<p>My particular favorite is the checklist to help you determine why your college graduate is so fussy:</p>
<p>Did somebody suggest that he look for work? Yes / No</p>
<p>Did the subject of graduate school come up? Yes / No</p>
<p>Has he been to a scary job interview? Yes / No </p>
<p>Did he see a scary LSAT book? Yes / No</p>
<p>Did his rock band not get signed? Yes / No</p>
<p>Was he asked to help around the house? Yes / No</p>
<p>Perhaps best of all is the cover of this issue, a drawing of the new college graduate hanging his diploma in his old bedroom, with his concerned parents looking on from the doorway.</p>
<p>Beyond funny. I just hope in four years (my daughter will be a college graduate then) I will still be able to laugh at the article and not cry. :)</p>
<p>I have to admit that I’m pretty impressed with my son’s graduating class last weekend from his LAC. Most of the kids had jobs or grad school lined up. Some had multiple offers and were still deciding. I was surprised.</p>
<p>I read that the unemployment figures are actually fairly low for college grads. So it may be that in a recession with high unemployment, the importance of that college degree is magnified. Of course, many newly minted grads may be taking less impressive jobs than they had hoped for, taking positions that in a different economy might go to young people with less education.</p>
<p>You could end up with a lot of spoiled food. It’s a funny article, but it certainly doesn’t resonate with my own experience. </p>
<p>When my son graduated from college 2 years ago, he packed up everything he could fit in his car, drove home and unpacked, and went off to a job interview for a local position. A week later they told him they couldn’t offer him the local position, but they liked him and wanted to know if he would consider relocating to another city. He said yes… and a week later he was off to the opposite coast.</p>
<p>My daughter attends school on the east coast and was offered a job out there the day she graduated.</p>
<p>As soon as the kids have full-time jobs it becomes much more difficult for them to take time off to visit – so I’m ending up with no kids but a house filled with their stuff. Probably could write my own article about the stuff the kids leave behind, apparently mistaking the parental home for a lifelong free storage facility. </p>
<p>Going back to my own college graduation… I can’t think of anything that would have been more horrifying in my mind than the thought of moving back in with my parents. I have a feeling that it is probably more common for students who have attended local universities, commuting from home, to be the ones who are still there post graduation. The youngsters who move away get attached to their new way of life, their freedom, their new friends & significant others. Finances may force them home, but many would rather couch surf from one friend’s home to another before swallowing their pride and slinking home to mom & dad. </p>
<p>So yes, funny article… but I think the humor reflects parental fears more than reality.</p>
Too true. We are on number 4 graduating next year and our basement has had the equivalent of 3 apartments full of furniture from the other 3 at various times. We cooperated until S1 moved to AZ, S2 to Denver and DD to Houston. The furniture could not go with them. We have been weeding out, giving them a chance to collect what they really want and SLOWLY divesting of the storage area. </p>
<p>All three S’s have boomeranged at least once, mostly 2x’s before they really got out on their own. It’s a lousy economy for many of these kids. They swallowed the living with Mom until they had finances in order to finally get out.</p>
Even funnier/scarier - it’s his PhD degree he’s hanging on the wall (just under an old “Student of the Week” certificate). Yikes. No wonder his parents look concerned.</p>
<p>Very funny piece showing that we concerned parents have lots of company.</p>
<p>I’m going to have both of my post college kids back home for the summer and am a little apprehensive. Daughter will be doing grad school and leaving in August, but recent grad son has no move-out date and is looking for work. Daughter is a vegetarian and new grad son is almost a carnivore and also part vampire. The other three of us are omnivore’s and get up before noon. It’s been several years since all five of us have lived in the same house for an extended period of time…</p>
<p>S1 grad is about to leave on a big travelling scholarship for 6 weeks. After his return will follow up on some tentative offers. If nothing pans out right away, he is fortunate to have a lucrative hobby, photography, with many assignments to keep ‘his wallet filled’ at least for a while. In the meantime, he is a fabulous cook so earns his keep, in my books.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh, I’m rolling on the floor laughing…I also forwarded to many friends. We had a December baby so mine will graduate next year, but many of our friends who had babies at roughly the same time as us experienced graduation in the past week or two! Some won’t get their big darlings back until end of summer as they finish up this summer that oops missed a gen ed class type stuf but gee golly they let me walk through graduation! My two favorite sections were the same as MidwestMom.</p>
<p>Notice also the spelling trophy, probably from 2nd grade. The implication is that the PhD he is hanging on the wall is no different from all the trophies and awards from grade, middle and high school, and that, of course, he is still living at home.</p>
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