Submit your own homepage photo for Photo Friday<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nMany wide-eyed parents sat in their vehicles in Park Lot on Wednesday, waiting to drop their child off at the freshmen residence halls on the College\u2019s annual Move-in Day.<\/p>\n
It was business as usual for the Patel family of Jonesboro, Arkansas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re used to this,\u201d Smita Patel said.<\/p>\n
Her daughter, Brina Patel \u201920, will major in chemical engineering and is the third sibling to attend the University. Brina\u2019s brother, Amir, graduated in 2013, and her sister, Shreya, will graduate in 2018.<\/p>\n
Not bad for a family who lives nearly 1,000 miles away.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes that tell you how much we love this school?\u201d Smita said with a smile.<\/p>\n
Brina has had her eye on Rochester for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great engineering school and a great place to be,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brina was one of about 900 College freshmen from a class of 1,368 who moved into their new homes on River Campus on\u00a0Wednesday. The students come from 49 states \u2013 all but Alaska.<\/p>\n
Student-athletes moved in last week, and international students from 90 nations moved in Monday. The total undergraduate enrollment is about 5,300.<\/p>\n
Ivan Dongmo \u201920\u00a0of Baltimore was the first student to arrive, checking in with school officials in Park Lot at 6:45 a.m. Dongmo\u2019s dad is a schoolteacher in Baltimore and didn\u2019t want to miss that city’s\u00a0first day of classes on Tuesday, so they drove overnight to Rochester.<\/p>\n
Bryce Sommer \u201920 is an engineering student from Scottsdale, Arizona. He has attended a prep school in New Milford, Connecticut the past four years, and Bryce\u2019s parents say those long-distance relationships made Wednesday much easier to deal with emotionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat these parents are feeling today, we had that when Bryce was 14,\u201d Scott Sommer said.<\/p>\n
Bryce \u00a0applied to several colleges in the Northeast but knew Rochester was the right one after visiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved the campus and loved the feel,\u201d\u00a0said Bryce, who\u00a0plans to try out for the Rochester squash team\u00a0that made it to the national championship last spring.<\/p>\n
Families were broken into morning and afternoon shifts, where the wait from parking lot to the dorms was about one hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s painless,\u201d Scott Sommer said. \u201cThey really do everything for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the families waited in the single-line processions, they were serenaded by University a cappella\u00a0groups the Midnight Ramblers (Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I\u2019m Yours<\/em>), No Jackets Required (Brown-Eyed Girl<\/em>), and After Hours (Stand By Me<\/em>). Free water, lemonade, and iced coffee also were provided.<\/p>\nOnce families arrived at the freshmen residence halls, they were greeted by student volunteers who carried\u00a0luggage and personal items up to the freshmen rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parents don\u2019t have to do a thing,\u201d said\u00a0Eleanor Oi, director of orientation, adding that more than 200 undergraduates served as volunteers helping their new classmates move in..<\/p>\n
An Orientation Expo in the Field House at the Goergen Athletic Center gave freshmen and their parents a chance to visit booths manned by numerous University departments. The College Convocation was held at Eastman Quad later in the day, with President Joel Seligman leading a group of school officials.<\/p>\n
“This is probably the best-qualified class we’ve ever had at the University of Rochester,” Seligman told the crowd. “We care about you as individuals. We offer you the opportunity to study what you love.”<\/p>\n
At the\u00a0Eastman School of Music campus, 140 undergraduate and 111 graduate students also moved in on Wednesday. Classes on the River Campus and at Eastman begin next Wednesday, Aug. 31.<\/p>\n