My daughter had a printer in her suite her first year and they never used it. The one time they tried, it had stale ink because it was not used all year. I know the girl that brought it still lives with her but I am pretty sure that they don’t even have it in the suite anymore.
@CalMomX2 – I may be the wrong person to respond, as I live within an hour of campus and rarely visit, but here goes.
Here is the academic calendar: https://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics/academic-calendars/2018-2019-academic-calendar
Freshmen residences open Friday morning, so I would arrive Thursday so that you have time to pick up and/or purchase items locally, although if you do not arrive early enough to do so on Thursday, you will have time on your own to shop Friday evening. However, the helpful upperclassmen are only available to carry items upstairs during the day on Friday.
Once your son receives his college assignment this summer, return here and parents of students in that college can provide specific advice for that college’s move-in process. For my son’s residence, I pulled up, helpful upperclassmen removed every item in the car and carried it all upstairs to my son’s suite. I had applied sticky labels with his name & suite # on every item, but nothing was misplaced. I then went to park my car and walked back to help set up the bed and fans. Yale provides parking somewhere but I never bothered to figure out where and just paid to park in a garage that was a short walk away.
There are random sessions on campus, but the one you really want to attend is the reception at the Head of College’s residence. Kind of like a low-key cocktail party without the cocktails or cocktail attire. All family members welcome.
I can’t remember if I stayed for dinner with my son or if orientation activities started immediately after the reception. I returned Saturday morning to attend Assembly and then met up with my son after to attend the university-wide reception, go to lunch, move some more items into his room, and remove anything he decided was not needed. He was ready to see me depart by middle to late afternoon as he had orientation activities to attend.
Parents’ Weekend. That one is your call. I drove up for the day, and am glad that I did as it offered an insight to his life on campus, but I don’t know that I would say it is essential. The Head of college hosted another reception, and one of my son’s clubs had a session that parents could attend, but again, not essential. If your son does not fly home for the October break, then you may want to attend just so that you can see his life on campus.
How often he will return home: Fall break is five days, so no classes Wed, Thurs or Fri. Thanksgiving is an entire week off, but he may want to attend the football game in Cambridge the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and then fly out of Boston? I don’t if all freshmen organize to travel for the away game, but if he has a friend at one of the Boston schools, he may.
Hope this not TMI.
The experience is a bit different for parents of students who do one of the pre-orientation activities (like FOOT - first year outdoor orientation trip, Harvest, etc). Those students arrive on campus a few days before move-in. My daughter did 6 day FOOT, and flew to Hartford a week ahead of freshman move in with just her backpacking equipment. She packed everything up before she left home (we do not live within driving distance), and on Thursday my husband and I flew to CT with all of her packed bags. We picked up some items at Target that we had pre-ordered. If you do any shopping near Yale, I strongly recommend doing it on Thursday! By Friday afternoon/Saturday morning, the selection was not very good.
The FOOT trips return late morning/mid-day on Friday, so we picked up my daughter’s key in Old Campus (since that was where her dorm was located) and dropped her stuff off. We had the same experience as CT1417 - upperclassmen swarmed our rental car, and took everything up to my daughter’s room. We did not unpack any of her stuff - she wanted to do that - although she did ask if I could make her bed! She returned from FOOT and took a quick shower in our hotel. We went to the reception at the head of college’s house, which was great, and was where my daughter first met some of her best friends from the year. I think the kids are on their own for dinner that night (although there are some receptions for some special interest groups), so we got to have dinner with our daughter one last night. She had to report back to the college for orientation activities at 8 or so.
I seem to recall that we did one last shopping run on Saturday, fit in around the first year convocation and lunch in the colleges.
Family weekend is fun since there is so much going on, lots of interesting performances and lectures. Mainly our daughter enjoyed having a meal off campus!
As far as coming home is concerned, our daughter came home for Thanksgiving (Yale gets 1 week), winter break, and spring break (2 weeks) her first year. She went to NYC with friends for the fall break. She is now a sophomore, and she spent part of spring break with friends and part at home.
