Welcome to our new Family Blog for Parent & Family Programs at Georgia Tech. This upcoming academic year our blog will feature insightful and interactive topics from Georgia Tech parents, students, and staff. The purpose of the Family Blog is to give our Georgia Tech families a genuine and authentic perspective of campus life.
FASET, Orientation is a fun time of the year because it is filled with so much excitement and energy. FASET allows students and families to learn more about campus life at Georgia Tech. During orientation, students receive academic advisement, register for their first semester courses, and complete other important business. In addition, new students, their parents and guests hear presentations from various campus services, student organizations, and institute departments on a variety of academic, business and social components. Most importantly, students, parents, and guests have an opportunity to meet with faculty, staff, administrators, and current students as well as fellow incoming students and guests.
The Caldwells recently attended FASET and wanted to share their experience and advice to our families attending upcoming FASET sessions. Parent & Family Programs asked the Caldwells a few questions to reflect and give insight on their FASET experience.
Author: Tyler Barker (Graduate Intern)
Family: John & Kim Caldwell
Hometown: Carrolton, GA
Student Info: Thomas Caldwell Industrial Engineering (1st Year), Carter Caldwell Electrical Engineering (3rd Year)
What has been your favorite part of your FASET experience and why?
Mom: “It’s really hard for me to pick one thing, because I’ve enjoyed a lot of aspects of it. But one thing at this moment that stands out to me was the lunch yesterday with Dean Stein. He had a lot of good information to share and that we in turn were able to share with our student. But to hear it from somebody who is not a parent was reassuring to us to hear the things that we’re said and also to know that message was being communicated to the student.”
Dad: “One of my favorite parts was in the smaller sessions being able to talk to students and ask them questions. I’ve been really impressed with the students, and the way they have been able to share their experiences here so far. It’s been really beneficial for us to see things we didn’t really know about and get that information”.
What advice would you give to future FASET parents whom are coming to FASET in the coming weeks?
Mom: “I would say try not to be overwhelmed. I’m a type A personality person, so I was very overwhelmed at the first FASET, it’s a lot of information and even coming the second time I’m still learning new things and some things have changed. Enjoy the experience of it and know that you don’t have to understand everything in those two days”.
Dad: “I would say, ask a lot of questions. We’ve learned that if we sit down somewhere we end up introducing ourselves to other parents, and when we do that, we’ve learned that a lot of times we’ve sat next to parents that are a little farther down the road than us. We’ve actually gotten some good advice from them. To reach out to the people that are over the different departments like Dean Stein. We spent a little time talking to him individually last night as well as Laci Weeden and really enjoyed that. Being able to get a little more personal when we’re talking to them has been really helpful”.
What are you most excited about in your students’ future experience at Georgia Tech?
Mom: “Our youngest son who we’re coming through FASET with had declared a major, but still was a little unsure about what he wanted to do. From our son independently hearing what everybody has to say about that major has revealed that he is really in the right place for him and that it’s going to be a good fit. That’s a good feeling to see that and to know that he is in something that he is really excited about. Our older son, came in undecided but from talking with other people found a good fit too, so I’m real excited for them that they are doing something that they are passionate about”.
Dad: “The thing that I’m most excited about is seeing what both of our boys are going to learn and the career path they may choose to take. Something that excites them and that they can be passionate about. Going back to the sessions we had with the other students, during the advisement session this morning, we met a student who is about to graduate. I was just so impressed with him in the way he talked about how he had grown from the time he came in as a freshman until now with all the experiences that he has had. I’m really excited for our kids to have those experiences to grow and mature”.
