<p>Actually to summit Rainier you almost have to go with a guided group unless you have winter climbing/ glacier experience (which she doesn’t) and the right equipment (ice axe, crampons, winter camping gear, climbing equipment w/ safety harness–which we do).</p>
<p>But I don’t think she’s figured that out yet.</p>
<p>I almost hope she doesn’t get to do Rainier. The D of friends who graduated from University of Puget Sound about 10 years ago, climbed Rainier right after graduation and got so taken in by the whole wilderness-climbing experience that she stuck around and became a secretary at a guide company in Ashford, WA. She’s still there.</p>
<p>FauxNom, I think they need time, too. And I swear I’m not a helicopter parent. My S chose his school based on a major and then changed his mind. It’s working out okay, but I don’t want him to rush into grad school unless he feels comfortable with his choice. He has a business/accounting major friend who’ll have a job offer this summer, but that’s not him. This generation does feel the freedom to change jobs and careers, sometimes reinventing themselves multiple times. I think that’s a good thing. But he’ll have to finance most of his own graduate education (we’ll have a tiny bit left over from college savings), so he needs to be cautious. He knows that starting out at home (employed!) is an option and that grad school is on his dime. He’s seeing how friends, neighbors, and cousins have progressed after college, so he knows it’s challenging, to say the least. But they all land on their feet. </p>
<p>Is anyone else retired or almost there? That’s another piece of the transition for us.</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread - I have been looking for such for the past three years. My son is finishing up his 3rd year at u Chicago. He’s a philosophy major, in the intensive track and will start working on his BA thesis this summer. He’s changed his mind a few times about what he would like to do after college and I’m not sure what his latest thinking is on the subject. This summer he will be in NYC working at an economic think tank.</p>
<p>Yes I am glad too that we have this thread. My D is very anxious about graduating and leaving the college bubble. Of course she is welcome home. We shall see how she feels about that. She is at college now working on her senior thesis.</p>
<p>geezermom-my husband has already retired. I hope to retire when our youngest (hs class of '14) is off to college. Remains to be seen if that is feasible. But, it is only 3 years away, so I am definitely thinking about it.</p>
<p>D is rising senior and I occasionally check in for interesting threads. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one still poking around! I’ve been following the job prospects closely, although I’m not worried about D. The job market seems to be improving. I think the class who had it the worst is the class of 2009. I know some of them that are still looking for work!</p>
<p>My H is retired too, but working in a post-retirement job that he loves. I’d like to see him slow down just a bit. I can’t see myself fully retiring yet. All of this affects our ability to support our son after graduation, of course, but S knows that. And he knows that someday we’ll probably sell the house, downsize, and use the rest of the equity for retirement needs. I see the wheels turning this summer. There’s a condo for sale in a nice building near our house and he was wondering how much it was. That’s jumping the gun a bit, I’d say! But he was just curious, and thinking ahead. </p>
<p>He’s frustrated not to have a job this summer, but he’s studying quite a bit. He’s agreed to do some household projects that I would have had to hire someone to do.</p>
<p>geezermom–Your SON is eyeing a condo for you & your husband? Wondering how much it was?
Frustrating about the lack of a summer job, but it is nice to have help with summer projects. Our D 2 summers ago put an ad in the local paper for odd jobs. She had plenty of work, charged $10/hour. Didn’t do too badly.</p>
<p>I am contemplating retirement. The first step will be to look again at when we can afford it.</p>
<p>^^No, he was wondering about it for himself! He wants to come back home (big city) after college, or so he thinks right now. </p>
<p>We live in a challenging job market for retail, food service, and home repair employment–jobs are filled by people who work full time. And after a week, I’m seeing how much time learning Arabic takes. He has a 1.5-hour roundtrip commute at least 3 times a week, along with time for class, study group, independent language lab, and solo studying. I can see why he decided to take it in summer school.</p>
<p>Took S suit shopping yesterday. Told him we now did our part; his part is getting a job. I think he’s expecting to be offerred a job where he’s been interning for the last year and a half (they’ve been paying him for the past year, but not at a rate he could support himself), but we feel that unless he has a firm offer he really needs to do the job search. BTW, he’s graduating in Dec.</p>
<p>shellfell–so he will be done in 6 months! I hope he gets offered a job where he is interning. I have no idea what our D will do. She is doing well now, but had 2 rough semesters. I am afraid she has ruined her chances for grad school…</p>
<p>My two youngest are both graduating in 2012! No, they are not twins, they are a year apart. D3 is on the 5 year plan.
