<p>
True-ish. If you want to stay in one of the nice hotels that are walking distance to campus, you need to reserve far, far in advance, and you will find that you may have to reserve for three nights and pay a high premium. We opted to stay some distance away, since we will have a car.</p>
<p>In 2009, we stayed in one of the residential colleges. It was offered to the parents of graduating seniors by Yale. It worked out great for us.</p>
<p>We stayed in Swing Space in 2010.</p>
<p>Toward the end of May, the weather could (but not always) be quite hot and humid. In general, there is no AC inresidential colleges. This is the only downside of staying in the residential college. THe location and the price are the best.</p>
<p>Most of the residential colleges don’t have elevators, either, which could be a problem if you’re bringing an elderly relative, as we are.</p>
<p>And I would guess the beds are not all that comfortable, based on my daughter’s reports. Do they provide mattress pads and sheets, or do they expect you to pack your own?</p>
<p>We stayed in TD and it was ok without A/C. We loved sitting in the courtyard. They did provide a matress, sheets and pillows, but I don’t think we got matress pads. All single beds. Comfort? It was ok, but admittedly it was not equal to the Omni.</p>
<p>The best part - We walked across the street to Old Campus for most of the events and next door to Branford for the presentation of D’s diploma. Being that close allowed us to do without a rental car - we flew into LaGuardia and took the Metro North to New Haven. All our parties and restaurants were within walking distance or a short cab ride.</p>
<p>That sounds really nice! Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, my poor kiddo was supposed to be home tonight, but is stuck at Bradley & getting a hotel room for the night. She was booked on a 3pm Southwest flight with a change in Baltimore, then from there to Southern California. But there was bad weather at BWI, so since she could not make the connection, Southwest refused to fly her half-way & also refused to help with a hotel at Bradley since it was related to weather, not mechanical difficulties. They spent over an hour on the tarmac, and by the time she got back to the gate – they said there were no other options to get her to ANY destination in Southern California tonight.</p>
<p>Also, this was her first time doing a move-out. She had packed & moved several boxes on the weekend. But she had a big final on Saturday, one last paper due on Tuesday, and a final exam on Tuesday afternoon. She felt that Yale closing the dorms @ noon Wednesday, so quickly after finals was cruel. I would agree that they should really give the kids a little more time. Especially when the Yale dorms are so spartanly furnished that the students are lugging futon couches, lighting, rugs, etc. The freshmen had to move from Old Campus to storage at their residential college in the pouring rain this morning. </p>
<p>When things do go wrong, these cross-country flights can be oh-so-painful. Oh well, hoping tomorrow will be a better day.</p>
<p>^ Sorry to hear what happens to your D.</p>
<p>In 4 years, DS was stuck at an airport several times - he flied back home during almost all breaks though.</p>
<p>We also flied to the campus every May to help him move out. We rarely took vacation and saved money in order to be able to help him move out. We have never gone to the parents weekend either.</p>
<p>@tugtraveller, I’m sorry to hear of your daughter’s travails.<br>
I agree with her assessment of the move-out time as cruel. Especially now that the reading period is so short (another complaint), it puts an inordinate amount of stress on students who are working until the end to make them clear out by noon on the day after finals.</p>
<p>We live close enough that we were able to go and help with the packing and hauling yesterday. Iit was a shame to see the students who were packing frantically to meet the deadline.</p>
<p>Needing to deal with the furniture just adds a whole new level of ridiculousness to the situation. My college, which was not Yale, back in the day provided a fully furnished common area in our suite plus even (gasp!) bookshelves in our rooms.</p>
<p>It looks like Yale is going to collect a record amount in cleaning fees, if the suite we saw is any indication of things. The suite mates decided they would just eat the fine, since there was no time left for cleaning.</p>
<p>I don’t get involved directly with issues there, but what I saw makes me angry enough to write to someone, which I’ll do when I can figure out which of the offices is the best one to which to send my email. Anyone know?</p>
<p>I love Yale in so many ways, but this move-out situation needs to improve.</p>
<p>Re: move out, I concur. My daughter was crazy busy with stuff over the weekend, with a last final Tuesday afternoon. My husband and I live close enough that we drove up Sunday afternoon (and spent 2 hours on a closed I95 just south of New Haven due to a terrible accident, but that’s a whole 'nother story) to get all her stuff. She was busy, so we packed and loaded the car (I know, I know…) She took a train home on Wednesday, after staying up all night to clean the room. You’d think they could give them an extra day.</p>
<p>I found pretty soon that most suite mates in DS’s suite decided early-on to eat the fine for not cleaning the suite.</p>
<p>A funny story: in one year, I heard when the family members had driven to the campus, the suite mate was still sleeping on the bed, I.e., he did not do anything about the move-out yet. Since there were several helpers, he still moved out quickly. He decided to eat the fine.</p>
<p>I also noticed that for some humanity majors, likely because their “final” is a written paper, they may go home earlier and then submit their paper online from home. At least this was the a few years ago.</p>
