<p>@Johnson181, was the apartment you rented furnished? How far from campus was it?</p>
<p>@momworried No but we inherited furniture on the cheap (I bought my bed but sold it when I graduated so I essentially net 0 on that). It’s pretty common for students to inherit furniture from graduating seniors.</p>
<p>I was .5 from campus, 1.5 miles from the engineering school. My apt was technically closer to campus than a lot of the washu owned apartments.</p>
<p>Hi guys! @Johnson181
<a href=“Meal Plans | Dining Services | Washington University in St. Louis”>http://diningservices.wustl.edu/meal-plans/undergraduate/</a></p>
<p>Are those prices per year or semester? Thank you!</p>
<p>@sallymeno11 those are per year. You get the first half in the fall, second half in the spring.</p>
<p>She will have about $300 to carry over to next semester so that’s why I’m going to move her down. It looks like the silver is $760 less a semester so it will even out. Now, I’m trying to figure out how to do it… </p>
<p>Sorry I meant to say $760 less a year! </p>
<p>@planner03 My son usually eats off plan once a week. We usually see a charge to his debit card on the weekend when he eats somewhere on the loop. His freshman year, we left him with a few snacks, but after he ate those he didn’t replenish from Target or Walgreens, but just ate campus food. Also, he isn’t a coffee addict so I am sure that keeps his cost down, but he has never had an issue with his meal plan. </p>
<p>Darling D is a varsity athlete and eats ummm, heartily. She is on Silver (minimum plan for Frosh) and has a ton of points left. She will have an occasional off-plan meal on the Loop with friends but that’s at most one meal per week. She is NOT burning through Bear Bucks or cash for meals. Based upon our experience, I agree with the above advice to opt for the lowest possible plan and go from there if needed. The issue at Wash U doesn’t seem to be whether a kid is gonna get enough food; instead, it is that the minimum plan is still too much in most cases–boy or girl.</p>
<p>We purchase all airfare through Southwest Airlines. Direct flight from NY. If you book early enough, flights are inexpensive. And you could change or cancel flights with no penalty or loss of money. And 2 free checked bags. We flew to school in August and my son had two checked bags and 1 carryon. When we got to St. Louis we went to Bed Bath & Beyond from the airport and picked up his pre-ordered towels, blankets, sheets and other BBB types of items. It all worked perfectly. He may put the bedding and towels in storage over the summer but should be able to come home with all his other belongings.</p>
<p>SOAR (Summer Orientation and Registration) was great. I flew out with my D, but made her figure out how to check bags, find proper gate, get transport to campus, etc, since we had always just said “Follow us!” when traveling as a family. During the course of SOAR, she decided to switch schools- she clicked a link on school web site and a dean from new school was immediately in touch to ensure that she registered for classes appropriate to her ‘new’ school. There was a minimal amount of follow up paperwork (all online). Changing schools was that easy.</p>
<p>D had already found tentative roommate using ■■■■■■■■.com, so they attended the same SOAR session and solidified decision to room together. </p>
<p>I was a bit nervous when D said she was using some website to find her roommate but it has worked out well for her. The ■■■■■■■■ app apparently asks more probing questions than the standard school roommate questionnaire- Based on what my D explained, ■■■■■■■■ then gives you a list of other incoming freshman for your school and tells you 2 things-
[1] How well you match what the potential roomie is looking for…
and
[2] How well the potential roomie matches what you are looking for.</p>
<p>My D then poked around potential match’s Facebook pages and things clicked from there. No guarantees, of course, but in her case they have become fast friends and have already decided to room together Sophomore year. </p>
<p>WashU trucking was great. We met the truck (manned by 2 WashU students) in a mall parking lot one Sunday afternoon in early August and the boxes were in her Dorm room when she arrived.</p>
<p>Buying online at the Clayton Bed Bath Beyond worked great. One thing we forgot was a mirror that hangs over closet door–bad miss–but they had extra in stock so easily corrected. </p>
<p>Regarding WUSTL Key:<br>
D was not thrilled that we wanted her to share ID & password with us but agreed with minimum convincing. This allows us to see her schedule- they have a “Campus Map View” that shows classes by day/week with color coded campus map that shows bldg where each class meets. Fun for parents! You can also easily track status of meal plan points and see what classes your student is considering for the next semester. And grades are there, of course. D was concerned that we could see grades. We countered that if we were paying tuition perhaps we should be able to see grades. She agreed.</p>
<p>Good luck everyone. This is our first in college, but so far, we could not be any happier with the level of support for both the students and the parents. There are upper class math & science tutors living in each Residence House and they lead study sessions in advance of exams affecting lots of freshman, eg; Calc, Physics, etc.</p>
<p>How far in advance did you guys buy tickets for thanksgiving and winter breaks? And how do you know which day to buy for if you don’t have their schedule yet? For example they can possibly fly out on Tuesday before thanksgiving if classes end early. And in December, how can you book before you have their finals schedule?</p>
<p>@momworried - scheduling tgiving flights for freshman is touch & go. Upperclassmen often contact professors if they’re thinking of leaving early (ie I emailed on future prof when his was the only Wednesday class I had and he said I wouldn’t miss anything if I skipped it).</p>
<p>Winter is easier - as soon as you register for classes you get your “official” finals schedule on webstac. Finals should never occur after the planned date but they do sometimes happen earlier (ie last day of class rather than during finals week).</p>
<p>@momworried Thanksgiving break is Wednesday-Sunday, so most people leave by Tuesday night. I went to class on Tuesday, but hardly anyone was there; only ten people out of a 45 person class showed up. I think that makes a good impression on the professor, and Thanksgiving is so close to winter break anyway. The dates of most finals are released with the course listings, so you should be able to schedule the flight home for winter break by the end of the add/drop period or when your child has finalized his/her schedule. It also depends where you live because flights to major metropolitan areas can fill up quickly, especially direct flights, but there are also fewer flights to areas with small airports, so it might be hard to find a convenient flight. I had a class get canceled after I had bought my plane tickets, but the flights were already more expensive by then, so it didn’t make much of a difference. </p>
<p>Oh wow that was a brain fart. I meant to say Tuesday classes, not Wednesday. I know people who left the Friday before the week, taking both monday & tuesday off (by contacting profs first, like I said).</p>
<p>@momworied For return from winter break, girls (not sure about boys) need top go back 3 days early if they want to participate in Greek rush, so you are held back a bit on scheduling winter break flights if your child not sure about that. I have found that penalties to change flights are not as severe when I use airline miles to book flights.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman at Wash U and is about to start the process of selecting a dorm for sophomore year. Do you know how the process works and if you have any tips, we’d love to hear them. Thank you. </p>
<p>I forgot to mention that she would like to room with her friend and if possible get two singles in a modern set up. Thank you.</p>
<p>I could explain, but it’s a pretty complicated process and would take a while for me to explain. Your daughter will hear PLENTY about it near the beginning of the next semester. Rest assured that she’ll be very well informed of the process.</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
Do admitted ED students attend the preview days? My son is at Duke and he attended the preview days for admitted Duke students, so my daughter wants to attend the WUSTL preview day. We live in NJ, so I’m not sure it’s worth it if it’s not well attended. It may make more sense for her to attend SOAR.
Does WashU sends all communication to students email? My daughter created a separate email just for college process and rarely checks it. And I don’t think they have my email unless they take one from common app.