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<li><p>Midway is vastly superior to O’Hare if you are going to the University of Chicago. They are essentially on the same street, about five miles apart. You can take a city bus to and from Midway for regular bus fares; it takes about 40 minutes. A cab costs $30-40 with tip, and takes 20-25 minutes, sometimes longer in traffic (and of course it can let you off somewhere that isn’t a bus stop on 55th Street). O’Hare is more than 2 hours away by public transportation, and well over an hour by car or cab most of the time.</p></li>
<li><p>I have never stayed anywhere other than International House or the Loop (mainly, but not always, the South Loop); I have never driven to Chicago (and I don’t plan to start now). There is some motel near the lake in the northern reaches of Hyde Park, and some B&Bs in Hyde Park itself, but both would probably mean leaving a packed car parked outside overnight – not such a hot idea. There are some big hotels around Midway, and that would be reasonably convenient, both for coming in from the south, and for getting to the university in the morning but . . . jeepers! You are going to Chicago, one of the greatest cities in the world, and you want to stay at the airport?</p></li>
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<p>Chicagoland has lots of nice areas, including most of the Loop and Hyde Park, but in general if you don’t like those you are going to have to overshoot the university by quite a bit. Something you may not want to do at the tail end of your 12+ hour driving day. In general, “nice” translates into “north” or “a long way west”, and Hyde Park is in the southeastern quadrant of the city. </p>
<p>If you stay in the South Loop, which is where I have always seen move-in deals, it’s about a 15 minute drive (and a lovely one) to the University down Lakeshore Drive on a weekend morning.</p>
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<li> As far as I remember, there are no specific move-in times. There’s a (fairly early) start time, and any time from then until early afternoon will work. People’s arrival times naturally differ. Sometimes it gets crowded and cars line up, but they have lots of student aides there to unload cars. Then someone goes off with the car to find parking, and everyone else (and the aides) lugs the stuff to the room. For most dorms, there aren’t THAT many people moving in. The only really concentrated one is South Campus, with maybe 350 kids coming in one entrance, but I’m sure they have that covered. Most other dorms (counting Max P as three dorms, not one) have 50-100 people moving in, and that’s completely doable in a four-hour window with lots of help.</li>
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<p>Basically, between 8 am (maybe earlier) and about 3 pm you need to get stuff into the room, do whatever arranging requires parental assistance, get an ID card, computer hook-up, and some other registration material, then get everyone to Rockefeller Chapel for Convocation. It’s not exactly frenzied (or, more accurately, it’s only as frenzied as you want to make it). If you can’t live without one last trip to Target, and you have a car, there’s plenty of time for that, and for lots of stuff you might think you need you can stand in line with other families at the Office Max or Walgreen’s in Hyde Park. (Believe me, they know what you will suddenly decide you need after you are there, and they stock it that weekend.) </p>
<p>In the morning, there’s a holding tank for families at the Reynolds Club with pastries and drinks while the ID photos get taken and other mysterious administrative things happen (parents and sibs are kept away from that). Then there’s free cook-out type lunch in a plaza outside with lots of booths at which people are trying to sell your kids something or recruit them for something, and there are often open-house receptions at the Resident Master’s quarters for the dorm in late morning/early afternoon. Plus a lovely reception for teary parents immediately after Convocation, with the president and other top brass. So you will not have to worry about going hungry at any point during the day, and you won’t particularly want an early dinner. </p>
<p>Don’t include your student in your dinner plans. You are politely invited not to see them after Convocation, and the kids are given lots to do together starting then. As you may already know, Convocation ends with a procession through the campus from Rockefeller Chapel to Hull Gate, led by a squadron of bagpipes. Parents walk with their students up to Hull Gate, but then only the students pass through, to the frenzied cheers of upperclassmen standing on the other side of the gate to greet them. It’s a great ritual and packs an emotional wallop for parents; bring Kleenex.</p>
<p>Some people come back to see their kids Sunday morning to say goodbye (again). We never did that. If YOU don’t need it, your student sure won’t.</p>