<p>I called the Dean’s office of my daughter’s residential college to inquire about who was the right person to direct a letter to. I explained that I understand that move out has always been this way, but that doesn’t mean it CAN’T or SHOULDN’T be improved upon. These students are in rigorous courses with finals, papers, and campus jobs right up until the very end. Yale should really allow them (at the very least) an extra full day after finals for packing and moving things to storage. </p>
<p>I am fine with the fact that meals ended on Tuesday. But don’t we want our students focused on their academics, papers, and exams all the way up until that very last final? Some of these writing prompts are not even given to the students until reading week, so it’s not always a time management issue. Most Yale students are working very, very hard on their academics and it definitely gets far more rigorous as the term ends.</p>
<p>The residential college was actually supportive, and suggested writing my letter to:</p>
<p>Mr. Marichal Gentry
Senior Associate Dean, Yale College
PO Box 208241
New Haven, CT 06520-8241</p>
<p>I would encourage other Yale parents (or even students) who feel an EXTRA day after finals for move out, would be far more humane, to also write a letter to Mr. Gentry. Maybe if enough people write letters asking for change, something will be done to improve the situation. That would make Yale an even BETTER place for all students.</p>
<p>My sophomore son conscripted his senior girlfriend to pack up his room (seniors don’t have to be out for two more weeks) while he concentrated on cleaning the common area and moving the big stuff into storage with his other suitemates. Had he not had her help (she is a saint :rolleyes:) I’m sure he would have been in the same bind as the kids above and I have no doubt the cleaning is what would have fallen by the wayside. I will write a letter as well.</p>
<p>Not all Yale undergrads consent to live all year in a pigsty. My child actually cleaned her room at the most a couple of times a year, but she doesn’t tend to let stuff (dishes, food, dirty clothes) accumulate. She and her suitemates cleaned the common areas before and after any parties they had. They also made sure to leave the suite clean enough to avoid any fines for all 3 years they were together. I’m sure they had some help from one suitemate’s parents, who live nearby and came up for move-out. I would be dismayed to hear her take the attitude that she would rather pay a fine than pick up after herself.</p>
<p>To avoid a fine, you have to do more than pick up, and kids with exams on the last day (like my D) can really run out of time.</p>
<p>There are other ways of doing it, although not all of them are better. At NYU, you have to leave 24 hours after your last exam, whenever it is.</p>
<p>My daughter, also, had a final on Tuesday, 2-5pm. Unfortunately, I got her flight home on Wednesday morning, without even thinking about her situation. I will not do that again. She had a tough time concentrating on studying because she was trying to pack. And, for some reason, they had only limited hours that the kids could take their boxes down to the basement. On Tuesday night they were only taking boxes from 8-10pm. And then they opened up again at 8am on Wednesday morning. But my daughter had to catch the shuttle at 8:15, so waiting until Wednesday to put her boxes in the basement wasn’t an option. In essence, she had to be packed and moved out by 10pm Tuesday night. Would it have hurt them to take boxes all night long? The limited hours really made a bad situation even worse. </p>
<p>Also, apparently, freshmen are not allowed to store large items, like sofas, over the summer. They ended up just putting their sofa out on the street - I hope somebody takes it. But it really seems wasteful. </p>
<p>How much is the fee for not cleaning your room properly? I know the girls tried to do some cleaning, but what if it wasn’t good enough?</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about that sofa–my daughter was allowed to move her sofa to the suite she’ll have sophomore year. Maybe it differs depending on residential college.</p>
<p>It is typical to move your furniture from old campus to your residential college suite. My kid’s RC had a rule on allowing storage of one sofa per suite but it was a big suite with several groupings coming together that collectively owned three sofas. An explanation and special request to someone got them permission to store all three which I thought was reasonable. I did end of year custodial work on old campus readying the suites for graduation/reunion/summer housing and we had to bring everything we found to the dumpster or the curb. I had the opportunity to collect so much furniture that my suite mates put in orders with me to get stuff they needed. The locals know that there is a treasure trove of discarded stuff at year end and would wait to get first pickings.</p>
<p>It’s not just the locals looking for loot… D’s fridge was nearly stolen by a staffer when she had to leave it for a few minutes. When my husband sat down a few feet from her things (which were outside on Old Campus), he watched while a student checked out and considered taking some soda he had bought (the student actually picked some of it up as my husband stared at him, but then reconsidered). And she had a hot pot stolen. Seems like people assumed that anything outside was abandoned property, but my D, who is working reunions, had to move out of her dorm by 12 and wait till 2 to get into her temporary housing, with no way to store her things.</p>
<p>Agree that the amount of time allotted for move-out was miserly, and the fact that they wouldn’t put out the wheelbarrows that were used for move-in just heaped insult on injury. We tried to help D get packed and moved on the weekend, but she was too busy. Her last final was Tuesday afternoon. My husband lost most of Wednesday helping D to move. If I’d known how little time they were allowing, I would have taken the day off, too. I’ll definitely write a letter.</p>