Yale Parent Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>I have a happy ending to the IKEA couch story:</p>

<p>This morning I showed up at IKEA as they opened, had preordered the couch, it was waiting for me, and since the Budget truck rental agent wasn't at the desk yet, I ran upstream through the store to exchange the "wrong" rug.</p>

<p>By the time I got back to the Budget desk there was a line. The agent was flustered, and soon it became obvious that there were NOT going to be enough vans to supply the line. </p>

<p>This was taking forever, and so naturally all the queue members were bonding in misery. I mentioned the small western city we are from, and a young women several people behind me said, "I'm from X!!!" Mind you, this is a smallish city, very far from New Haven, so already a big coincidence. It turns out that her little sister is one of my D's good friends, they both just graduated, etc. The big sister was starting grad school at Yale. We caught up on other shared friends, etc., and finally my turn came up to talk to the agent, where he told me that he could only rent me a 24 foot truck rather than the cargo van that I needed. I tried to imagine myself wedging the truck down High Street on move-in weekend, and just couldn't rally for it.</p>

<p>I refused the truck, and had decided the whole couch project was doomed and started to walk away when the home town friend offered to throw the couch in her van (she had reserved one: for those who have read this far, remember to do this, if you are ever in my shoes), since it was "on her way." </p>

<p>I rushed the couch and rug to the curb, she got the van, and took off, picking up two enormous grad students on the way. The couch pieces were up the stairs and planted in the room before I could get there. </p>

<p>Perfect outcome: beer money for the grad students, and my D and her roomies are proud couch owners. </p>

<p>And, yes, the couch went up the stairs in the three boxes IKEA put it in. Getting it down the stairs, fully assembled, will be a project I don't want to consider until spring.</p>

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<p>Thanks for starting this thread, Clarimom! DS is also a junior, class of 2010. It's hard to believe that he's already half-way through his college years and pretty soon, we'll be attending his graduation! BTW, when it comes to attending the graduation events, does anyone know how many days of hotel stay we need to plan for? It seems like there are quite a few events going on around graduation time. Any advice or insight is greatly appreciated!!</p>

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<p>This will give you an idea:</p>

<p>Yale</a> University Commencement Home Page</p>

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<p>When we moved D in this year, we asked the Marriott Courtyard about graduation in 2010 (she's in Stiles, so it's a very handy hotel - once we've arrived we don't use the car again until we leave, other than to park it briefly on Broadway for the actual move in/out.) The desk clerk said that reservations are available exactly one year beforehand, beginning at midnight, and they're fully booked within an hour. There's a 3-night minimum, and no refunds. I didn't dare ask what they charge per night!</p>

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<p>I think it was about $325/night this year, all prepaid, non-refundable. However, don't buy the "fully booked within an hour" line----maybe "lots of inquiries within an hour", because so many people bristled at the huge cost, they had rooms available for a few months more. The situation was a bit different for 2008, as another major hotel was being renovated and they weren't sure it would be done in time for commencement, so the cost might be lower now.</p>

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<p>Hooray, riverrunner! Glad to hear your D now has a couch. I would think it should make it back down the stairs as well. I was in a similar situation 2 years ago. When we were there in September dropping off S, IKEA just happened to be all out of the futons that we were wanting to buy. So I purchased it when I went in Parents Weekend in October. I went alone without H, and had a small rental car--didn't know about being able to rent trucks while there. I had worried the whole way, wondering how on earth I would get the couch to the campus. Then, I found out that by pushing the passenger seat down, I could slide all boxes of the couch into the trunk up to the dashboard--and voila! I could transport the couch. S had to wedge himself into the car somehow, and called his roommates on the way. We stopped in the middle of the street by Phelps Gate (of course there being no place to park) and the boys pulled out the couch and it was on its way to the room. It was quite a relief for me to have that project completed. Since then, that futon has made its way to two different residence halls now without my help.</p>

