Hi, my daughter is a ‘20. I want to go out with her to help her move in or what have you, she probably doesn’t need it but I want to see her off. I am not sure whether I would go with her when she leaves for her trip, or after she comes back/before school starts. What do people generally do? I would appreciate hearing other parents’ experiences.
Be there when she gets back from trip and is actually moving in.
We are from the west coast but have family on the east coast. So what I did was come with my son and most of his stuff before his trip. We moved his boxes and suitcases into his room on the day he left for his trip, which they are allowed to do, although they are not supposed to actually unpack and move in at that point. When he went off on his trip I visited family a few hours away, and drove back the day he came back from his trip and could move in. It was a logistical puzzle to figure out, but it did work for us and I’m glad I did it that way.
That’s great info AboutTheSame and b1ggreenca, thanks. I may have follow ups once I find out the actual dates.
There is little you can do to help launch her for her Trip. When she returns to move in, you are correct that she probably does not need your help. There is a lot of activity and lots of families to meet when everyone is moving in, but very little quality time.
Let me suggest a third option. Send her with half of what she thinks that she will need. Wait a week or two at which point she will know you are coming and have made a list of things that she really needs from home or from stores. You can bring the must haves with you and shop with her at school. Most importantly, you can host two, three, or four meals with floormates, tripees, and/or teammates without having to compete with other families. The students will be ready for a “real” meal, and you will learn more listening at dinner than you will every learn only talking to your daughter. Think driving the minivan to the soccer game with the kids in the back who totally forget that there is actually an adult driving the car. Plan on at least one feed the students trip per year. It is the most gratifying experience to reinforce the return on investment of this special four years.
We were surprised to see our son '20 got a package from Dartmouth the other day. It was a copy of Ngozi Adichie’s book “Americanah,” which is apparently a shared academic experience. We were most impressed that this was unannounced…and further, that it was sent to my son directly, instead of a “go buy and read this” letter. Thanks to the Sphinx Foundation that sponsored the purchase.
Yet another really cool “welcome to Dartmouth” mailing. Ramping up.
Our son has a decent bike (probably worth $200-250 in the marketplace now)…is this ok to bring up, or should we really buy a very cheap bike up there? We are from Metro Boston so a huge commute for his home bike is not the issue…it seems a shame to have a perfectly useable bike at home and yet buy another for up there…
Awaiting his trip assignment, his roommate(s), etc…all very exciting for us.
Thanks as always for the great advice and input.
I think if we had to do it all over again, we would get the cheapest bike possible as Son used it just to get from point to point to save time. His decent ($500) campus bike was stolen twice by other students (we assume) because it was found twice on campus. Go figure. Although he assured me that he locked it, I doubt that the ability to pick locks was in the new SAT. Sad to think that a fellow student would take someone else’s property. The weather will be the bike’s biggest enemy so if he treasures his bike, leave it at home and get the $100 Walmart special for campus. Also, get insurance. Its about $100 year. Also, he may find he will be walking more with friends, its not that large of a campus. Have a great 4 years, it goes by much too quickly.
One inexpensive option is the Sustainability Project bike sale: http://sustainability.dartmouth.edu/physical-stuff/dartmouth-bikes/
Also, news to me, renting a bike: http://thedartmouth.com/2013/09/24/program-offers-bike-rentals/
Agree with Magnum that you want a beater rather than a nice bike.
On the theft issue, I would never leave a laptop unattended in Baker, but D had extreme good fortune in her years there. I still remember the year when I saw her get off the Dartmouth Coach (if you haven’t found the Class of 66 web cam yet, do so: http://www.dartmouth66.org/webcam/) and leave her suitcase by the wall at the Dartmouth Inn for 20 minutes while she traipsed off to get her room key. And then were was the time she lost her wallet. Another student found it on the Green and blitzed her, so I was glad I waited to cancel her credit/bank cards. All in all, I think the honor principle is alive and well in Hanover.
My D will be attending Dartmouth this fall. I was wondering if the parents’ orientation is a must-not-miss event? If you had attended this in previous years, I would really appreciate any inputs on what gets covered here. We live outside the US, so while we will be there to drop our D off, we were wondering if we should wait another week+ around NH to attend the parents’ orientation.
I did not attend the parent orientation last year, since I was too busy moving my son into his room that day. It’s just one day of parent-related activities, if I recall, so it wouldn’t mean another week you have to spend in Hanover. However we did attend Dimensions before our son decided to enroll there, and did participate in all the parent events and panels that day, so we did feel substantially oriented to the place through that. I’m assuming the parent orientation would have been substantially redundant, and no harm done, he got through the year just great so we must not have missed anything important! I sometimes think they hold parent orientations just to give parents something to do aside from the drudgery of moving in, and a way to transition to saying goodbye later that day.
You can skip it. Speeches by then-president Kim and I forget who else. A couple of small breakout sessions on things like the Foreign Study Programs that told you nothing that was not readily available on the website. As @b1ggreenca said, " I sometimes think they hold parent orientations just to give parents something to do aside from the drudgery of moving in, and a way to transition to saying goodbye later that day." Agreed.
Trip assignments for the '20s are out! Our son got hiking 2…not his choice, but he’ll have a blast. It’s getting very real for us now…we are excited for him, if not for us!
Our son opted for hiking 1, with rock climbing. He’s pretty excited. Dorm and roommate assignments came out yesterday and we were cheering, “yay! you have a roof over your head! It’s really happening!” So, any feedback from experienced parents about Mid-Fayerweather?
Yes, our son heard yesterday too…he’s in the East Wheelock cluster…Andres Hall. Cool! His first trip choices were canoeing and hiking 1, but he’s just psyched to have it all getting closer.
A friend whose son will be attending Princeton bought her son a safe which was recommended by Princeton. It never occurred to me that my DS would need a safe. Did any of you send safes with your children to Dartmouth?
Lord, no. I had a hard enough time persuading D to keep her room locked.
@baxter My daughter does have a safe. The particular one we bought was SentrySafe Compact Safe with combination lock. We ordered it from Walmart and had it waiting along with her refrigerator for pickup at the local store. The size was perfect for keeping her cash, passport and medications safe. It ended up being a challenge trying to keep the door locked as the roommate never did plus the roommate had a revolving door of people that just seemed to stay over so my daughter never knew who was ever going to be in the room. I would recommend taking one based upon my daughter’s experience.
I will yield to @saffysmum : D kept her cash on her person, her passport in her Bible, and never had any prescription drugs to protect [except for the year she came home for Christmas with mono]. If you really want to be safe [pun only half intentional], I would place a small safe inside a locked footlocker for extra protection. It’s not that hard for someone to walk off with a compact safe and then work to open it at leisure. That’s not my sense of Dartmouth/Hanover, but times change.
@baxter @AboutTheSame I neglected to mention that this particular model has a steel tethering cable that is designed to secure it to a stationary or heavy object in the room to help prevent carry off.
^^ Not sure there was anything in the Choates that would qualify [a table leg does not & I don’t think they would have approved of screwing an eyebolt into the wall], but that’s a very good feature to defeat random theft. 
Ooh. Edit. I take that back. Loop it round a bed leg and a base board, and you’re good. It would take a [noisy] saber saw to let someone get to it.