<p>My son didn’t even mention it, and this it the first I’m hearing about it. Just read the YDN coverage. It is absolutely beyond my understanding why any kid smart enough to go to Yale would want to participate in this kind of sophomoric ritual or subject himself to this sort of degradation. Is it actually enjoyable to march through campus blindfolded, shouting disgusting epithets? Can’t Yale do a better job of weeding these kinds of applicants out? What sort of fraternity is this?</p>
<p>@wjb: The march was in old campus, so freshmen (especially the women) were probably more aware of it. As for ‘what sort of fraternity’, it is, I’m not sure but it seems to be an old, powerful and wealthy fraternity. Both Presidents Bush belonged to it and an older YDN article talked about them planning a 2.5 million dollar renovation and expansion of their house in New Haven.</p>
<p>@QM: Dean Miller’s response:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here’s a link:</p>
<p>[Miller</a> responds to DKE chants | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/16/miller-responds-dke-chants/]Miller”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/16/miller-responds-dke-chants/)</p>
<p>Anyone else with a graduating Sr? I’m waiting to hear about housing at the RCs for commencement and just want to be sure not to miss out as they’re supposed to send information in Nov.</p>
<p>parent of senior here. We didn’t receive any info - just the info telling us there would be info. LOL</p>
<p>I really can’t believe it is almost over. I hope they are all savoring every moment.</p>
<p>Hi wp2 and congrats to your grad-to-be! </p>
<p>I got antsy so I called up the woman in charge of commencement arrangements and she said that they are currently working on getting the online reservation and payment system up and hope to have it running by Dec 1. In the meantime, she volunteered to email a PDF of the information now and I can reserve a spot with hard copy and check via snail mail. With all of the motels so expensive/sold out for that time, I’m happy to get this taken care of and know that we will have a place to lay our heads.</p>
<p>Since Graduation is a difficult time for hotels etc</p>
<p>How bad is move in–? </p>
<p>Did you shop locally, haul it or ship it?</p>
<p>Hi fogfog,</p>
<p>Welcome to the thread, and congrats to your son (?)</p>
<p>I suggest that as soon as you know your student’s move-in date, book the hotel room. They usually take reservations up to a year in advance. Imo, the 3 best places to stay for proximity and quality are The Study, the Omni and the Marriott.</p>
<p>Shopping, hauling or shipping is a personal preference. I am the type of parent who likes to have everything purchased in advance and who hates shopping crowds, so for Freshman year we brought most of D’s belongings as checked bags on the plane (the cost for checking a bag is less than shipping it). What we didn’t bring, we shipped.</p>
<p>There is also a Target a couple of miles from campus. Others may know more about the shopping part.</p>
<p>Hi Bay
Thanks 
A friend told me (her student is an alum now) that they flew in–and either bought locally or bought online/shipped directly to the school–dont know if it went to Old Campus or to the residential college. Have read that the lines to get packages is horrible and that things can arrive on campus and take a long time to get to a student.</p>
<p>We did a little of both. We drove, but some bulky things (and things for the common room) were purchased at Target and IKEA in NH. We also did ship 3 boxes and had no problem picking them up from the trucks on Campus. It was very organized. That said, I wouldn’t ship anything that your student would need right away, just in case there was a delay (and also - the pickup was the second day of move-in, not the first).
