<p>Well...I thought it was about time we started a thread for those of us who have college seniors this year. It wasn't that long ago that many of us came here looking for help, a kind ear, and a place to vent regarding college search and selection. </p>
<p>So...how does it feel to have that college senior!!?? I'll start.</p>
<p>We are thrilled. As this is our youngest kiddo...we have done our LAST FAFSA and Profile...woohoo. And we will hopefully make our last college payment on March 5, 2010. We'll then feel like we've won the lottery as we've been paying monthly since May of 2003!! At this point, DD is looking into multiple options including jobs and the Peace Corps (keep your fingers crossed). It's going to be a great year for her...and she is excited, but is already talking about missing folks when they all move on. Her graduation is June 12!</p>
<p>Our senior is definitely starting to stress on the job application front. Several of his friends have accepted the offers stemming from their summer internships, so are done. He says a lot of the deadlines are due the end of this month so he is in the thick of filling those out and will doubtless feel better (or worse) depending on what comes of that. </p>
<p>He is having a little bit of a hard time getting excited about working full time, although is trying to make that attitude shift now. I have suggested Peace Corps as something he might want to consider as well. I have heard the application process can take a full year. Thumper1, has your daughter started the paperwork, and if so when did she do that? Does the Peace Corps expect some percentage to go through the app process and then drop out if they take another job? I always wanted to go in the Peace Corps so it’s more my dream than our son’s but I still think it would be a good fit for him. He is an engineering major, speaks both Spanish and Portuguese enough to get by and wants to live/work in South America after graduation.</p>
<p>I can’t believe WildChild is a senior. THANK GOD. As my husband said, just having the monthly rent payment gone is going to be like a huge pay raise, not to mention the absurd tuition (one more to pay). He is stressing about his job search and emailing me and calling for advice. I thought law school was a better plan for him in this job market, but he bailed on that. He said at the career fairs some of the tables (consulting firms etc) have piles of resumes 4 inches high.<br>
My nightmare is that he will not get a job and wind up back at home with us.</p>
<p>D is a senior. So far she seems to spend a lot of time swinging back and forth between loving being a senior, and stressing about the job search - especially since she has no real idea of what she wants to do. She’s managed to eliminate a couple of ideas through summer internships, but that’s about it. </p>
<p>Analyst, DD completed her Peace Corps application at the beginning of August. She had her interview two weeks later. Now she has to get all of the health and physical forms completed (they gather a LOT of information). Assuming she gets through that, then there is the security check. THEN she waits to see if she is selected for a posting. Since she doesn’t graduate until mid-June, she indicated she would be available in August or September…so yes…a FULL year after the application was filed.</p>
<p>We are looking into health insurance for her once she graduates…another issue.</p>
<p>I have a nephew who will graduate this December. He’s the first of this generation to complete a degree, and hopefully not the last.</p>
<p>I read a cute book about joining the Peace Corp - “First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life”</p>
<p>Thanks thumper1. I’m going to sit back on this and other than tossing out an idea or two, let S1 take the lead on what he wants to pursue. I did mention to him the time frame for the Peace Corps and wanted to make sure I was being accurate. I will let him do with that what he will. </p>
<p>I also mentioned to him that he should take the GRE some time before he graduates since he wants to get an MBA in a few years. The last I looked GRE scores were good for five years and I assume your scores will be better if taken while still in student mode.</p>
<p>S is overseas this fall so missing the career fairs at his school. However, I’m assuming he will go to career fairs at his college overseas, which has a far larger engineering department anyway. Since he wants to work overseas that might even be a help. I’m sure hoping he won’t come home even if he ends up unemployed. He hasn’t been home for more than a week or two since he left as a freshman and considers our place very dull. However, this is a scary time for these kids to be job hunting. They are all swapping horror stories with each other about the competitiveness of the positions.</p>
<p>Well, I can join this thread, too. D is also in major stress mode, and I guess H & I aren’t as sympathetic at the moment as she’d like. She had the entire summer to do research/initial probes/thinking through things, etc. We thought she was really leaning toward a 1 year post bac premed program, and then med school. Now she isn’t sure – which is fine with us, but she also doesn’t have a clear idea of which direction she does want to go. She did discover a health related program patterned after Teach for America which could be interesting. But the main thing is, this is HER life, and she needs to make some decisions! And here I thought that since S is now nicely settled in at college, H & I could relax!</p>