<p>Re: the line at Pepe's; when we were there this summer, we discovered we could walk right into the 'old' part of Pepe's (set back in a bit from the main) and bypass the long line. Pizzas are the same, just a little smaller environment. Sure beat the wait we would have faced.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice on graduation--I, too, was starting to think about this. The old Colony hotel that was being renovated is now called "The Study at Yale"--when I checked on rooms for parents weekend I was quoted $499--so I think that won't be on our list. </p>

<p>So, when do most parents arrive for graduation? It looks like most events are on Sunday and Monday. I'll check that link, cleveland, thanks.</p>

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<p>Just looked at the link you sent, cleveland, and found it very helpful--answered most of my questions. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Here's some advice about move in weekend, embedded in my couch posts, but maybe worth posting overtly:</p>

<p>I can speak most directly about L-Dub, but I think these comments apply for other Freshman housing on Old Campus.</p>

<p>The room layout is a common room facing the courtyard, with two bedrooms facing the street, San Francisco row house style. The bedrooms are long and skinny: 7 feet wide by 14 feet long. The common room is 12 by 16. Two beds and two dressers (provided) must fit in each bedroom. They start out bunked, but after one night, the girls chose to "unbunk", which leaves very little floor space. The beds fit end to end along one wall, and the dressers fit side by side, with an added 14 inch deep set of storage shelves five feet long in between along the opposite wall. This creates a tunnel effect but seemed like the best (only?) furniture arrangement without bunking. The closet in the bedroom is small: one 4 foot rod for two girls, and some high shelves and hooks along the sides.</p>

<p>The common rooms are very nice: their room has a long bay window seat: 9 feet long, two feet deep, which makes for good built in seating. It houses the radiators though, so when it gets cold, I'm not sure if you can sit on or place cushions over the grates. But it is very tempting to do so, because it creates a nice seating area overlooking the courtyard. </p>

<p>The common room comes with four desks and 4 chairs. Three desks can fit along one wall opposite the fireplace, and the other desk fits between the window seat and the fireplace. There may be other places to put the desks (facing the courtyard against the bench seat) but you would lose access to the bench seat. You would have a lovely view of the courtyard, however. Girls opted not to do this and keep the bench seat open.</p>

<p>So this leads to the question of what to put in the rest of the common area. The fireplace is not functional so our girls opted to put a couch in front of it (blocking it). Some girls put a couch/futon/chairs facing the fireplace which makes the room a little more crowded but keeps the fireplace visible as you walk in to the room. Also, if they plan to have a TV (mine won't), it would be logical to put a flatscreen in front of or above the fireplace, which would mean the couch would need to face the fireplace. More crowded, but still possible. </p>

<p>Between the doors to the bedrooms, there is a small coat closet. There are two 2 foot rods, and some more shelving and storage for luggage etc. This is shared by the four suitemates, so will be enough room for some outerwear and that's about it.</p>

<p>A standard 7 foot long, 3 foot deep couch fits this room just fine (not sure if the couch will get back down the stairs-see prior post). There is also room for a coffee table and side chair. The small rented refrigerator and small (microwave size) table can fit next to the fireplace.</p>

<p>Here's what I wish I'd known, besides the room dimensions: </p>

<p>The wishes and budgets of the room mates. This is obviously a very sensitive area. If the suitemates can communicate through the summer and each agree to purchase and "own" some things they want in the room, great. Suitemates that were able to do this got everything into their rooms in mere hours, and things looked fabulous.</p>

<p>Other groups were much more reluctant to have these conversations until move-in day. This worked OK for us, but I had to be very flexible, silent, accomodating and patient as they figured out what each was willing to do. We live very far away, so I was very interested in seeing them have honest conversation about this before I had to go home and they would have no access to a car/van for moving big items.</p>

<p>Some things to consider: If you do buy big items, will the college store them during the summer? My understanding is that a couch, a rug and a lamp can be stored in the residential college room the student will be moving to the following year. (other parents/students please chime in if you know anything more on this topic.) They also get a set amount of storage space for boxes in the residential college. We have a "plan B" in that I have a New Haven relative who has offered to store some things if need be. Other options include moving things to storage units, but this must all be taken into account when you calculate the cost. I just reminded my daughter: anything you put in the room that you can't eat will have to be boxed, moved or given or thrown away in May. Be very careful!</p>

