Good luck! I hope it all goes smoothly. 
D22 and I are driving 13 hours on Friday to move her in on Saturday ā sheās moving back to campus for her senior year. Sheās not allowed to move in until 1pm Saturday, and we also have to pick up some stuff we left in storage, but the goal is to set up her room and for me to be out in time for her to hit the parties on Saturday night, lol!
Wait, for marching band? What instrument does she normally play? How does it make sense for her to audition with something else?
I wonder if they mean their child has to use someone elseās instrument and not their own? Like not being able to Use her own flute,etc
Either way is very odd.
Ohhh. That didnāt occur to me, but yes, that makes more sense. (I was thinking maybe she plays percussion and was invited to audition on a different kind of drum or something.)
Even that scenario is rough, though ā it takes time to get accustomed to a particular instrument. My D26 has a marching clarinet plus a nicer wooden clarinet for symphonic band ā thereās nuance in the differences between them, and she plays each differently (kinda) to get the sound she wants.
Oof, I hate hearing about kids getting cut from band ā mine would be devastated. 
So interesting to hear about everyoneās move in experiences!
Does anyone have a recommendation for a smaller sized air purifier? Like a desktop one?
My heart is hurting for her and you. My kid is anxious and I want so badly for things to go smoothly at the start, so I can only imagine how hard this is for you to āwatchā from the sidelines. Thinking of you all during this transition and hope things turn around soon.
We really like the Levoit ā the āCore Mini-Pā size.
I sent it to my D22 in a panic her first week of school when her roommate got Covid, lol. But sheās used it for the past three years, and it really seems to help with keeping the room fresh.
Just bought the same one for my S25. You can see it in the pictures of his room posted above, on the floor next to the nightstand. Itās not tiny, but on the first setting itās really quiet, and you wonāt even know itās running. (The higher settings are some nice white noise.)
Important ā you MUST open the thing and take the plastic off the filter inside before using it. Might have learned this the hard way, lol.
(ETA ā if you run it 24/7, the filter probably lasts a whole semester before you have to put in a new one.)
This is good to hear as we bought the levoit mini-p for S25. The one we bought for s22 (a renpho) worked well but itās bigger and bulkier.
Yes that is what happened. She has only ever played snare drum and was invited to audition for bass drum. She told them she has never played bass; they said āthatās ok, weāll teach you.ā She was cut 12 hours into it. She is quite talented but she learns more slowlyāit is not intuitive for her necessarily.
She is now debating whether to give cymbals a go or to quit the band.
Between this and the move in debacle, it has been a very rough start.
In retrospect, I should have gotten involved with the move in timeline prior to arrival and insisted that we stay and help her get settled. I went with the āsheās an adult now and can handle itā advice against my gut instinct. We should have stayed longer in order to help her.
Ugh!!! Thatās crazy, Iām sorry for her
Kiddo is settled in room! Orientation Starts Tuesday so we are having dinner as a family tonight and lunch tomorrow and then saying ārealā good Byeā¦ Their roommate doesnāt show until tomorrow afternoon (move in was today or tomorrow)
The floor has a discord group that is already up and running so kid feels more relaxed too..
Maybe should not drag it out, but seems to be workingā¦
Was VERY well organized process (and I am super picky!) took about 1 minute to get key/id (didnāt have to get out of car!) and there were plentiful bins at drop off points near each dormā¦
Move in was quirky. Roomie was supposed to move at 8am and us 845am. We met them in the parking lot so we were both bringing things in at the same time. The dorm is big but 8 of us trying to work around boxes and bags was a bit hectic. Her roomie is within 2 hr drive so parents had already planned on coming back the following weekend so they were done by 1130 and left. We took the girls to pick up lunch but we then realized they had to be to orientation by 130pm. We still had a few things to put together so the girls left while we finished up. So no big goodbyes, no hugs or we will miss you. Just gone.
I know the pics out me but will share anyways. The roommate has a few things to bring and decorate with yet. They chose not to match.
