<p>This is the first year for the fall break. Our kid will not come home (to the Midwest). He’ll stay on campus, go home with a friend, or go camping. He thinks lots of kids will stay on campus and expects that it will be really fun.</p>
<p>Thanks, wjb. Also, did any of your kids do FOOT/Harvest? DS needs to decide this week. He was leaning toward Harvest, but now it looks like he wants to do FOOT. Any feedback on the trips?</p>
<p>As wjb has said, fall break is brand new this year so there is no precedent to cte when trying to determine what students will do. This seems to be a rare chance to start new traditions at Yale. It does seem a little awkwardly placed for those who have distance to travel and I suspecti most students will stay on campus for it. IIRC, one argument for its introduction is to allow freshman who are still making an adjustment to workload to catch-up with their studies, otherwise they really don’t get a break until Thanksgiving, a couple of weeks before finals. I believe finals have been pushed a little later into December to accommodate the extra time.</p>
<p>S (13) did the White Mountain FOOT (6 days) and had an outstanding time. This has the reputation of being more strenuous than most other options and he did have some experience as a camper and hiker coming in but I believe he would say everyone got plenty of support regardless of their background. Loads are distributed based on ability to carry. One consequence of his trip is that we flew him out with minimal luggage from the Midwest one week in advance while we hauled the great bulk of his gear to New Haven (two long days of driving) in our minivan, unpacked (with student helpers) and set-up his room on move-in day morning, and had everything ready for him when he showed up by mid-afternoon. I am not sure if that process would have been the same if he had gone to Harvest.</p>
<p>Another recommendation for FOOT. My son requested the 6 day trip but it was full so he ended up on the 4 day Vermont trip. He had virtually no prior hiking experience but had a great time and forged some great friendships on the trip with his fellow “footies”. We also brought most of his luggage and dorm items with us. With the move-in day students help, we had his room unpacked and set up by the time he got back.</p>
<p>So, DS seems inclined toward Harvest. My concern with either program is that I can’t book airfare until his plans are set and I’m not sure when they will notify him. Anyone remember when that happens?</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of the fall break particularly. I’m not sure how much further they can push back finals. One year, DD had finals until December 23. And that is one hellish day to travel by plane. I’d rather get them home earlier in December. Also, it just doesn’t seem that most families will fly a kid far in October, November and December. My son who went to an LAC had four days off in October (Thursday through Sunday) and four days off for Thanksgiving. I always loved the one week that Yale had for travel reasons. </p>
<p>One more travel question. If the Harvard/Yale game is at Harvard, do some kids plan to fly out of Logan rather than returning back to NH?</p>
<p>
We live on the east coast (~ 7 hour drive from NH, though DS takes the train home for breaks) and he has said that he will likely not be coming home for the new fall break. He said he’d likely stay on campus and maybe go into NY for a day or two with friends. His feeling is that a lot of kids will stick around.</p>
<p>
I don’t know about most kids, but DS did leave straight from Boston to come home.</p>
<p>mimk6, finals end on 12/18, and dorms close at noon on 12/19. So, that still leaves some travel time in there, at least this year.</p>
<p>Regarding travel for The Game, some do fly out of Logan. So, that’s something to consider.</p>
<p>Good to know about Logan – it is at Harvard this year right?</p>
<p>Wow! That is a long break and I’m wondering if the campus really empties for Thanksgiving week? I realize, of course, the international students will all be there – but I’m wondering if many of the west coast students will stay on campus that week, or fly home? They come home for Christmas break only 3 weeks later. </p>
<p>My daughter’s friends going to college in New York & Washington DC are in school until the day before Thanksgiving, so they won’t be coming home. She thinks she should stay that week & study for upcoming finals, but I am worried that the campus will be much quieter than she realizes during the Thanksgiving break.</p>
<p>Any other long-distance parents with experience or recommendations on this? She is definitely staying on campus for the Fall break week. Which is fine because there will still be lots of people & things going on. But is it a good idea to stay for Thanksgiving week, too? I think she already loves Yale so much, she doesn’t really want to come home.</p>
<p>By the way, Delta is having a fare sale, and I just purchased the Dec19/Jan9 winter break tickets JFK/San Diego, nonstop flights both ways for $349/roundtrip.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving is a generous break ~ 10 days. It begins with the weekend of the Yale-Harvard football game. I lived in MI and would have to fly home. I travelled all four Thnxgiving breaks and found it to be worth it – every time very refreshing. One year I went to the West coast to visit friends. The long vacation allows for it.</p>
<p>The Game is in Harvard this year, your kid might want to leave from Boston saturday evening if she plans on attending (many do, some don’t).</p>
<p>Last year we skipped the Parent Weekend because our student was going to be out of town on a college related activity. There is a strong likelyhood that k1 will have commitments that weekend again.
