<p>DD graduates in May with college honors with a B.S. in Psych and B.A. in Speech Pathology. Currently doing research for honors thesis and getting the last of the applications in for Ph.D. programs and then comes the intolerable wait and see. She’s keeping her fingers crossed for grad school interviews in Jan-March. The faculty member she applied to at her top program told her he has one funded spot to fill so she’s stressed but trying to stay positive. If she doesn’t get accepted anywhere, she plans to either work for a year at a residential school for kids with disabilities and reapply for grad school next year or apply to Master’s programs (deadlines are later in spring). Exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. She wants to work at a summer camp in North Carolina for kids with disabilities this summer.</p>
<p>She says she’s ready for undergrad to be over but she’s sad to see her friends go different directions, especially her roomie of two years. Several friends accepted to med school already. One applying to law schools in D.C. area. One was going to apply to law school but got a job offer she couldn’t refuse with a consulting firm in Chicago (her mother works there). Others hoping for internships that might turn into permanent positions.</p>
<p>Even with the state of the economy, kids now seem to have so many more opportunities available to them than we had when we were graduating or maybe they’re just more knowledgeable of the opportunities out there. I’m really excited about the possibilities for her.</p>
<p>WildChild accepted his job offer today (the last day). I guess he was waiting to make sure a $100,000 offer from elsewhere didn’t drop into his lap! I can’t believe his near-term future is settled! Unless he screws up next semester, he will graduate with honors and be off to Denver to work for a really cool company. AND OFF MY PAYROLL!!! Drinks on me come May 17!!! He is ready to be out of college in many respects- it’s been a mixed bag. He’s older than many and also old for his years, so it’s time to move on. I think he has a deep-seated fear of being a cubicle jockey and vanishing into the world of middle management instead of being Michael Dell or Bill Gates, though.</p>
<p>MOWC, congrats on the acceptance. That is great news and he will probably love Denver. Hopefully, your son will find like minded co-workers and find that his fears are groundless.</p>
<p>This company hires a bunch of grads after an extensive interview process, so there is a built-in social network. I know he will love Denver. It’s just a very different choice from that of most of the other grads from his school who have a “NYC or bust” mentality.</p>
<p>Our senior has a good job offer in his back pocket, but is not excited about it. He was just turned down by his top choice after his third interview. I know how fortunate he is to have a job, and he sort of knows it, too. There is still some time for that job Wild Child was waiting for to come through, but I know he’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Just got off the phone with DS and thought I’d bring this thread up again. Sometimes I can’t believe that kid! Apparently he received a phone call offering an interview(they left him a message) but he didn’t know what to do as the company is in northern California - DS at school in southern California. I had to explain that this is the process - if he gets invited for an interview he’ll need to hop on a plane. Oh dear me. He also left his suits here…I guess I’ll be figuring out how to get a suit to him. </p>
<p>How is it going for other cc parents’ college seniors?</p>
<p>I reread what I wrote last fall, and strangely enough everything seems to be coming out as planned. S managed to convince his former Con Law professor (who haven’t taken on any undergrads in years) to supervise his research. LSAT results were GOOD. And for the next two years S will be teaching math in Phoenix as a member of Teach for America. It’s all very exciting and terrifying.</p>
<p>As a parent who benefited from your wisdom when my DD applied to college in 2007, I am really HAPPY to hear that YOUR children have accomplished so much. Congrats!</p>
<p>The overseas company our S wants to work for expects to be in a position to make him an official offer in March (which aligns with their budget process). The manager put 90% odds on them having something for him. Since they weren’t willing to put ink to paper in January, we have advised S to have a back-up plan. I really didn’t expect him to do much with only a month to wait, but he has signed up to interview with several companies at the on-campus recruiting sessions this month at his college. The interviews (which are first round) are the last week in February, so too early to say if anything will come of those. However, one of the firms seems like a pretty good fit and would place him overseas, which is a high priority condition for S.</p>
