@RightCoaster I am glad your son had a great orientation experience! I look forward to hearing about his semester in London.
@Dave_N those are amazing AP results! Good for your D.
@Melvin123 I hear you. Vibe was very important for D17. One-half of the schools to which she applied required flights, which is part of the reason we didn’t do second visits (and never did a first visit to one). Between the time and expense it just seemed overwhelming. But now that we’re at the end of the process, I wish we would have carved out the time and spent the $. I wish you and your D the best of luck during this next year!
We have pretty much settled into our new location. One unplanned bonus with this move is that instead of 10 hrs with Atlanta traffic to get dd to school is that the drive from our new location is only 3 1/2 hrs away. Yay for closer!
Our rising 10th grader has declared that she is just going to live at home and commute. Too much college and moving drama been going on here for her.
Ditto on the “Yay for closer!” The dozen or more 1 hour, 15 minute non-stop flights per day on Southwest that cost $59 each way are making us VERY happy. The prospect of cross-country 10-hour + ordeal of flights and shuttles were not exactly sending chills up our spines.
@MSHopeful We are also flying Southwest to get D to school. Love the 2 free Checked bags. Just Bought some very light weight suitcases for the dorm stuff. I also did a pack and hold with BedBath&beyond for pillows, hangers and things that we didn’t want to use valuable suitcase space for. The Pack and hold option was easy. We pick up and pay when we go for move in.
Hope your D has a Fantastic year at Columbia!
We get to drive the 12 hours to college with S18 since he has a saddle, a chair, a bookcase, other horse stuff, a cooler, etc. to take with him. Luckily his roommate is renting some land to keep his sheep on and has a place for S to store his horse things until he figures out a place on campus to keep them (most of the kids say the profs will let you keep your stuff out at the horse unit once you get to know them). We also decided to stay a couple of extra days since the full eclipse is just a half hour from his school on the first day of classes. My husband has never seen the school so we figured we would explore the area and take a little vacation after we drop S off. That way we can also go buy anything he may have forgotten. We leave a month from tomorrow. where has the time gone?
I know, I have D15 who is starting pharmacy school in the fall and S18 who has his last year of high school, hard to believe! Good thing I have my middle schooler to keep me company a few more years.
Shorter travel time sounds great @Mom2aphysicsgeek! Glad you are settled in now.
Son17 was thinking of going 6 hours away by car, but is now going to 25 minutes away ( after his London stint). Much better! We can get in to see him and grab a bite to eat, or he can come home when needed.
@botcom I plan to get her some new luggage as well. She’s working at Ross for the summer so we’re planning to get some with her employee discount. We’re also going to go to BB&B and send stuff to the NY store. That way we don’t need to pack bedding, pillows, rug, etc. Thanks for the well wishes. I can’t believe it’s happening so fast.
Payments: Looks like my bill is posted online and it’s payment by online check only. Our bill is due August 8th.
I don’t know if there is a pre-pay (for 4 years option) - it certainly would save us a significant amount, but not sure I want to pre-pay and allow them to make money on my money; I might prefer playing the stock market myself
Budgeting: I have to figure out a budget for meals as there is no meal plan overseas. I probably will just fund her account and see how it goes. They are expected to shop at the supermarket and cook their own meals. I told her if I buy a Keurig or something once we get over there, she can’t be going to coffee shops or eating out every day - that adds up quickly! However, she does focus really well while doing homework in a coffee shop. Something to think about I suppose.
AP Tests: Congrats to all of your children who are able to use these credits! D17 decided not to take her AP exams and would have only been able to transfer 8 credits total anyway. I’m amazed some are getting Junior status from the exams!
Visa Process: The Visa process through the French Consulate was extremely time-consuming. There was a ton of paperwork and a very inefficient online appointment system to boot. We had to register with Campus France (for a fee) in addition to gathering numerous forms, notarizing one, etc. I’m pleased to say, we finally had our appt at the French Consulate (which must be done in person) and it went well; we expect to be able to pick up the Visa in two weeks.
Parent Orientation: I’m excited about our orientation since it involves a tour of the academic facility in Paris and then a boat ride on the Seine
@momocarly OK, you have now set the bar for move in complexity. Your son’s roommate is renting land for his sheep! I will never complain about bedding and toiletries, ever!
@mamaedefamilia I know! Luckily the roommate transferred to the college last year in the fall and moved all his sheep then. S was matched with him and they met and he learned about his sheep. He stays in the summer to take care of them. S is a horse person so he is looking forward to learning about sheep too.
@MSHopeful Do you know which BBB store the move-in day shuttles run? My D is going to Barnard. I want to use BBB, but I don’t know which store the free shuttles go from Columbia/Barnard campus. Is it the Harlem store?
@rightcoaster I am a 2018 parent but lurk on this thread a bit trying to gather information. Next Friday I will be picking S up from a summer program and we are going to tour NE. Unfortunately there is no engineering session that day. Can you share the reasons your S picked the school, and do you have any pointers as far as things we should pay special attention to or ask about?. I was kind of thinking of it as a safety-ish school–not sure where I got that info from because the numbers you shared are frightening! Time to reassess!
Hi @planner03, I don’t think Northeastern is a safety-ish school anymore, unless you are a legit tippytop student. My son was a decent normal student, not a super star student, but made the high honor roll and got involved the high school. I think it’s harder for the kids applying from the metro-Boston area, because they only want to admit so many of these kids. Students from other parts of the country might have it a bit easier. That being said, computer science and engineering are hard to get into. I think I heard something like they had 3500 Computer science apps and admitted around 300. The rest of the school isn’t as tough to get into, but last year hd record 54,000 apps and their lowest admit rate ever.
My son picked NEU because he wanted to stay local, we live about 25 minutes away. He wanted the co-op opportunities which are second to none, liked the modern feel of the school, liked the diversity- all different types of kids. He likes being in the city, but the campus is kind of secluded from the city a bit. It has a small but well kept campus that’s easy to get around. There are a few T stops nearby to get around the city. It seems pretty safe. He thought the kids were smart, but more important- ambitious. There were plenty of majors/minors to explore. The kids get involved with lots of clubs. volunteering, etc. He liked some of the business clubs already in place. He like the ease of studying overseas or even doing a co-op internationally. My son is a not a huge rah-rah sports guy, so sports did not factor in his decision. NEU has sports teams, but it’s not a huge deal. He will probably play on their club lax team and so some intramural stuff. Compared to other Boston schools- less preppy and less religious than BC and closer to the city, BU- similar but BU seems to care more about world issues, politics, etc while NEU seems more about studying to get a job of some sort.
You should go check out the new engineering building, and ask what companies the engineering kids c-oped at. Ask what their engineering job placement is like. I would imagine it’s pretty good. Have fun on your visit.