One other thing to be aware of is that many kids go to the Harvard Yale game, which is always the first weekend of Thanksgiving break. This year the game will be in Boston, although it will be played in Fenway Park, which will change the experience. When my daughter was a freshman, the game was in Cambridge and she flew out of Boston when she returned home.
Finally, as someone who also lives a long distance away, keep in mind that what goes into the room must come out at the end of the year (and be packed up and stored). I believe that most of the first year suites now have Yale provided furniture, but this will be specific to the college. My recommendation is to keep it simple! My daughter used Dorm Room Movers to pick up and store her stuff, and they delivered it to her new room at the beginning of the next school year. Other kids go in together to rent a storage unit. The residential colleges each have their own rules about what (if anything) can be stored in next year’s room and/or in the college storage area.
Perfect! Thanks for all that information. That’s what I needed to know!!
As I have said many times, Dorm Room Movers is the best. @Faulkner1897
@CalMomX2 I’m from Vancouver Canada so I totally understand your fears! This forum has been great and you’ll find there is unbelievable information for any little thing asked. We were thrilled for him and arranged to drop him every year (even though he was more independent every year he still needed a SUV to get things places!). My son is in Lightweight Crew so our experience is a bit different. We had to be surgical in our visits so we could take in races as well where possible. He comes back for Christmas New Years every year but after first year summer he started getting fabulous summer things to do. We go to visit him now. For Thanksgiving he was invited to friend’s places and did not come home. On the other breaks athletes often end up committed to staying for practice or going to training camps. He used the post office without problem but some people have problems with that. You’ll likely have many little questions about what to get so come back.
I subscribe to Yale Daily News to learn more about what’s going on. We went to the game last year - it was great! we’ve been back 3 times this year because he’s a senior and we wanted to see as many races as possible. Welcome to this forum!!
My son will begin his MM in music performance this fall. I’ve never been to New Haven. Any suggestions for off campus housing?
D is also looking for off campus. She has been there working on MAR and starting PhD in fall. She lived in campus apts for MAR (for Div school) so now is branching out. She likes to be up in the area of Div school even though more of her classes will be downtown and likes the East Rock area - walkable and on shuttle and city bus route but more expensive than other areas. That would be on Whitney and going east. She actually likes Hamden area but that limits you to city bus or driving. Not sure where music program is housed so maybe you want more down near old campus. She mentioned Edgewood (near football stadium?) but it’s a little far from her stomping grounds. She would love to live alone, but it’s expensive.
East Rock is pretty popular with summer students and grad students. My DD lived there one summer. Nice area; but note that my nice bike that I lent her (which was bolted to her back porch) got stolen; they just cut the wood strut and didn’t deal with the fancy lock. Perfectly nice area, but not “suburban.”
@CalMomX2 , we also live far away from campus. We pre-ordered most of our S’s stuff through Bed Bath (bedding, pillows, towels, mirror, lamps, fan, trash can, small whiteboard, laundry bag, hangers, hooks, under bed storage bin …). Yale through one of its agencies will also offer a starter set of items. We looked through their packages to get an idea of what to buy, but went with Bed Bath. The only thing S packed for the plane was clothes.
S went to FOOT (highly recommend), so we dropped him off with his backpack and stuff for the camping trip and retained his other suitcases. We then took D to her school also in the NE. When we came back to campus after FOOT, we stopped by a Target to get school supplies, laundry supplies, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brushes, etc… My son also brought his golf clubs, but we had those shipped to our hotel (you can also do that with any bulk items that you don’t want to check in on your flight). During the summer, he had communicated with his suitemates and they had allocated who would get “large” items for the room and how they would share or not share the costs. Room items included a refrigerator (rented through Yale), microwave, coffee maker, large room fan.
The only stressful thing about move-in day was the traffic jams around campus. Once you got to your designated drop off place though, it was pretty smooth with the upperclassman moving all the items out of our car to S’s suite. I’d say overall, Yale does a great job in getting students transitioned in through the various communications in the summer, events, programs and very attentive first year counselors.