I can see now that this year k1 will be on a college related trip the weekend of the fall break…so k1 won’t be coming home fall break…</p>
<p>At least the “break” will give the kids a bit of space academically…</p>
<p>We are thankful for the longer Thansgiving break and don’t mind giving up a day around Christmas for it.
I recall the Thanksgiving holdiays when I was in college and the short break always makes for airline hell.</p>
<p>Regarding fall break: it consumes three weekdays. It appears most of the time on the calendar is being made up by curtailing the “reading week” before exams from seven to five days. Last final this year is Dec. 18.</p>
<p>BTW I do note that classes do not meet on Labor Day this year. This has not been the case in previous years.</p>
<p>Re the Harvard/Yale game – the first year I scheduled DD to come home Friday night. Then after she started Yale she insisted that she could not miss the game. I was able to change the flight for just a small fee change but lesson learned; the game is huge and most kids – even a kid who never watched a football game in her life – might want to go.</p>
<p>^ Correct.
K1 and friends went to a pre party, and a tailgating thing…and I am not even sure they went to the game for more than one quarter.
However, from what we gather, it is an event no one wants to miss.</p>
<p>Good info, but I am wondering if anyone has ever had their student stay at Yale over the long Thanksgiving break, and what was that like for them? </p>
<p>I think Yale would be really quiet and not a whole lot going on. But we have no real idea as my daughter is an incoming freshman, and obviously very excited to soon be living at Hogwarts, I mean Yale, with all her new soon-to-be best friends.</p>
<p>Amtrak policies are about to change(over the summer I believe) but as of now they will return unused fares to your credit card even a few days later. I think but am not sure that the new policy is that you must report a missed train within two hours now to get cash credit. I changed a booking for kid Bulldog days full refund.</p>
<p>Check out student advantage – it gives a 15% discount on amtrak plus discounts on other things-- it payed for itself on the round trip. I think that trains booked two weeks out are cheaper these days. $70 is about normal for a popular time(Not Monday or Friday I assume) – its like the airlines anybody’s guess one way or the other – but I think you have some time there–but with generous refund policies no reason to hold off either.</p>
<p>Tugtraveler,</p>
<p>Looking at your back posts–I am assuming you are the parent asking this particular stuff (not student–as some of the posts were about sorority, semester in Wash DC etc and were more pertinent to a student’s inquiries than a mom) so if I am mistaken and you both use the same screen name, or are the student, I apologize. ;)</p>
<p>FYI, without your student having selected her classes (which doesn’t happen til after shopping period) you won’t know her exam schedule. It is possible to have exams done in the first few days and she’d be able to fly home earlier. Once her schedule is finalized with ehr advisor, she can let you know her exam schedule as the exams will be listed in the syllabus etc</p>
<p>Thanksgiving break is nice and long. MANY kids leave. I believe that the Masters have some sort of meal and things are going on for the Int’l students so if your student stayed in-town, she could certainly participate. </p>
<p>If you haven’t done it yet–book your room for move-in/convocation if you are planning on going. The convocation is special and well worth being there. WH does not have air conditioning, plan accordingly ;)</p>
<p>Last year we didn’t get back to NH until Easter…skipping Parents weekend. K1 did fly home for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas break. K1 did not come home for Spring break. I hear Parents weekend can be really nice. You could always reverse your family holiday and go to the east coast to meet up with your student for Thanksgiving…in Boston.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if any of you have kids who did Directed Studies and what their experience was. My son is registered for it. In particular, did they feel later in their college life that they didn’t have enough time to try different classes and how much did they enjoy or not enjoy the program?</p>
<p>My son did DS just last year, so I can’t answer the “later in college life” part of the question, except that I know he is concerned that he’s behind in his science, since science majors don’t usually take it. He found it to be as intense as everybody says it is - his assigned readings averaged 1,000 pages a week, and he hardly ever slept on the night before his papers were due, even though every two weeks he promised himself that he would get done earlier than the night before. He says he’s glad he took it, and he’s even gladder it’s over. </p>
<p>He also asked for opinions at the beginning of the year. His House’s Master and Dean stongly advised him to take it; the head of his science department said no. His Big Sib had taken DS and told him it was definitely worth it; I think that was what convinced him to take it. </p>
<p>He does know he had a unique experience, has a shared bond among his DS classmates, heard some incredible lectures, and has read and analyzed a lot of work that most people never get to, from Plato to Borgas. I’m not sure he’d say he “enjoyed” it, especially while he was working so hard last year, but he enjoys knowing he could do it.</p>
<p>My kid took DS, did all the reading, thoroughly enjoyed it. Obviously, it is great for humanities majors and social science majors. For science majors who enjoy humanities, it can be a great, focused way to get some distributional credits out of the way.</p>