<p>I seem to remember that the students were more uniformly dressed nicely for the assembly than were the families watching, although as YaleGradandDad says, no one is turned away. The hall is so lovely that one wants to be presentable at least! You’ll love the waving of the handkerchiefs!</p>
<p>My son didn’t own a sports coat so he just wore dress khaki’s, dress shirt, and tie. That seemed to be what the majority of the students wore. I made the mistake of wearing a suit and it was very warm in Woolsey Hall (no air-conditioning). For parents I would recommend dressing light and for men nothing more than dress slacks and a polo or short sleeve dress shirt. There was a wide variety in levels of dress but I was in the minority wearing a suit. If I had to do it over I would wear dockers and a polo and would have fit in fine with most of the other parents.</p>
<p>The Residential College will sell rather enormous boxes for summer storage (much larger than your average plastic box); in addition, each student is allowed a certain number of items (1 shelf, 1 chair, rug, etc), and each suite is allowed to store one futon. The kids get fairly creative about finding suites without futons who will allow their extra futon to be stored over the summer, and the kids who live close by will share their 2 box allocations with those who fly far away.</p>
<p>Well, this changes my packing plan. I don’t remember wearing anything especially nice to the assembly last time, but I can’t recall. I was planning to wear athletic shoes on the plane and pack nothing else shoe-wise because all the suitcase space is being used to move his stuff. I was only going to bring light super-casual clothes to work in. Dressing up means also going back to the hotel to change after the ceremony I suppose. I guess I need to rethink things. Maybe capris and sandals and a cuter top. DS does not have a sports coat and I’m pretty sure he forgot to pack a tie. I guess I’d better stick one in the suitcase.</p>
<p>Which cell phone carrier is the “best” near campus in your opinion?</p>
<p>Does your kid use a smartphone instead of a simple non-smartphone? Somehow I notice the next generation use text messaging much more often than talking on the phone (unless they have to talk to their parents who stuck at yesterday’s technology :)) Is this the case for your kid?</p>
<p>
I’m not sure which is “best” but we have Verizon Wireless and S has no problems with it on campus and generally anywhere in the New Haven area. He does use a smartphone (iPhone) which I think is permanently attached to his body. He does not call much and texts/emails much more frequently. Unless he needs money ;)</p>
<p>Thanks. DS also heard from his friends Verizon Wireless works well near campus.</p>
<p>My D has A & T and it’s fine, not a smart phone yet.</p>
<p>Verizon works well. DS does not have a smartphone and does not want one.</p>
<p>mimk6–to avoid the hassles you describe, I put a pair of rolled up ballet flats, some nice jewelry, and a silk scarf in my purse and brought along a nice linen jacket to toss on over. This transformed me sufficiently for the ceremony, and went away once back in the (boiling) dorm room for unpacking duties.</p>
<p>To chime in, yes the kids were by and large dressed really nicely (I was amazed that so many young men had suits, as my 16 year old sure doesn’t!). But a young man in a nice button-down oxford and khakis would be fine, and to add a tie would be plenty. Don’t stress! The parents were more casually dressed (I think my husband had a short sleeve button down with khakis, and I think I wore capris and a simple top, and we felt fine).</p>
<p>HI
Yes for the convocation - the kids are mostly in shirts/ties and the ladies in dresses. Many guys wore jackets and after the procession and they were seated - Levin invited them to take their jackets off because it was soooo hot.
Guys without ties/girls in something other than a dress were few and far between.</p>
<p>Most parents are in a nice sport shirt/dress slacks-kackis, and the women wore a light summer dress and sandles etc. </p>
<p>Your student should definitely have a sports jacket/tie and dress shirt or two—and the ladies should ahve a dress or two —They need them for Master’s Teas and events on campus…</p>
<p>Really there is plenty of time on Fri to do what you need to do—
and If the schedule is the same as last year–with convocation, lunch at the RC–the kids then head off to a meeting at SSS and you are done.
Parents are asked to be gone by mid afternoon.</p>
<p>We didn’t see any parents unpacking etc at the dorm on Old Campus between convocation and lunch- (we stopped by so our student could change clothes before lunch and student meeting. No parents in that entryway at all…)<br>
Even if you student has the late meeting at SSS, it will probably feel awkward to have parents unpacking clothes etc…<br>
Our student didn’t want us to do a thing–was happy to handle it all and negotiate space/beds/drawers with roommates alone. Same with the roommate–
They are young adults. </p>
<p>I wore a jersey dress and sandles. We put clothes for 3 in one bag and all other space for flying was K1s… Flew in Thursday and out Saturday…</p>
<p>On CELL phones-- Our family uses a plan with Sprint. No issues at all. K1 bought a smartphone with graduation $. Can check things through Yale portal, get texts from roommates, team, etc… </p>
<p>Tomorrow K1 flies back-- 
Move in for upper classmen starts Wednesday (unless they are there early for committees/clubs like for international students etc)
The cleaned etc bedding went into a “space bag” and into the duffle yesterday - K1 will fly back with only 2 duffle bags. K2 starts back to high school tom so I will be staying here.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard anyone complain about phone service at Yale with any provider. My daughter has a Samsung Impression and the cost keeps her from a smart phone. We have a decent family plan, free texting and if she wants Internet, it’s 9.95 a month. The data plans for the smart phones would be much more and she doesn’t use her phone that much beyond texting/calls to make it worth it.</p>
<p>I’ve heard Virgin Mobile isn’t great in New Haven.</p>
<p>Virgin Mobile works fine for us, although I have to admit my son text’s us more than he calls.</p>
<p>We have Verizon and my son has no issues with it on campus. He wanted an iPhone so he paid for that and the $30/month for the data plan. I pay for his line charge and the family plan minutes which includes unlimited texting.</p>
<p>So sorry if this has already been posted, but is it very uncommon for a girl to wear slacks and a nice shirt to formal events like assemblies/Masters Teas? I don’t have too many dresses for formal events, and I’m usually more comfortable in a pair of black slacks.</p>
<p>Also, regarding the number of courses for majors, what is the average? 12-13 term courses? I’d like some perspective on whether the major I’m thinking about has more term courses than average or less. </p>
<p>Thank you very much! :D</p>
<p>Gibby: I stand corrected about Virgin Mobile - I think I read that somewhere, but the coverage map looks OK.</p>
<p>
I don’t know what the average is but it’s 20 credits (10 credits pre-req and 10 credits core) for my son’s Bio major.</p>
<p>Well, we failed to find a sports coat for DS before he left. I guess he’ll have to figure that one out on his own over time or get one at Thanksgiving here. But he does have dress shirts, slacks, ties and some very nice sweaters so hopefully he can get by for a bit. </p>
<p>I do seem to recall spending time on the second day assembling furniture and lamps with my daughter. Mostly I expect to be a driver in case DS needs to go to IKEA or anywhere else.</p>