<p>I thought since so many parents in the HS Class of 2014 have kids matriculating to Vandy, it might be fun to start our own thread.</p>
<p>I'll begin. go2girl has been accepted into the College of Arts and Sciences and is an Ingram Scholar. We're excited for Family Weekend. </p>
<p>Proud to be a part of this group of Vandy parents as of this morning. My S is also in Arts and Sciences. I’m just looking forward to receiving exciting stuff in the mail (like housing and scheduling info). This is my only child so I’m only going to go through this one time and I’m going to try to enjoy vicariously living through him during this very exciting time!</p>
<p>Very excited to be here. Thanks for getting us our own forum go2mom! My daughter is Arts & Sciences also (neuroscience major). Have you made your reservations yet for Parents Weekend? I have to get on that pronto!</p>
<p>Welcome, you two! Now I’m not so lonely! Yes, we made our flight and hotel reservations for family weekend. There is a lot of info on the Ask Current Parents thread. We decided to use Marriott points and stay at the Union Station Hotel downtown (it’s the former train station). It’s not too far from campus but a nice little getaway. This is my first kid going through the process and I can’t be more thrilled that she chose Vandy! Jrmama495–I’ve watched your process and I’m so glad your son will be heading to Vandy. We will have to find a meeting time somewhere on campus and have toast to the next four years!</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>Congrats to gotomom, yellowgranite and jrmama on your s and d’s recent decisions! My s wore his sweatshirt for some AP studying at Starbucks tonight. Very excited. Also booked flight and hotel reservations for move in day and family weekend. This is my third and youngest, older s and d graduated college already. </p>
<p>Cheers everyone! Wow you guys are ahead of me! I have hotel reservations but not flights for both move-in and family weekends. All of the hotels are so expensive those weekends! </p>
<p>I’m sure that by the end of the summer, we will all be anxious to meet and have our kids meet in the fall! We will have to make plans later on to make sure we can meet up during one of the two weekends so we can have a real toast to our kids’ next four years at Vanderbilt!</p>
<p>This week is my son’s last week of classes and tomorrow they get to wear their new schools’ t-shirt to school instead of their uniforms. He can’t wait to wear his new Vanderbilt shirt. Too hot for the sweatshirt down here in Florida!</p>
<p>Another 2018 Vanderbilt parent here. My D will be in Peabody - Human and Organizational Development. We have decided to skip the formal Family Weekend, and hope to visit her another time (when more of her new friends might need to be taken out to dinner!)</p>
<p>My son is really excited to be joining the Vandy class of 2018 in the College of Arts and Sciences. This is my first child going to college so this is all new to me. I will appreciate any advice on how the Commodore cash works. How much money is enough for basic things like laundry and printing? Is it better to put the money for books in the Commodore card rather than a checking account that can be accessed via a debit card if one intends to buy books in the Barnes and Nobles store on campus? </p>
<p>Hello and Congrats fellow Commodore parents! My D is class of 2018-Peabody CV scholar majoring in Cognitive Science and planning to double major in Neuroscience over in the CAS. We are all in love with Vanderbilt–Husband and I wish WE could enroll. D wears a Vandy shirt at least once a week now-so cute.</p>
<p>@go2mom, Union Station is a nice place–you will enjoy your stay there. We are all booked for Move-in and Parents Weekend (unfortunately not Union Station due to $$ constraints), thanks to all the wise Vandy parents on CC.</p>
<p>@simplythankfiul (great name), we are having the same dilemma about where to put the funds for books, laundry, etc. What are the rest of you doing?</p>
<p>How are your kids finding roommates?</p>
<p>It would be so great to actually meet you guys on campus some time. Thanks for starting this thread.</p>
<p>Welcome to CC, @simplythankful. From what I have gathered, the only thing you need the Commodore Cash for is the laundry and copies (to avoid using quarters.) They talk about the subject over on the other thread where questions are answered from current students. There is lots of great information over there. I haven’t really figured out what to do about that vs. the checking account. </p>
<p>I mentioned the roommate question to my S last night and he said he might look into one of those websites where people put in a profile and you can look to see if you can find a match. if not, I think he would probably be ok with just having a random roommate assigned. He’s very easygoing so he could probably get along with most people.</p>