<p>I laughed at the comment on the suit. When S got the job during his semester abroad we had to mail him suits. (Luckily, he and H wear the same size and H’s firm is business casual now so we have tons of suits around, but not cheap to mail). He came back in late January, going straight from the airport to campus. We went to campus to bring him some furniture and winter clothes and due to space constraints brought home ALL of his suits. Then the job fair came up and he realized he needed a suit (or dress clothes of some sort and a suit is easiest). Luckily, his college is only an hour away so we just drove back the next week-end to bring him a suit. We hadn’t seen him in eight months and he hasn’t been home yet, so really was a treat for us.</p>
<p>On another note, one of his friends turned down a higher prestige company for a less well known firm that “showed him the love” more and where the people were friendlier. Money was the same. I’m glad to see kids going for a good fit when they have that option.</p>
<p>Dredging this thread up from many pages down to add news about D. She has been accepted into her first choice grad program at Brown. At least she/we know what she’ll be doing for the next 2 years. Yeah!</p>
<p>Being a college senior is an interesting experience, you get to look back and see how much you’ve grown in the last 4 years and face the fact that real life starts pretty soon. It does make it so much harder graduating in this economy, I know I would have no chance at an above-minimum-wage job right now which is why I applied to 14 graduate schools. Honestly If I don’t get in anywhere I don’t know what I’ll do with myself next year. My parents have moved across the country and moved on, while they’ll still support me financially I wouldn’t be able to move back home because there is no home to go back to. The whole process is so stressful and I think the thing that bothers me the most is that my parents (and everyone else’s I know) will never really understand the pressure we’re under right now. I talk to my parents about how worried I am that I won’t get into grad school and I’ll end up on the street or something and they just scoff and say “Oh of course you’ll get in!” Granted my parents are 2 generations apart from myself and never attended grad school themselves, but it seems that older people have no grasp on how competitive things are today. Admissions are so cutthroat that saying “Oh don’t worry, you’ll get in” is not only unhelpful but infuriating because they obviously understand nothing about the process. They refuse to entertain the notion that things are significantly more difficult than they were 40 years ago and that even a college graduate might have trouble supporting themselves. Any parents out there who are listening, just try to be understanding and supportive. We don’t want to hear “Everything will be OK don’t worry” because most of the time it won’t.</p>
<p>My S is trying to figure out which job offers are “firm” and where he’ll be working (because he DOESN’T want to go to grad school immediately). He is in the process of completing paperwork for background checks and trying to get things completed so he can move on to the next phase of his life. We’re very excited & happy for him, but due to the current economy, many of the private sector jobs he had hoped to be considered for are skittish about hiring. He’s grateful to have some options to consider and we’re thrilled for him.</p>
<p>We still have D in college–waiting to see whether she’s accepted into the school she is hoping she can get her degree in, so we’ll have more college payments for the foreseeable future. Neither kiddo has firm plans or a place to live for this summer, so we’ll wait & see how things evolve. There’s always space at home in their rooms (tho I admit I’ve put some stuff in them as well).</p>
<p>I have no idea what’s going on with my son, jobwise. Haven’t heard from him in a few weeks. I’m thinking he will probably be home by Sunday for part of his “Spring” break. (Why a break at the end of Feb, beginning of March is called “Spring Break” is beyond me) </p>
<p>Is everyone/anyone ordering the official graduation announcements? I really only want about a dozen to send to close family and friends but they seem to come in a pack of 25 but they cost $80. This does include thank you notes and address labels but still…</p>
<p>Make your own announcements!! They have little kits you can use for invitations and the like. You can use the wording (check someone else’s announcement)…all that will be missing is the “school seal”.</p>
<p>Our son got 10 “free” announcements. 8 of them are still sitting in a drawer…the other two went to the grandparents…they were the only ones who cared about getting them!!</p>
<p>We are NOT ordering any extra stuff. We did order some senior pictures and I could kick myself for doing that. To be honest, they aren’t very good. I’m sure we’ll have more opportunity to get good ones on graduation weekend!!!</p>
<p>We aren’t ordering the “diploma frame” or any of that other “stuff” either.</p>