<p>Hello, harvard parens, how are you all? I am just going through and meeting some new people, so how does it feel to know that all that time your kid listened to you paid off?</p>
<p>Hi SS - You know, it was a big thrill initially to have a student at Harvard and to get to go there and absorb the Harvard vibe. Then, after awhile, itās just their college, except that unlike parents with kids at other colleges, you feel awkward about wearing the sweatshirt or putting the sticker on the car window.</p>
<p>You know what Iād really like? I wish our last kid - our son whoās a junior in HS - was interested in Carleton. Iām intrigued with the place, itād be my top choice if I was 17 again, and I think itād suit him well. I believe you have the same feeling about the school? Iād enjoy visiting there as a parent wannabe too, but S is passionate about playing snare in a top marching band so unfortunately, Carletonās not going to be on his list.</p>
<p>Yes, I absolutely love the school. I just had my interview last week, and one of the admissions director offered me lunch( not because I am special, but because I went to a summer program he directed) and it was fantastic. I have been there many times, both during the school year and summer, and I must say I love it there, hence why I am applying ED lol. It truly is a great school, but the sad part is that not many people know about it. I definitely had no idea the first time my teacher recommended the school to me, but I think that it is a school where you either love it or donāt, and I am sure you know by now that I love it.</p>
<p>Hello All, Itās been a while since Iāve been on CC. Weāve been enjoying our time with our son whoās home from Harvard for the summer. </p>
<p>We are thinking of coming out to Cambridge over Thanksgiving break. Any thoughts on how the weather might be? Weāre from Southern California so anythng under 60 is a little cold to me. Thoughts on where to spend Thanksgiving Day? </p>
<p>Thanks and itās good to be back :)</p>
<p>Well the weather is most likely to be raw and unpleasant (although sometimes you might get lucky and have a beautiful day with temperatures in the 50ās-60"s) You might get snow as well. If you wanted a colonial āauthenticā Thanksgiving and have a car you could drive to Plimouth Plantation or you could go to Old Sturbridge Village. Otherwise, Iām sure there are some great restaurants in Boston that would provide a festive holiday.</p>
<p>Hi Guitars - Have not āseenā you for a while on this thread. For those CC members who donāt know, Guitars is the originator of this wonderful thread. To answer your question: I can tell you that we were in Boston a few years ago in late November and it was absolutely miserable weather - rain and wind. We are also enjoying having DD at home occasionally this summer - she is teaching in a program for disadvantaged youth and comes home on weekends. Will your DS be a senior in September?</p>
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<p>Ohhhhh . . . that sounds glorious. Weeks without end of daily highs over 95 degrees in Georgia. Going into a second unbroken week of heat indices over 105. Iām going to close my eyes now and think of the cold . . . crunching leaves . . . New England snow . . .</p>
<p>We had snow when when we were at Freshman Parentsā Weekend. Thank heavens for Burdickās hot chocolate!</p>
<p>For the Thanksgiving in Cambridge questions-- we had a few sunny days of 55, and a day of cool rain for our TG visit. As long as you have a winter coat and an unbrella, youāll be fine. For TG dinner we went to Durgin Park for dinner- the essence of old New England at Fanueil Hall, huge servings. Henriettaās Table at the Charles Hotel is a great choice, but you must reserve a table very early. (The Charles has special room rates for TG stays of 3 days.) </p>
<p>Iād recommend booking tickets for the Boston Ballet Nutcracker- it is a beautiful performance in a gorgeous building. Try to include a tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as the nearby Museum of Fine Arts.</p>
<p>Soā¦ is harvard what it is portrayed to be, according to your son/daughter that attends.
Is it that great? or does it have its faults like so many other universities?</p>
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<p>Yes to both. D1 just graduated - loved every minute, appeared to have an āexperience of a lifetimeā every couple months or so it seemed, but acknowledges that she sometimes wonders what she may have missed from the classic American Ann Arbor-style college experience. D2 will be a junior in the fall - she loves it and canāt wait to get back. But while my HS junior son should have stats that equal or surpass his sistersā, I donāt think Harvardās his thing. Heās been there six or seven times and I donāt think heās into the urban, northern, Type A vibe.</p>
<p>The āpacketā has finally come, and I am now officially in angst over freshman move-in day. How bad is it? One of the letters says you can expect up to a 2 1/2 hour wait in the line to drop the stuff off!
Also it seems that the policy is that if one person is late, you canāt do any unpacking at all until that person gets there. I really liked being able to help my older two settle inā¦helping hook up the computer and printer, making the bed the first time,etc. Sounds like in a suite of 5 everybody could just be there with piles of junk and no place to put it if one person doesnāt show up until late in the day.
