Parents & Family | The University of Chicago

INFORMATION for PARENTS

• Welcome from the Deans
• Quarterly Calendar
• Orientation
• Family Weekend
• Convocation
• Campus Emergencies
• Parent Message Board
• University News
• Make a Gift
• Visiting Campus

Orientation/O-Week

During Orientation, the nine days prior to the start of Autumn Quarter, new students settle into housing, explore the neighborhood and the city, take placement tests, register for courses, learn about campus and community resources, meet faculty members and advisers, and, of course, make friends. This is part of your student’s acclimation to life at Chicago and their new academic environment.

Parents who accompany their students to campus are invited to participate in Opening Day activities. Parents who remain in Chicago beyond Opening Day, however, should know that students will be expected to eat meals with their Houses and attend required meetings, beginning the evening of Opening Day and continuing throughout Orientation. This schedule prevents students from spending time with parents. Please visit the Orientation website to learn more.

Family Weekend

Family Weekend, in the middle of Autumn Quarter, is an opportunity for families to see students in their new community, learn more about the College’s curriculum and traditions, visit model classes, and ask questions about programs and services. Families can meet the President, the Dean of the College, the Dean of Students, Resident Masters and Resident Heads, and academic advisers. It is a time, too, to get acquainted with their student’s roommates and new friends, and enjoy a trip downtown for shopping, dining, or sightseeing. Additional information can be found on the Family Weekend website.

Transition Tips

During the first year of college, your student will experience many things. It is a year full of discovery, inspiration, good times, and new friends. However, your student may also experience indecision, disappointments, and missteps. It will take time for some students to accept that being happy, sad, confused, liked, disappointed, and making mistakes are all part of growing up. Parents who accept and try to understand this experience are providing support and encouragement when it is needed most.

Traveling Home

Upperclass students recommend that new students wait a couple of months before going home for the first time, citing Thanksgiving to be a good goal. As a parent, you can foster your student’s success in college by actively encouraging her or him to stay on campus as much as possible and get involved. It is certainly not uncommon for students to become homesick, however they will need to learn how to adapt and adjust to their new surroundings.

Expect Some Changes

Saying good-bye to your son or daughter will be an emotional experience for both you and your student. Many parents wonder how their relationships will grow and change over the coming months and years. It helps to know what most families can expect.

• Parents can expect their student to want or need their support, but also expect an occasional irritable reaction to what may be perceived as “parental intrusion.”
• You will get emotional phone calls, letters, or emails. Often when troubles become too much for a first-year to handle, the only place to turn, write, or call is home. Unfortunately, this may be the only time there is a strong urge to communicate, so you never get to hear about the A paper, the new relationship, or the domestic triumph. Be patient, listen, and try not too worry too much about these exchanges.
• Expect change. College, and the experiences associated with it, can cause changes in the social, vocational, and personal behavior of the student. Your daughter or son may change in some ways, but remember that he or she will basically still be the same person you brought to campus on Opening Day.

Easing the Transition

Each student will transition to the College in a different way, but there are a number of things that parents can do to help their students as they adjust to their new life on campus.

• Stay in touch with your student (even if she or he does not write or e-mail you back). Support from home is important, especially during the first few months of your student’s transition to college. Students find calls, packages, and email critical in helping them stay in touch with family and friends. Your openness with your daughter or son about the ups and downs of college life will help him or her adjust to the University environment.
• Listen to your student. Empower him or her to take the initiative and solve his or her own problems.
• Avoid too much advice, too much supervision, solving the student’s problems, or second-guessing your student.
• Encourage your student to get involved on campus: It will help the student remember that she or he is not alone.
• Trust your student to take responsibility for his/her actions. Making choices and living with the consequences—good or bad—can be empowering.
• Do not encourage an early visit back home. Frequent visits home actually increase the feelings of homesickness once the student returns to campus.
• Visit your student here on campus during Family Weekend. They will enjoy visiting with you and showing you around the University community.
• Prepare for your student’s return. When the school year ends and your student returns home, take time to talk about how this will work. Parents need to respect the individuality their children have worked so hard to achieve, and students need to know there are rules and courtesies to be observed.

Suggested Readings

Many parents have found the following list of books helpful in preparing for and dealing with adjusting to their student’s new life in college.

Letting Go: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the College Years (fourth edition)
By Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger

You’re On Your Own (But I’m Here If You Need Me): Mentoring Your Child during the College Years
By Marjorie Savage

How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education, paperback)
By Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. Terenzini

When Your Kid Goes to College: A Parent’s Survival Guide (paperback)
By Carol Barkin

I’ll Miss You Too: An Off-to-College Guide for Parents and Students (paperback)
By Margo E. Woodacre Bane and Steffany Bane

Career Services

First-year students may not yet be thinking about life after college - after all, they just arrived on campus! At the same time, some first years may already have an idea of what they would like to do after graduation. CAPS offers resources and programs for both of these groups. Your first-year should feel comfortable coming into CAPS at any time during the course of the year, whether it is to begin crafting his or her resume, to begin a targeted internship search, or to meet with a counselor to talk about his or her interests and explore various paths.

Suggestions to offer your first-year student:

• Schedule an appointment with CAPS
  Our Undergraduate Preparation Team is ready to help.
• Attend Venture to Adventure: Exploring Summer Opportunities
  Venture to Adventure is a unique opportunity for first year students to talk with upper class students about internships, research opportunities, study abroad and summer travel.
• Apply for an Alumni Board of Governors Externship
  The ABG Externship Program provides first- and second-year students with the opportunity to spend their spring break exploring a career field that they are interested in. Students are matched with an alumnus or alumna working in a field of interest, and have the opportunity to shadow that person in his or her place of work.
• Apply for the Chicago Careers in Business Program (CCIB)
  The Chicago Careers in Business program is open to all rising second-years from ALL majors considering a career in business. Student should apply during the summer between first and second year. Program highlights include skills and industry based workshops, Chicago GSB mentoring program, and coursework at the Chicago GSB.
• Explore CAPS’ Pre-Professional Programs in Journalism, Law and Health Professions. Visit the CAPS website for more information about these initiatives.

For more information and resources for parents and families, please visit https://caps.uchicago.edu/parents/.