Amazing that she’s had the same interest for so long. When I was 6 or 7 my dream was to be either a garbage man or pro baseball player, neither of which worked out.
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Made the vet school application process very stressful. Neither my wife nor I had dream jobs/careers. Neither did son. So when we applied for schools/positions, if we did not get one we would keep moving to something else. But for her, its tough to be a vet without going to vet school. Likely would have applied again. And if she still didn’t get in, you have to make the decision about when to do plan B. Thankfully we didn’t have to go down that road.
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Hi all!
DD graduated Boston College Honors Program Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Chemistry and a BA in Philosophy, and as part of a 5th year Masters in Philosophy program. She’s living in a dumpy apartment in a building with 1000 other graduate students 
. Currently taking advantage of her 5th year of NCAA eligibility and applying to some other programs.
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Just a check in here. DS got engaged last week while on a vacation to Cancun! We are excited for them but know the wedding won’t be for a couple of years. It went off well even though it was raining. The photographer was really good.
He is now halfway through his second year of vet school and still at the top of his class. This will be the hardest semester and very stressful. They have a test the first day of class so he is back at his apartment studying this week. He also has to work the vet school interviews on Friday. His fiancée is looking for a new job just until she goes to PA school in August. He has decided when she leaves he is renting her apartment and living by himself for the next two years. His roommate is driving him a little nuts! Next update I’ll make will be when he heads off to his study abroad mini session in May (Covid allowing). At that point he will finally get his BS since that is part of his early admit to vet school. He gets it when he successfully completes his second year of vet school (since he chose the option to enter vet school after 3 years undergrad).
How are your kids surviving out in the real world (or grad school as the case may be)?
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my D17 is completely lost. She came back to GA from DC once GWU went online. Ended up working at a school helpng out and thought she wanted to be a teacher. She signed up for Teach for America , and though the program is ok, the school she placed treated her horribly and she could not take another moment and quit during winter break.
She is now thinking of what she wants to be when she grows up. Pre-covid, with being in DC , internships at different non profits , figured that is where she would end up. She also did some social media/marketing during her internships and thinks maybe that is the direction she wants. Grad school makes no sense if she doesnt know what she wants.
She is thinking of shadowing people in different careers. She can get a job nannying, etc very easily, but that will just delay. The political election season is not quite here yet.
The bright side is that she saved lots of money when she worked and she has a fabulous BF.
I hate that she thought she found a passion and Covid has ruined it. I think she would be a great teacher at a different time.
My kid, as I’ve mentioned before, took a leave of absence and had a serious health scare that ended up giving her kind of a different perspective on everything. She’s amidst her junior year majoring in international relations (initially her minor) and minoring in religious studies (not on her radar when she started), and is now amidst applying for summer internships and thinking about post-graduation life; she wants to do something with immigration advocacy, not sure whether to aim for the law school or masters route for that. (The former would provide more opportunities at a more local, focused level, while the latter would be more likely to lead to dealing with much more macro-level issues.)
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DD is living it up in Beijing. She’s a vegetarian so food has been the struggle. Otherwise, she’s made some great friends and is having a great time. Working hard on her thesis, mountain climbing, skiing, shopping, and partying it up. Their mid-term break is coming up so she’s planning to travel in country for 3-4 of the 5 weeks with friends. Her experience has definitely dispelled some of my preconceived notions about life in China.
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I’ll chime in as someone whose DD is in “the real world!” My DD graduated from LMU with a double major in Theater and Women and Gender Studies. Senior year was super, super hard with covid, all the fabulous theater projects she had earned all went virtual, the entire year was very tough and spring was a very low point. Totally disillusioned about ANY career or passions at that point. Then went to work at a top performing arts camp for the summer which was the opposite of virtual/remote/stay at home but also very, very hard due to staff shortages.
Came home in Sept ready to just be home for a while and contemplate her next move, but had a lead from a connection made at the camp that turned into a dream job. Like actual dream job hitting all her interests, strengths, in the theater industry, well paid, remote so she can stay at home for a while, and part time for the first couple months so she could ramp up. She’s now ‘fully launched’, apartment, BF, financially independent, got a kitten, super happy.
This feels incredibly lucky during this time, although she worked and networked hard and earned it. I hope that your kids who don’t feel like they have a career path right now find their way, and have a safe and comfortable place (physically and mentally) during the time it may take to get there. These are super hard times where just staying healthy, mentally and physically, is a good enough goal and figuring out the rest of your life or at least the next step can take some time.
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DD is getting great experience while learning the realities of the working world. After a few months working from her new apartment, she flew off to the New Orleans area, working with an engineering team to help a large customer recover from Hurricane Ida. 10 hours a day, six days a week, but paid overtime/travel/meals/etc. (when did engineers become non-exempt?)
I told her that some of my best memories, and lifetime work relationships, were established during similar crunch projects (12 hr shifts, 7 days/week during the Pens first Stanley Cup run was an adventure in my mid-20s).
Unlike what usually happens, training a replacement and transitioning actually appears to be happening as planned this week. She’s returning to take over responsibilities for a F5 client when a co-worker goes on maternity leave.
She’s already looking into evening MBA programs - she didn’t fall from the tree, I guess.
So far, so good. I can only hope the situation is as positive as she’s communicating. Being away so much, she hasn’t established any local relationships. Hopefully the volunteer orgs she has identified are open for new staff and she can start reaching out.
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There are photographers for engagements?
@saillakeerie Yes there are! Ds was at a resort and they helped him set up his engagement. They staged it as taking some resort photos. His finance loves professional photos. The photographer took them to a location that he and ds worked out and took beautiful photos and a video. She was totally surprised. It was raining so the engagement on the beach couldn’t happen so they did it in a grotto but then they went out and took some fantastic pictures on the beach in the rain! After that they had a private dinner on the beach. Attached two photos one isn’t very clear but shows the location without getting too close to them.
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DD is still in China and extremely busy. Her college is very sporty so she’s loving spring. She’s doing cheerleading, ultimate frisbee, basketball, and soccer. She’s also working hard on her capstone after changing topics late in the process due to dissatisfaction with her dataset. And she’s also doing a UN internship.
She received her official start date for work - November. So her current plan is to do a 2 month internship in Jordan after graduation and then return to the US to relax and hang out with the bf and friends before starting the consulting grind. I’m sad I won’t get to go to graduation but we are planning a fabulous trip to Kenya (1/2 Safari, half beach) to celebrate. Can’t wait to see her in person!
How are your kids?
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Don’t know if anybody’s still here, but my 2017 kid had her graduation delayed due to life-threatening health issues and leaves of absence and so on, but finally got her degree from Muhlenberg with a double major in international relations and religious studies this past spring, and after kicking around doing some temp work as she tried to break into the nonprofit sector (refugee assistance, specifically) and discovering how tough that can be to break into, she now has a full-time gig in precisely what she wants to do.
Just putting it here to say that even when it gets bumpy, it can still work out.
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That is a really great message. Heartfelt congratulations to your daughter, and to you and everyone who supported her all the way.
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