<p>My S was accepted ED1 to Bates, so we are looking over the website. Does anyone know what week in August the AESOP programs start? Is it the very end of August? And, does the student do the AESOP program, then go directly into regular Orientation, or is there some kind of break between the two? I am trying to figure out if we pack him all up for college, drop him off, he does AESOP program and then school starts right up. Or, do we drop him for AESOP, pick him back up, and then go back for Orientation.</p>
<p>The AESOP trips happen right before freshman orientation. We moved our student in the day before the AESOPs left and he returned to campus the afternoon before orientation. Here’s the schedule for last year’s trips.</p>
<p><a href=“AESOP 2023 | First-Year Experience and Orientation | Bates College”>http://www.bates.edu/entering/aesop/</a></p>
<p>Congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>Thanks Sue22 for the AESOP info. Seeing last year’s schedule was very helpful.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son. Last year the AESOP trips began the last week in August. We had a very long drive (from the South), so we made a little vacation out of it – we dropped S off and did some sightseeing in Maine for 4 days (really lovely), and returned a to campus bout the same time he did for orientation, which has a parent component. </p>
<p>One more question, sue22. Do you remember when the “revisit” days for accepted students were in April? For some reason, I think there might be more than one date. Anyway, are the revisit days during the week?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks milestones3. I think DH and I will try to do the same with making a mini vacation out of the time. I do want to return to campus for the orientation and parent forums.</p>
<p>Thank you for the info.</p>
<p>Hi Labby, I’m not Sue but we visited April 4th and 5th. My son did an overnight on April 4th (a Thursday) with a Bates student and then we did all the accepted student activities on Friday. There were tours (separate for kids and parents), a lovely lunch with an alum as the speaker (he works at LL Bean) - all in all a nice couple of days. My son applied RD and had other choices but the overnight sealed the deal for him. He was quite impressed with how friendly everyone was - to the point the group of prospective students and their hosts were eating together at Commons and noticed another student who was eating by himself so they invited him to join them. One of my son’s best friends attended at the same time as an EDII student. It seemed to be a mix of ED families along with families who still were making up their minds. It was lovely! We are so happy that our son chose Bates and that Bates chose our son. </p>
<p>At least last last year, there was more than one accepted student day - the others were later in April.</p>
<p>Thanks BTMell for the info about accepted students dates. We are just trying to get an idea of “when” so we can book hotel reservations. My DH went on several hotel websites for Parents Weekend the end of September, and he said a lot of them were already sold out! Oh my!</p>
<p>Labby, try looking in Freeport for reservations Parents weekend. It’s only a 20 minute drive to Lew. We have stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn there. We stayed in the Ramada Inn in Lew and it was kind of dumpy, imo. We couldn’t get a resv. at HGI in Auburn the year our kid was a freshman and I didn’t know any better. </p>
<p>Also, if you are planning a mini vacay between dropping kid off for Aesop and Orientation, don’t delay planning and making reservations. It is the week before Labor Day weekend and lots of people take one last vacation before school starts in the NE. </p>
<p>Thanks emilybee for the suggestions. I see that Parents Weekend this year is also Columbus Day weekend, so double whammy! We booked at Hampton Inn in Freeport for that one. I had heard what you reported about Ramada Inn in Lew.</p>