My guys dont start until September. They’ve been crazy busy all Summer, between jobs, volunteering, mission trip, playing gigs with their band etc etc. I think they are going to find the last month, when their friends have all left, quite hard. It will be a LONG few weeks…
D19 starts classes after Labor Day but we are going up there on the 21st because D20 has a photo shoot about an hour away on the 22nd, and then D19 checks in to Haverford on the 24th. I love that she will have two weeks on campus before school starts. It’s physically a small campus, so she should be completely comfortable by the time school starts, I think. She might even have time for a dinner with some family in the area.
D19 sounds more like a typical boy than girl. She doesn’t use a top sheet so I just bought her a fitted one. She’ll take her existing covers & pillows. She hasn’t picked up anything, really, for her room. She’ll take her own trash can with her & a couple of D21’s paintings. I just ordered her mini fridge to be held at Wal-Mart in her college town for pickup. Not sure how to do the mattress topper since H doesn’t want to squish it in the car. Might try to ship it to H’s friend’s house
(In college city) ahead of time. Shipments to the dorm might not get to the kid for a week according to parents of upper classmen.
I did pick her up some kitchen cloths & a brownie pan. Otherwise, she’s going to see how things go before getting a table fan or desk lamp. The rooms come with Venetian blinds, so no need for curtains.
I will have to restrict how many books she takes with her. She wants to bring a whole bookcase worth. I’m going to tell her to pick 10 and let her take 12-15 at most.
She’s waiting to buy books until the first day of class on the advice of upper classmen. She’s likely one of the few Freshmen that prefers a physical book. Most kids she knows like the digital book – although many never look at them at all, especially if the homework problems are online.
My D19 doesn’t start classes at Mississippi State til 21 August, but she moves in 9 August for “New Maroon Camp”, which is an optional week-long orientation for new students.
There’s an issue with one of her classes that should transfer (per their own website!) not transferring in properly, so she can’t sign up for the follow-on course, but other than that we’ve bought her textbooks through the campus bookstore, and they’ll be waiting for her on her arrival. I’ve had too many of my own students go for the cheapest option they can find, only to have to get through the first week or two (or sometimes longer!) without their textbook, and especially for semester #1, I want to avoid that danger for my own kid, and it’s worth an extra $100ish.
@homerdog We got some Vasque hikers- he wore them on a short hike in CO ( I wouldn’t call it breaking them in!) I think your son will be fine in any kind- maybe even trail runners.
@homerdog i never see my bowdoin kid either but that’s because he is embracing the break and the furthest he runs is from his bed to the kitchen- sometime after 12 pm:) Sounds like your runner will be ready for the hike and for his XC season!
@dfbdfb omg. That’s so early!!!
We might go dorm shopping this weekend. DH was kind of frowning about it (he likes to minimize miles driven and we live out in the country) but I pointed out how few weekends we have left. We have this one and next, then we’ll be going to family camp and then she’ll have to work at the state fair and then it’s move in weekend.
@dfbdfb I also am too nervous to let them go without books at the beginning. D’17 always had all her books before the semester started but hers weren’t expensive at cc. We compared Amazon and the school bookstore each time. Won’t have to worry with D’19, the school will have a brown bag filled with books every semester at no additional cost. It’ll be nice not to have to comparison shop anymore.
Well, we had a rather tense time in the past few weeks that at times looked like D19 was not going to college after all. It’s complicated so I won’t go into detail, but part of it anxiety. We seem back on track now, with about a month till move-in day… As a result of all that we have bought nothing for the dorm at all yet, though we got the college computer today as her old (really old) MacBook finally gave up the ghost. (Got the Apple deal of $200 off plus free beats so that was something.) Now just hoping we have relatively smooth sailing from here on - got a lot to organize in a few weeks now.
@SJ2727 Sorry about that, but I’m glad to hear that things are back on track.
I’m with @momsquared33 - Vasque all the way. After spending an entire day walking around White Sands in 95+ degree heat, I will swear by my Vasques. My wife has a pair she uses for her work in Kenya, and she loves them as well.
D19 starts after labor day, so she also hasn’t started buying much yet. She already has a bunch of stuff, such as sheets and towels, from her summer camps at Northwestern, which were at the dorms. She’s also waiting to know who will be her roommate.
BTW, did they just reformat the pages here again today to make it more compact? Earlier today this thread had 1227 pages, and now it has only 922 pages.
- I got confused about the page thing too - they must have changed something.
@MWolf, you sent me checking—and yep, previously there were 15 posts per page, now there are 20 per page.
@SJ2727 - Hope the next few weeks go smoothly for your daughter, and for you!
Speaking of books, I couldn’t believe it when my D17 had 25 books assigned her first semester of college! Granted many of them were novels, but she was overwhelmed trying to get them all and make it affordable so I helped her track down the best deal for each one. Since then, she’s managed it on her own without trouble, but she did have one semester with 27 books. Good thing she likes reading!
D19 can’t sign up for classes until the second week on campus, about four days before school starts, I think. The college bookstore also doesn’t even list books for fall classes yet. I guess we won’t be able to do very much bargain hunting first semester, which is a bummer.
@SJ2727
Best wishes and thoughts for you. I know how anxiety can derail life in so many ways. I have nothing to add other than I sympathize and am thinking of you. Glad to hear things are back on track but I know as a parent the uneasiness you likely carry.
S19 and I fly out on August 22nd with 4 suitcases on Southwest so we will be able take quite a bit - about as much as the dorm can take - which probably is not much. We will ship the memory foam topper to the dorm and pick up the rest of stuff once there from Target, etc. S19 is debating on his Desktop; whether to ship or assemble a new one on campus.
I bought S19’s tickets for Thanksgiving and Winter break.
Spring break tickets will have to wait till Southwest opens in couple of months.
S17’s high school gave a recognition based on the AP scholar award level at graduation. By the end of junior year, S17 had taken 6 AP exams and qualified for an award.
S19’s school does not, and he already graduated so not much use for the AP scholar award (with distinction.)
I only just realized (D19 knew already and rolled eyes at me, lol) that they have such a long winter break, I had become so used to the 2-week school break! Need to figure out what she wants to do - certainly some time at home to catch up with all her school friends, but it would be nice if we could go away as a family together too in the overlap with D26’s break. Thanksgiving was booked before the drama of the past few weeks, and we just booked train tickets for her to spend Rosh hashana at her grandparents.
Checking back in after a long break. I also hate the new format. Things were going smoothly here . DS19 and we took his grad trip to DC, then left for orientation shortly after. He’s met lots of friends, including several College Confidential kids and I’ve met quite a few CC parents including his roommate’s mom. We’ve started getting linens, his computer, pillows,.clothes , etc. Smooth sailing, right? The the universe steps in and I receive a jury duty summons for the week that we move both boys into the dorms. I’m currently trying to get a postponement, but no guarantees.
@carolinamom2boys Ugh! I really hope that postponement comes through for you. While requests for postponements are not guaranteed here (MA) either, they are usually accommodated. I just got one this past spring.
On a happier note–how nice that you and your DS have been able to meet so many CC parents and kids!