Kind of a rainy day so I drove downtown to meet son17 for lunch at Northeastern. He’s happy so far, but he’s been sick. He joined some clubs and making some new friends. His friends from NU In have been scattered around campus on different dorms, so he he’s been visiting everyone, He went to a Patriots party the other day. I’m sure they’ll have some sort of Super Bowl bash, but not in his room as it about the size of a small hall closet. He has a nice view though and can walk to some cool place with ease so he he’s digging it.
@RightCoaster is his room smaller than it was in London? My D17 had an eyeopener this weekend when she visited a friend at UCLA and her triple was a lot smaller than the double at St. Andrews!!!
@VickiSoCal I think his room is smaller than the room in London, and probably not as nice. it’s not gross but not great. The funny thing is when my son selected the features he wanted in housing when he got on campus he selected " economy" and probably got stuck in a cheap room. He had no idea. The funny thing the price difference between economy and regular vs deluxe is like $200.00 . Ha!! 200 bucks. He thought saving us $200 on a 70,000 bill would be helpful;. I love it! My wife and I laughed for days about that. I don’t think he’ll select that option again.
We don’t live in a gigantic house, but our bedrooms are sized appropriately, and his dorm has to be 1/2 the size of bedroom here. He’ll be living in luxury when he visits or comes home 
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw that AI rated my alma mater #19…SCU is a good school in its category but no way would I rank it that high!
Hi,
Congrats on your D’s acceptance (last year!) - I wonder if you could answer a question for me? My D received and acceptance to UMD, and received a separate letter (email) as follows:
“We’re really excited to invite you to participate in the Arabic and Persian Programs at the University of Maryland! By welcoming students from all UMD majors and offering scholarships, the Arabic and Persian Flagship Programs…”
We are not clear if this is an acceptance to the program or and invitation to apply, and potentially become accepted once going through the application process. FWIW, my D has been studying Arabic for some years, and so is not a complete novice.
Thanks for any insight!
@momo2x2018 Congrats! The Flagship programs at UMD require separate application, but I didn’t get the sense they were very competitive so long as the student is serious about the program, which is very rigorous.
Thank you @itsgettingreal17 Well, that’s a bummer! I thought it was an acceptance into the program as she was not offered any other honors program, even though she is a strong student 1540 SAT and 4.65 GPA, and so, I thought the Flagship was in lieu of Honors College. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Is your D / S at MD? If so, how does s/he like it?
@RightCoaster and @VickiSoCal I think those UCLA rooms were meant to be doubles and are forced triples for many!
The rooms in Paris are also a nice size. When D finally makes it to NYC in the fall, I think she will also be in for a rude awakening! It is nice to see them appreciate home more though
@Fishnlines29 You are correct - basically every UC we looked at + Cal Poly had nearly all freshmen in triples that were originally doubles. They are tight, no doubt, but the kids seem to manage just fine.
UF post its admission decisions on Friday, and I’m feeling rather anxious, even though I don’t have a kid going through the process this year! :-SS
I think one reason is that I remember what it was like waiting for UF to post the decisions i*. I think the other reason is that I’ve spent the last year answering questions from other parents and students in the UF forum (while trying to avoid those chance me threads!), and now I’m feeling invested in their chances (or really, more concern about them having to face a possible rejection). Such a great group of kids, I wish they could all be accepted. :-bd
No way could I work as a high school counselor; it would be WAY too stressful! #-o
On a positive note, both DD14 and DS17 will be home for a visit this weekend. Looking forward to spending some time with both of them (in between buying them groceries and doing their laundry).
@Gator88NE My nephew is waiting to hear! I think it was a long shot for him but he has some good schools already in his back pocket.
D didn’t end up driving her car 2,000 miles across 2 mountain ranges after winter break after all because the other student who was going to drive with her backed out. Sigh of relief from DH and me! The current plan is a HS classmate who is enlisting in one of the armed forces is going to drive her car out to her in early March. He’ll have his brother with him to share the driving.
Last week when the snow started in the upper Midwest, DH texted D a picture, and she texted back a picture of daffodils blooming, LOL! She did submit her application to transfer to her in-state flagship, and I think she’s nuts - I drove past the in-state campus on Monday and the students were heavily bundled up because the temperature was -11! I’d stay on the West coast if I were D. But @Collegecue I agree, it’s been harder having D far away than I had anticipated, so if she does transfer, it won’t be all bad.
It just keeps moving along. D’17 has selected classes for next year and has confirmed her housing. She’s staying in the USC village for sophomore honors housing. She’s part of a six-person, three-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Should be a bit less expensive with the “rent” a bit lower and the ability to choose the apartment meal plan. I told her she’d never live as well as she’s living this year till she’s fifty. She always tries to prove me wrong.
In she’s-never-coming-back news, she’s signed up for an alternative spring break trip. She’s helping at an animal shelter around the grand canyon.
We got a foot of snow today. D’17 said it was sunny and 71 degrees LA. I don’t question her, it’s more why does anyone live here with the cold, the snow and no mountains?
It’s hard to believe that this time last year many of our kids were still waiting to hear from schools to make a decision on where to attend. Now they are working on summer plans, selecting sophomore housing,roommates and thinking about the classes to take next semester. The Freshman year of college is going by fast!
So true @botcom! We have friends going through the process this year. I’m eager to hear their results, but remembers how hard it was to wait.
Hi all. S17 just finished midterms for winter quarter and is on a 4-day weekend trip to Chicago to visit his girlfriend. He worked ahead to get problem sets and midterms (they are all take-home tests) done early so he could skip two days. He had some adventures getting a flight to Chicago on Thursday after his original flight out of Burbank was cancelled, but he’s there now and looks sooo happy in the photos he’s sent.
He did the same thing working ahead to take a 3-day weekend skiing with us. That’s how we got his ski clothes to him for the trip to Chicago. It looks like he needs them!
He’s landed a summer research project at JPL, but still needs to write up the official proposal. Something about analysis of infrared images of Venus. That starts right after finals end. But, he may be able to come home for much of September.
They don’t pick spring term classes until Feb. 22 and fall classes until May 24. Sophomore housing is decided I think in April, though there is some controversy.
S17 helped with the auditions/interviews for prospective 2018 majors for his program today. I can’t believe that it was less than one year ago that he himself was interviewing.
He is coming home for spring break as it’s both his and H’s birthdays around that time. We are going to do a dim sum breakfast the Sunday morning he is here at one of our favorite places.
His stem cell donation went very well - usually they have to recirculate 24 liters of blood to get the amount of “stuff” they need for the transfusion. S17’s blood was so cell filled they only had to do 14 liters, so it took about 3 hours less than originally planned. Now we are just left hoping that the recipient is getting better and that he will want to meet S17.
God bless your S, @techmom99
Son17 is coming home next week for some of his break. He might go visit some friends at other local schools for a few days.
He was unfortunately injured ( first time in his life) and is not able to play lax this spring. He was kind of bummed, but said it might work out anyways as he is swamped with school work. He said the amount of work he has at school is surprisingly large, but he has a good grasp on most it. He fortunately took a lot of business classes thru HS, so has a good understanding of what’s going on, he just has massive projects and papers to do all the time.
He has joined a few clubs and is enjoying them, and met with his academic advisor recently to come up with a game plan for co-ops down the road. He likes living in the city and I think he ended up making a good choice on where to attend college.
@techmom99 Your son is a hero!
@techmom99 Hats off to your son!!!