railroad museum and the many other sights in the area.
We are also from southern California. We also stayed at the Hyatt. My child stayed with us the first night and in the dorm for the other two nights.
Thank you for sharing your experiences @Gumbymom and @lkg4answers! This info really helps!
@momjus101 You are very welcome. I have a child who is a sophomore at Davis so am just a couple years ahead of you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
As Gumbymom said, there is nothing at orientation that you couldn’t find on the website but the program (although long) is very well done and seems to address any questions or concerns that parents might have.
As an OOS from the east, we’d be looking at 3 nights to attend the summer orientation session or a red-eye flight back. Is there a significant advantage to registering for classes in terms of availability/slots if we attend on in the advising you would get? Thanks!
@doglov7: All students on the 2nd day of orientation are given a spot to register for their classes which is near the end of the day. You do not get to pick your registration time, only which orientation dates you will attend.
Thanks @Gumbymom Apologies, my question was unclear. Trying to decide if it is worth attending one of the regular orientation sessions or to wait for the national/international orientation session right before the fall term begins. The main concern is getting into the desired classes if we wait and how hard it is to figure out registration on your own. If you don’t attend the July orientation for the Ag College, it seems registration is a separate process that occurs sometime in August with remote advising. The website does not have much info on how this works. Thanks again.
@doglov7: If you do not attend the July AG orientation, then class choices could be limited in August. Each orientation tries to open up spaces for the most common Freshman courses, but popular times and professors may be filled.
If possible, I highly recommend attending the College specific orientation in July. Part of the 2 day orientation is meeting with an academic advisor to make sure you select the best possible courses and to maneuver the registration system since Winter registration starts again at the end of October.