<p>My son brought a small B&W laser printer to old campus at the beginning of the year. Both he and his roommates have found it useful, as a number of classes do not have textbooks, but instead distribute reading material via pdf’s on-line. Although you can read the pdf’s on a computer, my son printed them out (some documents were 30 double-sided pages) and he underlined and scribbled notes on the margins. He and the roommates chipped in for reams of paper over the year and I paid for the toner.</p>
<p>Room assignments are mailed over the summer, along with roommates names, emails and phone numbers.</p>
<p>Upperclass students move earlier than freshman and they are required to help the freshman on move-in day. Last year, our car was surrounded by 30 upperclass students who unloaded all of my son’s belongings and carried them up to his room. </p>
<p>The room was already opened, but we were not the first to arrive. My son picked up his key after unpacking.</p>
<p>To start things out on the right foot, it’s always best to wait for your roommates to arrive before choosing beds, desks and closets.</p>
<p>In our case, our daughter was on FOOT and we arrived with her stuff in the car well before she was back. As others have said, the upperclassmen are very efficient at meeting you at the curb, unloading into wheelbarrows, and getting the stuff up to the room. We got her keys and met the froco in the room, and met a couple suitemates. We then wandered off to old campus (she’s in TD) until she arrived. The froco was quite firm that <em>no</em> decisions on rooms/beds be made until everyone arrived, so there wasn’t much for us to do as far as unpacking. Because of Hurricane Irene, we were “locked out” of our Jersey shore rental for the weekend, so we ended up staying longer than we’d intended. As others have said, the President’s Reception is worth missing, but the convocation Saturday morning is lovely, as was the Master’s Tea. Although at the Master’s tea we mostly ended up sitting on the picnic benches in the TD courtyard with our daughter’s suitemates and their fathers and chatting.</p>
<p>We also picked up the room key before our son arrived. You receive a pre-assignment to the suite and (as I recall) to the room within the suite. My son was in a double bedroom, and my recollection is that his roommate had already arrived and claimed a bed and closet (they were essentially identical), so we could unpack the stuff.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the upperclassmen are required to help unload…I think they volunteer to do this.</p>
<p>You can have a printer, and it probably pays to have one. There are other printers you can use, but you’d have to walk outside to get to one.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, gibby, donna, Hunt. Very helpful!!!
It is nice to have some idea of the flow of all this as it will be pretty hectic (and emotional LOL).
We will let D decide whether she will do a pre-orientation activity- her choice- than adjust accordingly.</p>
<p>We do have to fly in from a great distance, so maxing out the luggage to avoid shipping if possible, buying locally are the issues… </p>
<h2>We have plenty of experience with this, but each school is different in little ways! For instance, at schools where there is access to the Big Box stores via good transportation (shuttles, cars, public) or proximity, the outfitting of the room is a good bonding experience for the room-mates to do together on their own, we have found. But it does not not sound as if that is really the way to go at Yale.</h2>
<p>How many Frosh are in the groups who are together for the actual activities in these pre-orientation programs? I am wondering how many kids they really “bond” with…</p>
<p>For FOOT the group was small (8 frosh + 2 leaders? I think). And I don’t think any of them were in her RC (maybe by design); I think she barely runs into any of them now!</p>
<p>(and I sure hope the upperclassmen aren’t required to help, since mine will be at the beach on that day!)</p>
<p>On the Yale admitted students website it mentions uploading a color passport photo onto the website for the student’s Yale ID card. I know lots of places that take passport photos (Costco, Kinkos, etc), but they usually just hand you the 2 photos – not something for a digital upload. I’d like to upload a digital original (rather than scanning a passport photo). I recently scanned some photos on a Kodak scanner at Target, and the faces on the color copies were not as clear as on the original photos.</p>
<p>Where have others gotten their digital passport photos taken? Thanks!</p>
<p>“In order to have your University ID card ready for you upon your arrival on campus, you will be requested to electronically submit a color PASSPORT PHOTO. If a Passport Photo is not possible, you may submit a color snapshot showing a full front view of your head and shoulders. You will also have the option of mailing a photo in lieu of an electronic upload. Please upload your photo as soon as possible.”</p>
<p>My husband took a picture of our daughter standing in front of the kitchen wall. It worked fine :). She got to have him keep taking pictures until he got one she was satisfied with.</p>
