<p>Great news about what seems to be a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Congrats!!</p>
<p>My son would love to be a chef. He loves cooking and won the “cooking” award given out by his high school “life skills” teacher. </p>
<p>My son just finished his third day of a surgical rotation. He’s assisted a surgeon with 8 surgeries in 3 days. They are so busy that he doesn’t get time to eat lunch. When I said, “I hope your surgeries don’t last as long tomorrow”, he replied, “That’s o.k. if it does.” He loves it. He’s got eight 6-week rotations before he gets his masters degree.</p>
<p>That sounds great, geezermom! If you haven’t done so already, you might want to read Michael Ruhlman’s books about cooking and being a chef. I loved them.</p>
<p>My S left on Thursday for a year in Europe. Packing was challenging, to say the least, given the baggage restrictions. Haven’t heard from him yet, but that is par for the course. And, to be fair, he is currently one of three guys shepherding a group of 19 or so HS students in multiple homestays, etc. I doubt he has much free time.</p>
<p>I’m pleased as punch to report that D2 has accepted a job offer in her field and now has her foot in the door. It’s not the glamorous world-travel creative job she’d dreamed of, but even a double liberal arts major is apparently grounded enough to realize that sometimes you have to compromise for “good enough.”</p>
<p>She’s now organizing housing in NY - any suggestions gratefully appreciated! (I’m actually taking this much harder than even her younger sister going off to college. It just seems so…final…)</p>
<p>Geezermom: Congrats to your son on the job.</p>
<p>Stradmom: Congrats to your D also. Sorry but I don’t know much about housing in NY. It was tougher to find an apt. in Boston than I expected. My D and her roommates ended up finding a nice apt. in a great location, BUT it’s a 4th floor walk-up with no laundry in the building. I understand how you feel about your D leaving for a job. I’m in the same position and it feels a lot different than leaving for college. Fortunately, my D will be home this summer, so I’m just trying to enjoy things for now.</p>
<p>A friend’s son just moved across the country for his first job. She says it’s harder than when he left for college.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D! For job and the New York housing issues!</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words! I had thought I was a rock about kids moving on until this hit. Now the truth will out!</p>
<p>Reviving this thread to find out how everyone is faring, and to report my own news. S discovered a passion for writing late in his undergraduate career. He was planning to apply to journalism school (he was really interested in long-form “creative nonfiction”), but I suggested to him that he look into MFA programs also, largely because of the funding, but partly because he didn’t seem to be interested in being a reporter, per se. He went ahead and applied to a handful of MFA programs and one journalism school. Since then, I looked into it and discovered that the funded MFA programs are horrendously difficult to get into, often with acceptance rates in the 1% range. He handled the application process totally on his own, and applied only to the almost ludicrously competitive “top” programs. (Not that their really is any such thing as a “safety” school in funded MFA programs…) I also found out that many applicants apply to 12+ programs, and that it is common for them to go through the application process for several years. To date he has been denied by most of the MFA programs, and waitlisted at one. (Given what I now know, I regard that as a huge accomplishment, especially for a kid who just started writing seriously, and who submitted two pieces that hadn’t been seen by anyone but him, much less edited or work-shopped. The third piece was written for his only creative writing class as an undergrad.) I’ve been feeling very guilty for even suggesting the MFA without having looked into all of this stuff in advance.</p>
<p>Today I found out that he got into the Columbia School of Journalism. (The only J school to which he applied. :rolleyes: ) Whether he will get funding, and if so, whether it will be sufficient is another matter. He still has 2 MFA programs to hear from, but since one of them is apparently accepting SIX fiction writers out of at least 600 applicants, I’m expecting it will be another rejection.</p>
<p>In some ways it feels like being right back in the same place we were in 2008. (And come to think of it, I was the one who forced him to add some safer schools to his exceedingly top-heavy list!)</p>
<p>Congrats to him on the acceptance to Columbia. And he wouldn’t have applied to those MFA programs unless he really wanted to do that. No 20-something is going to go through the application process at multiple schools just because Mom suggested he do so. No need to feel guilty. If he chooses to apply again to MFA programs in the future, he’ll be much better prepared for the process.</p>
<p>My son is still working at the same place where he started after graduation, but I’m not sure how happy he is there. He’ll be home for Passover, so I’ll talk to him about whether he thinks it’s worth applying for other jobs. In this economy I know he should be grateful he’s got a job, but it may be time to try to move on (he’s been there for over a year and had interned there while in college). He should also be considering grad school…maybe his discontent with his job will get him to apply next year.</p>
<p>Congrats on the Columbia acceptance. Hope the financial end of it works out for him so he can follow the dream. </p>
<p>My S2 moved back in with us after finishing his internship last summer. The internship confirmed his previous feeling that he did not want to work in a job related to his major!
I had hoped the internship would have the opposite effect.</p>
<p>Through his work contacts, DH heard of a company that was hiring and urged S2 to apply. He got the job and started last Sept. It has absolutely nothing to do with his college major. A college degree was not even required for the job. He is,however, making more money than he would if he had taken a job related to his major and has really good benefits…free medical, company contributes to 401K, good overtime pay. </p>
<p>He works for a company that does contract work for nuclear power plants all over the country.
