<p>How time flys?!!!! 4 years already!!!!</p>
<p>When I was on school website reading about the graduation the other day, tears just kept coming out. Can't believe we will have a our first US educated college graduate in the family. This is really really sweet and exciting.</p>
<p>What are you doing to celebrate? Any tips and suggestions?</p>
<p>Congrats Dad II Family…and to DadII Daughter. The time does fly. </p>
<p>We didn’t do a lot of celebrating when child #1 graduated…but we celebrated a ton when child #2 graduated. That meant NO MORE COLLEGE BILLS…woohoo.</p>
<p>BUT we did have a dinner celebration with each of our kiddos for graduation. For the graduations themselves, we kept the number of invited family to a minimum. It just made it easier to make the plans. Then we had a celebration at our home.</p>
<p>Like your D, our D went to school quite far from home. SO…we had a nice dinner at a restaurant of HER choice at her college town (it was GREAT)…and then we had a picnic here later in the summer for family and friends.</p>
<p>Our oldest was the first college graduate in the family- period- however we didn’t have a chance to do much celebrating. Her sister had missed the beginning of an important high school field trip to see the graduation, so Dad & D2 left to meet up with her class as soon as D1 walked across the stage.</p>
<p>D1 will receive her masters degree this year, so I hope we will get more time to celebrate then.</p>
<p>Yes, I am ready to celebrate, Dad II, but we still have 4 months to wait! I just made our flight reservations today to go to California for the graduation. Since our kids are at the same school, maybe we’ll see each other there. I definitely want to have a nice dinner out, maybe at Thaiphoon or the University Cafe.</p>
<p>My husband and I are in our mid-60’s and this is the first college graduation for our kids, so we will be flying high. We’ll be staying in the bay area for a week afterwards and will visit family and do some sightseeing. That will be celebration enough for us!</p>
<p>Yes and No. D is graduating in May from small LAC in Midwest. Were planning to drive from California for her graduation and stop for a day in Zion National Park in Utah. Her school has events planned for the weekend before graduation, and there will be a free picnic for graduating seniors and their families following commencement on Monday. I still cant believe we paid the last college bill in December
Shes our youngest and the second college graduate in the family. So, no more rushing with tax returns, no more FAFSA for us
On the other hand, after four years of relative stability, now I feel similar way as in her senior year in high school. Everything is undecided
We have no idea where shell be living after graduation. She decided not to apply to graduate schools this year, since she wants to get some work experience in her field. She is looking for a job now and applying to places all over the country. We will definitely celebrate when (and if!) she has a job offer in hand!
Congrats to all parents of 2012 college graduates! We almost made it!</p>
<p>Yes, I’m ready to celebrate. We’re planning to spend 3 days with our D for graduation. There are separate ceremonies for her major, school and the entire university. We’ll do some nice dinners out and she and her roommates are organzing a brunch for their families in their apartment. She’ll be home most of the summer before she moves north for her job. </p>
<p>Congrats to all the parents and grads. It’s hard to believe it’s almost over.</p>
<p>Celebrating here – S1’s fiancee had three interviews last week, already has one offer and a callback, and has an interview with her top choice on Friday. They are so excited!</p>
<p>Not so excited here. Theoretically,S2 can/will grad. in May BUT will not receive diploma until after completion of a summer internship that is considered a summer school class. </p>
<p>The univ. offers no assistance in the internship search but has parameters that hamper the search…must complete 375 hrs. of work during the 11 week summer session…any summer hours completed before or after that window don’t count. The internship must be directly related to his major and the student cannot be paid. S2 has been searching but so far no luck.</p>
<p>I’m really sad about the whole thing. Really wanted graduation to be a celebration. It’s a real achievement for this kid that we honestly had lots of doubts about sending to college. This internship (lack thereof) is really throwing a wet blanket on the whole thing.</p>
<p>How awful, PackMom. If this is a requirement for graduation, I’d expect the univ. to offer assistance in securing the internship. It doesn’t help that they have such stringent parameters for internship to be valid either. I’m sure I’m not saying anything you haven’t thought of already. How frustrating for your S and your family. I hope he gets an appropriate internship soon.</p>
<p>Packmom, that’s awful. It’s horrible that the school doesn’t offer assistence in finding the internship. Has your son tried using the school’s career office for leads. They must have listings of companies looking for interns and employees. Maybe he should try contacting some that are offering paid employement and offer his services for free. I hope he finds something soon.</p>
<p>In this economy, those rules seem pretty inflexible. What happens if he can find something in the fall – does that work? (other than it delaying when he can look for a post-graduation job?) SO frustrating. Can he be geographically flexible or does it have to be in-state? (i.e., could he stay w/a relative or friends for those 11 weeks?)</p>