On another note, we missed parents' weekend. Visited two weeks prior, and I plan to go back for G's acapella show, but watching the pictures on FB makes me feel like bad parent.

We don't go to parent weekends. I went the first year, when it was 2 weekends (one for moms in spring, one for dads in fall - it's now just one weekend in the fall), and we did not do a single thing that was sponsored by the college. Everything involved either drinking (J was 19, I don't drink) or buying class rings, or making items that I couldn't bring

home on the plane (big paintings or succulents in big pots). J isn't in Greek life, and that's what the rest of it seemed to be. Flights were twice as much, as were the hotels - my AirBNB was cancelled once they realized it was Moms Weekend and could charge 2-3x, so I scrambled to find a place. All of the restaurants were packed, as was WalMart.

Now we just visit on random weekends - it's much nicer.

When I was an undergrad, Parents Weekend was only for freshmen. The idea that anyone else's parents would want to come on an organized date was kind of unthinkable. Greek houses usually had a parents' weekend every year, but they were all at different times and were just like a very nice dinner dance kind of thing and there was still no expectation

that all the parents would come every year.

C's freshman fall in DC she asked me to come at a different time to avoid the crowds of parents weekend. I did and it was really nice to just spend some time with her.

P's school has no such thing. Most of the Irish kids he knows live at home and the non-Irish kids basically never see their parents.

I couldn't go because of my own classes and I felt guilty until I saw the FB comments from parents. None of them really thought it was worth it.

On a related note - our friends R and A went to parent weekend at University of Arizona this past weekend, and I know they had a good time but the sheer volume of people and partying is the opposite of my idea of a good time or seeing my kid.

They were also at a Greek parent weekend 2 weeks ago, and it's non-stop events all weekend long. I know that A (the mom/wife) is super into the fact that all 3 of her girls are sorority-based (3 schools, 3 different sororities) but I also know they barely see their kid all weekend for all of the mandatory events.

NU does not have any mandatory events. There is a football game with big tailgate prior with band etc. which a lot of people attend but by no means all. There is pep rally with musical performances of all kinds, dance and acappella, and usually one or two of the fall shows are that weekend. Then you have open house in all the schools with deans

I'm trying to think of anytime my parents came to my college except for graduation...they may have picked me up once when I was sick. I moved myself in and out every year.

and other professors doing presentations or Q&A, and university president has a reception with a speech. And then there are bunch of smaller events for different groups on campus.

I liked it when we went, it was crowded and expensive for sure but fun. And there was not a ton of drinking, the tailgates had alcohol and people went out at night but I did not see anything crazy.

Luckily it seems a lot of junior parents skipped it as it was overrun between freshmen and sophomore parents (who missed it last year).

Yup as GeriLiz : said, no such thing here.

No such thing here either. The closest would be Homecoming but even that is alumni focused.

I don’t love parents weekend as a resident of a college town. Lol. That weekend means terrible traffic, restaurants booked up, and crowds everywhere.

college town here too - students are bad enough

UCF is 10 minutes up the road. Parents' Weekend: 0 stars, don't recommend!