U Miami Parents Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
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<p>Zinc, perhaps you could book it now, but I don’t think it is necessary. 5x5 seems small, but was plenty big enough for a futon, refrigerator, microwave, printer, 2 videochairs, desk office chair, many many boxes. And then whatever the other kid had. </p>

<p>I am a planner as well, have already made plans for move-out in May, hotel reservations for our DS to move back into dorm in early August, then our DD for freshman orientation in August and even hotel for parents’ weekend if we decide to go. (with both of our kids there, really why not?) Thank goodness we don’t have to fly for all of this, just a 5 hour drive!</p>

<p>Also, as for the renters insurance, my DS has made 2 claims, one for the flood near/in his room and the other for a stolen backpack (police report had to be filed to get the claim) and it covered the contents of what was in the backpack as well as the damaged things for the flood. Our homeowners is at least 1000.00 at this point, with the threat that they’ll drop us if we make a claim! So, if we make a claim it had better be a BIG one since we’ll be looking for new insurance which is not easy in Florida!</p>

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<p>Zinc, got an email that the summer specials are now going on at A+ storage…I just booked the 5x5 with Heidi. Make sure you tell them you are UM parent and also make sure that you get the 67th ave location. They have one further away for alot less money, but it is quite a drive. Every year the price goes up about 25.00 dollars, but I guess they can get it!</p>

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<p>Thanks DinDune. Just found out my D and her roomie for next year are storing their stuff at the roomie’s parents beach home north of Miami, so it turns out we don’t need a storage facility after all - at least this year. I’ve bookmarked this thread for next summer however. Thanks again!</p>

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<p>OK, experienced parents, help me out here. Work has been pressuring me to let them know when I need time off in August. Now that my daughter has decided on Univ of Miami, we are trying to plan schedules. According to info from their website, housing is available for students Aug 15 (Wed), Orientation begins Aug 16 (Thurs), and classes begin Aug 22. We will be taking a 2.5 hours flight to get there. We will likely be purchasing a lot of dorm room stuff once we arrive. Could we just arrive early on the 15th? Should we expect to leave her on the 16th. Are there orientation activities going on the whole time until classes start. Would her weekend be free? I was thinking we could drop her off and go do something for several days and then stop back in to see if she needs anything else before we fly home. I am just not sure how it works. Any advice from experienced parents would be appreciated. Thanks so much!!</p>

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<p>Warmweather, you don’t want to miss the move-in week. It is a long week, but well worth the whole experience. I attached what I wrote upon returning home after dropping off my S a few years ago. Move-in is by done alphabet letter of your last name. There are many activities, seminars, etc for the parents through the week until Sat morning brunch at Donna Shalala’s home and then you say goodbye to your child after that. The students have their own orientation leaders doing things with them, but the activities for the parents are great and well organized and give you alot of information that you may need in their 4 years there. It also gives you the comfort and knowledge that the U is looking after the students. We had to leave early the last time and have planned this time to not miss a second! Your D will not be “free” at all. There are plans from drop off through to when classes begin. They really get “oriented”, meet with advisors, bond with their floormates, etc. Lots of social activities for the kids. Our S barely had time to eat a last dinner with us. Below is what I wrote on CC after my return a few years ago. </p>

<p>Just got home from moving in my freshman! </p>

<hr>

<p>Well, we are now home from the move-in and orientation and I have to say that I was incredibly impressed by the organization and ease in which move-in worked. Also, it was very thoughtful to have water hydration stations at every corner…we needed it!
It was hot! </p>

<p>We stayed until Friday and got to experience “letting go” sessions, orientation meetings on various topics such as the health center, hurricane safety, volunteerism, study abroad, career center, etc. We totally enjoyed the Cane Kickoff which was really fun and the Convocation speech by George Will was incredible. Donna Shalala really knows how to get things started. We met with the Dean of our DS school, enjoyed food in the food court as well as Coconut Grove and Sunset Place. </p>

<p>The dorm room was old 70’s mica furniture and xl twin bed and plenty of closet space and drawers…no need at all for bedrisers or tons of extra drawers. </p>

