<p>Seems like we have at least a few active parents of the Class of 2017 on this board. I have started a FB group for “Harvard Parents of the Class of 2017”. Feel free to send a request to join.</p>
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<p>coureur - your memory is good. My son was Class of 2012 and they had the convocation ceremoney a day or two after move-in day. It changed the following year when the calendar changed to have finals before Christmas break. It’s unfortunate that that had to happen, I agree that it was worth waiting for (but not an extra week). Sort of a “taste” of what the Graduation Ceremony is like.</p>
<p>Our son definitely wanted to be with his new roommates and not us, but because we were staying around for a couple of days we were there the next day when he called. He wanted to see us before we left and tell us “everything” that he had learned in the past 24 hours. It was fun and I was glad we were there.</p>
<p>@likecc, I am not sure if the rates are still reasonable, but when we used to go visit DD (she graduated in 2011) at Harvard, we liked to stay at the Homewood Suites Arlington/Cambridge. Nice hotel and convenient to Harvard (via bus or the T).</p>
<p>@ Twinnie, I searched but could not find the Parents Facebook Group so couldnt ask to join. Could you post link to it on this board?</p>
<p>Rizado and Twinnie, I also could not locate the FB group for Harvard Class of 2017 Parents.</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure if I could post a link, so I refrained, but I received 3 PM asking for the link so here it is:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.facebook.com/groups/238763482915346/[/url]”>https://www.facebook.com/groups/238763482915346/</a> </p>
<p>The name of the group is “Harvard Parents of the Class of 2017”</p>
<p>Hello everyone. My daughter will be entering one of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization this year as 9th grade boarding student. It is my daughter’s dream to attend Harvard or MIT after graduating from high school and I wanted to get inputs from all you parents who worked so hard to have your children to get accepted at Harvard. </p>
<p>It would be great if you can provide your insight to what your children did to get into Harvard. My daughter is thinking about either majoring in business (with ultimate goal of working as private equity manager) or in engineering/med school. Thank you all!</p>
<p>@bsherewego, I did not work hard to get my child accepted into Harvard; she did the work. The only thing I did was tell her that I did not care where she went to college as long as she had done her best in high school. By “best” I meant working to the limits of her intellectual capacity, pursuing her activities with passion outside of the classroom (leaving the choice of which activities to her), and developing a strong moral character. I knew that if she did these things, she would be prepared and qualified to attend any college in the country, and at that point, it didn’t really matter to me in the long run whether it was Harvard, MIT, or the state flagship, because the qualities required for success would be inherent in her, no matter where she ended up. She is fortunate to have been admitted to Harvard, but it was never inevitable, and it wasn’t the only place she got into that she could have been happy. The best thing I did for my daughter was let her know all along the way that I was not fixated on her attending a given school, and that if she failed to get into a school she was not disappointing me.</p>
<p>Question for moving in, if we order from local BBB or online, will BBB ship all orders to student dorm, or we have to pick up from Boston BBB? Many thanks!</p>
<p>^^You can ship it to the student’s dorm address. Harvard will store all those shipments until Move-in Day. On Move-in Day you can go pick them up at the Science Center. No need to drive to the Boston BBB.</p>
<p>Any words of wisdom for move-out - freshman year?</p>
<p>I just helped my son move-out after his sophomore year at another college, and I’m getting ready to help my junior move-out from Harvard. I’m not sure whether it’s just my kids, but based upon experience, here’s my advice:</p>
<p>1) The night after your kid finishes their last exam, or turns in their final paper, they go out and celebrate. Even though they may be underage, there is alcohol involved – which means that if you pick them up the next day, they are in no shape whatsoever to help pack and move out. You stand a much a better chance of getting them to pack by themselves, and for them to be of help if you give them a day to recuperate from the festivities and pick them up the following day. This year, for example, my daughter turns in her last paper on Thursday (5/16). Even though we could pick her up on Friday, we have learned to wait the extra day and pick her up on Saturday (5/18). That gives my daughter time to celebrate, get it together, and leaves her no wiggle-room about not being packed and ready to go.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Cambridge police department gives $25 tickets for staying in the same metered parking spot for more than 2 hours. In order to avoid tickets, you need to keep moving your car every 2 hours. So, if your child is not ready to move out when you arrive, don’t worry about finding a spot close to the Yard, as you’ll be moving your car soon anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>Buy a good collapsible portable dolly and bring it. Ditto with a vacuum cleaner. Even though both are available from the housing office, you often have to wait for hours to get one.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep your wits about you, have a sense of humor, drink lots of coffee or tea, and be prepared for a long day.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you coureur!</p>
