ShesOnHerWay

I was just making my plans to go to Parent Orientation with my freshman daughter in August. We're from the west coast so this involves a long flight and loss of a full day due to the time change. I looked on the schedule and it appears that the only "parent orientation" activities are on Saturday, August 26th. The FAQs suggest that parents leave after the Saturday activities.

Are there any parents who have decided not to attend orientation at all? Especially those from way out-of-state, are you attending?

dgebll

I am an orientation leader. Most every freshman has at least one parent with them on Saturday. I think it helps to have family there for that day. I don't know what I would have done without my parent's help with move-in/the first day's activities. If there's any way that someone could be there, it's definitely a help. The first Orientation activities with the OL groups don't start until later that day. There's a bunch of stuff for the parents/both of yall as well, including tours of the campus, info sessions, etc. etc. Everyone is going to have a lot of questions that can get answered that day. Please let me know if there are any more specific questions you might have.

ShesOnHerWay

How about if my daughter is going to one of the freshman outdoor trips? I intended to send her ahead on Tuesday night/Wednesday and then meet up with her on Friday/Saturday. She gets to move in early so.....

217ohio

The orientation schedule for Sunday, Aug. 27th indicates parents may listen to Dean Thomas Lancaster's discussion of the curriculum and academic requirements with all first-year students. Is that something most parents attend or do they generally all leave on Saturday?

dgebll

I did talk to one of my friends who is leading one of the OEO trips. She said that while there will be some people to help move stuff into the dorms early, most parents do come with them on that Wednesday (or whichever day early move-in day is) and stay in Atlanta while they are on the trips. Her RAs and SAs will already be moved into their dorms. If you have one of their names, they might be helpful with problems specific to that day. Once she gets access to the full version of Learnlink, her hall will have a conference for posting questions, which is very helpful.

dgebll

Anything that's optional is just that. If that was for students as well, I don't think I went to it last year. Everything is posted online for you to look through if you wish. The general education requirements are pretty confusing. It might help to learn more about them, but the advisors go through all of that with the freshmen during the first week. By Sunday, the freshmen have a pretty full schedule until classes start on Thursday.

NorCalDad

I am flying out from California with my daughter one day ahead of the Outdoor Emory Orientation, on Tue/Aug. 22, then helping her move in and get her dorm ready that day. My daughter leaves on Thursday AM for her outdoor orientation trip, and I will use the next couple of days to get her room ready and to purchase whatever she will need for her room -- the housing office says that parents can get into the rooms during the student's absence.

Tentatively, we're probably going to ship some things by UPS for pickup at the DUC. Ideally, we will coordinate the timing of the goods being shipped to arrive at Emory when we arrive on campus.

(BTW, I've been a lurker for 2 years and finally decided to register in order to post on CC.)