@Faulkner1897 In full disclosure- two of the boxes and a violin in the pile as well as a Keurig and a few other things in the big bins belong to her friends that live far away. They get the ability to store a few things in boxes in the basement of the residential college and she gave her boxes to one of her suite mates who lives in CA. She has a few other friends that shared the cost of a storage locker. Worse comes to worse, there are many that just donate bedding etc and buy new each year rather than pay for storage. We also have some of that in our pile as well because it was such a waste to throw it away that I took it home and washed it in case someone needed spare sheets/towels etc. As a local kid, we kind of felt it was the right thing to do for her friends.
As I sit here in Florida with my D who just returned from Korea, I would like to say Hi to all the parents who have just moved their kids into Yale for their freshman year. You are at the beginning of an incredible journey. We will be here for you as the homesickness kicks in, the insecurities and the drama. Remember, all of our kids survived basically unscathed and we will continue to be here for you with our own brand of advice.
My daughter’s RC is Trumbull; can we ship items using Amazon Prime ? Thanks
@ragudba, your daughter will be housed in Bingham Hall freshman year. There is a format where you indicate the PO Box without using the words Post Office Box, which UPS and FedEx can’t ship to, eg
Ragudba Daughter
206 Elm Street #123456
New Haven, CT 06520
If you say PO 123456, UPS won’t accept it.
ETA: if memory serves, your daughter will have to sign a form allowing UPS, et al to deliver to the post office
People on this thread looking forward to–or dreading–the first-time drop-off may enjoy the old thread on College Confidential titled “Parent Faux-Pas at Move-In.”
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1211804-parent-faux-pas-at-move-in.html
Lots of funny stories there!
5 suitcases worth on the redeye to Newark…just to find the “big” two were indeed too BIG!!! Almost got stuck having to pay $100 extra for 7 pounds over.
Picture hubby furiously re packing shoes, jackets etc only to order dear son to throw away two pairs of “lucky” erging athletic shoes into the terminal trash!!!
Good times folks;-) we are making memories to last…
We may never make it to move in day…
Safe travels, @tonymom!
Reading your posts I have to wonder: either my daughter is a real minimalist or we are doing it wrong. She left for Foot with one suitcase and a small carry on, in the suitcase she had a sleeping bag and a sleeping mat plus a big backpack . I am flying in with another suitcase, but I just looked at it and it is only half full, I might not need to have a carry on at all 
Safe travels to all ! Wish we had t-shirts with CC logo for easy identification and spontaneous hugs.
Wow @tonymom – I haven’t run across too many guys with that much stuff. I think I managed all four years with 1 suitcase and a trunk – including multiple interview suits! I think he’ll quickly find out his HS logo gear will never see the light of day… hahaha. Best of luck to him!
How do parents dress for the freshmen assembly on Saturday? Thank you!
@Kelowna @T26E4
Kiddo is convinced he needs oodles of workout gear for his sport as its “technically” a spring sport but does have a Fall schedule…go figure :-/
You’d be surprised how much space That stuff takes up…ugh.
It’s been especially fun lugging 5 suitcases (2 are ours) all over the east in our efforts to sightsee…
I just looked at the thread from last year, where the same question was asked. I am about to pack and was wondering the same thing.
Here is what I found (a woman asked if she could wear pants):
“Women can definitely wear pants. I think it’s nice to be reasonably well dressed for the assembly and for the Master’s open house, but people will be dressed all sorts of ways, from under to over. Don’t worry about it too much–you’re only a parent; nobody will be looking at you”.
“Hi there I agree - people wear all different things. If you can do business casual that is great. For women a summer dress and a light jacket or shawl is fine, pants are fine.For men most were business casual, some with ties, some not, many, many no jacket. The assembly is more formalish than the Master’s open house”.
Just looked at the schedule of events, and the reception hosted by the head of college is noted as informal, so I suspect there will be a range from the truly informal to business casual
At convocation at Duke most parents dressed casually. Nobody cared, it was all about the kids !
Keep in mind for the individual residential college welcome mixers…they will occur in the afternoon, after a very long day of moving in…plus heat and humidity, mixed with parental/offspring bickering…equals lucky to look half presentable
We wore casual (and the even was also quite casual) to the RC Reception on move in day. We were all sweaty and gross from the move and unpacking so it was fine. For Freshman Assembly, I wore what would both be considered classy short outfit and casual because I had to move my son into another college that same day. There were all kinds of dress there- from suits and ties to jeans and shorts. Base it on what you would want to wear in a photo with your child based on what they will wear. That was my plan.
@Kelowna That isn’t enough packing to even fit a sweater, jacket and socks! I sure hope there is a round two of warmer clothes being planned. Even I was chilly last night as I left campus after moving her in. My kid is about as opposite of minimalist as it could get. I do have to say though that she did fit it all in one minivan and we only had to remove 1.5 benches in the van.
Any seasoned parents remember how the line of traffic is getting to Old Campus to unload? We are 20 minutes from school and hubby thinks we should leave at 8am…too early? Not early enough?
@tonymom To move in to Vandy, you’ll be heading west on Chapel and Yale Police will direct you into the second side walk cut into the circular drive in front of Vandy. Then the Head of Branford will welcome you, and a swarm of upperclassmen will descend on your car and before you know it, all the luggage and packages will be up in your child’s suite. We arrived a bit after 9:00 last year. Just one car ahead of us. Whole thing took about 5 - 10 minutes.
@tonymom The traffic getting into campus was heavy but when you get to the area where you are unloading, the street will be closed and only those with a parking paper will be allowed into it. You just hold it up and the police will let you pass. Then they will unload everything onto the curb and you can move your car to parking. I suggest parking over at the Peabody museum and take the shuttle back to old campus. That way you can get out easy at the end when you are done. We went later in the day (around noon) to avoid the initial rush but we had just as much traffic. You may just have to be patient getting there. Good luck today.
Good luck to all the new freshman today! Traffic is quite heavy around campus but once you make it to your college it will go quickly. For the college receptions, casual is definitely fine. Since we were staying overnight we did stop at our hotel to change clothes from the sweaty moving clothes. For the freshman assembly it was definitely dressier. Some were in casual shorts but if say most were more dressed up. There is a really nice reception afterwards too - enjoy!