<p>Congrats to your D, lilmom. Funny that she was surprised you could walk “the whole way”.</p>
<p>alicew, it’s a joke between D and me. She teases me that I’ll do anything to get out of walking but I can’t complain while she and the other golfers walk with a bag of clubs on their backs!!</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, lilmom! And to your S on his chicken parm!</p>
<p>KS, I love the Penn campus, I really like the urban schools best! S looked and had an official visit for lw crew. He decided not to aplly early and use the coach’s reccomendation, I seriously wanted to strangle him! It wasn’t a 100% guarantee of admission, but the coach had gotten the go ahead from admissions to recruit, it was more about the rowing at that point. He felt it was too close to home and BS. He also decided to put his faith in the Georgetown coach, which was misplaced. His roommate is going to Wharton and quite a few of his HS classmates will be at Penn as well. I know he loves W&M and I have little or no say, but I loved Penn and Columbia best. He really wanted to be farther from home, and his only shot at these schools was with the added boost of rowing.</p>
<p>acm: The urban location was a big draw for my D in deciding between Penn and Columbia. For her, ultimately, the “complete campus” feel won out over her love of NYC. So many factors are involved in admissions and our kids’ ultimate decisions, many which are beyond our control. I truly believe that our dear children end up where they are meant to be. I’m sure your S will soar at W & M and continue to make you proud.</p>
<p>ks - Your trip sounds wonderful!! How great to see that sparkle in your D’s eyes!! And thanks for updating my D’s launch date :)</p>
<p>lilmom - Congrats to your D on her win! And wow for your S and his mad cooking skills! I am impressed!</p>
<p>This is our last week at home before launch! We are now leaving on Monday since D scheduled an audition in Houston for Monday night. It’s for a show that she has wanted to do for a long time and it will rehearse/perform during Christmas break. Those are very hard to find so we figured why not go for it. Then off to New Orleans and on to Myrtle Beach. My poor H is so ready since this is his annual beach vacation. I told him we get first move-in time on Saturday morning (8:00 am!) so he can drive us to campus, help us unload and then head back to the beach while we decorate - unless of course he wanted to stick around to hang curtains. For some reason he picked beach… </p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great week and that we all stay 
</p>
<p>Happy Monday everyone! We are now in August and the time is fast approaching for many of us to send these kids off to college. Three and a half weeks for us. I need to stop tearing up everytime I think about this.</p>
<p>D went to Disneyland yesterday with some friends as she wanted one more visit to the “Magic Kingdom” before leaving for school. We are huge Disneyland fanatics in our house and D was so happy to find a Belle pin (that is her favorite princess) for her backpack.
Her wisdom teeth come out on Wednesday and when she feels better she is going to tie dye the sheets and duvet cover for her dorm room this week. </p>
<p>I have been busy writing my lists to keep track of all we need to do the next few weeks.</p>
<p>All these “lasts” are so bittersweet! Last night my son was saying something about the Wii being in the rec room and I said if he wanted he could move it to his room for now - he didn’t want to since it belongs to D’10 but she was fine with it and then he said “but I’ll have to move it back” and I agreed and then stopped and realized he really doesn’t need to - she won’t be bringing it to school so for now it could stay there. </p>
<p>And not long after he and D2 were laughing up a storm playing some game and DH and I looked at each other - it is neat to see how some of the dynamics are changing with d gone (one week 2 at the beach). D1 and S are extremely close and D2 is my independent one who often does something different than D1 or S although they are all generally close but now it seems there is more bonding with D2 and S and that is great to see.</p>
<p>I am getting so excited to tell S tomorrow morning to wake up and grab whatever he needs to catch a plane and see the Red Sox! 
We’ll both be like kids in a candy store I’m sure :)</p>
<p>lilmom congrats to your D on her win! How exciting for her - and for for you to be there to witness.</p>
<p>As I type this my son is on the golf course playing in another tournament, one of many this summer. I walked one course with him last year and will walk one with him later this week on our upcoming trip to Hilton Head Island. He’ll be playing the Harbor Town Golf Links, for those of you who follow golf 
He’s excited!</p>
<p>lilmom,Must be so much fun to follow your kiddo on the course and then surprise her by walking the course! And I am so impressed that your S was able to pull off a chicken parm dinner-very advanced culinary skilz. ;)</p>
<p>It is so interesting how our kids pick so many different schools for so many different reasons. That’s what makes the world go 'round, I guess. Whereas ks’s daughter loved the urban locations, my ds#2 was turned off by urban. DS#3 didn’t even seem to think about location or size of school, but rather a program that one particular school offered.</p>
<p>austinmtmom-good luck to your D on her upcoming audition!</p>
<p>congrats to your D, lilmom! :)</p>
<p>Lafalum, thanks for the information on the foreign transaction fees. Capital One sounds like a great option, hopefully I can remember to check into it before S goes abroad. I especially like being able to add him to the account to keep track of his spending. When my D studied abroad in the UK, everything was expensive, including the banking fees.</p>
<p>We use Wells Fargo, and when my D was moving to Missouri for college we found that it is one of the few states that does not have WF. Her on-campus bank was BofA, so for her convenience, that was where we opened an account. At that time, there was no BofA in the state we live! It certainly made banking and transferring money to her a bit more difficult than it needed to be, but we dealt with it. Now that she is back home she has this BofA account that she doesn’t need, but she will keep it for now, until she knows where she will move next.</p>