D3 is a Sport Management major and also a Army ROTC cadet. She finds out in the fall if she gets Active duty, otherwise she will commission part time into the National Guard and will be looking for a job. Honestly, I didn’t even know Sport Management was a major until she picked it. Apparently it is a heavily male dominated field - about 90% of the kids in her major are male. Wayyyy down the line she would like to be an Athletic director at a D-III college.</p>
<p>D4 is a medical technology major. She won’t have any trouble finding a job. She leaves Sunday for a 5 week hospital (PAID!) internship in MD. After graduation she will take her boards and wants to work for a year. Next summer she plans on taking her MCAT’s to see how she does… she just can’t get the desire for med school out of her head. If Med School doesn’t pan out she is thinking grad school - Pathologist asst. maybe or a research based Master’s program.</p>
<p>Commencement for them is a week apart - whew - after which they are both wanting to spend a few weeks backpacking across Europe together.</p>
<p>D1 is a math major, graduating next June. Last night we went to a teacher credential information session at UCI. It was quite interesting. She wants to get her teaching credential, the question is whether to get it at her current college or come home and get it here.</p>
<p>drdom - we have discussed that. A while back she went to the Patient First at her school since the school’s clinic was closed. For fun we checked the physicians on their website and the vast majority of them went to medical school off shore.<br>
If she goes to med school it would be to be a pathologist.</p>
<p>Her plan is to move to Miami, get a job at a hospital for a year or so and Fl residency. There are a lot of state Med schools in Fla (6 or 7??) and she would apply to all of them - if she gets a 36 on the MCAT. She is very level headed and knows she has lots of great options other than medical school. She also knows she definitely does not want to spend her career doing CBC’s in the basement of a hospital!</p>
<p>Great thread! D is an English/art history double major, and seriously thinking about grad school. She took the GRE last weekend, has LORs from four professors lined up, plans to work on her statement of purpose before school starts in late August and has been doing research on various programs in her field(s) of interest. This summer she’s got a really wonderful museum internship working as a curatorial assistant, is helping to organize several exhibitions, and will be credited as exhibition curator for one of them. (proud mom here). But she’s still thinking about things, and we’ll see how senior year evolves.</p>
<p>Justamom–there is also becoming a nurse practitioner or a PA. Her idea of obtaining FL residency & a job & then applying sounds really smart though! Your kid is thinking.</p>
<p>My son took the GREs in the winter as practice. He was hoping to do well enough to use those scores, but he didn’t. (He did not heed my advice about studying math.) He goes to a huge school and is concerned about letters of recommendation. Should he ask a prof whose class he did very well in even if she did not get to know him personally? He figures his capstone project advisor is another possibility. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>A letter from someone who knows him is always better (capstone advisor=great). But a less personal letter can work in a limited way. Academic ref’s are usually essential, so sometimes a student from a big school just has to go with the best he can muster. Your son could offer to write a draft, and in that draft describe something specific to him - e.g. about class prep and discussion participation, or a specific project: “X wrote a compelling analysis of Y, and earned a well-deserved A in my course.” That would help the prof avoid the truly generic letter that always makes me cringe! If a letter does no more than say the grade the student earned, it’s essentially not worth the effort. Make sure he asks the prof if she can offer a strong recommendation; that will give her an out if she’s at all in doubt.</p>
<p>I appreciate hearing these stories. Yes, I have a member of class of '12, as well as '11. One twin did a gap year. So glad to not do two college graduations in different parts of the country on the same weekend. </p>
<p>The recent grad plans to take the GRE this summer, as is discounted due to upcoming changes in the test, and she needs to do it while the math from last semester is not too distant a memory. Then she heads off to teach English in Europe in the fall.</p>
<p>Another mother of a rising senior D has loved her undergrad school but is looking forward to graduating next spring. She has had 2 great non-paid internships (last summer and this summer). She is hoping to parlay this internship into a job offer or to at least walk away with several strong reference letters. She is definitively not interested in grad school or law school. H and I are thrilled … only 2 more semesters to pay and DONE!! :)</p>
<p>Thanks Alumother for starting this thread. I usually hang out in the Parents Café and almost missed this thread.</p>