<p>I think Yale's Old Campus housing with the common rooms presents some unique challenges in exchange for great space. Most dorms I'm familiar with on other campuses don't have these rooms, and students never buy/bring furniture to college. </p>

<p>I wish I'd fully understood the pressure to get this room set up. While I could have disengaged and let them try to find, purchase and move some pieces, used or new, I finally decided that adding this stress on top of everything else my D is adjusting to was just not a good idea. She was so relieved and happy when we got the few big pieces into the room, that it was all worth it. I'm now disengaging from room decorating, etc., and won't give it any more thought until we have to figure out when and where to move it! </p>

<p>Hope this helps some 2013s! Others may have had very different move in experiences. Please correct me, or add to the conversation, if you like!</p>

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<p>Glad you have the move behind you, and thanks for all that great info, riverrunner. I'll save it for next fall. Is all the housing in the Residential Colleges configured in roughly the same way as your D's suite? I wonder if there are photos of room interiors on the Yale website. That would help roommates figure out what they needed in advance.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the post riverrunner. Both of my S's common rooms did not have desks; they were just big bare spaces. My H and I did our best to make it more homey as the boys had not communicated much to each other about these things either. We ended up purchasing a futon, two chairs, a bookcase, a TV stand and a TV ($89 at Target, what a deal); another suitemate chipped in a lamp and a rug, and it looked much better. I don't believe they added much more in the way of decorating. </p>

<p>As far as storage goes, each residence hall is a bit different, but they definitely can store a couch, lamp, rug, chair, bookcase for sure; they stay right in the rooms--there is a whole tagging system. The boxes are pretty large (you have to purchase the exact size) and we have found no problem in fitting everything in to be be packed away in the residence hall. You're also allowed one box for 'technology' type things; usually one boy stores the TV in his. So, we have never had a need to rent a storage space, and believe me, my S has a lot of stuff there--accumulating more every year I think. With us living about 2000 miles away, we can't just drive over and load up the car, so we rely on the residence college storage system.</p>

<p>Of course, comes May 2010 at graduation I imagine we'll have to work something out to transport all that stuff somewhere :-)</p>

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<p>No Yale-issued desks, Clarimom? Did you have to buy them?</p>

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<p>wjb, from my experience, it appears that suites vary slightly in configuration, so as a new freshman, you can communicate with suitemates about main items such as couches but almost have to wait and see the space for many things. For example, we had purchased an over-the-door clothes hanger, but found the doors to be oversized so it didn't fit, the bookcase we had for S's room didn't fit and had to go to common room. This year, bookcase didn't fit in common room, and ended up in suitemate's room. </p>

<p>So, unfortunately for freshman year, I think much of the purchasing needs to wait until move-in weekend to be on the safe side.</p>

<p>However, for every year after that, the kids get to see the room the spring before (it's a lottery system--you'll learn all about this next spring). So, they will be able to see how it differs from their current suite.</p>

<p>Safe travel today to everyone on their way home!</p>

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<p>wjb, desks were in the individual rooms, not in common room. Yale-provided.</p>

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<p>There are photos on the website but it is very difficult to tell what would fit without measurements. At least for me.</p>

<p>There was a checklist on the back of the door when the girls arrived stating what the room was to be furnished with (an inventory.) They were each provided with a bed, mattress, desk and chair. I believe no desk would be something to take up with the residence hall. It should be included. </p>

<p>Some rooms have a bedroom curtain. My D's room didn't and it was a necessary purchase!</p>

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<p>^^^clarimom, I'm sure you're right about room dimensions. They can't possibly all be identical to what I posted, but may be a ballpark. </p>

<p>The rooms are assigned in the spring for Freshman. It would be GREAT if there was a list of room numbers and dimensions posted somewhere, but maybe that's overthinking things. </p>

