S18 is home for a few days of spring break before joining some friends at the beach. Being only 6 hrs drive away, we’ve been able to visit him a few times and he was home for some of Mardi Gras and to see his brother’s musical. We have a senior in college too, who spent spring break on a cruise with school friends. The time definitely goes fast so enjoy!
@macmiracle. So glad your D is doing better!!! The human body sure does have some weird reactions sometimes. Glad for all of you that it was nothing more than that. And that’s great news re the RA position. Congratulations!
Have my daughter home this week for spring break. She is happy to sleep and her own bed, spend time with our new dog that we got after she left in August and eat my cooking. It is hard to believe she will be done with first year at the beginning of May. Starting to plan some trips for my DD21 to look at some schools…
DD landed a summer position as an Orientation Leader and spent the first half of spring break in Myrtle Beach at a OL convention. Due to the position, she will not be home this summer. She has a break over 4th of July but is going to New York to visit her BFF instead of coming home to Texas.
The position includes a stipend and she is very excited to be part of the Orientation team. I’m thrilled she is stepping out of her box a bit, into a completely different social circle etc. I asked her about the trip, she said she was apprehensive to be on a bus with a whole bunch of extroverts for 10+ hours but found that she enjoyed them all, had a great time and bonded with the OL team.
We won’t see her until Christmas unless we go to Alabama and frankly, I really don’t think she wants us to visit.
She changed her major from Astro Physics to Art History - she is going to follow her heart, not her head. I’m ok with this, she explored and I think ultimately she made the best decision for her.
My co-worker and I both have Freshman, she is really hoping her DS lands a RA position and was talking about that being the plan for her upcoming Freshman daughter following the first year BUT she is beginning to realize she is not the only parent with that plan and is worried about the overall cost of housing/tuition for two kids as hers are a year apart in school. Landing RA positions is a big part of the overall “how are we going to fund this” plan.
MACMiracle - WooooWhoooooo I am thrilled to hear of the RA for your DD, that is awesome, the Miracles continue!
Hope y’all enjoy your spring breaks!
Our Freshman year ends the last day of April - one year down, it has flown by.
Hey @SnowflakeDogMom, sounds like your D is really spreading her wings. We still really want to visit UAH. Can you tell me how she finds the campus. I hear it is really spread out. How big is hockey there? And how empty is the campus on the weekends. Thank you very much!
D18 had Spring Break last week, but spent it on a retreat at the beach, which also included some community service work. She will be home for a few weeks in May, but she then heads to Colorado for 2 months for a Mission trip. To make the sting worse, instead of flying home, she is flying to California to do a cross country road trip with her BF and his family to head back to Duke. 
@SnowflakeDogMom wow changing major from Astro Physics to Art History is quite a change…Sounds like she is doing well and is happy which are the most important things. Now in 4 years what she will to do with that Art History major is a whole other story…lol…
@SnowflakeDogMom congratulations to your D on picking a school and becoming a RA so she can graduate from college debt free and do what she really loves rather than being forced to go where the money is to pay back loans. Good on her!
There’s been some changes in plans by us too, but nothing so drastic. Originally my D was going to study abroad part of this summer and take a class here, and hopefully get a paid internship next summer. Well the study abroad program that she wanted was cancelled, so she has a paid internship lined up for this summer and is hoping that the study abroad program will happen next summer. She’ll still take a class this summer to see if she’s interested in another subject matter. It seems kind of crazy to me how fast time is going. If the kids don’t get going on some classes next semester (Fall Sophmore), they might not be able to major in some topics and still graduate in 4 years. Wow is that fast!
I can’t believe how quickly this year is going. S18 is already picking out his schedule for the Fall. He is still very happy with his choice of school, doing well in classes, and making friends. He will be home for summer in less than 2 months!!
I know @Momma2018 - this year has sped by. I have an older D graduating college this year and although I can’t exactly say her years there have flown it’s hard for me to envision that she is actually going to be done with school - like, forever if she wants - and working at a real job!
