<p>Very common for public U’s.</p>
<p>Wisconsin (UW-Madison) has had SOAR, summer orientation and (A for advising?) registration, since my even before my 1971 SOAR session. Went for son’s a few years ago and the Parent Program was excellent. This meant son had his schedule (which he could change) and we had seen his dorm and campus in the summer before the chaos of dropping him off the week before the semester began. So many questions answered so parents had time to know what to get/do before arriving on campus at that busy time of year. Many financial, security and other issues dealt with that save students from parental bugging. Some OOS students did not bring parents and some used it as a whole family vacation. Foreign students had SOAR just before school started so they didn’t need two trips and had time to get visa issues et al taken care of. So much better than having parents hanging around when students are trying to get to know their new classmates, and students will have had a taste of campus before the final trip. Nice to know how big/small dorm spaces are in advance.</p>
<p>The welcome events help students learn about the campus before and during the first month of school. With a large diverse student body there is none of the everybody marching in step stuff I have heard about at small schools. No required events (perhaps one convocation in theory…) when everyone has arrived for the semester except the evening house meeting for the dorms (one way of getting rid of parents by suppertime).</p>
<p>Even though I had lived in UW dorms it was convenient to do the parent dorm housing and a taste of what college life for son would be. Some improvements since my day, although basically the same good a la carte dining options existed even back in my day. I recommend the dorm stay to all parents- if only as a reminder as to why we don’t live like that forever- and much more convenient to roll out of bed close to the events.</p>