Parents of the HS Class of 2004

<p>Lazybum201--thanks for the hint about looking at the Army Research Lab in MD. She is looking at the Navy research labs here in San Diego (where we live). I'll pass on to her the info to look at alternate services and coasts.</p>

<p>Lazybum,
That is an impressive post - very thoughtful and thorough! Thanks for the well wishes. </p>

<p>Congratulations to all of you - it's been such a treat to hear all of these stories.</p>

<p>Massdad,
Is your daughter going to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship? I remember her story well and am happy to hear she has done so well.</p>

<p>Sac,
Maybe our kids will bump into each other - my son is the only one doing a joint degree in law and history for now,starting with law next year. He absolutely loved California and can't wait to get out there.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Sac,
Maybe our kids will bump into each other - my son is the only one doing a joint degree in law and history for now,starting with law next year. He absolutely loved California and can't wait to get out there.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That would be funny -- especially since neither of them would have any way of knowing. I hope California and Stanford meet your son's expectations. I'm betting they will.</p>

<p>LazyBum,
No separate accounts for the rent checks (but keeping a spreadsheet). We'd like to be able to give it back as a boost when the leave the nest, but no promises.</p>

<p>For whoever was looking at CSC for women computer/engineering-- another women-mentor heavy place is Lockheed-Martin.</p>

<p>I'm amazed that I found this thread--congratulations to all.</p>

<p>My daughter graduated from Yale a few weeks ago with distinction in her major and a prize for her senior essay. She wants to join the Peace Corps but (her tragic flaw) applied fairly late, so is still waiting for an assignment--while consoling herself with visits to friends far and wide, especially those who live near a beach.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, I have a nice story about some folks at the Peace Corps who do their job really well. On her last day of school, my daughter went to the post office to file a change of address and was excited to find a large envelope from the Peace Corps, which she thought would be her formal invitation for a particular job. Instead, they had sent back her dental X-rays; while a local dentist in New Haven had given her a clean bill of health, someone from the Peace Corps was convinced she had a cavity. She took the X-ray to our family dentist, who thought it was just a shadow, then poked at her teeth and still didn't find anything. Just to sure, however, he took additional X-rays--and found the cavity that everyone but the Peace Corps dentist had missed.</p>

<p>editrix,</p>

<p>Great story. Not all government employees are slouches, I guess. :)</p>

<p>Just arrived in Chicago for the big event. Already went to one reception for PBK. I can tell you from looking around that smart kids (like PBK inductees...) are not ugly! What a good looking bunch.</p>

<p>It is nice that the U does not try to cram everything into one day. Tomorrow afternoon, Chicago has a ceremony with speeches, then a reception/dessert in the evening at the Museum of Science and Industry for all graduates and family. Saturday is the main event, Sunday packing and beginning the drive home.</p>

<p>Thank goodness for library computers...</p>

<p>


Nope. ;) I sold the clunker for cash in one day on Craigslist by listing it for an attention-grabbing price. Then, when I deposited the cash in my son's bank account, my son protested that I should have kept half for my trouble in selling the car for him. (One more reason I really, really love that kid!)</p>

<p>calmom, that is a great story. It is exactly those sorts of moments that parents' hearts can feel most warm.</p>

<p>editrix, your dental story was also interesting.</p>

<p>Just returned from graduation and moving D back home. Wanted to relay the conversation I had in line waiting to enter the graduation area:</p>

<p>NMD: Your daughter was a Rhodes finalist? Weren't you surprised?</p>

<p>LINE PARENT: Not at all. We were disappointed that she did not win. She did a project with the head of the faculty committe, after all. But winning is very political and we are just not a political family.</p>

<p>NMD: Oh.</p>

<p>Poor kid gets a great honor and is viewed as a loser by the parents?</p>

<p>Hope that young woman has learned to tune out her parents (and the inner parent she has probably developed) regarding that kind of thinking. </p>

