<p>Taking my daughter down for orientation... anything happening for parents?! Suggestions or
advice on what we "cant miss" while in Bloomington? :)</p>
<p>I can’t believe it was one year ago when we were taking our daughter down for orientation. It seems so long ago now, and I can’t remember the details well. I think there were things for the parents to do most of the first day, and a lot of the first day the parents and students stayed together. I remember dropping my daughter off at Union Street apartments before dinner, then picking her up at the end of the second day at an activities fair in Wells Library. There may have been planned activities for parents on the second day that we skipped. Instead, my husband and I enjoyed exploring the different unique and ethnic restaurants on Kirkwood and 4th Street for dinner, breakfast and lunch and just walking around the beautiful campus. We went to the Mathers Museum the first day (there was a parents’ reception but there were only two other parents there!) and the art museum the second day. One thing these naive parents did during orientation that turned out to be a waste of money was to buy the discounted package of 6 events at the IU Auditorium. My daughter ended up not using any of the tickets!</p>
<p>Check out the FYI (First Year Experience) website. It gives you a bit of information about the parents program. IU Bloomington has a beautiful campus thus I suggest that you spend some time just walking around and exploring on your own. My husband and I are attending orientation with our son in a few weeks. We both graduated from IU Bloomington and we plan on skipping some of the parent activities to visit old haunts. Also there are many unique restaurants and shops in the downtown area right next to the campus.</p>
<p>Wanted to add: Parents can stay in Wilkie… didnt know that when I booked my hotel room. You dont even need reservations. Your kids can stay in super nice On- Campus Apartments, my DD loved it. ( $42/night) The Orientation Leaders have activities planned for them at night, volleyball, Legends of IU Tour, food, dance, fun!
Make sure they have their Worksheet filled out in advance for classes…IU looked just beautiful!</p>
<p>My daughter and I highly recommend taking one of the Intensive Freshman Seminars, a two-week class on campus in late summer. Lots of subjects to choose from, and students get a full 3 hours of credit. You have to pay for two weeks room & board, but IFS Tuition is included in your fall tuition (up to 17 hours counting IFS, so my D took an easy 14 hours in the fall). </p>
<p>She absolutely loved the opportunity through IFS to ease into college; get to know the campus and B’ton when it was not crowded, and learn all the basics like, as she put it, “how to get into your dorm” without dealing with a full slate of classes. On top of the IFS classes, there were lots of organized social activities. Two years later (my D just finished her soph year), two of her BFs are girls she met in her IFS class. </p>
<p>Our other recommendation for incoming freshmen – do NOT take as high a level of class in math, language, etc as the IU placement testing or your AP credits entitle you to. My D started with beginning French at IU despite having 4 years of straight As in HS French, and she had to hustle to get a B in the first-level course at IU. She also had to work hard (and was stressed) for a B in a lower level of math than IU recommended she take. She says she “would have died” if she started at the higher-level math and language classes IU recommended she take. (We remember reading on CC that IU tends to “overplace” kids in math). My son followed this tactic at another university (both with placement testing and AP credit), and both my kids were very glad they did this. First semester is tough enough without over reaching on classes. Things got a lot easier for my D after first semester, and she now has a stellar GPA of 3.5 (campus average 3.0, freshmen GPA around 2.9). </p>
<p>Also – advice on which classes to take each semester has been much better from the advisor for my D’s major (once she declared one at end of freshman year) then the incoming freshmen advising – though that was fine.</p>