<p>Mountain View is very expensive and rent may eat up all her earnings. She should talk to the company she is interning with and see what they suggest.</p>
<p>Not having a car will be strange to Californians but there actually is good transportation accessible in Mountain View. (Buses and trains up the peninsula). She could reach stores etc. easily by bike (it is flat.)</p>
<p>Overall it is a safe area - but I think she’d feel more comfortable sharing with a roommate. Again her company may help set this up.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the Stanford dorms - but they would not be convenient to someone without a car.</p>
<p>The fall semester exam period will end in a couple of days. I think that it would be helpful to share how your kids have adapted to life at Harvard, including frosh and upper class students. Also, please share how you have adapted to not having your DD/DS at home. </p>
<p>I’ll start: DD has never been happier - both socially and academically. I have the impression that she considers Cambridge to be “home” as much, if not more, as her real home. I digress, but this reminds me that when I used to return to my undergrad dormitory from spring/winter break back in the day, there was a sign that said “Welcome back to Reality”.</p>
<p>Socially, she transitioned well from the frosh dorm to the house system. The house that she lives in has many activities and her roomies, which were also her roomies last year, continue to be her best friends. She continues to participate in a couple of extracurriculars, including writing for the Crimson and tutoring disadvantaged kids. DD has found a calling in helping disadvantaged kids, and I suspect that this is going to be a life-long endeavor for her.</p>
<p>Academically, she continues to thrive, although I still sense a little unnecessary self doubt regarding her abilities. I guess that this is always a good thing. She has decided on a major and is very focused on the classes that she will need to complete her degree.</p>
<p>As a parent, I have to say that things have gotten much easier. I can still recall that last year was really difficult not having her at home. We have adapted to her absence, but look forward to the days when she is going to be here - just booked her trip home for spring break this evening. My DW still speaks to her every day. </p>
<p>All in all, a year and a half later she is still convinced that she made the right decision by going to H. During the holiday break, she indicated again that she could not see herself being anywhere else.</p>
<p>Can anyone give input on when they feel the best time to do a summer intern is? My son is a Freshman at H this year and spoke to someone at Harvard about doing an intern during the summer when he comes home (Southern California). They really couldn’t find anything in our immediate area and my son was a bit disappointed. The person he spoke to said that he is only a freshman and that many students don’t do internships until the following year. </p>
<p>Anyway, any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. How many hours do most students put in a week with internships. Do they only do is as a “volunteer” or do they get paid? Any thoughts on how to find internships on your own? or is it better to go through a school approved internship? </p>
<p>At many schools, internships are usually after the junior year, and sometimes after sophomore year, according to our son’s and his friends’ experiences anyway.</p>
<p>TGDad, our son has gone out to work for tech. companies for two summers, one job in San Francisco and the other in San Jose. The first summer, by chance, I ran into a friend here in Mass. whose son needed to sublet a San Francisco apt. The apt. was basically a revolving door all summer, many sublets going on. He was with a bunch of music conservatory grads with very different schedules than his, and he was a little lonely.</p>
<p>The second summer, I fretted and contacted friends in CA, also called Santa Clara University, but my son ended up rooming in a nice house in Santa Clara with 3 guys who were a year behind him in college.</p>
<p>He does not drive at all and gets around totally by public transportation. I forget which company is in Mountain View but he interviewed there and was planning on still using public transportation. In fact, the excellence of public transportation out there is one factor in his moving out there permanently.</p>
<p>Like I said, I fretted about housing and safety, but he worked it all out. There may be others in the Harvard (computer science?) department going out there, or MIT. The company might have some tips. Calling local colleges in CA can work. Craiglist works. </p>
<p>With high rentals out there, sharing is definitely the way to go. Word of mouth and referrals from people at Harvard or in the company would be my very first suggestion. Things do seem to work out somehow.</p>
<p>One other thing: these internships get more social once the kids are over 21 and can go out after work!</p>
<p>A while back, many of you were commenting on where you stayed for freshman parents weekend. Junior parents weekend is coming up, and we’d like to try someplace new, preferably within walking distance of the school that doesn’t cost a fortune. Was there a bread and breakfast type place that someone suggested? GADad? The place does not have to be fancy.</p>
<p>On another note, I guess it’s almost time to start booking rooms for graduation. Yikes! Does anyone know how many tickets each student gets (trying to figure out if we can bring grandparents) and how many days of festivities we should plan on being there for? I know there’s a house graduation and a university graduation, etc.</p>
<p>The Irving House is $190 / night that weekend for a queen-bed double room with a private bath and free breakfast. It’s wonderful - if you make a reservation there, let me know and our families can meet up at breakfast.</p>
<p>Have the dates for class of 2012 Junior weekend and Graduation been posted as yet? If there is a link to this, could someone please post it?
Also, I believe upperclass registration is on Sep 1st this year. Should the sophomores arrive on the 1st of Sep or a day earlier to move their stuff from storage?</p>
<p>l-mom,
I received the calendar on the back of a mailer (tore off the calendar, and can’t remember the name of it). For 2009-2010 academic year: Junior Parents’ weekend is not listed, Graduation is May 27. Houses are open on August 29, and Registration is Sept. 1.</p>
<p>The mailer is the Fall 2008 Harvard College Newsletter.</p>
<p>How will shopping period work with the new calendar? The freshmen move in on 8/27 and the first day of class is 9/2. Is that about the same length of time as last year?</p>
<p>Parents’ Weekend for this years Junior parents is March 6-7, 2009. In 2011 it would be a Sunday and a Monday. I doubt we will know the weekend dates before our children’s Junior year (although March 4-5 are the first weekend in March in 2011). Just look at how the date was changed for Freshman Parents’ Weekend this year.</p>
<p>For Freshman Parents’ Weekend we stayed at Le Meridian Cambridge (formerly the MIT Hotel). They were running a special, which I found on their website, where you paid the regular rate for the first night and the second and third night were based on your birth year. The first night was quite expensive (just less than $300), but with my birth year it worked out to about $400 for all three nights. It’s about one mile from campus, so you could walk it, but we usually took a cab (about $8-10 including tip). We didn’t rent a car and therefore had no garage charges at the hotel either which we felt more than made up for the cost of the hotel. BTW, the hotel is themed for MIT (not Harvard), but if you child is a math or science nerd they will get a kick out of it.</p>
<p>As I recall each graduating senior gets four tickets. Kids try to bargain with their friends and roommates to get extra tickets, but there are far more kids wanting extras than those with extras to offer. Between Class Day, Commencement, various House receptions and events, the graduation show takes about three days. And after that you spend another day moving your kid out. </p>
<p>Warning - for Commencement your tickets will get you in but they do not guarantee you a seat where you can see anything. Show up EARLY.</p>