<p>
</p>
<p>Take a breath - some schools have them, wis75. Others don’t.</p>
<p>It’s a cute idea and well-meant, but part of the process is letting them figure out how to access this stuff on their own and problem-solve.</p>
<p>The other thing is - many colleges have a “XX College Class of 20xx” type of Facebook or internal website and the students learn to share their questions and use other students as resources.</p>
<p>"The other thing is - many colleges have a “XX College Class of 20xx” type of Facebook or internal website and the students learn to share their questions and use other students as resources. "</p>
<p>Yes. My D was on such a site asking questions long before she actually got to campus. I think the medical resource packet-NOT a scavenger hunt-is a good idea, especially since it’s possible to have one card for doctor visits, one for the dentist, one for pharmacy-and different numbers/times/procedures when one can use each of them. The biggest issue for my D was that for certain things she HAD to see campus health first, for others she was required by insurance to see the local doc on her plan. But she still managed to figure it out on her own. It helped that she’d been making her own health care appointments since she was maybe 16-paying her own copay as well. Don’t most kids do that? </p>
<p>As for anything else, half the fun of going away to college is finding out how to live on your own, which includes locating resources, numbers, email addresses and websites, right along with local activities and restaurants, etc. If I did a scavenger hunt, my kids would be mortified.</p>
<p>Maybe I was too “cutsey” in using the term scavenger hunt in the title. I mean saying “Hey, I’d like you to sit down for 30 minutes and locate these resources online so you know where to go when you need them.”</p>
<p>Again, as much as it KILLS us (I am a contingency planner extraordinaire and love having all ducks lined up in a row at all times, and would have created the perfect scrapbook of all-resources-you-might-possibly-need), they have to figure out how to figure out these things on their own. They need to figure out how to contact campus police, or where their classes are, or who to go to if X should happen.</p>
<p>And, don’t they include most of this in orientation? When I was at mine back in the dark ages, one of the things we did was get a tour of the campus of places we would need to find, like the Registrar’s office, the health center, the transit stops, the campus police and fire stations, etc. We got maps and a list of phone numbers. Do they not do this anymore?</p>
<p>D’s orientation was held on the few days after move-in (assigned days for freshmen) and they did the same kind of thing. Other than our giving them the info they’ll need to supply for things like health care, what capable kid would be unable to manage finding this stuff?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not at any of my three kids’ schools. They paraded a bunch of nice people wearing suits onto a stage in an auditorium. These well-meaning middle aged people talked - some rather well - some with powerpoints - and the kids sat there politely ignoring them. (In fairness, D2’s school has a three week seminar before classes begin and they incorporated info sessions throughout that time period.)</p>
<p>That’s one of the reasons the university where I work introduced a first semester one-credit class because it’s simply information overload at orientation. Really, most incoming students are worried about (a) getting along with their roommate, (b) making a circle of friends, (c) where the fun is going to be tonight, (d) maybe their classes starting next week, and (e) who to sit with in the dining hall at dinner so they don’t look like a loser.</p>
<p>During the full semester class (usually meets once a week for an hour), students get the library tour, the stress management advice, the how-to-register workshop etc as these events come along.</p>
<p>It’s a good model. And yet student reaction has been pretty much the same as it was in the big auditorium.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Our health care is through Blue Cross Blue Shield; my kids know how to go to the website on their own, sign in through my account, and simply search a list of providers in their general area. My daughter needed to see someone for a health issue that she previously hadn’t had; she let us know she was going to an XYZ specialist for XYZ issue, and did it all herself.</p>
<p>Another thing to point out again, the public site you see at home isn’t necessarily the site they have on campus for the students and the information you are looking up is most likely going to be in a different place once they get on campus.</p>
<p>That’s an excellent point. They have far deeper intranets for students than what we as parents / outsiders see.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Especially in the too-often cases where the college has a special edition or bundle to get around the above situation and make the book(s) single source :)</p>
<p>OK–about books–learned fist semester freshman year with our oldest–don’t buy books until after you attend your first class. The professors put everything they MIGHT use online so the bookstore has them in stock. MOST of those books you don’t need at all or rarely and USUALLY they are in the library if you do. One class DS took in his second semester the prof had about 15 books listed-what you couldn’t tell from the web page was that they were all the various versions of the books you COULD get. He only need to buy 2 of those books. The kids have reported that every prof they have had over the years has gone through which editions still worked for the class. With the exception of 1st semester freshman year, the kids haven’t spent more than about $200 on books and often much less than that. One semester DS spent $35 on books!.</p>
<p>Also, freshman year especially, for some of the core classes, kids that had classes on opposite days shared textbooks on his freshman floor. That really saved money for kids too.</p>
<p>Online ordering is easy, Amazon especially and with the free student Amazon Prime, shipping is free and comes within 2 days.</p>
<p>OP, another thing students need to know is how to get home on breaks. Is there a school shuttle to the airport/bus station/train station, and how does one book reservations on the shuttle? If there isn’t, is there public transport? What’s the best route and where’s the nearest pickup point to campus? If the student will be hitching a ride home in exchange for gas money, where is the Shared Rides bulletin board located on campus?</p>
<p>Good idea LasMa - in her case she has visited twice and got herself there and home - shuttle and all for scholarship weekend. She is better with navigating airports, shuttle, cabs, trams to satellite terminals, etc. than most. In fact, I was just thinking last night when looking at rental cars that I will miss having her navigate back to the rental terminal for me!</p>
<p>Someone mentioned upthread that the campus health service could help them figure out where to go off campus for medical treatment. My D went all the way across the country to college, and her healthplan was not national. And it likely was not one they had probably ever seen at the college before. They do have an out of network list of providers, but their website is not easy to navigate. So while it might work for something national like BCBS to have your kid just figure it out, that is something I don’t want my kids worrying about when they are sick. Also, so darned complicated with co-pays, family deductibles, approvals required in some situations, separate RX plan, etc. I think D was very grateful that I laid it out for her.</p>
<p>For almost everything else, I just tell 'em to ask their RA as a starting point. The RA either knows or can usually find out an awful lot of stuff.</p>
<p>^^ It depends on the RA. D’s freshman-year RA wasn’t the most helpful, and was often unavailable.</p>
<p>VERY true, intparent - I am researching our plan and comparing what is free at health center vs copays and deductibles with local providers. On our current plan she is out of network at school, but we have the option of switching in November to a plan where she would be in network but coverage for the rest of the family not quite as good - the billing and payment process is different depending as well.</p>
<p>Every time my D went in and out of network (at least for the summer/school year, or if she wanted an appointment at home over a break), we had to call our health plan. THAT was a pain.</p>