<p>We actually take our own REAL passport photos at home. Go to the US passport website. It gives recs on the size of the head, and area around the head of “white space” required. Then take your digital camera, stand far away from subject, then zoom in (this distance is needed to prevent a “flash blowout”, too bright, and fishbowling of the face). Take a few photos with different amounts of zoom. Print on standard white paper until the size of the head meets the US passport requirements. Then print it out on photo paper and cut it to size. The benefits of this method is that we actually have passport photos that we like ;OD</p>
<p>I know it has been discussed here before, but I need some advice/references quickly. I had arranged with CT Limo for shuttle pickup at Phelps to Bradley for my son. However, found out yesterday that he has other things that need to be done for storage that will not synch with the shuttle schedule for CT Limo. Any suggestions and references on other shuttles (or car services) that will pick up around Yale, preferably at Old Campus and get you to Bradley Airport would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Go Shuttle is very popular and is the main competitor to CT limo. Their one way prices are usually cheaper but CT limo wins on the RT purchase. Another CC poster did mention in the last two months of another newer service. I did check that link at the time and the thing that stuck out for me was that they serviced Westchester County Airport (which is really nice for Yale travel) while CT Limo and Go do not.</p>
<p>I also took my kid’s “passport” photo for both his Yale ID but also for his passport. You can get both 2" x 2" images on a 13 cent Costco photo.</p>
<p>I think this is the new shuttle service: [Red</a> Dot Airport Shuttle - Red Dot Airport Shuttle transportation to / from LaGuardia JFK to / from Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester Counties](<a href=“http://www.ridethedot.com%5DRed”>http://www.ridethedot.com)</p>
<p>This is the new one I heard about that has more destination options and seems well priced. If anyone’s kid has used it and can comment for the group, that would be helpful.</p>
<p>We almost used the QConn Shuttle–the price and times looked good. However, when it came to the billing page, other fees were tacked on, so suddenly the price didn’t look so good anymore–was as much or more than other shuttles. Plus, the way it works, as it turns out, is they call you the day before to tell you the exact time they will pick you up–it all depends on who they are picking up that day. I called them to clarify, as we needed to know that the time wouldn’t deviate greatly, and was given only vague information. In the end we decided not to use them–had a concert ending at a certain time and needed to get to LGA quickly, so couldn’t rely on an ‘approximate’ time that might change. So, if anyone else uses them, I’d love to know how it works out.</p>
<p>Wow, this thread is great. Glad to see there is more competition in the shuttle choices these days. </p>
<p>I do remember dragging two heavy suitcases from the hotel to Old Campus by myself the day they returned from FOOT. I just figured there was so little time that I should try to at least have stuff there. There really isn’t that much time if there are going to be any trips to IKEA or Target, etc. </p>
<p>Re printers, the rooms that are singles can be very tiny and printers consume valuable space.</p>
<p>^ Our k1 also didn’t bring a printer. Students can pick up printed stuff in several areas on campus so it isn’t necessary.
Given how small the room was, with beds, futon and tv were the top “necessities”
;)</p>
This is true. DS’s single in freshman year was very tiny. In one year, his printer was down for a month and he still survived without a working printer (During that month, he needed to tolerate the nagging from this parent every time we talked to each other, for not having his printer fixed or getting a new one.)</p>
<p>Has anyone flown their student out of Tweed. Is so–how did it go? And how did they get there…</p>
<p>Considering Tweed as an alternative to BDL- K1 would need to take Ct Limo to BDL and this is the end of yr trip–a week after the dorms close etc…
so will be towing 1 large duffle, and 1 carryon… everything else is being stored. </p>
<p>DS used Tweed once and the flight was delayed long enough to miss the PHL connection. Overall not a great option and he did not do it again. I don’t understand why the only flights out of that airport are to PHL which is close enough to not make air travel even worthwhile as a non-stop. Years ago they had flights to Chicago which made more sense as a hub from New Haven.</p>
<p>The best way to Tweed is by cab. I don’t know if the cab service is more reliable now but they did not show when called in my student days so I learned to lug my stuff to a cab line at the Omni hotel.</p>
<p>Given the shuttle services and frequent cheap flights from NYC, that is the route DS takes. He even took a city bus to the Metro North train this spring as a cost saving alternative to the airport shuttle and he said he would do that again (although I wouldn’t recommend that to a less experienced traveler).</p>