@nerdmom88 how challenging has she found UAH. For my S19 we are looking into it, but during our visit, we came away not sure how strong the CS department is, and if my son would be grown.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
S17ās game team is at 6:0. At least he has made contribution to his UT game league :))
@sdl0625 To be honest it was a concern for me as well, even in aerospace, which is one of their acknowledged strong suits.
D17 came into this with a very high weighted high-school GPA and a 35 ACT. Her course load this semester included honors English, honors math and chem courses, and both music literature and music performance. (She was considering a music minor.) Music performance ended up taking a ton of time, as did Space Hardware Club. Sheās pushed herself and will finish out the semester with a perfect GPA. She feels like sheās learning a lot and being challenged, so Iām no longer concerned. I canāt tell you how CS would equate, though.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Enjoyed spending time with my college freshman. ECE classes are going well. He has 1 week left of classes, study period and then finals. Winter break begins for him December 15th.
He mentioned the possibility of staying at Cornell for graduate school, so another sign that he is happy with his school of choice.
Two unexpected developmentsā¦ He wants to stay at school this summer for a 6-week class and hopefully join a research group. I assumed he would come home for the summer. After the shock wore off, Iām in agreement that it is a great idea. There are a couple of weeks before and after the session he will come home, so Iām now OK.
The other is that he submitted his application to be an RA for the next school year. Not sure how I feel. There are way more applicants then positions, so likely a non-issue anyway. DH was an RA in college, so maybe this is where he got the idea.
I continue to check in and enjoy hearing updates on all the DC. Kudos to the DC who are re-evaluating decisions whether it be a class, major, or school. These decisions must not be easy for them, but it is a good life skill to know they can make changes to make their lives better.
Canāt believe 1st semester is almost over. Canāt wait for the long winter break!
Son17 will be home in 3 days! Excited to see him.
That has to be so exciting @RightCoaster! Having my son home for 5 days for Thanksgiving was so exciting and we did get to see him in October for parentsā weekend. I am so happy for you and your family! Enjoy.
Well, Iām a little late but it was good to see Dā17 over Thanksgiving break! It was about 84 degrees when she got on the plane and about 24 degrees when she got off. The way back was a little stressful; she was delayed about 6 hours. I was a little worried about her getting a Lyft/Uber in LA around midnight, but fortunately, she saw a classmate, actually a dorm floor mate, on the same flight. They were able to share a Lyft back to campus. She got back to the dorm around 1:30 A.M. Thanks to USC the Lyfts were discounted 50% to and from the airport.
Already signed up for S2 classes, working on Y2 housing. Sheāll be back in less than 2 weeks!
Question for anyone here that might still be reading and their K17 is majoring in Comp Sci. Did any of them get a B in AP Comp Sci, and still get into a Decent school? Facing this issue with my S19. He will do great on SATās. He doesnt have Aās and Bās throughout his high school career, but figured an A in AP comp sci would help him maybe get into a non safety school.
Is finals week happening out there? Next week?
S17 has finals this week. So far, heās taken 2 finals and written one final paper. He has 1 final left to take and a final lab report. The finals are all take home, so they arenāt actually due until Wed through Fri this week.
Iām looking forward to having him home for 3 weeks! (His younger brother will have to move out of his bedroom.)
@Ynotgo so crazy to read your ds is having finals already when it seems like he started so much later. I think there must be a love/hate relationship with the quarter system.
Ddās finals are next week. She finishes the semester next Friday. She is swamped with papers and projects due this week. She cannot wait to be finished with astronomy. She hates it! She had to take 1 science with a lab and she chose it bc of her conversations with her brother. She hates it. He loves it. He is applying to grad school for it and she never wants to think about it again! ;))
Can I say the grad school application process is a breeze from the parental perspective. I get an occasional update on what is happening but for the most part, I am clueless. I like it!
D has a reading day today then 6 finals oddly spaced. She has 5 between Thursday and Friday, including 3 on one day and Iām not sure she rescheduled one. The last one is next Wednesday. She is also taking the 2 entrance exams for the business school (basically a repeat of the accounting final and a mini SAT). She gets home next Wednesday and we leave for Thailand on Friday.
