<p>Wasn’t being condescending. Sorry you took it that way.</p>
<p>** And its “anyway”, not “anyways”. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You may say you’re not being condescending, but it sure seems that way to me. I don’t understand why you have to just keep on going with the grammar corrections.</p>
<p>That was supposed to be funny. Guess not.
Lets move on.</p>
<p>Sooo…back to topic. </p>
<p>Both s’s were STEM majors. Both are employed, debt free and independent, with the exception of the the family cellphone plan, just as fishymom described, given the better rate and unlimited data. DS#1’s company will be reimbursing him for his portion of the phone bill, so we’ll be getting a little check from our DS.</p>
<p>jym…</p>
<p>"(he’d do business, not engineering if he goes back to school)"</p>
<p>How do you “do business”?</p>
<p>Sorry…couldn’t resist!! :)</p>
<p>Well, to clarify, that was sorta shorthand for/meaning he’d do business school (ie get an MBA) rather than an advanced engineering degree, as someone who posted after me understood (and I am guessing you did as well), but its all good.</p>
<p>And FWIW the poster hj and I have had a pleasant little back-channel discussion about how intonation doesn’t come across well on the internet. All is fine.</p>
<p>Now if you want to poke fun, have at it with my typos. They are omnipresent! (Also, I usually don’t waste my time with apostrophes when typing, so there will be spelling/grammar issues to note as well).</p>
<p>"…In every job I’ve had, I’ve been able to leverage the writing and editorial skills into my work, whether or not those things were part of the original job responsibilities. ?..I realized while still in college that I was way too introverted to be a journalist. I had internships on the editorial side (academic press), but was not willing to live in NYC on $12k/year. Quickly came to the conclusion that while Vanguard (which was a 10 minute drive from our apartment) paid new liberal arts types about the same low salary, I would gain other useful skills and substantive subject knowledge that ultimately would get me into better positions."</p>
<p>I THINK this…would be awesome…even WITH a stint in NYC.</p>
<p>My S1 graduated in Nov 2011; a month later, he found a job in a closely related field of his major.</p>
<p>Started his job in Feb 2012. Paid off his student loans in a hurry because his company is starting to reduce its workforce in May.</p>
<p>Knock on wood, he is still working at that company. So, he is independent; but his car still under our names.</p>
<p>My NYU film school daughter never looked for a regular job. She has been freelancing full-time since May. She has skills in several facets of film-making and started taking jobs while still in school. The idea of jumping into the freelance world has always made me nervous as I am not a risk-taker myself, but so far she has done very well in paying all her bills and even saving a little while living in NYC. She has plans to expand one of her skills into a business, and so is saving towards that goal of an initial investment.</p>
<p>It helps that she has no student loans, but she knows that, as our circumstances have changed, she is on her own for all her expenses, including health insurance.</p>
<p>I should add that S doesn’t have a car, so nobody is paying for auto and insurance expenses. He’d have a much harder time being financially independent if he had those expenses, but since he lives in a city he doesn’t need a car.</p>
<p>He’s also still on our family cellphone plan, but reimburses us for his share.</p>
<p>Neighbor’s DD earned her degree in psychology in May. Found a job within a month, but quit because she was so miserable there. Still looking. Considers a retail job her back-up plan, but not ready to concede. Facing $100K+ loans starting in Nov. I am doing my best to be sympathetic to the mom.</p>
<p>Yes. After an unpaid internship that ran from late May-late July, S2 got a customer service job at a big box retail store. Meanwhile he continued to apply for fulltime jobs w/ benefits. </p>
<p>After two interviews w/ the same company, he got the call today that he was hired.<br>
He is to start next Monday…hooray. The job offers better pay, has benefits and posibility of future growth in the company…hooray.</p>
<p>He will be making enough to live independently but it will be easier if he can find a roommate to share expenses. Luckily, the job is not too far fr. our home so he can live here with us until he saves some money to move out on his own. </p>
<p>The job is not related to his college degree( B.S. Criminal Justice). Frankly, S2 had decided that he really wasn’t interested in pursuing a job in his field of study at this point, so it’s all good. He went to one of our instate public universities and graduated debt free.</p>
<p>S graduated in December, 2011 with degree in International Studies. Stayed in college town a few more months so that he could attend graduation ceremonies in May. Enlisted in Army-will specialize in military intelligence. Returned home for the summer-ships out to basic training in mid-October. HOOAH!</p>
<p>-Graduated in 2011 w/a degree in biology/political science and 2012 with a M.S. in Biotechnology.
-Adequate salary for the DC area, benefits package (although I do have to pay premiums), profit sharing/performance bonuses after 1 year
-$0 in loans (no student loans or car payment)
-Financially independent, although I’m still on my dad’s cell phone plan. Dad did have to subsidize the moving expenses over my signing bonus
-Job is indirectly in my field–I work as a contractor in the defense industry. Pharmaceuticals weren’t hiring, and I really enjoy this work.</p>
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</p>
<p>Moving to NYC was feasible at that point, as I was already married and was not about to uproot DH, who had the much better paying job at the time. I took the job at Vanguard, learned pension/401(k) admin, and then went on to one of the big consulting firms. Supported DH through grad school, then we moved to DC. It worked out pretty well. :)</p>
<p>Like several others my 2012 grad is consulting, having gotten the offer in Oct. 11. Good pay and benefits so she is self supporting at this point. There is LOTS of travel so it really does seem like a young person’s job. Two or three years down the road she’ll reassess and see if pursuing an MBA is a good idea.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated in early May and got married at the end of May. Her husband is in grad school and employment opportunities in her field are pretty much non existent in their small college town. She ummed and ahhed about going to grad school herself but is really burned out on school right now. Got a job at a big national pet store chain. Job pays only a little over minimum wage, but at least she is working - and between that and her husband’s TA stipend they can pay the bills. And she actually loves the job, happiest I have seen her in a while.</p>
<p>D graduated in June (major in accounting) and starts her new job with one of the Big 4 firms in Chicago in two weeks. All of her accounting friends had jobs waiting for them upon graduation.
- great salary (better than mine!) with perks and benefits
- no college loans to repay</p>
<p>BEST OF ALL - after a summer spent fiendishly studying, she just found out that she passed all four sections of the CPA exam on her first try!!!</p>
<p>So proud of her and happy that her hard work has paid off.</p>
<p>My S and his 6 roommates are all STEM graduates at Carnegie Mellon (CS, CompEng, Math, Biology) and have jobs and one is in a PhD program. All got jobs related to their majors.</p>
<p>As for S his job is in DC area (Northern Virginia) and has very good salary and benefits. He also got a 20K bonus. Student loans are just under 20K. Company also pays for iPhone (up to $200) and monthly voice and data. Right now he is on our family plan and gets reimbursed for his voice/data (about $45/month). </p>
<p>My wife and I are very happy for him as he is now in his own apartment and seems to be enjoying “real life”.</p>
<p>Would like to keep this thread going.</p>
<p>I recently graduated with a BS in Chemistry. Have been applying for a while, but nothing has clicked yet. Hopefully it does or else I’m heading back to school.</p>