I think the sheets on my sonās bed would need to actually leap up in the air and do a jig for him to notice them. That saidā¦Iāve heard that one pro tip is to double-sheet the bed to make it easier to change to a fresh set? (I have no hope that this would actually work with my guy.)
We are still a MONTH out from move-in. His assigned date/time is September 17 from 12:30-1 PM. Yep, half an hour. Itās a triple on the sixth floor of the dorm. Fortunately his uncle lives three miles from campus, has great tool collection and good creative/mechanical skills, etc. So if we donāt get to spend much time making his space functional or homey, Uncle D can come to the rescue.
Our bigger focus, in the meantime, is to teach the kid how to drive. Heās scheduled to take a driving test in a city 1.5 hours away from us on 9/11 (it was either that or San Francisco, which would be the craziest driving test ever for a kid who practiced on flat, quiet suburban streets.) Heās only today been willing to venture beyond the confines of a large parking lot and take to the open road. His dad is trying to make him learn on our old stick shift Subaru, which is going about as well as you might expect. His best friend just failed a driving test at the local DMV, which has the highest pass rate in the region. Iām finding myself grateful that heās going to a college in a walkable area with great local and regional transit.
@DivineMarshmallow, so saddened to hear about your daughterās audition experience. I remember that finding a school w/ a great marching band was a make-it-or-break-it factor on your list so this must be particularly painful. I hope that she keeps playing, either by learning cymbals or finding a different musical outlet at Baylor (if memory serves, their music program is super strong). You might also share w/ her the story of my freshman roommate, a violist who didnāt make it into our orchestra freshman year. She took lessons and re-auditioned the first chance she got, made it in, and was eventually a section leader (and now plays semi-professionally). Itās hard to come back from such a frustrating, demoralizing experience but I hope she can find her footing and persist.
Thank you so much.
I talked to her at length last night and this morning. She was very upset yesterday and I told her that she can quitāthat itās her time, her energy, and her college experienceāand if she decides band is not for her then so be it. I also told her that IMO she would regret quitting and not giving it one season, that she wasnāt deciding on the next 4 years, but just one year. And that she would always wonder about it if she just gave it up. As of a few hours ago, she is giving cymbals a try.
Competing against music majors and against kids who came up through the Texas high schools is rough, extremely difficult. Iām honestly proud of her for making it as far as she did. However, my husband, who doesnāt get upset about anything ever, who was a competitive athlete and whose life reflects that whole MO, thought the process was very unfair, which says a lot to me.
Over the last 2 days some kids quit when they didnāt get the instrument they wanted. Iām proud of her for persevering. The older kids are telling her that they stuck it out and moved up on instruments later. Plus I think itās good for her to be in a group associated with the universityāthat is something that not every student gets to experience.
Snort. Both of these things are already in useā¦ the zip ties are holding the pool noodle on the bar of the lofted bed so he doesnāt knock himself out when getting up from his desk, and they are corralling the cords coming off the upper shelf on his loft; the duct tape is on the walls, because the command hooks canāt stick to the cinderblock, but WILL stick to duct tapeā¦
You arenāt kidding ā those Texas high school band programs are intense! My D26 is in a tiny band of 44 kids, including color guard, which marches 7th and 8th graders because they need the people ā so we canāt even fathom competition at that level.
Iām hoping your daughter gets in with cymbals, has a great experience, and gets to move to snare in future years. Crossing my fingers that things get dramatically better for her from this point.
My D26 has six schools on her list, four of which have marching bands, and two of which only have pep bands. Of the four, two are very chill bands with no audition ā they take everyone. One has auditions for placement only, no cuts as far as I can tell if youāre at all competent. And the last one has the hardcore auditions like you describe, where you donāt find out if youāre in until just before school starts.
Iām surprised sheās considering the last school at all, to be honest. If she gets in to these schools, I think her decision will come down to the two schools with no-cut bands, or the one with the big and super-fun pep band for a robust hockey program. (She couldnāt care less about football, lol.)
What a wonderful update! It sounds like she is making the best of.an initial setback!
Thanks to all of you for the to-bring items, some of which I had forgotten! (Nail trimmer e.g.)
