Vanderbilt Parents

<p>Go9ersjrh: My S2 will be in engineering also (probably Civil/Environmental) and played in his high school marching band for 4 years. I’m trying to convince him to join the Spirit of Gold but he is concerned about the time commitment.
S1 will be a Junior at VU next year as well, so we’ll have two @ Vandy.
S1 LOVES it @ Vandy. So much so that we have a hard time getting him to come home.</p>

<p>The same is true for my D. She loves Vandy and Nashville SO much she wants to stay for grad school then live in Nashville. I guess we are going to have to move to Nashville sometime.</p>

<p>GoDoresx2: Consider having your son talk to Dr. Sagan (Band Director). He should be able to address the time commitment. It is a time commitment, but it’s also a good way to have a social life with a support group beyond the freshman class. He told us 2 hours Tuesday and Thursday, Friday night if performing the next day and game day. All the kids in the band have significant academic responsibilities and they respect that. He also talked to us about the leadership opportunities. All good things for beyond college.</p>

<p>And in case you weren’t aware, the band gets paid at least $600 for completing marching season and $20 + food per game during basketball. You do not play at every basketball game. We’ve told our son that’s his part time job for spending money.</p>

<p>In my case, a marching band was a requirement for college selection so no arm turning required. They do move into school early on August 12 and hopefully they’ll be back early from winter break for a bowl game.</p>

<p>Once you get enough posts, I’ll send you a private message with my son’s email. Our boys may want to connect.</p>

<p>I got my husband season tickets to the home games for our anniversary. We’ll be there to cheer on the team and the band!! The band is GREAT!</p>

<p>Another checkmark in the Road to Vanderbilt booklet. Got S up at 5:50 AM to enroll in classes. At 6:00 AM PDT he hit the enroll button and got the exact schedule he wanted. I was able to show him the advantage of enrolling when the computer opens up. The chemistry class was filled by 6:15 AM.</p>

<p>It has been a busy week. Graduation was last Thursday night. We had a group of boys spend the night on Thursday. We were surprised to see a tent in our backyard when we got up in the morning. Good thing the sprinklers don’t run on Friday morning. Since then it has been graduation parties and visiting with family. (Both sets of grandparents came to the graduation.)</p>

<p>Now if I can get him focused on getting ready for college. He’s home less than 4 weeks this summer. </p>

<p>Hope your students were successful today with class enrollment.</p>

<p>Go9ers, my son was not happy about getting up early to register (and we’re a time zone ahead), but he now understands the importance of registering immediately. Even though he registered the moment it opened, the remaining 12 spots in one of his first choice classes were gone by time he clicked the button. Then it said it put him on the waitlist, but it didn’t. The 11 of 12 waitlist spots were also gone within the minute he tried to redo it…he got the last one. He also couldn’t enroll in one class because of a prereq (which AP credit will fulfill) even though the advisor said last week that it wouldn’t be a problem. He called again and they enrolled him. So he didn’t get the math prof/time that he wanted, but it worked out otherwise. </p>

<p>If I understand correctly, our kids will get last dibs for spring courses since they got first pick for Fall.</p>

<p>^^
Not sure about last dibs for spring courses. S is in the school of engineering. It appears everyone in the school of engineering could enroll today. It doesn’t appear that engineering breaks the students into 2 groups like A&S. Maybe a current engineering student can shed some light on the topic. Pancaked - where are you? : )</p>

<p>Go9ersjrh…I am glad to hear your son’s registration went smoothly. My son will be registering next Monday. Where do they actually hit enroll? Is it on the cart page? Also, is the time based on the central time zone?</p>

<p>The enroll button comes up on the cart page when the system opens up for you. S had to refresh several times until it came up.</p>

<p>The time is the central time zone which is why S had to get up at before 6 AM. We live in the pacific time zone.</p>

<p>S had his cart filled with his prefered schedule and was ready to go when the computer opened up. I highly recommend this. He had also had a back up plan for his elective in case he couldn’t get in. There was only one section for music literature. As an engineering student, there isn’t much choice on the rest of his classes. He was just hoping he didn’t get an 8 AM class.</p>

<p>Where are you, Pancaked?</p>

<p>Thank you Go9ersjrh. He already has to look for a new Chemistry class time slot because the one in his cart is now closed. Hopefully, he won’t have to get an 8am one because like most teenagers he isn’t a morning person. He should be ready to go on the 17th and I will hope for the best!</p>

<p>It has been awfully quite around here. I think we must all be enjoying our summers.</p>

