I am completely shocked by the incompetency and unprofessionalism my daughter is dealing with. No one is in charge except for 2 grad assistants. They don’t even have a dedicated percussion instructor; the guy who chose the line does that then teaches at a different university for the rest of the year.
Cymbalists are supposed to wear gloves, but whomever was supposed to order them “forgot” to do so. No wonder the dorm didn’t know she was moving in.
I am trying not to think about the other universities she turned down and failing.
Does anyone have any suggestions on the fastest way to get gloves to her? Weight lifting gloves would work. Instacart? I’ve never used it and don’t know how it works. Amazon will deliver by 8 am tomorrow but I don’t know where she goes to pick up the package (not sure if it comes to her dorm?)
At both of my kids’ colleges, Amazon packages went to the school mailroom, and then the mailroom would process it and send an email to the student about a package being ready for pick up. According to this info https://campusservices.web.baylor.edu/mail-services/mail-center the mail room should be open at 7:30 AM, and they claim that properly addressed packages will be available within two hours of receipt at the mailroom. You would just have to make sure you know how to properly address the package with your daughter’s mailbox number etc. Good luck!
Thank you so much. I couldn’t find that info so you are awesome.
I ordered her gloves and blister packs and hydration packs….delivery by 3pm tomorrow so hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow. Fortunately she gave me her delivery address last week.
We also got the Levoit Core Mini-P air purifier. @SpreadsheetMom - thanks for the tip, his is still in the box so will go get that ready tonight. Also add the duct tape (thanks @OctoberKate) to go along with the zip ties and various tools.
Move in window is 12:30-4 on Wednesday. Thankfully my sister is going with us so she can help him get his things to the dorm if the student helpers are not available. I have to move the vehicle to another parking lot after unloading so they could be mostly done by the time I shuttle back.
I took all of the wonderful advice here and did a huge amazon order! And then got the email the internet is buzzing about, where amazon will no longer deliver to back doors. Well, our “front door” is a fire exit of equal width to the stairs, with no awning, so any packages will (a) get stolen or (b) get wet if it rains or (c) be blocking any egress unless we walk all the way around the house and lug it back. I am beyond enraged and am going to break up with amazon to the extent possible. I just cancelled all subscribe and save for the next three months and replaced them with orders from other retailers.
My kid is freaking out. They are not good at small talk and meeting people and having week before classes is like torture. They also can’t do their main hobby from a dorm (not wanting to explain) and they are in withdrawal.
They have had zero RA contact (they slept in dorm yesterday, and have been in their room
Most of today) their roommate buzzed in and out for a second and is not sleeping their tonight and just returning for
Orientation in AM.. roommate’s dad sounded like a a** but hopefully kid is ok. (Making fun of pronouns on doors/name labels repeatedly). I will add, this is a floor with gender inclusive rooms!
I hate they have no programming tonight either- would distract my kid at least.
We moved my S25 into his dorm Saturday before last, and classes didn’t start until Wednesday. Not gonna lie, the first 48 hours were rough, and he texted me a lot because he didn’t know a single soul, and the college wasn’t great at planned activities.
I posted some pics of his room in the FB page for the school and mentioned that he was feeling homesick and out of sorts. And I had a handful of moms message me that their kids were feeling the same, and could we connect them? So I gave my kid contact info for two kids in his dorm, and he messaged them and agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning.
I felt a little weird doing this, but it worked – my son and the two other kids have grabbed another couple meals and have been going to the gym on campus for some pickup basketball (which is my kid’s outlet, despite his complete lack of motor skills). Is there any chance you could do the same, connect with other parents on the FB page?
After classes started, he met a nice kid who is in two of his classes, and the two of them hit it off (both film majors) and drove to see a movie this weekend.
It will happen! Keep reminding your kiddo that it’s just this initial period that’s hard, before they’re entrenched in various activities. But ugh, it’s not easy on us, that’s for sure. Hugs to y’all.
• I ordered the Amazon stuff but now know for next time that Target circle might be a faster option. Thank you! 3 of the 4 roommates will have a car on campus so it probably won’t usually be this stressful.
• my D said “Mom, you’re the best! No one else cares about my hurt hands. Thank you.” I think it’s a fine line for us parents what we get involved with and what we let go of. Trust your gut instinct. If there is physical or mental hurt involved I tend to go full mama bear (no pun intended) but that is what works for us. If it’s “just” growing pains I tend to let those slide.
