<p>Freshman convocation is on Saturday. Stay for that and then leave. Hotel space in New Haven is limited. If you don’t already have reservations, you may not find any availability in the immediate area. Move in weekend, parents weekend, graduation can require reservations a year in advance for the close in hotels. The hotels that are in walking distance of campus are the Omni, the New Haven Hotel, the Study at Yale and the Courtyard Marriott. The Omni and the New Haven are closest to old campus. </p>
<p>When is October break? Does anyone have any idea?</p>
<p>October 21st</p>
<p>So it’s just one day of break? Not much of a break is it? Lol </p>
<p><a href=“http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar”>http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar</a></p>
<p>Actually no classes the 22-24. They could travel home Wed. thru Sun.</p>
<p>The October recess begins after their last class on Tuesday, Oct. 21st and classes resume on Monday, Oct. 27th. </p>
<p>@Saona63, DS came home for every break except for the spring break in senior year (because he was too busy on his senior project.) But there was no “fall break” back then. But I think he came home more frequently than most students who live far away (two flights away.)</p>
<p>@teacherman, We stayed at NVN during the pre-orientation, orientation and freshman convocation. (Likely about 10 days.) We were definitely an outlier.
BTW, at least in DS’s year, those students who joined some shorter version of pre-orientation were permitted to move in a couple of days earlier. So everything was not as rushed. The pre-orientation program was called CC (do not know what is called now) mostly for helping minority students to smooth their transition to the campus life, even though DS is not a minority. The outdoor camping trip or living in a log house was just too challenging for a city person like DS.</p>
<p>@teacherman,
There will be an agenda posted, but usually there are parent events for move in day and the day after and then the parents leave. We are from the left coast as well, so we rented an SUV to pack the 8 suitcases/duffles and made it a family vacation just before move in. You can also stay at hotels in Milford and drive in to campus each day. </p>
<p>For fall break, DD did not come home. She visited a few HS friends that attended college on east coast during the break.</p>
<p>I had posted this in a standalone thread in the Yale forum, but it wasn’t getting much traction. @musicmerit was kind enough to suggest posting in this thread since it is more widely read. Anyway, :</p>
<p>DS is an avid hockey player, but not built for D1 hockey (is skilled and fast, but not bulky enough to withstand D1-level hits). He expects to play intramural and “beer league” at Yale, and will try out for club hockey.</p>
<p>This morning, as we were discussing how smelly his gear was (the stink is something non-hockey parents can’t comprehend), we wondered if there was a way to store his equipment at Yale when he isn’t using it. Even though he uses fans to blow on the gear after use and washes what is washable, it wouldn’t be appropriate or fair to store it in his dorm suite. He thinks that once on a team (i.e., in the winter), it might be stored at the rink, but he is not sure, and it still raises the question of what to do with it before trying out for teams.</p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>
<p>When my daughter was a freshman we did not bring her home for fall break, but my husband visited over parents weekend. That was probably a mistake. Lots of kids did go home and she felt very homesick. It is a long time between August and Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>Last year she insisted she’d be ok, but I found a really cheap flight and brought her home anyway. She was very happy to be here!</p>
<p>As for furniture - I’d let the group figure it out. I think if one parent buys all the stuff then the others won’t feel like it is “their” common room, too. Also, storage does become a problem. TD does not allow rising sophomores to store any furniture, so my D’s suite had to abandon their cheap ikea futon at the end of the year. I don’t know what other RCs do.</p>
<p>And nobody has mentioned it recently, so I will - you can order stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond and plan to pick it up in CT. That cuts down a lot on shipping and checked bags (if you live too far to drivel).</p>
<p>For those wondering about breaks etc., google is your friend (“Yale Academic Calendar”). Here: <a href=“http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar”>http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar</a></p>
<p>Here’s a furniture tip: When we took my son the first year, on the way we stopped at some big store (Walmart? Cabela’s?) and we bought five or six folding canvas chairs–they are all on sale that time of year. They came in extremely handy. They can be used instead of real furniture in the suite, they can be used as extra seating, and they can be taken out onto the Old Campus to sit around out there. I think they were about six bucks each.</p>
<p>I second those chairs, still have 2 in my kids room, but they take up little space folded. The second set was corduroy covers were a bit sturdier but they helped a lot when she had extra people over or just for easy to move furniture. These were the round ones, but they sell regular padded folding chairs too or canvas</p>
<p>Thanks for the information, @YoHoYoHo and @mcat2! We are considering leaving HVN on Sunday. </p>
<p>I have a question about spring term (I know–seems quite long term ;-). </p>
<p>From the academic calendar, I notice that spring semester residences open on 7th Jan but classes start only on 13th Jan. I am wondering whether students are expected to get back by 7th itself (in particular, will there be orientation etc in Spring before the actual classes start that require the students to be present?)</p>
<p>@teacherman, It has been awhile so I may not remember the details. But I do not remember there was any orientation-like activities before the school started in Spring. Maybe only need to pay attention to WHEN the students need to enroll the classes - especially some classes in high demand.</p>
<p>I believe DS could not get into some more advanced writing seminar (is it called ENGL 129?) in his first semester just because he forgot to sign up that class in time. But he was still happy with the regular writing class in the end. I heard they are all small classes, unlike most of his high school classes. (It was very different from most of his intro STEM classes however.)</p>
<p>Since your kid is from the west coast, it may be a good idea to arrive a couple of days earlier to adjust the time zone difference. What we found out was that usually the students from the nearby states tend to get back to campus much later than those students who need to fly in from a far-away state, especially in the winter season (having concerns about potential weather-related flight cancellation.) An exception is when some kids have some activities because of ECs or clubs.</p>
<p>Picking up the keys could be tricky in the fall semester when arriving at the campus at odd hours - (officially the student could pick up the key from the Phelps Gate, but still some potential inconvenience) if I remember it correctly. So we usually asked DS to fly back at least one day earlier - sometimes we even arranged the trip such that he stayed at a hotel near the BDL airport for one night if we had some lingering concern that CTLimo might not pick him up on time at such later hours. (Later years, he refused to stay at a hotel near the airport.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar”>http://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/calendars/2014-2015-academic-calendar</a></p>
<p>Classes actually start on Monday the 12th. This is how it was last year too. You can arrive back to the dorms on the Wednesday before classes start. D did return on that Wed. for an EC commitment. I agree that the dorms probably open a few days early to account for travel planning, especially with so many international students. </p>
<p>Deleted</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me if bed bugs are a concern? Does anyone have a story?</p>
<p>@teacherman,
Just remember that when flying from west coast, travel time is usually 10 hours minimum from door to door, and can easily go into the 13-14 hour range. If you need connecting flights, connect in warm weather cities, if possible. Fly into JFK or LGA for shortest total travel time. Use GO/Prime shuttle service and not CT limo to get to Phelps gate. (Flying into BDL and taking CT limo to Phelps gate is an option if kid takes an early morning flight). Because DD doesn’t like early morning flights, DD is usually rolling up to Phelps gate around midnight a few days before classes start.</p>
<p>
I have no story, and haven’t heard of it directly. A search of Yale Daily News reveals a story from 2009 about a case in an Old Campus dorm. I don’t think it is any more likely than at any other college. I would suggest telling your kids not to buy used upholstered furniture or mattresses, though.</p>