<p>just thought I would post as I haven’t in awhile. The family weekend was a waste. The students, including my son, were not terribly interested seeing their folks. The lectures were over crowded and the air in Ida Noyes Hall was stiffling during the lunch break. The bus tour was cancelled. Mostly it was a financial waste. In hind sight, we should have just waited until Thanksgiving. We loved having him home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Next year, we’ll use the approximately $1000 of family weekend to pay for his air fare back home during the year.</p>
<p>drdom,</p>
<p>Too bad about family weekend. We loved the three we went to. We skipped FW her fourth year because she had two trips back home right around that time.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, though, that we went for us, not for her. I cared less that she did not want to see us. We wanted to see her and the campus. Any favorable parent/student interaction was just a bonus. :)</p>
<p>So I think it all depends on expectations. We also skipped many of the formal activities, although a few (like meet the advisor) turned out to be well worth while. We just used the time to do our own thing, picking and choosing from the best value things, like a free Robie House tour, the Oriental and doc films.</p>
<p>DH heads out to Chicago regularly for business, so at least he can catch a quick visit with S. Quarters are short enough that we have all been able to deal with the distance so far. Ask me next September how I feel about this after he’s out of town all summer, too!</p>
<p>DW went to family weekend and really enjoyed it. I was unable to attend. She liked talking with other parents, meeting S1’s friends, and attending the activities.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any tips for students who’s parents wont be coming with them for O-week?</p>
<p>argh:/ double post</p>
<p>Most parents who come with their kids only stay for Move-in Day. There are no activities for parents during O-Week. The only parent-oriented activity on Move-in Day is Convocation. There are house trips to Target etc. during O-Week, so if you need any of the kinds of items available there you will have transportation…and company!</p>
<p>You will miss your parents for exactly 10 minutes during O-week: the emotional piper-led parade from Rockefeller Chapel to the gates of the quad, where students and parents are separated and students pass through the gate to be welcomed by cheering upperclassmen. That’s a great moment, it would be worth having parents there for that (although it is really, really hard on the parents). Apart from that, you will laugh at your classmates whose parents refuse to vanish after that, and you will be pleased at not having to negotiate the separation before it, too. If you feel like having parents, it will be easy as pie to borrow someone else’s.</p>
<p>Haha thank you guys. I will be telling my parents my tearful goodbye in the airport lol. But I know they would love to see the campus (not to south though cause my mom would freak). But money is tight these days. Maybe I can convince them to drive haha but I bet the gas/hotel would be more than a plane ticket</p>
<p>Midway Airport, about five miles from the University on 55th St., is one of the main hubs for Southwest Airlines. Airfares to and from there tend to be relatively pretty cheap, if there’s a Southwest Airlines airport near you.</p>
<p>I arrived the day before move-in in case we needed to do any last minute stuff. We helped with move-in, went along and hung out while S registered for orientation, went to the BBQ lunch, then back to the Convocation. From there, we did the parade to the gate. Helpful O-Week people walk around with boxes of tissues, ready to dispense if needed. I took pictures of one young person because I found it hilarious (in between the tears). Parents do not go through the gate. The students can’t wait to run through it. Chicago makes it clear that it’s time to cut the cord! There is a nice outdoor reception afterwards – Ted O’Neill was talking to parents.</p>
<p>DH and I went back to our hotel, took a nap, went out for ribs that evening and drove home the next morning.</p>
<p>BTW, math placement exams are the day after move-in. Out of the frying pan and into the fire! DO NOT study for them the night before – hang out and meet your housemates.</p>
<p>Machiavelli, not everyone had parents with them for move-in. S’s roommate is international and his family did not make the trip. There are plenty of people to help you move your stuff, you can ship a few boxes early, and your folks will be thrilled to send a care package with anything from home you can’t live without.</p>
<p>Flying into Midway is great because there’s a bus (express during parts of the day) that takes you to campus. Takes 45 minutes or so, runs fairly often. Took it myself in September. Cab is $20-30 and is a little faster. S will share a cab with friends if there are a bunch of them coming into Midway at the same time, which reduces the cost and gets them directly to the dorms.</p>
<p>There’s also a shuttle to/from Midway that costs $18 and you call 24 hours in advance (more or less). S took the regular bus in December and it only cost $1 (took one hour and stopped quite often). We shipped everything and he traveled only with his carry-on and backpack.</p>
<p>I’ve taken the 55 bus lots of times. The time ranged from 45 minutes (with traffic) to 25 (without). I’ve had about the same range of times for cabs – 40 minutes with traffic, 15-20 without. If you don’t have a lot of luggage, or a lot of people with whom to share the cab cost, and you aren’t going too far to the south side of the campus, the 55 bus is a great deal.</p>
<p>I must say that I did enjoy being there to drop off my son for o-Week. I enjoyed the convocation and the procession to the quad and it was sad standing at the gate. But weeks flew by and before long we were together for Thanksgiving and for winter break.