@sdl0625 Itās based on what your definition of a ādecent programā is and location. CS programs have gotten very competitive, but mostly at āeliteā schools like CMU or schools on the west coast. Otherwise you can find plenty of ādecentā programs at state universities or LACs. A CS major from Michigan State University or Auburn will not have a problem landing a decent job (if they have the grades, etc.).
DD14 has all of her finals early and will be home this Friday (good to be home early, not good to have 3 finales in a 24 hour period).
DS17 has heās last finale next week. However, heās not coming home. 
He joined a competitive engineering (FSAE) design team, Gator Motorsports, and the team has committed to staying over the winter holiday and working on the vehicle. Heāll be able to come home for a few days around the Christmas holiday. Otherwise, weāll have to drive up and see him ourselves (luckily UF is only an 1 1/2 hour drive away).
Gator Motorsports has been (for me) surprising. First, most of the team members are made up of Freshman and Sophomores, with most of the āleadsā being sophomores. I would have thought it would be dominated by upper level students, but Itās a substantial time commitment, so by the time they are juniors/seniors, most drop out and move on to other things. Most of the āleadsā got that way by self-study (and hard work). DS17 designed a turbo fan using SolidWorks in October, while he was taking the class (I recommend he take it early, in his first semester, glad I did), so designing the fan was much more complex than anything so far taught in his class. He basically had to learn it on the fly. Now he wants me to buy him a few books on aerodynamics (his interest), and is trying to move more advance courses earlier into his schedule. For example, the āDesign and Manufacturing Laboratoryā is usually taught in the 5th semester, but heās trying to take it in his 3rd semester.
It all seems a bit crazy to me, but heās looking forward to the competition in Michigan in May (and talking on those big, bad, Germans, seems the teams from Germany are the ones to beat!). B-)
@Gator88NE Gatormotorsports sounds great & my son as at Freshman at UPenn SEAS has fallen hard for Penn Electric Racing http://www.pennelectricracing.com/ ā He was working on a big project over Thanksgiving. Will take Solid Works next semester. Loves circuit design among other things. Good luck to your son & sorry you wonāt see him much over the break.
D17 still has class until next monday, and then finals spread over a week. wont be home until the 19th. then only home for under 3 weeks as going back early to Alternative breaks to help refugees.
Mind has revision week this week, no classes bit some tutorials meet for review.
She leaves her dorm at 2:45 am Greenwich time Dec 15 and gets in to LAX at 5 pm PST. Going to be a very, very long day for her.
Good luck to your kids that are wrapping up their first semester!
Son17 is back from London, we are happy to have him home for a month. He had a great time and seems to be happy being home with access to a full fridge and big warm bed. Heās having a hard time getting used to the time change. He wants to stay up late and sleep in late, so we are trying to ween him off that. He told us he has classes starting at 8am next semester so he better get used to waking up early.
We need to get some back to school/dorm supplies for him this week, itās not really fun dragging a teenager around shopping for mundane items.
@VickiSoCal my sonās flight home from the UK was delayed ad re-routed several times, and he ended up being awake and traveling for over 30 hours. He said it really sucked. I hope your D has better luck. He said he looks forward to the 30 minute commute into Boston much more.
S17 has classes through this Friday, then reading period for a week. One final next Friday, one on Sunday, and two on Tuesday. Home on Wednesday the 20th, unless he decides to clear out Tuesday night after his two finals.
S14 has not nailed down when he will be coming home, but probably Dec 15th or 16th after a couple of papers are submitted.
Finals for my D next week. Her grades have been strong throughout the semester and I hope that she will finish strong! Oberlin has a structured January term that she will complete from home so weāll have her for six full weeks, which will be terrific. Oberlin has been a wonderful choice for her. She has made good friends, taken a variety of challenging courses, has attended more music and theater events than we thought was possible, does community service, and even has a campus job. She also does her laundry on a regular basis. 
Itās great to hear updates from so many of you!
@RightCoaster I think sheāll be ok, she had the short Edinburgh to London flight and then a direct flight home. 8 hour time difference for her, so it will be rough.
She is in full on panic about finals. They are about 70% of the grade in most classes.