Going to Disney in the Fall

[GovieMom]

There is no way my then-college student would have agreed to miss ANY days for a vacation. Just because your daughter has a high GPA doesn't mean anything, as there might be other factors involved in missing those classes. Too risky, IMO, to chance compromising her GPA. Most colleges have an extended Christmas break until mid-January, which was when we scheduled our trips. If it was me, I would much rather my younger son miss a few days of school, if you have to choose.

 

[JennyDrake]

Having been several times over the last few years I can assure you that crowds are NOT low! With a federal holiday each month, F&W, and schools with varying fall breaks, I would put crowds on par with spring break, especially around a federal holiday. Weekends are packed, but weekdays are very manageable with rope drop and midafternoon break. Weather is darn near perfect!

 

[afan]

If she's just taking ge classes and none for her major and you are using the 3 days of her break plus a weekend for 5 days she would only miss 3 days of classes. I don't think it's that big of a deal unless she's into her major classes and even then it depends on the class and the prof.

I had huge lectures that I rarely went to because all the notes were online and the class was boring. On the other side I had a class I did all the reading for and the lectures were on the material I was reading and the tests were open book so I never went. It helped that I had the same prof for another class and he understood why I wasn't going and would let me know if he was covering something not in the book so I could go to class.

I missed a week for an internship for 2 years at the beginning of spring semester and I didn't care if the profs cared or not, but I also needed the internship and that week was our tennis tournament.

Some will disagree with the above bit I'm sure more of what I'm about to say. I would be more hesitant to plan before she gets to school in case she meets friends, joins a sorority or other club or activity and doesn't want to leave or wants to do something with them instead. To me that's the bigger change to anticipate.

 

[Kelly014]

Your college-age daughter is an adult. As such, she can talk to her professors and then decide if she believes herself capable of missing a few days of instruction without having any, or a minimal, affect on her studies. No one on these boards knows your child better than herself and you.

This. Your daughter knows herself, her degree program, her professors, her homework habits, etc. I'm not sure I understand the "I wouldn't be okay with my college age child missing a class" line of thinking. She is an adult who can make her own decisions.

I am in a graduate program and missed a week of class last year to go to Disney. I let my professors know ahead of time, completed my assignments before we left, and completed my makeup assignments (2 pages of writing for each hour of class missed) within the one week time frame after returning. Education is very important to me, but so are vacations. They are our family time and we work hard to afford them. Also, I've been in school for four years (part time undergrad three years and full time grad one year) and will be in grad school for another 2-3 years. I'm not giving up vacations for 6-7 years solely because I'm in school! Life goes on. Consider it a good opportunity to learn how to balance multiple activities/roles

 

[Kelly014]

Sorry, got on my soapbox! We have been in May and October and prefer October. Food and Wine is going on and the Halloween decorations are so fun! The Halloween party was a blast. It was hot both times we went, 80s and 90s.