Any survival tips?</p>
<p>^^It didnāt take us 2.5 hours to wait in line and drop the stuff off. Maybe a little over an hour. They have it organized. There is a staging area in a parking lot, and they send you over to drive into the Yard in small groups. Once in the Yard they direct you to your dorm where you unload the stuff and haul it up to the room. There are usually tons of helpful upperclassmen around to help with all this and make everything go smoothly. After you unload the car they direct you to park in a structure not far away and you walk back to the dorms for the unpacking.</p>
<p>Itās true that you are not to choose a side of the the room and start unpacking until all roommates are present. This is because many of the dorms are very old and the rooms asymetrical. Thus, the roommates must agree on who gets what to prevent early arrivals from snapping up the best of everything. We arrived first and just did a little partial unpacking but kept everything piled in the middle of the floor until the roommate arrived. Donāt be surprised if the room set-up the kids devise and agree to is significantly different from what you would have done. Itās their room, not yours.</p>
<p>All in all itās a good day. By the end of the day itās time to go and let your child begin his/her college experience. Donāt hang around. When itās time to go, go.</p>
<p>Hi! GSās Info. finally arrived - I appreciate any and all survival āTipsā & āCommentsā Re: Quad in GRAYS. So, - 2 to a room w/ 1 common room? Where can I find info on space and furniture placement?? Angst about dragging a refrigerator and etc. etc. up w/no elevator?? Any personal comments about GRAYS will be helpful.</p>
<p>Grays is an awesome location. Participants in some of the pre-Orientation activities (FAP, FOP, FUP, etc.) may not get back until late afternoon, so you canāt disadvantage them by choosing spaces before they arrive. As Coureur says, the size and configuration of spaces in all these historic buildings varies widely so thereās some negotiation to do - a lot of roommate groups agree to change spaces once or twice during the year for the sake of equity.</p>
<p>We had one D in Weld, where there is an elevator, and one in Wigglesworth where there isnāt. On move-in day, it really doesnāt matter much. With hundreds of frosh all moving in at the same time, your likelihood of finding the elevator available when you need it isnāt very great anyway.</p>
<p>@Bubbe:
Our S was in Grays and loved it. It is a beautiful old dorm with a fabulous location. It has old building charm (red brick, wooden floors, some wood panelling) but also old building drawbacks eg.very hot with poor ventilation (or so it was on move-in weekend); no elevator (but it only has 3 floors).</p>
<p>Be aware that a quad, while intended to house 4 students, might house 5 students.
This was my Sās experience year before last. : there was a large airy multi-windowed common room, a bathroom (2 sinks, 1 shower, 1 loo, if I recall correctly), 1 double room and 2 single rooms. So how does this accommodate 5, you may ask? Well one of the singles has to serve as a double and it is a tight squeeze. Unfortunately my son and another roommate were not shown the āwait until everyone is hereā courtesy and by the time they got to the dorm from FOP, all that was left was the tiny single which they shared.
For two students a Grayās single is very short on space: crowded in the single serving two is a double bunk bed, two bureaus with about 4 or 5 drawers and a small closet to share. The single serving one student is the same size but only has one bed and bureau.
The double is spacious and has room for two separate beds, two bureaus, a large closet and plenty of room for two desks. (All 5 roommates used the common room to put their desks and a bookshelf for each. There was enough room to do this around the perimeter of the room and still have room for a futon, fridge and a few other things.)</p>
<p>There is an entryway that has a row of hooks perfect for wintercoats, as well as a built-in closet with some shelves for added storage.</p>
<p>I am not sure if this has changed, but there are no laundry facilities in Grays. Grays students do their laundry in the Weld basement.</p>
<p>-Re lugging up furniture: I guess it is doable. Somehow the fellas in my Sās dorm got a clunky futon and a small fridge (bar fridge size) into their room (granted, it was only one flight of stairs).
-A little electric fan will be very useful for the first month or so.
-On the subject of furniture, the main pieces are provided, but if your S and his roommates are looking for odds and ends, on move-in weekend there is a sort of āyard saleā just outside the science center, where upperclassmen sell off some of their stuff. (Worth checking out before heading to Wallmart or Ikea)
- If your S is doing a preorientation such as FOP, advise him to clarify ahead of time the āwait until everyone is here before choosing rooms/bedsā courtesy. I am sure he is making contact with his future roommates via email or facebook.
-THe bathroom does not come with a bathmat, toilet brush and little trash.
-Storage space is limited, especially in the single accommodating 2, so an under bed storage box is invaluable.</p>
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<p>On the flip side, make sure you donāt make everyone else wait too long. Everyone is arriving at different times and is anxious to get unpacked, especially if family help is available for only a limited time. One girl in my Dās 5-person suite asked everyone to wait to choose rooms until she had returned from having dinner with her relatives! At first everyone was too polite to forge ahead, but after a couple of hours they called her on her cell and made decisions that way.</p>
<p>Thank you, thank you so much for replying w/all that good info.
I am driving my daughter crazy (I am the ultimate āHelicopter Grammaā) I have promised I will calm down but I am so excited. My GS on the other hand, seems barely interested!!! LOL!!!
There are 4 roomies in the GRAYS dorm suite assigned - I donāt know what floor? Can you tell by the room numbers? I assume E is for East entrance, W is for West entrance, and M is for Middle entrance?<br>
My GS is doing FOP - I read somewhere that he may be given keys the day before Move-In day and it might be possible to move his stuff, leaving all in a pile into his common room, the night before (waiting for the other 3 roommates for equity room choice) (after 6PM -no meters on Mass Ave.?) - Anyone have any up-to-date info on that?
It would be a great help, and would leave Move-in day for misc. last minute tasks/shopping etc. (and FOP laundry!! LOL!!)</p>
<p>@Bubbe - I would contact FOP directly about this yearās schedule. I believe last yearās was supposed to be what you are describing. Two of Dās roommates were FOP. They got to campus mid to late afternoon on move-in day desperately needing showers and NOT the day before. As I recall though, arrangements can be made for family to begin the move-in process before the FOPer arrives. I know for sure one roomieās family did that. I am trying to remember about the other.</p>
<p>@smoda61 - WOW! Arriving after FOP late on Move-In Day would be horrible!!!
Daughter is driving up alone - it would be a real chore to unload by herself! I thought everyone had to leave by 6PM on move-in day ???
(I will try to find out but I think FOP said that they canāt guarantee arrival date or time back at campus!!!)
Any other parents of FOPPERS out there??
I guess it will be what it will be - (Breathe, breatheā¦)</p>