<p>Our DS met with an advisor on Sunday, dropped and added on Sunday afternoon, is buying books today and classes start tomorrow. Many activities and orientations for the students between last Thursday and today, Tuesday. </p>

<p>Our DS did not know anyone when he got to UM and now can say that he has been “hanging” with new friends and getting used to the campus. We are happy parents now that we hear how happy he is. Hopefully his classes will work out and he will find happiness at UM. We miss him greatly, but know that he is where he needs to be. Please feel free to PM me if you have questions…as a prospective parent, I had plenty!</p>

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<p>Warmweather - just thought I would add some comments based on my experience with my now freshman son. What I love about the Miami process - most of my son’s friends, their schools have an orientation over the summer. That’s when they go with their parents, get their schedule together, and take care of all of the details. Then, when it comes to move in, they just drop and run. </p>

<p>The Miami orientation is done the week before classes, so I flew down with my son on a Tuesday, moved in on a Wednesday, then spent the next couple of days attending sessions/relaxing until the breakfast with Donna Shalala, not at her home (only the students have that), but at the Wellness Center. That was on Saturday. Between the Wednesday and Saturday I barely caught a glimpse of my son, but by the time we left, we felt 100% comfortable that he was all set and that he was going to have a great experience at school. The only downside, and you’ll see my topics about this in the coming months, is the students anxiety over their schedule and books. Their schedule won’t be set until days before classes start, which doesn’t give them a lot of time to procure books. But, let me tell you, it all works out fine!!</p>

<p>The move in process was an experience I’ll always remember fondly when I think of my first child going off to college!!</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for this info. It sounds really exciting. I guess I had spoken with some friends who had the “drop and run” experiences. I was rather dreading that especially since she will be so far from home. I don’t care how much I get to see her over those days, but just want us all to be comfortable. It sounds like Univ of Miami works hard to do that. Now, I will look forward to the orientation!!</p>

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<p>As I am discussing this with my husband we are debating when to fly down. Should she have everything with her on “move in day” or would there be time to shop on that day as well. Since we are flying in, we plan to purchase some of her “dorm room supplies” once we get there. Would we want to do that beforehand. We would not plan on spending the day shopping, but perhaps 1-2 hours to purchase some last minute or too large to take by plane items. </p>

<p>Maybe we will be hearing more from the university soon about these types of details - it is just the pressure from work about what days we will need to take off!!</p>

<p>Thanks,
Chris</p>

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<p>If you plan on your flights to arrive on Wednesday morning, renting a car and driving to campus, (say arriving by Noon), then you would have plenty of time to move in what you brought and still make a couple of runs over to Dadeland (BB&B, Target, etc) to pick up other items. We were all done by dinner time and were seeing people arrive who were just starting move-in process. </p>

<p>If your schedule allows, my advice would be to fly in Tuesday mid day or early afternoon, stay somewhere close to campus and make your shopping trips on Tuesday (the stuff gets pretty picked over by Wed & Thurs - at least in Target it was), then move in on Wednesday late morning-ish. If you still find you need another supply run, you’ll have lots of time on Wednesday and the day will be less frantic - more time to enjoy campus on Wednesday. I realize this means you’ll need to store her stuff in the car or your hotel room over night, but that’s manageable I think.</p>

<p>Wednesday, 8/15 will be structured with ranges of hours that they would like to have your student arrive. Our last name begins with L so we were slated for the 1-5 pm “slot”. These are just guidelines - no one is checking whether you are there early or late. We drove down (1500+ miles) and ended up on campus around 1:30 pm. We checked in, got a large moving cart (think industrial laundry type) and began unloading the vehicle. It’s all pretty well organized with the only bottleneck being the 2 elevators in each dorm tower.</p>

<p>Our experience was very similar to VHFather’s except we drove in vs. flying. Bottom line: my advice is to fly in the day before instead of trying to pack everything into Wednesday - the experience will be far less stressful and the flights may be less expensive too!</p>