<p>S was a finalist for a couple of big awards this past year, and we were asked several times if we were "disappointed" that he didn't win. Are you kidding?!?!?! He had a blast, made great friends, and felt very fortunate to be in such distinguished company. S said it was great to be recognized, but for him, it was the project that he worked on that was the real source of satisfaction. Just GETTING to these kinds of finals is an honor that goes on the CV and stays there. We never expected that S would have the success he did (not to undermine his abilities; it's just that there are so many incredibly talented young people out there!), but we never put the pressure on him to "win" the whiole enchilada and we were absolutely not disappointed when he didn't.</p>

<p>NMD, hope the rest of D's graduation weekend was wonderful!</p>

<p>Found this post just now. Well, my son graduated from Swarthmore, majored in something, minored in something else, did so pretty decently. Is working in Manhattan for now and lving with friends there (Swatties) temporarily. No plans for grad school for a couple of years. Met interesteddad and his wife finally at commencement on June 1st. Congrats to all!</p>

<p>Great to hear the update, achat. Yay for your son! Sounds like things are going very well. Hard to believe these kids are at this juncture already.</p>

<p>Thanks soozievt. Congrats to your daughter as well!!!</p>

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<p>My fear, Justamomof4, only I don't have a basement!--ellemenope</p>

<hr>

<p>Just reporting in that we won't have to build that basement after all, which is a good thing because California isn't conducive to basements. </p>

<p>D has accepted a one year fellowship with a biomedical company that is looking to beef up its cadre of young engineering and computer science professionals. At the end of a year, she has a job--in the meantime, she will be rotating through 4 locations around the US (3 month stints at each location). </p>

<p>I have to admit to breathing a sigh of relief. Now I'm sad that we didn't have more time with her at home before she had to go off to work. I know--there's no pleasing some people!</p>

<p>Achat,
Its good to hear from you. Can you be more specific about S's plans?</p>

<p>Ellenhope, What a wonderful opportunity for your D! Is so important for people to lve in various places and sample job opportunities.</p>

<p>lizschup,
How did your son apply to joint history/law programs? Do you apply to them together or both separately. How long does it take to finish?</p>

<p>I wanted to get my phd in history and go to law school, but I didn't know I could do both at the same time.</p>

<p>BTW
I only just finished junior year in HS, so I'm just curious.</p>

<p>Hi Bookworm,
My son's trajectory thru college was nothing if not surprising. Through some serendipitous choices, he found that Media studies and Film Studies was very interesting to him. He minored in it. His major is economics and he just did not find working in Finance or at a Public Policy think tank interesting, even though he did have grades and courses for it. Too much to get into..</p>

<p>In any case, right now, he has a temporary job at a media company where he is working as an editor of films (company is in Manhattan). He might do this for a couple more years and then probably go for an MFA in Film Editing or Directing (nor sure) or maybe just work (if that is satisfying enough) and not go for an MFA. Or maybe, go for an MA in Media Studies, which is different from an MFA. In any case, he is very happy with his choice, even though perhaps he won't have the job security that he would have in Finance. One can't have everything in life..</p>

<p>There are so many other aspects of his life that are surprising to me...can't get into it..it would perhaps reveal too much.</p>

<p>I meant MFA in Film production..sorry!</p>

<p>@turtlegirlie, you apply two both programs separately. meaning that you take the LSAT and GRE at the same time. I have a friend who wants to do a similar thing (not history but philosophy) and she's taking a year off so she can do everything in a careful manner since it can be a bit tricky to keep track of two applications for each school. You'll tell the school that you're doing for a joint-degree but each department (law and history) will make their own decisions. If you get in law school but not history, that's your choice to make whether to go there anyway or not. Vice versa if you get in for history.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>They are supposed to get jobs? They aren't supposed to come home, drop all their stuff, and act like they never left?</p></li>
<li><p>We don't have a basement. Do you think a crawl space would work?</p></li>
<li><p>Sigh....once again I shall have to personify my screen name as I fear I may the LAST one posting about a job :(. Trying to be "patient" in more ways than one, helpful without being pushy, etc. Not an easy time, I fear.....</p></li>
</ol>