I know that the Career Fair is this week - anybody have any helpful hints for a freshman getting some kind of internship this summer in NYC area?</p>
<p>Need Advice - I have emailed Unalove on this issue and wanted some more imput. Seems like my son, who had a great first quarter is now totally bummed out about UChicago. He finds his history class boring, finds he’s just memorizing stuff in math, his bio course is new this quarter and not well put together (readings have no relation to the lectures) and he is especially challenged in humanities. he got a B on his last paper and he’s frustrated not at the grade but at trying to find out what the prof wants. He seems adrift - worrying that he doesn’t have a focus or major and generally burnt out. Telling him to consider going to his adviser (who he doesn’t really like) or to speak to his humanities professor doesn’t help as he won’t go. Is this in any way typical at UChicago - to kinda hit a wall 2nd quarter? Do people recover from this attitude? Is this what the expression about fun coming to die really means? - a distraught father.</p>
<p>drdom, </p>
<p>One word: Winter. AKA SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. This too will pass with the first greening of spring. My own D, UofC grad June 2008, had similar feelings during winter and an even worse January this year in Oxford, UK. </p>
<p>One way to cope is to find something like the gym as a diversion. </p>
<p>Regarding the academic specifics, I think each student needs to figure out what works in terms of figuring out expectations. The obvious move to us adults - go talk to the authorities - can be pretty tough when the authority is an intimidating well known prof. BTW, a “B” in a paper is not so bad for a 1st year!</p>
<p>newmassdad - thanks. I hadn’t considered SAD. He is swimming 3 days a week - or at least he said that was his plan. Throughout high school he always had a problem adjusting to new teachers but by Thanksgiving, he figured it out. I guess with profs changing every 10 weeks and the workload he’s suffering a bit.</p>
<p>drdom,</p>
<p>My D had good and bad quarters, too. Sometimes the kid and the teacher just don’t connect. </p>
<p>Too bad about the advisor relationship, though. My D’s advisor turned out to be a real lifeline when some issues cropped up. They’re busy folks, but some really do care about the students. </p>
<p>BTW, SAD is controversial - some health care professionals don’t believe it exists. I take no sides, but I suspect for some folks it is a real issue. Of course, the issue could just be the change in lifestyle from being cooped up indoors due to short days and cold weather, but the impact on mood could still be the same. Fortunately, in a few weeks the temperature really will start to climb.</p>
<p>I agree with the winter assessment. Both my kids (2007 grad and current 2nd year) have found winter quarter to bring out the blahs…nothing seems as good as it is in the fall and spring. As far as academics go, I think that there will be classes your S will love, others he will hate and some he will tolerate. My advice has always been to seek out the professors with specific questions if the comments seem vague, and, of course, make sure the professor is doing the grading. In some classes, especially the Hum core, I think that the TA sometimes grades certain of the papers, or at the very least offers comments on the papers. My D also found the core writing tutors available in Harper to be of varying degrees of assistance. Some were wonderful, others less so, but its an avenue to explore. If he won’t seek out the professors, or pursue extra help there’s not much you can do for him academically. You can support him and reiterate that its not uncommon for a first year student to not have settled on a major (my 2007 grad went through 3 and didn’t declare until winter quarter 3rd year) at this point, and to carefully look at his balance of classes for spring quarter. Suggest he find something fun…maybe look at the art classes! This is not, in my opinion, evidence of being in the place “fun comes to die”, but evidence of attending a school that is in a place with a long, cold, wet winter.</p>
<p>Has he talked this over with his Resident Advisor at the dorm? They can be very helpful. S1 has always found winter to be a challenge, but Spring will come. What is a real positive is that he is talking to you about it. Many kids just try to tough it out, or not talk about their feelings.</p>