@moosiechica88 – I live in CT and moved my freshman in w/o staying overnight this year. It is definitely doable, and the traffic on 95 was not an issue. The only slowdown was traffic close to Yale, but you would experience that even if you stayed overnight in a New Haven hotel. The university provided shuttles from some remote parking lot, but I never figured out where it was, so I just paid to park in a garage.
I don’t know if it was this way for other parents, but my son was happy to have me clear out once I helped make up his bed, and take him out to lunch. I returned the next morning for Assembly and the reception and another lunch, but really did not need to stay locally.
@Memmsmom —Congrats to your D on being a FroCo. My son’s FroCo seems wonderful.
@CT1417 She is very excited. I think it is all her years as a big sister, coach and mentor that helped her make the cut. She just loves her school and residential college. She is so excited about living on Old Campus again.
@moosiechica88 This past year we stayed at the Duncan (pretty much around the corner from the heart of the campus) for move in and The Game at an incredibly cheap rate. It was bit like staying at Disney’s Tower of Terror, in a good way. Too bad it has been acquired and will turn into an expensive boutique hotel. Like @CT1417 posts, the really bad traffic is in New Haven, but they are pretty efficient in terms of getting you unloaded and into the dorm rooms.
For all the new prospective Yale parents, highly recommend Bulldog Days and then FOOT (or another pre-Orientation program). It will give your kid a chance to meet and begin bonding with other students in a very informal and relaxed way. Congrats on your kid’s achievement!
@BKSquared, @CT1417, @Memmsmom Thanks for the heads up! I just got a text from a friend whose ILs live in Branford which apparently is really close to Yale. So we have the opportunity to stay with them if we want to. It’s good to have choices We are looking to go down for the three-day accepted students event
@moosiechica88 Branford is a lot closer and on the other side of the water so less traffic. Just cross the bridge adn you are there. That would be an easy commute and easy to get into campus.
Tonymom- I see you are a crew mom. Is it your S or D? Our S will be entering as a freshman rowing heavyweight (he was admitted ED last fall). He cannot make any of the Bulldog days due to his racing schedule this spring. Do you think he will be put at much of a disadvantage because of this? Thanks!!
@NewHavenCTmom , I’m not much for crowds or speeches either, but I will remind myself that we are there celebrating the culmination of a transformative and overwhelmingly positive four years.
@NewHavenCTmom my daughter graduated in 2015 and yes, I was exhausted at the end. I saw a (Swarthmore) classmate of mine there who was celebrating his son, and I remember telling him I was so looking forward to Swarthmore 2018 graduation for my son (in less than two months!) as it will be much less overwhelming. Just think of it as a “once in a lifetime” type thing. I had two elderly grandfathers to worry about as well. It was hard.
ETA: if you are an introvert/no crowds person (like me) consider skipping Boola Ball. If you don’t know anyone there (as for us) it’s just a crowd with booze.
There was no Boola Ball last year. While we were busy, we did have a lot of breaks so we were glad we stayed on campus. We could walk back to the room and rest. We did not invite the grands. That would have been impossible. I did over 12,000 steps one day without even trying.
@musicmerit how do you arrange staying on campus??? We will be at next year’s graduation and already the hotels in town are sold out! I do have a place to stay about 15 minutes out of town, but staying on campus would be great!!
somewhere around october before graduation they give you the option of staying in the residence halls. It was cost-effective and convenient, and that’s what we did.
So curious, if graduation is on a Monday, when do parents arrive in New Haven? Looking at the schedule of events, there seem to be events on Saturday, Sunday, Monday? Although it looks like there are only events on Saturday if your student happens to be in one of the colleges that has the Baccalaureate ceremony on Saturday. If grandparents are coming, when do they come? Planning ahead…
as I recall we all arrived on Saturday. Left Tuesday morning. Grandparents came for the whole 9 yards. Class day and (obviously) graduation day were the most important.
ETA: baccalaureate is nice for parents; certainly not a must-see for g’parents (I can’t even remember what it involved). Boola Ball (if they still do it) is a not-must-see for g’parents (and for parents who aren’t into that sort of thing). We tried to do “everything” and I think it just wasn’t necessary.
@captaxe
My S is ltwt rower. He too couldn’t do Bulldog Days due to his senior year racing schedule. It didn’t figure in at all. Your guy will be just fine as his teammates are his buddies and he will have instant brotherhood to ease him into being a Yalie
Congrats to your son on his acceptance and even more exciting becoming a Yale oarsman! Yeah Yale! Go Boys! (Cheers you will become very accustomed to )
When you drop your kid off at school I would strongly advise making a trip to Morys. Chock full of rowing history
@tonymom My son is a lw rower hoping to be able to try out for the team (he was sick during recruitment season and lost out on almost three months of training - UGH!). Do they still allow walk-ons at Yale? I know at Princeton and MIT they do, but some schools do not.
@moosiechica88 yes! They have a walk on try out period and your son should certainly try out. It’s a wonderful group of guys; my son has made life long friends.
@tonymom thanks so much!!! He was really sad to think he might not get a chance to row and even though Yale is his top choice, I think not being able to try out might have been a big negative.