<p>@Belle315, I went on the Ingram Commons Facebook page last night and got so excited about all of the fun events that they have for the first year students and all I could think was “I want to go”. </p>
<p>simplythankful – here’s the link to the other thread: <a href=“Current students or parents - questions - Vanderbilt University - College Confidential Forums”>Current students or parents - questions - Vanderbilt University - College Confidential Forums; </p>
<p>Very grateful that past parents have been so generous with information.</p>
<p>D went on the admitted students’ facebook page. Apparently they started a separate group just for the girls. That’s how my D found her roommate. She liked her sense of humor and messaged her and after texting back and forth for a couple of days, made the commitment (now if finding a spoiuse was only that easy! HA!) </p>
<p>These kids are going to have such an amazing warm welcome. Very excited for them. School ends here on 5/31 so th next month is going to be HARD – she just wants August to be here already!</p>
<p>BTW, my husband travels quite a bit for work so we were able to redeem Marriott points for Union Station. I’m usually a cheapskate!</p>
<p>A word for all on the Commodore Cash card…</p>
<p>The card is used like cash virtually everywhere, a lot of restaurants, laundry, tickets to athletic events, extra food, printing, etc. We put a modest amount of money on it, then added to it later when it became obvious that its the primarily used card. The card is actually their id card, the one they use to enter their dorms, etc. Therefore, they only need to carry one card for everything on campus and most restaurants off campus (except Starbucks). It also is taken by taxis for trips to downtown, etc. </p>
<p>I would recommend settting a budget, putting cash on the card, and seeing how it goes. The debit cards/ATM card was not used much by our D except when buying things from Amazon that she needed like printer ink, etc.</p>
<p>So I paid the enrollment deposit yesterday but I didn’t receive a confirmation or anything afterwards. Is that normal? How long till we receive something from them?</p>
<p>I haven’t actually paid the deposit yet … we’re big time procrastinators around here!!</p>
<p>Hello all! Will be bring our son up for move in week-end as well. @Jrmama496 I found a good deal on flipkey to stay at the Wyndham Suites <a href=“http://www.wyndhamnashville.com”>www.wyndhamnashville.com</a> . Flipkey and Vrbo have some good options if you’re willing to go the non-traditional route. We plan on going a couple of days early to make a mini-vacation out of it. After paying the deposit (in mid-April) it was at least a week before my son heard back from them and I think the closer to May 1st, the longer you’ll have to wait.
This is our first to goo off to college so very bitter-sweet and exciting. Vanderbilt seems like the perfect fit for him. Wish I could be a fly on the wall!</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread Gotomom and so happy to see your d will land at Vandy. Jrmama happy your s is also decided, I was following you both here and will join you in that toast on campus! My s also found a roommate already, and is wearing his Vandy wear whenever possible. I’m also booked for move in at the Loews Vanderbilt, (fyi-got great price on Priceline) and at the Hyatt Place for family weekend.</p>
<p>Just yesterday we received OverVu for parents and the Road to Vanderbilt handbook for students, very impressive programming and resources. What an exciting time! This is my youngest of three, two older already graduated college, so this is familiar and fun. </p>
<p>Much is said about the empty nest, and parents struggling but a tip I offer, (and remind myself of) is that we will see our kids not only a month after college starts at Family weekend, but they come home for Thanksgiving, Winter break, etc. Also, focusing on the positive, their college experience can truly take the whole family on a new journey, as our sons and daughters mature and learn about themselves and the world. Not only does the college’s location become a new special destination to embrace, but their study abroad locations can become wonderful “required” travel destinations. Our kids’ launching off to college can create new and special relationships with them. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please excuse the dumb question, but how is this done? Is it a Facebook page?</p>
<p>lindz126, did you bid on the Loews Vanderbilt or take the offered price? I absolutely love Priceline and hardly ever travel without it … have never used it for airplane tickets, but use it for hotels and rental cars!</p>
<p>@8senough, I wish the same thing! I went on the Facebook page for the Ingram Commons and it was just so exciting to see all of the fun activities they do for the first year students!</p>
<p>@lindz126, I know it will be difficult for me when he’s gone since it’s always been just me and him. But I’m really excited for him and hope that he enjoys his college experience. Sometimes I feel like I’m more excited than he is!</p>