@BingeWatcher My student loves UAH - it took a bit for them to get over their “dream” of either an urban campus someplace cool like San Francisco, Minneapolis or New York or a small, quaint LOC in Amherst or Long Island, NY but all in all, my student has settled in and is having a great time. The school is under 10K enrollment, is not huge but has a great feel to it. My student feels safe there and has enjoyed being in a slightly cooler environment. I’ve walked the campus, I don’t find it spread out but there are certainly some logistical challenges but I think many mid size schools struggle with this. There is only one cafeteria and its closer to the Freshman dorms than the rest of campus. The dorms in the middle of campus are closer to the science/engineering buildings and have the quick stop type eateries nearby but are a bit of a hike to the Cafe. Meanwhile, many of the weather/engineering buildings are in the outskirts of campus and there are no amenities for drop in. The campus has been in a constant state of construction since we first visited in the fall of 2017 - new buildings, new dorms etc. Many kids use bikes, mine prefers to walk and walks all over without any real issue.
One of the big draws for my student was the hockey as my student really dislikes the “southern football culture”. There is a club team and a Div I men’s team - the games are at a local event center (we attended a game during parent weekend last fall) the kids get in free and I know my student gets to as many games as they can. They also attend the club games when they can as well.
I truly think that UAH is a hidden gem. My Student was granted an amazing merit package and will graduate debt free. They are excited about their summer Orientation Leader job.
@melvin123 My student is not an RA - They already get free housing, there is no incentive for them to be an RA. The RA discussion was with my co-worker who will have two kids in college at the same time and is counting on RA positions to offset the COA.
@burghdad I’m not surprised by my students change of major. They have a STEM brain with a liberal art heart. We were chatting the other night and I was informed that “I will be pursuing a career in academia, I want to be a professor”. When my student changed their path, they did so knowing they would need an advanced degree. Frankly, I think my student will be a great professor and will reach their goal.
Thank you @SnowflakeDogMom so much for the awesome report on UAH, can’t wait to see it and Bama. So glad you student is happy!
Hi everyone, I love all the updates on the students. It’s amazing that the first year is almost over. At ucla the sowing quarter starts Tuesday so we have a way to go. My daughter is doing so well. I didn’t think she would get to this point after her bumpy start.
She’s getting through a tough math class, and math is her thing. She has been really involved in a new cub sport - spikeball. The club travels to Cal Poly, Irvine, San Francisco, playing in different tournaments.
She also got a small part time job in the Athletics Department as a blue and gold ambassador. They give prospecrice athletes tours of the campus and do follow up on the tours, and work other events on campus.
My older daughter graduates college this year from WWU and will be applying to grad school.
Both busy and exciting times!
My S18 has 1 month left of freshman year! He’ll be home by May 8th and is Assistant Mgr Lifeguard at a nearby pool for the summer. We are spending my D20’s Spring Break college touring! Seeing the last 3 of the 10 she’s looked at. It’ll be nice to have S18 home for summer because D20 will be spending it away at Governor’s school. I can’t believe we’re starting the college hunt all over again!
My D registered today for next fall and winter semesters. That’s how they do it at McGill. I like it, as it lets them plan long-range. D is majoring in Cognitive Science, choosing to do lots of math, CS, and Linguistics.
I visited her in Montreal last weekend and there are still some pretty large snow/ice piles, and snow/sleet was still falling. D will stay in town for a Maymester (Calc 3), so she’ll get to see the best of spring in Montreal.
She’s doing very, very well. Classes are really hard but she’s managing it. She has a serious boyfriend and a good network of friends. She has signed an apartment lease with two other girls. She’ll move in May 1. Going to McGill was a big transition and a big risk, but so far it seems to be paying off.
It was so nice having DD’18 home for spring break. It was short, but wonderful - the smiles and laughter are the best!
D18 has the flu! Fortunately the tough roomie is out. Praying the Tamiflu works miracles. So hard when they are so far away with no family to help close by. She had to Uber herself to the pharmacy twice. Waah…
@Meddy Oh man, that pulls at the Mom heart strings. Prayers and good thoughts your student is on the mend soon. Poor thing.
Where has the year gone? D18 had her last class of the semester today, and has just got her final papers to finish next week (no exams!), then move out is in two weeks time. However she’s staying there for most of the summer to take some more classes plus a dance intensive. Meanwhile S18 is only three weeks into the spring quarter so he has a long way to go.
At least with their terms (and breaks) being so offset, it seems like we see one or other of them most months. Unfortunately they don’t get to see so much of each other. But they have both had a great year and are very happy with their college choices.