@HappyFace2018 you made me cry! @Ballerina016 love that tradition!
We’re traveling 3,000 miles and it’s a very quick trip. One day to shop, one day to move in and then parents get the boot at 6pm that same day. I will be taking D16 myself. S19 will already be back at school, so H will stay with him. He’ll go parents weekend. I’d love for us all to go, but financially and logistically it doesn’t make sense.
@BeeDare, fingers crossed that she will get into the class she wants!
Both DH and I plan to take S16 to school, not sure if D18 will come because she has some activities back at her school and can stay with friends. But, I think she might regret not coming, or S16 might want her to come…they’ve become so close this past year and enjoy hanging out together. I guess we’ll see closer to that time.
The school is 3 hours one way, and move in could be as early as 6 am (they do shifts), so we are spending the night before at a hotel and then DH and I (and D18, if she comes) will spend a second night. The hotel is by the beach, so it’s another little vacation for us and makes it easy to run to the store if he needs more stuff for his dorm or for school.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
My husband, DS19 and I will all attend move in. Move in is on a Sunday from 3:00 -5:00. We also live 3 1/2 hrs away and DS19 will have school the next day, so it will be a quick trip. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
H and I are both going for S’s move-in. We are driving early, doing the move-in, then driving home. (2 1/2 hours one way.) I’m wondering if I should have booked a room for one night, but I don’t think S will need anything extra for his room like D did.
Our older kids’ schools recommended that kids not go home (or have parents visit) for at least the first month, to give them time to settle in and overcome initial homesickness. Have any of you who live close enough to visit, decided when the first visit will be?
@pyschmomma My parents will come for Parents Weekend at the end of September. So for now that’s the first planned visit but things may change.
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@psychmomma We went down to visit D13 in mid-October, on a Sunday-Monday, on our way to take D16 to Lexington to visit U of Kentucky. We took D13 out to dinner, along with her roommate, and enough time had passed since the beginning of school that there were actually fun stories for them to entertain us with.
Family weekend is in Oct. We plan to visit then.
@psychmomma. D is attending a small school an hour away. S1 and D1 went to the same school. We have told them they have to stay a month on campus before a weekend visit home in order to meet people and adjust to college life. If needed we are more than happy to drive down and take them out to dinner, but we want them to stay on campus.
S1, being a little shier than his sisters, thanked us later for making him stay as some of his best friends are people he met roaming the halls on those first weekends. D1 had been on a college-sponsored orienteering adventure prior to the start so already knew quite a few freshmen. D2 will be going on the same adventure.
Move-in occurs early September. We’ll be there by 8 am in order to be close to first in line, set up a few things, do some orientation events, but I’ll be gone by 1ish. They have a late afternoon ceremony where the students matriculate and sign a book, have a short reception, and then ALL parents are expected to leave as the freshmen begin 3 days of orientation just for them including the picnic dinner that evening.
Since my husband is a high school teacher, and we live 5000 miles away from the college, it will just be me moving-in D. We will not be able to attend Parents Weekend in October and will have to wait until December to see her again. I am spending a few days in California after moving-in D to visit my BFF since middle school. She will have just dropped her daughter off at college too, so we will probably just sit around eating junk food and boo-hooing to each other.
H and I are both driving D out. She is going to a preorientation session so she is moving in two days before the official move in day. We will spend two days in town while she is doing her thing and then meet her again during the regular move in day before we go home. H has never been to Pittsburgh so I will give him the school tour and we will do some exploring around town.
S19 is staying home alone for 4 days. We live in a tight knit neighborhood so all the neighbors will be aware and watching. He would be miserable on the trip and we really don’t have enough room in the car. He is really looking forward to this and treating it like an adventure. Sometimes he is too confident. I wish he was just a little bit nervous about it.
We aren’t planning to go to Parents weekend. S19 will be in the midst of soccer season and it would be too hard to get away then.
H and I are both driving D16, our only child, up to her college an hour from here. Renting a van. I’m guessing we’ll see her about once a month after that, given holidays, breaks, and events. Might just be a visit for dinner. I’m actually delighted she chose a local school. 
@palm715, that’s nice that at least you can reconnect with your friend.
We took the back bench out in our minivan last year for move-in (so her stuff would fit), so only D, her BF and I went to move her in (and out). His college starts a week earlier so the plan is to leave after his classes on a weekday so we get there in the evening. Two of her roommates are moving in early for band so hopefully they can hold doors open for us.
We went to visit last year on Labor Day weekend. H got to see campus for the first time and the younger siblings came along. D had been there about two weeks by then. We took her and roommate out to lunch. We walked around a bit, but it was very hot, like 92 that day so we squeezed into their dorm room to cool down with the AC.
I have heard similar complaints about me. Too bad W does not like to rent cars and drive around shopping for dorm supplies by herself. Ds are stuck with me whether mom is also there or not… 
Students who don’t get into desired courses might ask advice from their adviser (email), the advising office receptionist (phone), the academic department of the course (phone and email), and the instructor (who might or might not be on contract in summer). The student might ask, in a supplicant tone, about getting the permission or pre-req overide needed, getting on a waitlist for the course, the possibility of added seats or new sections. Especially for critical courses in a declared major or minor. And, there is good old-fashioned constant checking online to see if someone dropped and a seat opened up. Asking for advice usually goes a long way. As far as I’ve heard. 
Since D is joining marching band, she gets to move in early, a little over a week before classes start, and five days (I think) before the other freshmen move in.
So hopefully we’ll miss some of the hectic crazy of move-in day where everyone shows up at once.
Otoh, I’m concerned that she’ll be in a room or floor by herself for a few days… But she’ll meet other kids in marching band, so it’s not like she’ll be alone during the day.
Does anyone else’s child have to read a book, i.e. “common reader” before classes start?
I guess D’s school has been doing this for almost a decade… all of the freshmen read the same book between orientation (they all are given free copy of the book then) and the beginning of August.
The first week of August, they have to write an online essay on it - they’re given two hours to do it. They’re not graded on this, but it’s filed away, and in junior year, they have to take a writing proficiency exam and get a minimum score - and that’s compared to the common reader essay they did before freshman year.
The book is The True American - Murder and Mercy in Texas. (I’ve never heard of it before. )
Also, in mid-September, the author comes to speak on campus. They apparently only pick books where the author agrees to this.
They also will be placed in small discussion groups the Sunday before classes start to discuss it with each other.
Overall, I think it’s a neat idea. D, of course, is not super-thrilled with it, :D, but she knew about it before she even applied… they talked about it on the first tour we took last summer.
Will athletes also be moving in early?
@BeeDAre Yes but they don’t tell us what book until orientation next week