<p>We have made progress on getting S ready to move to Vanderbilt. Bedding and towels are either bought or selected for shipping. Clothes shopping is complete. (needed to replace a few things.) The computer will be purchased this weekend.</p>

<p>Now I need to order the duffle bags for taking things on the airplane. We also need to talk to the UPS Store about shipping his guitar.</p>

<p>There is a lot to do to get a kid ready for college. </p>

<p>He on the other hand is having the time of his life. Since his school ended in June, he only gets a 9 week summer. His schedule has him gone 5 of the weeks.</p>

<p>Move in day will be here before we know it!</p>

<p>How it’s worked in the part (and currently works for upperclassmen) is all students in each class year, across all schools, are divided into two groups. The two alternate order for enrollment every semester, just one day apart.</p>

<p>Now this year, I guess engineers enrolled separately from the groups containing everyone else. I can’t remember if this is is new, or has always been happening for the first semester. My guess is the engineers will get randomly divided into the two groups that everyone else is already arranged into. Or they’re starting a new system where engineers get their own day? Seems unlikely. Won’t know till next semester I guess.</p>

<p>Though my time at Vanderbilt, we’ve found it’s actually cheaper to ship extra items in a big box to Vanderbilt rather than take the extra bag fee. We fly Southwest-- two bags free, any extras are $75 each… pretty crazy. Shipping should be cheaper. Whatever is more convenient through.</p>

<p>Pancaked- We don’t planning on paying for extra luggage. There are 3 of us flying back, so we can check 6 bags. We thought we’d be able to pack more in the duffle bags than regular suitcases. Plus they become really small to store.</p>

<p>Momof3Boys - How did your son’s schedule work out?</p>

<p>It has been very quiet Go9ersjrh…Fortunately, my son was ready to go and got into the classes that were in his cart. He would have preferred the 10:00am start to his day but his earliest class ended up being the 9:00am Chemistry class.
He didnt graduate until June 27th due to Sandy so he really doesn’t have much time before he leaves on 8/15. He is now partying hard as well as working hard to save as much money as possible before he leaves. We are all getting nervous. He is becoming convinced that he will be the “dumbest kid” at school and I am convinced that I am forgetting everything he may need. Other than that, all is well!
We ended up ordering books thru the Barnes and Nobles link in the YES portal just to have one less thing to worry about.</p>

<p>One permutation to consider re luggage (our son lived 8 hours from home, often flying home) is to have a goal of leaving your son or daughter one weekend sized rolling bag to keep under their bed. Times they might need this include: Weekends home with a classmate by car usually, quicker trips for fall break, possibly signing up for Alternative Spring Break. It is good to have a collapsible duffle to keep inside this smaller rolling bag as well, if only to bring summer clothing home and returning with a pile of sweaters and winter things. There are over 1000 reviews of the ebags.com Mother Lode brand rolling suitcases. We had one survive two different junior year trips abroad (has a second level “story” good for heavier shoes) and when I contacted them in year seven about how to send it back for a zipper repair, they sent us a brand new one.</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me about school supplies ? Exactly what kind of supplies I need to buy for D?</p>

<p>No need to go overboard. If you buy amazon student prime she can get anything she needs with Amazon Prime easy and low cost shipping. Amazon prime will deliver so many trivial things, saving car trips. Throw one extension cord in the car or suitcase although you may return home with it, but just in case. For shoes, a simple microfiber towel or two to shine up and clean. Disposable oil free duster wipes pack.<br>
I would consider shipping her those thin hangers for her closet, and packing scissors, tape, perhaps some duct tape, and some printing paper if she is taking a printer…and if she is getting printer, bluetooth helps. Two strips electric cords for charging things near her bed and under her desk. Maybe a measuring tape and a ruler. highlighters for reading, a few stamps, some stationary for formal thank you…Son did use a bulletin board he leaned on his desk but not everyone cares to do that
Have shipped a one or two inch twin memory foam mattress cover…
personally I recommend a full spectrum desk lamp…much better for studying. We also had a full spectrum floor lamp that raises and lowers for whatever seating corner was possible in the room depending on how things lay out with the roomie. Possibly a roller clear storage container for under the bed for off season clothing like shorts and sweaters. We had cube shaped stackables for dumping textbooks and computer paper in next to the desk…sort of a plastic bookcase but there are many ways to config a room after you get there and see what the roommate wants to try out re how to do the beds and desks.
Vacuums are hard to come by on the halls. Some years we had one around for son, other years he just made do. I like the idea of a hot pot but son never made drinks in his own freshman dorm</p>

<p>You’ll want a rug for the dorm floor, but you can get that in Nashville after you see what the roommate has.</p>