The job requires a lot of travel and long hours. S2 knew that going in but am afraid the reality of it will quickly grow old. Luckily, he does not have a gf at this point!</p>
<p>D got a job in her field after graduation, loves the company. They announced that they were going to move her department out west but she was able to interview and move to another department within the company. </p>
<p>Her company hired quite a few just out of school and she’s made friends with them. They eat lunch together and get together for trivia. She’s really enjoying herself. Job has health insurance, 401k and a free gym membership. </p>
<p>D got an apartment by herself and loves living alone. She lives in an urban area and can walk to tons of bars and restaurants. One of her co workers moved into her building so that’s nice. D has a nice boyfriend who lives not far away. Don’t know how it will end up but she very happy.</p>
<p>This is fun, seeing how grown up life is going. Thanks for bumping this up! And congrats on the Columbia acceptance. Such great news!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son, Consolation. I see where he gets his writing aptitude.
And thanks for your response to my thread. My son is interviewing for an optional residency that’s affiliated with Yale. Instead of accepting a job for $90K, he’s decided to postpone entering the workforce, in favor of another year of education. Not exactly what I had hoped! </p>
<p>Besides having to deal with a tough job market, I think many kids struggle with figuring out what they want to do. Sometimes they don’t know unless they try something. My son already knows a few kids who on their second job since graduating in May.</p>
<p>I’ve recently come out of long-time lurker status (since S was a HS junior in 2007) for D’s college search this year, but I feel as if I’m part of this thread having read all your postings for so long. S graduated last spring from the LAC I was researching when I stumbled across CC, and has stayed in the urban area where he was an undergrad. It’s only a little over an hour away from us, and easily accessible by public transportation, which means he shows up every once in awhile, not so much for a home-cooked meal (he’s a pretty decent cook) as for access to laundry facilities (none in his current apt)! Last year he received NSF money aimed at training math majors for careers as teachers in urban districts (paid for his senior tuition-yea!-and for this post-bac year of ed classes and student teaching leading up to certification). He describes himself as “having a blast” in his student teaching placement at a HS, and hopes to be offered a job there (though that is far from assured in the current climate of district cuts). He’s committed to teaching in an urban district for 4 years, or the scholarship $$ turns into loans, so it’s a good thing that it really seems to be his calling!</p>
<p>Congrats to the Consolation’s son on the grad school acceptance. I hope things work out. </p>
<p>It’s nice to hear how our college grads are doing. My D is enjoying her consulting job. The company is undergoing some changes, so she’s learning a lot about the corporate world. She’s made a lot of friends in her new city, but would still prefer a transfer to NYC. Her hours are erratic, and she has to travel at times, but she seems to like the fast pace of the job.</p>
<p>Wintriest, thanks for delurking. 
Your son’s teaching experience sounds great! I had friends from grad school who were new HS English teachers, and the workload for a first-year teacher who had not yet developed an arsenal of lesson plans and the like was truly crushing, in addition to the strain of being “on” all day, so if he is having a blast it augurs well for his future.</p>
<p>PackMom, this is the time of life to explore such things. You never know where it might lead. Toledo, the residency sounds like another great opportunity, and something that will only enhance his professional qualifications and job prospects. Deb and mom, when I think about how I floundered around at that age the degree to which kids like yours have it together and are moving forward is truly humbling. </p>
<p>Thank you, Shellfell, for assuaging my guilt. :D</p>
<p>Congrats, consolation!! Welcome wintriest, and hello all the rest of you fellow 2012’ers.</p>
<p>I just chatted via fbk with my 2012’er who we just saw for a wonderful family ski trip. He’s now in Vegas with friends and then heads to Texas for a 2 week consulting gig with his company. Home base for him (he is doing engineering consulting) is in the SE. </p>
<p>Toledo-- your s turnded down a 90K job? Holy toledo!!!</p>
<p>Great to hear how everyone’s graduates are doing!</p>
<p>After graduating with a degree in math, my D1 went straight into a MAT/teaching credential program. She is living with us (Yikes!) and student teaches every day and goes to class 4 evenings a week. She is doing her student teaching at a charter school specializing in “the arts”. In high school she was an athlete and as a math major, this is completely different for her. But she loves the kids because they are very motivated and there are almost no behavior problems. We are crossing our fingers that she will land a teaching job in the fall. “Everyone” says math teachers get jobs, so hopefully they are right. </p>
<p>My youngest (S3) is a high school senior waiting on acceptances, so the cycle starts again.</p>
<p>D2 is still working at the job she got after graduation (in her academic & research field at a top med school). She took her MCAT in Jan, scored well (≥90th %ile) and will be applying to medical school in June. She’s already started the long process of getting her application and supporting materials ready. </p>
<p>D1 just took her USMLE and is starting her MS3 clinical rotations in 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Never in a thousand years did I expect to have two kids heading off to medical school…</p>