We were not planning on staying overnight in New Haven, then decided at the last minute to do so. There were no rooms available in NH, so we ended up staying at a Hampton Inn (I think…maybe a Hilton Garden Inn???) in West Haven. It was fine, but you can’t beat the convenience of one of the ones closer to campus. We’ve always stayed at the Courtyard for other visits and parents weekend. They do gouge you on Parents Weekend, but at least they threw in free snacks and breakfast. :)</p>
<p>We live on the west coast so we ended up carrying checked baggage - we did not ship anything. We used BedBath and Beyond’s pack and hold service. It works like a registry. You basically go into a store near home and pick out everything you want and you pick up and pay for the items at a store near campus. For everything else we went to Ikea and Target. It was pretty convenient and D had fun shopping over the summer, months before the stress of move-in weekend.</p>
<p>We drove and brought along what could fit in the van (including a futon!) but also shopped Target and IKEA for things we realized were needed once we arrived. This year for move-in we were able to get pretty good rates at the Premiere Hotel and Suites, which used to be a Residence Inn. Our suite was very lovely, and it included free breakfast.</p>
<p>We stayed at The Study for move-in weekend and at the Hampton Inn in West Haven for Parent’s weekend. I used the car a lot during move-in and having valet parking a block from campus came in handy but it is easy to see the value in the Hampton Inn. For Parent’s weekend the price differential was just too great ($450 vs. $125) a night and the latter had breakfast included.</p>
<p>BBB was simple and there was little wait. We did buy some big items at Ikea like a 6 ft tall book case and a storage cart. I wish I had remembered to bring more tools and had to go to Home Depot to buy some items.</p>
<p>Oh, and checking the bill for Premiere Hotel and Suites for move-in weekend, we paid a total including taxes of $150 per night–and got a 2-bedroom, 2-bath suite with full-size kitchen and living room on two levels. Very nice to relax in after all the hard work!</p>
<p>Thought I’d pass along this info for those of us who like to think ahead:
These last threads got me thinking about hotels and parents weekend. I just went online to both Marriott and Omni to check out rates, etc for Oct. 2011 (I used the same weekend that was in 2010 - the 3rd w/e in Oct.) Didn’t see anything come up available for the Courtyard, but Omni did allow me to make a reservation for the “regular” (non-outrageously inflated rate) of $199 ($190 W/AAA) and also had a cancellation date until the day before. I went ahead and booked at that rate; could always cancel later. And, unlike my experience at the Courtyard, I didn’t have to pay in advance. Worth taking a chance on that!</p>
<p>Might want to change that–Yale Family Weekend is October 28-30, 2011 (the last weekend in October, not the third)</p>
<p>Rats! Thought I was being so clever! 
It’s already showing no availability for that weekend! Is that possible?
But then can’t figure out why Courtyard is not showing availability for the other weekend in Oct…Oh well! We’ll figure it out, but would love to hear about where others stay over parents weekend.
And why is it so late in October this year?? Is this common?</p>
<p>After paying too much this past parents weekend I have also been on the lookout for next year’s rates. Unfortunately it looks like the local hotels get advance notice of Parent’s weekend so we can’t book at lower rates. Omni and the Study currently show no rooms available online. The Courtyard has special event non-refundable rates of $350+/night. I’m not yet ready to commit.</p>
<p>I’m with you VicariousParent…I hate pre-paying a non-refundable rate so far in advance. I know that I didn’t book this far in advance last year (in fact, didn’t even know he was admitted til mid-Dec.) Would love to find something more reasonable, but there are such limited accommodations near campus. Discouraging!</p>
<p>Thinking over the past 5 years of attending Yale Parents Weekend, it was on a different weekend in October every year. I’ve never had luck finding reasonable rates in New Haven that weekend, and have usually ended up staying in the Hampton Inn all the way in Milford (not that bad, actually, only about a 14 min. drive) or similar places/drives. For awhile, LaQuinta was reasonable, but they’ve also started getting pricey for that weekend as well. Not fair!</p>
<p>Please tell me about BullDog Days…
Is that something the prospies go to themselves–or are parents there that weekend?
Do I need to make a reserv for that? How do I find out what the dates are for this spring?</p>
<p>Also with respect to Parent’s Weekend…how many go and feel its worth it vs going a different weekend to just get time with your student.</p>
<p>We were crunching numbers on driving vs flying for move-in. Seems we’d save only $100 by driving and it would take 2 extra full days that our younger kiddo would miss school and my husband would miss work. Our student’s younger sibling absolutely wants to be there for move-in.</p>