We did not go to Family Weekend last year because it was so close to Thanksgiving. Instead, we went to The GAME and stayed with my parents who live on the East Coast for Thanksgiving. It looks like better spacing this year between Family Weekend and Thanksgiving. S came home for Winter Break and Spring Break. Between Facetime, text, email and old fashioned phone calls, we keep in pretty regular touch with the kids.
Welcome to the Yale family!
Anyone recall when continuing students get their FA award letter? I can’t remember if it’s June or July and we’ve got to estimate for setting up payment plan…oh joy 
Last year my son got his FA information on June 14.
Any advice for moving out of Vanderbilt for families who just want to load everything in the car and bring it home?
I am guessing that we will all be vying for what little street parking is available adjacent to Old Campus. I will be solo so I can’t leave one person with the car while I help my son move his belongings out.
If anyone has any helpful suggestions, please pass along. Thanks!
Hi @CalMomX2, also from California here - if you happen to live in the LA area, I can give you some specific advice, but our experience so far (pardon the length):
DS has wanted to come home every break. It can be a little pricey, but I’ll take it while I can, and it’s a lot less expensive than multiple family members flying out to visit him there. (We thought we’d do a bit more of that, but it turns out that the breaks at Yale have been fairly generous - frosh yr he finished a week earlier than most.)
Don’t get me wrong - he LOVES it at Yale, it’s been a great fit for him in every way possible, and he’s very comfortable there. His first summer, he did an internship in Spain. Fortunately the rest of us were able to visit with him there for a little “family time,” because when he returned home our house was booked for the rest of the summer with visits from his friends at Yale. This summer he’s staying home and working here in LA, with several more visits planned from friends at school. We’re loving it while it lasts - a great chance to get to know some of his close friends at school, even if they’re trying to catch every concert in town. And, he gets to visit friends’ homes on the East Coast some weekends at Yale.
This fall, DS2 will be joining DS at Yale. Hooray! But logistics get a bit trickier, so advance planning is key. Keep an eye on the school calendar, try to get the kid to communicate with you, and monitor flight prices early and often. Definitely pre-order bedding, fan, etc. for pick-up in the New Haven area. Apparently, the beds are an unusual size, so make sure you know before ordering. DS and suite-mates went in on a rental fridge, and one of his mates (New Haven native) bought a couch b/c he could easily keep/store it.
First yr, we arrived same-day - a bit hectic, but managed OK. Like others here, I’d advise getting to town a day early, picking up the pre-orders and buying whatever you know is needed. Move-in is a breeze: pull up in the rental, unload is done-for-you, park somewhere. That year, the GAME was in Boston, so DS flew home from there for break. This year, we’ll have 2 different move-in dates, so I’ll just be there a while.
Btw, once orientation started, DS was pretty much done with us. What a moment …
The members on this board are great!
Thank you to everyone who replied to my panic post. I go through waves of panic, pride, sadness, and back to pride again. My son’s twin brother has committed to UC Berkeley so we will be very bicoastal! I think some of my emotion is from the sudden and impending shift from a busy household to being empty nesters. I am sure we’ll manage and we are looking forward to exploring New England. So far the difference between Yale and Cal is the attention to detail and personal communication. I’m sure I’ll see other huge differences but I’m confident both my boys are going to be fine. I will continue to seek your help and read your posts. Thanks for the great tips! They are invaluable!
@CalMomX2, you are correct: both boys will be fine. And, so will you. I was a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD) for more than a decade, and then “semi-retired” as they went to college, and am now even more retired as the first son graduates in a few weeks. Your interactions with them will change some, but you’re still their CalMom.
We just recently moved to Boston from NJ; New England is wonderful.
Another Cal mom here kinda freaking out. My son accepted last night 19 minutes before the deadline. Still getting used to the idea. We are from So Cal. He is going to have to buy a jacket and boots.
Have a look at the photos today on Yale’s Twitter account (search on “@Yale” @lovemydog4ever) - it’s not so bad!
@CalMomX2 Congrats to you! Both great schools and very different so you could write a blog on it. You must be so proud. My son had a hard time choosing and Cal was one of his options, too. I am a Cal grad. We are from So Cal so Yale is going to be a big change.
Not as big of a change as you may think. There are plenty of Cali kids there! 
Yes boots and coats will be needed