<p>Hope this helps…
~Zinc</p>

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<p>Thanks - this sounds like a good plan. We will fly down on Tuesday then. The smoother the better!!</p>

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<p>Warmweather, you can also preorder stuff from Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart. Target does not offer this service. But it was really easy. At BB&B, you just give them your name and credit card (as you don’t even have to prepay), and they have everything all ready for you to load in your car. Walmart is not as convenient to campus as Target, but their site to store is great. Also, there will be vendors set up on campus to sell things for the dorm room also.</p>

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<p>I second all of the great advice you have received. We went last year on Tuesday to pick up our pre-order from BB&B and shop at Target, Container Store, Office Depot & BJ’s which are all close by. We also shipped 2 large boxes of dorm stuff a few days ahead which we had held at a nearby UPS store. The closest location charged $15 fee per box to hold until arrival but we found one just 2 miles away that only charged $5/box. I HIGHLY recommend attending the parent orientation sessions and convocation speech. We left right after the President’s brunch on Saturday morning. You will leave happy your daughter chose UM.</p>

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<p>Since the _ hasn’t posted the orientation schedule yet, here is a link to last year’s schedule, courtesy of Dindune, who sent it to me!</p>

<p><a href=“https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4V5EXVm_uRDWlAxYzRWSkRSUGE1c0RlTk9ydU9Mdw[/url]”>https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4V5EXVm_uRDWlAxYzRWSkRSUGE1c0RlTk9ydU9Mdw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Things might be different of course since this is from last year!</p>

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<p>Put this on the facebook group for class of 2016, hope you don’t mind :)</p>

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<p>That’s fine, Marinebio444, I thought it was very helpful, and am so glad that Dindune had saved it! Orientation sure looks like a ton of fun and we have already booked a hotel room at the Hampton Inn in Coconut Grove on Dindune’s recommendation; they are also staying there - I know we are going to have a great time! </p>

<p>The []_[] rate at the Hampton Inn is $99 and includes free breakfast/free parking/free internet. Each of the Courtyard hotels we stayed at during scholarship weekend (two nights at Dadeland and two at Coral Gables) started charging for parking a few months back - the Dadeland Courtyard only had valet parking ($11/day) and the Coral Gables location had self parking in a lot across the street for $10/day. </p>

<p>Zinc- are you still planning on the Hotel Indigo for your trip down in May? I’d love to hear your thoughts on that hotel afterward!</p>

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<p>Here’s another great resource from Dindune!</p>

<p><a href=“https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4V5EXVm_uRDdGg2U1RRNllUV3lDalhXQUxxTEx0UQ[/url]”>https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4V5EXVm_uRDdGg2U1RRNllUV3lDalhXQUxxTEx0UQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Warmweather - I see from the Orientation schedule link that Illinoismom kindly shared (thanks Dindune!) that students with last names P-Z were actually set to check in on Thursday morning…not sure your last name, but you may want to shift your departure to 1 day later if you fall into that group?</p>

<p>@mom93 - I tried to book the Hotel Indigo for May pickup a few weeks ago, asking for the UM rate, but they told me all the UM discounted rooms ($89) were gone and I’d need to pay the regular rate of $169 I think - I said no thanks. I’d still like to stay there sometime - maybe in August for drop off. I booked the Holiday Inn Express in Kendall instead. A bit further away (8 miles), but got a good rate ($125) - free parking, full b’fast, free wifi, non-smoking premises, all the stuff we look for.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips. I better book my hotel room soon! Last name is in the first part of the alphabet so we should be OK. The shopping tips are helpful too. She can probably plan ahead and we can preorder and pick up when we arrive. I appreciate everyone’s comments.</p>

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<p>Mom93 - I always (well, 4 times) stay at that Hampton Inn. It’s clean, nice,comfortable beds and a good location. Free parking, breakfast and wi-fi too. I highly recommend that hotel. I’ll be there in August too…</p>

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<p>Regarding the last name and move-in date… According to marinebio on the Facebook group, it’s just a guideline and not a set requirement, meaning you can move in on either day regardless of your last name. Can somebody confirm this?</p>