<p>I took S to the bank a few days ago to change his student debit account to a college account with checks and a credit card, as well as a debit card. I appreciated the fact that the banker stressed that the credit card was ONLY for emergencies, not for going out with friends. :)</p>
<p>For banking D has an account online with USAA as do I, she can also deposit online via computer or I can do it via my iPhone. For the most part we are really happy with how it works and it does pay a small interest rate, give her a debit card and they also approved her for a small limit credit card which I am glad she has for emergencies, credit building. She was able to apply for it completely on her own too, we didn’t expect she’d get it given the recent rules but she had no issues. I can also transfer money online or via my phone. The branches she has on campus weren’t ones we currently use locally or with branches that convenient to home/work so USAA was the right solution for us.</p>
<p>Hi all!! I soo love this thread! Thanks for all of the insight on the “safety” argument…UT is far from a safety school due to the top ten% rule…(I won’t go into that because it would take way too long)…anyway, I am thinking that I am going to have to find another walking partner because I find myself in a horrible mood everytime I go…It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out for Mr. Genious :)</p>
<p>Went to U-Haul yesterday and bought some boxes for the big move…I was very surprised how reasonably priced they were! We just have a few last minute dorm items top buy and I think we will be all set! This is all becoming so real!</p>
<p>
I just hope you’re around when she has to eat her words.</p>
<p>SWT: But UT is a safety school for kids in the top 10% (or top 8% now) because they’re guaranteed admission. I wouldn’t take anyone saying that as being offensive or a comment on the school’s academics. (((HUGS))) But, yeah, if you are tenser AFTER a walk, then it might be time to find a new partner!</p>
<p>For banking my D has a debit card for her checking/savings account with Wells Fargo. She is going to keep this account when she goes to school. If she needs cash she can get it at the grocery store and avoid ATM fees. If she needs more than they will give her then she will have to pay ATM fees. We going to the bank this week to ask them about how she should deposit any checks she receives while away at school.</p>
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<p>We did the same with D. And we have also stressed the emergency nature of using the credit card!</p>
<p>vballmom: Wishing your S all the best in his golf tournaments! Hilton Head…very exciting! :)</p>
<p>austinmt: Also wishing your D success on her upcoming audition. Her commitment and going after what she wants is so impressive!</p>
<p>SWTCAT: Dittoing zooser!</p>
<p>:cool: 
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<p>S has had his own checking & savings accounts for quite some time, since he started summer jobs, I suppose. He added a debit card a year or so ago. He just got the paperwork in the mail to set it up online.</p>
<p>He is keeping this account at home as opposed to opening a new one there. He won’t really need it anyway except for extras, gas for his car, & fun stuff. He can use his debit card at the movies, Wal Mart, etc with no fees. It has a visa logo & if he uses certain atm’s , there won’t be fees there either. We thought it would be easier, I can transfer $ immediately if he needs it, and it’ll still be here in the summer when he’s back to work.</p>
<p>His school is set up nicely for finances. Their ID card can be used anywhere on campus to charge things to their student account. Extra meals, books, fees, laundry, parking, etc. We’ll get a bill once a month. Not only will I see what the charges & amounts are, but he won’t need a lot of money.</p>
<p>On a different subject: Packing. Of course, we haven’t started. Everyone worked today…sure there’ll be some other excuse for tonight. Anyway, I picked up boxes, but now I’m thinking our rolling suitcases might be easier once we get there. Any pros & cons? Hopefully, we won’t have to carry stuff too far, but I’m kind of wimpy.</p>
<p>My D also has Wells Fargo checking & savings accounts w/ debit card which she recently converted to a college package, fee-free because her accounts are linked to ours. No Wells Fargo in Pennsylvania, but WF recently bought Wachovia and is in the process of converting Wachovia branches, ATMs, and accounts to WF, one state at a time. Apparently Pennsylvania is scheduled to make the switch in November 2010. In the meantime D can use her WF debit card fee-free at Wachovia ATMs (numerous around her college), though she won’t be able to make deposits to her WF account at some Wachovia ATMs until the transition occurs.</p>
<p>This may sound confusing, but she’s also planning to open a TD Bank checking account upon arrival at her school. TD Bank has the only on-campus ATMs at both Haverford and Bryn Mawr, and TD Bank reps sign students up for fee-free/no-minimum-balance checking accounts as an optional part of the registration process. D’s thinking is that she’ll keep her savings (including money saved for subsequent years of college) in her WF savings account; keep a small amount of “free” money in her WF checking; and deposit the amount she’s budgeted for books & incidentals while at college in the TD account. That way, she reasons, it will be easier to keep track of her rate of spending on books/incidentals while in college, without creating the illusion that she has more money “available” than is actually the case when a friend or roommate proposes a late-night pizza or restaurant splurge. Meanwhile her WF checking account will give her access to a separate pot of money when she’s home at Thanksgiving and between semesters. At first I thought it sounded too complicated, but now I think it’s really quite ingenious. And with free online banking at both WF and TD, she (and we) should be able to transfer money between accounts relatively painlessly, as needed.</p>
<p>This is all money she’s earned and/or accumulated, by the way, through term-time and summer jobs in HS, graduation presents, occasional Christmas and birthday gifts from grandparents, and savings carved out of her weekly allowance. She’s agreed to take on responsibility for her books & incidentals out of her own funds. She’s very responsible with money, and the system she’s setting up will help her keep track of where she stands. Valuable life lessons, IMO.</p>