<p>@gibby, can the students move out by themselves? Will the college have place to let them store their things?</p>
<p>^^ Students who live far away from campus (California, Florida, China, Europe etc.) usually move-out by themselves. There is limited space to store anything on Harvard’s campus (I think kids can store 1 small box), so students must contract with a moving and storage company for summer storage. There are several companies that provide their services, but I can’t remember their names. Maybe another parent will recall their names. The companies supply student’s with boxes and tape in advance and have big vans that will accept all the storage items in May and then drop them back to the student’s dorms in August.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>We used collegeboxes.com last year and it worked out really well. They supply the packing materials, pick up the boxes and return them next year directly to the dorm room. They will also ship boxes home.</p>
<p>Too lazy to type, so copying from someone student blog:
Unlike most other universities, Harvard is awesome about providing (free!) storage for students during the summer.
All upperclassmen Houses (dorms) have their own storage areas (i.e. squash courts in their basements, music rooms not used during the summer, etc.) for everything from clothes, bikes to furniture. Generally, the biggest move you’ll make as an undergraduate follows your freshman year as you move your belongings from the Freshman Yard to your respective upperclassman House. Students get 12 stickers that are mandatory to tag your belongings so storage is limited in a sense. Storage is also first come, first served, depending on space availability, but I’ve never heard of this being a problem.
If you live within a certain mile radius, however, you don’t get these convenient storage privileges.
Also, the hours of access to storage are pretty limited. Rooms with supervisors are open for business about 6 hours a day around Final Exam week and no one gets access to these rooms until a few days before the fall semester begins.
The storage system isn’t flawless – I’ve heard of basements flooding during the summer or students losing their items – but life definitely would be way worse if it didn’t exist!</p>
<p>^^ Not sure where you copied and pasted from, but the information is out-of-date. See:</p>
<p>[Smith</a> and Hammonds Update College Community on House Renewal and the Future of Summer Storage | Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences](<a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/home/content/smith-and-hammonds-update-college-community-house-renewal-and-future-summer-storage]Smith”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/home/content/smith-and-hammonds-update-college-community-house-renewal-and-future-summer-storage)</p>
<p>'To reduce the need for summer storage and as part of the renewal process, the College will purchase and put in place Common Room furniture in every House to replace the furniture purchased and stored each summer by students for those shared spaces. Common Room furniture currently makes up the bulk of the items stored each summer. By furnishing the Common Rooms, the College will greatly reduce the number of items that need to be stored by students, and will also eliminate the need for future students to purchase furniture for the Common Rooms.</p>
<p>Although the College will provide common furniture in every renewed House, students may still wish to store items during the summers. For those students, a discount rate negotiated with a local storage vendor will be available. The vendor will pick up storage items at the end of the spring term and return them at the beginning of the fall semester."</p>
<p>Sorry gibby, you’re mixing up very different things. See tzhelezn’s post. What you wrote affects only the one House that’s undergoing renewal. For that one House, free storage is provided this summer off campus through an outside company.</p>
<p>As long as you live more than 150 miles from campus, you can store up to 12 boxes and furniture without any problem, sometimes more if there’s space. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>-'14</p>
<p>The information provided to my D (a freshman) is similar to what xrCalico posts above, except she was told 4 boxes and one furniture item. Maybe it depends on the House?</p>