<p>I guess there is something to be said for the suitemates having to struggle together to make decisions about their room, face to face, during their first weekend together! Kind of like camping in the rain.</p>

<p>I'm sure someday I'll look back with fondness on the chaos of this last weekend....</p>

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<p>One more thought: Yale provides lots of interesting things for parents to do during move in weekend: Open House at the College with the Master, sessions about academics, safety, the resident college system, visit to Yale College president's home, campus tours, the address to entering Freshmen, religious services, etc. </p>

<p>I had to miss some of these things to help the girls get going. Also, I don't think I sat down for a meal in the entire time I was there. </p>

<p>That's OK. It's not about me. However, if some things had been decided a little earlier in the process and the major errands could have been done on Friday rather than on Saturday and Sunday, I would have enjoyed the opening events a lot more. Also, the fabulous upper classmen who greet you at the gates, willing to carry all your stuff up the stairs, are only there on Friday. Take advantage of the help while it's there.</p>

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<p>I feel like a bad mom in retrospect, since we did nothing about furniture. D's suite in Lawrance was 6 singles: 3 tiny (one of which D got) and 3 normal-sized. (Don't ask me for dimensions, I'm hopeless at estimating these things.) The common room was large, and overlooked the New Haven Green, as did two of the rooms. The other four, including D's, looked out onto Old Campus. While D's room was extremely small, it fit a desk and slightly lofted bed, under which she had lots of storage room. The closet was large enough to accommodate the bureau. It was a tight fit but she loved it, particularly the view out of the very large window.</p>

<p>The girls made furniture decisions after the parents left, although they had communicated ahead of time on who was bringing a TV and comfy chair. Two of them took the bus to Ikea, I think, had a futon delivered to Phelps Gate, and then hauled it up the stairs. D now owns the futon (she paid the other girls for it), and she has been allowed to move it into her new room each spring. One of the girls was very artistic, and when we went up for Parents' Weekend there were all sorts of interesting hangings on the common room walls. They bought a rug and lamp, and the place was very homey.</p>

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<p>riverrunner, hope you can make it to Parents Weekend as there are lots of interesting events for parents then as well. Plus, it's less hectic than move-in weekend, so you'll actually get to sit down and enjoy some meals this time.:-)</p>

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<p>^^^YES I can't wait for Parents Weekend. My DH will be there as well. The thought of a more relaxed visit was the thing that kept me sane....</p>

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<p>I am exhausted! I was in Target so often this weekend; they should have issued me one of those red Target logo shirts and put me to work. We live on the west coast and had everything shipped to the New Haven UPS store and a couple of boxes shipped to the Omni Hotel. That worked well, all of the boxes were waiting for us when we arrived in New Haven. The upper classmen moving helpers were fantastic. D was helped by the JE movers even though that is not her residential college (Thank You JE). </p>

<p>D is in a single room w/ 5 others in her suite. Her room has a bureau, which she put in her closet. The closet is big. She has a bed, which the helpers raised. She also was issued a desk and a desk chair. Like riverrunner’s D, her room is long and narrow, with a window. We took down the curtain and bought a new one. All of D’s electrical outlets are singles. We had shipped double outlet extenders (changes an outlet from 2 plug-ins to 6). We had to purchase single outlet extenders, which changes a single outlet to 3 plug-ins. The suite mates decided ahead of time who was buying what items for the suite. Having spent the last 7 summers setting up dorm rooms for ballet summer intensive programs helped somewhat in getting D’s room set up. Also knowing D was going to be in a single made it easier. </p>

<p>H and I had planned to attend several of the parent seminar type events but only made it to the Master’s Tea. Everything took much longer than anticipated. I wish the upper classmen helpers would have been available until 6 or 7 pm on Friday and for a couple of hours on Saturday.<br>
In addition to supporting Target, we also increased the revenue of Bed, Bath and Beyond, IKEA, Staples, and the Yale Bookstore. </p>

<p>I hope Yale repeats the parent seminars during parents’ weekend, and I would love to eat in some of those restaurants mentioned – no time this trip.</p>