<p>I’d be interested in this…my DD might be interested in this type of thing also.</p>
<p>The “test” my daughter will take this year is the engineering exam (used to be called the EIT…it has a different name now) that is the first leading up to being able to get a PE (Professional Engineer) stamp. While DD isn’t sure what she wants to do, DH has advised her that this test is MUCH easier to take with the info fresh in your mind than years later. We really didn’t think about the GRE…hmm…maybe I’ll wait a few weeks to suggest that one:)</p>
<p>"The “test” my daughter will take this year is the engineering exam (used to be called the EIT…it has a different name now) that is the first leading up to being able to get a PE (Professional Engineer) stamp. "</p>
<p>Your husband is totally correct there. Though I don’t know even ONE person in my EE graduating class who went on and got their PE, the EIT was easy to pass during your senior year of college. The test is difficult, but the grading scale was amazingly easy (based on national averages), so she shouldn’t have any problems passing now.</p>
<p>My oldest son is also a College Senior. Doesn’t seem that long ago that he started and at this point, and in this economy, I almost wish he had another year in College. Son is a major procrastinator and big on concentrating on what needs to be done right now and not looking at the big picture. I have pretty big concerns about what happens after graduation on May 1. I hope he takes advantage of the career service center at his college. It sure sounded like a great place when we were looking at it during the college search!</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior also. She just decided (about a week or two ago) that she would like to go to law school. She is currently advertising major and has taken no pre law type classes. She told me that her plan is to work for a year before starting law school. Fortunately, we have a relative who has just started his own law firm in real estate law who expressed and interest in employing my daughter next year (although I am sure it will be very basic, entry level stuff). She would need to move home. Meanwhile, she plans to add a pre law class to her spring schedule and take a class for the LSATS. Why couldn’t she have figured this about 4 months ago? Well, at least she has a plan.</p>
<p>seiclan- There is no such thing as a “pre-law” class. There are business law classes, but there is no class that would be required or even needed before applying to law school. Music majors do very well in law school admissions and IN law school without ever having taken a class relating to law. The important thing is to get a strong LSAT score and have a good GPA.</p>
<p>MOWC is right, and it’s also important to note that the jobs aren’t necessarily out there for law school grads this year either–maybe things will be better by the time this year’s college seniors get their law degrees, but it doesn’t seem as though law is quite the road to prosperity or job security that it may once have been.</p>
<p>Seiclan, working in a law office before heading to law school is also a smart idea, esp. if she’s just come to the realization she’d like to attend. Better to find out if she likes it before sinking lots of $$ into it. DH was an accounting and decision science major as an UG. Took a couple of polisci courses because he liked them. </p>
<p>Law offices are full of history and polisci majors. Having a different perspective is good!</p>
<p>DH worked for nearly five years before going to law school. Those experiences and maturity compensated for a so-so UG GPA. Quitting his job to head back to school also put him in a much more serious mindset, which made a HUGE difference in his performance in law school vs. UG.</p>
<p>Fun to see some of your “old” screen names. Kid #1 is now a senior. He just took the GRE this weekend. Doesn’t know what he wants to do about grad school/job after May. (Nagging from mom has not inspired him to make any decisions). He loves his college–will be sorry to leave–and is now busy writing senior thesis. I, too, have suggested Peace Corps (or church volunteer work) to my son if he doesn’t want to go right into grad school/job. (Disclaimer–his parents met in the Peace Corps. . .) I will be so happy to get through those last 7 monthly payments (yes I’m counting down) to S’s college. I’m still hanging out on CC at times–Kid #2 is college freshman, kid #3 is 10th grade . . .and so on.</p>
<p>kathiep – for a second there I thought you were talking about my D! Horrible procrastinator. The future is frightening so let’s put our head in the sand and just not think about it… I, too, am very worried about what may happen after graduation.</p>
<p>She knows she wants to go to grad school, in a couple of years (hasn’t mentioned anything about taking the GRE), but has no idea what she would study. She wants to get a job (lab? research?) in between times, but has no idea what or where. She is very bright and has had a great (VERY expensive) college experience, and the thought of her possibly coming back home makes me feel horrible.</p>