• I reached out to a lot of people today—her band directors from HS, family, neighbors…”it takes a village!” I learned today that 11 freshman made Drumline; 9 of those 11 are from Texas. If you have any experience with Texas HS bands you’ll know the significance of the 2 non Texans making Drumline, regardless of instrument. We are so very proud of her.
• I called her university today and spoke with a couple of a different departments. Maybe this wouldn’t have been the right move for you. For me, it helped a lot. I just couldn’t believe that what my D was experiencing was the same school we experienced 6 months ago. I intentionally controlled my emotions and the response I received was more in line with what I expected from the school. Turns out that the residence hall director just had a baby and just went on maternity leave. Someone on the school’s end apologizing, acknowledging mistakes and asking “how can we make it right?” went a long way.
Thank you to everyone who offered support, understanding, and empathy over the last few days.
S25 all moved in! He got to move in a couple of days early as part of the honors program and it was really fantastic. Especially compared to Virginia Tech’s normal move in for S23. We got to park right next to the dorm and take as much time as we wanted. Super low stress.. 10/10 no notes.
He picked his roommate from a kid he met at one of the admitted student days, and he’s very nice and I think it’ll go well. I fly home tomorrow, but my wife is staying the rest of the week b/c my sister and husband had to go on a last minute business trip and asked if we could stay to watch my nephew (I have some deliverables to finish so I couldn’t but my wife could). This means my wife can attend some of the normal orientation sessions for parents and go to convocation, so it works out well for us.
All in all, a great day. Just like with our oldest, S25 was so happy and excited we couldn’t help but be happy as well.
Since we’re driving DS and his stuff (to UMD) we registered for a different arrival date than usual. But then DS realized that he didn’t get his ID yet, because he did virtual registration - and the ID is your dorm key. With normal arrival, there is a procedure to get the ID. So we panicked and I emailed the Res Life office on Saturday night. By 9:30am Sunday morning (!!) they had written back a lovely explanation of what to do to still check in. DS said, “they make us feel so loved!” and I was incredibly relieved. I do think that at an enormous state school, it is likely there will be some hiccups. But all any of us wants is for our kids to feel loved/seen…
We drop D25 off today. We don’t live too far, so everyone gets to sleep in but me. My cats woke me up at my regular time.
Her school plans to keep the kids busy with different events. I think they have events from 10-10 or 10am-1am each day. The resident life director at orientation stated that they keep them busy so they don’t find their own fun.
We moved S25 in over the weekend. It went very well, and I’m glad I finally got to see the school. Was hoping to spend some time with S25, but he drove separately and hooked up with friends as soon as he got there. We didn’t see him until the next day at the dorm. So glad I got us a suite!
The school had professional movers to unload the cars and take everything upstairs. So all we had to do was get him unpacked and the room set up. Still an all afternoon affair. Such a contrast to S23. We spent a grand total of 45 minutes moving him in!
My nest is now empty which is really, really weird.
Orientation week can be weird. My S25 had a day-and-a-half orientation this summer to register for classes and iron out any kinks in housing and financial aid and what not. And parents and students had some separate sessions – kids did some team-building events while parents were given all kinds of info about tutoring and academic support, the parent portal, etc. It was fairly useful. My kid opted not to stay in the dorm overnight and just stayed with me in the hotel instead.
I had originally signed him up for an extra week of orientation before classes started, but that ended up not working out because those kids were placed in a specific freshman seminar class (to build a cohort, the idea was) – but he already had a different freshman seminar that he really wanted to take, so the special extra orientation wasn’t an option. And I’m SO thankful it didn’t work out, because yeah, it would have been waaay too long.
That said, my D22’s school does a crazy whole week of orientation where the kids have ZERO downtime. They have something scheduled every day from 8am (some days earlier) until past midnight. A lot of it is crazy fun, some of it is just advising and registration and what not, but it’s an integral part of the school. The students are separated into small groups for the week, each with older students as advisors, and this becomes your family for the duration of the college experience. (Indeed, she still refers to her O-week brother or sister or O-week mom or dad, and she’s a senior this year.) It was a good week, but also exhausting for my introvert – she was sorely in need of downtime by the end. I think the idea is to keep them so busy that they don’t have time to be homesick, but it was intense.
You’d think schools could land somewhere in the middle!
Both S23 and S25 had orientation (1 1/2 days) in early summer. The schools (different schools) offer them most summer weekends. I had mine sign up for an early session because that’s when they register for classes. There are parent sessions, but we didn’t attend. S25 is at school a week early for rush. He’ll have a good mix of rush activities and downtime. He’s very social and can make his own fun. Zero concerns about homesickness!!
