[PeppyGPhiB]

Pepperdine has NSO the week before classes begin in the end of August. Parents go too, but I think their orientation is just a couple days. Anyway, at Pepperdine the students and parents don't even have to move themselves in - the NSO counselors rush out to the cars as they pull up in front of the dorms and move all your boxes into your room for you! It's over in a flash, which is actually kinda traumatizing for some kids (like me!) who are not quite ready to say goodbye yet. So for the first couple days, the freshmen go to sessions about courses and the GE curriculum, activities on campus, greek life, etc. while parents go to sessions about letting go, how to get involved with Pepp as a parent, etc. Both parents and students are invited to some sessions together, such as Financial Aid. Then the parents leave, and the students are immediately focused on their first teambuilding experience as students - Frosh Follies, a really fun tradition that introduces students to their dormmates and classmates, but also is very effective at delaying - for a while anyway - homesickness, which is quite present at a school where half the students are from out-of-state.

ETA: Oh, and I'm thrilled that I made the decision to go to school a plane ride away from home. My friends that went to schools within a few hours' drive from home just did not grow up as quickly as I did. They went home on some weekends, and Thanksgivings, whereas I only went home at winter and summer breaks. All of you parents that don't trust your kids: why don't you? Did you shelter them so much that you're afraid for them to be without you? Or did they fail to learn their lesson when they raised hell in high school? Either way, isn't that kindof your fault? I'm thrilled that my family did not limit my options for where I could go to school - not by geography or finances or anything else. All they cared about was that I'd be somewhere where I'd learn a lot and mature into an adult - whether that was across the lake or across the country. I knew that my family would only pay so much and that if I wanted to go somewhere that was more than that, it was my responsibility...and I was OK with that. In fact, I embraced it, because I knew that my family couldn't hold me hostage with that money; I think it's terribly manipulative for parents to do that...very passive aggressive. Do you want your kids to make their own decisions or not? I had a sorority sister whose family bought her a new BMW her sophomore year, then they made her drive home to visit them whenever they wanted. They also paid for her cell phone, so she had to answer the phone whenever they called (even if she was in a bar) because they threatened to take her phone away if she didn't. It's a terrible tactic used by parents who don't want to give up control of their kids, even when the "kids" are 22 year old adults! In my friend's case, I used to tell her that if I was her, and those types of restrictions were put upon me, I wouldn't accept them.