I love using the flat rate boxes to send treats to DD. They’re just so convenient and usually cheaper than my own packaging.
In the midst of a lovely visit with D19 although, with midterms looming next week, we only see her a few hours each day. We’re being flexible and accepting whatever time she is able to share with us. We all thoroughly enjoyed watching Penn beat Yale at the Palestra last night and have another outing planned for today.
S23 has been a good study buddy, hanging out at her dorm, and meeting her friends. It has given DH and I time to explore the city. With each visit, I feel we become less like tourists although navigating without mountains as a reference point is tough. Thank goodness for Google Maps!
My D got her dorm assignment for next year. Room draw is next month, but she has an accommodation, so they’re handled earlier. I noticed last year, and it’s just as irksome this year, that Haverford has no photos or videos of the inside of the dorms. They’re all pretty different from each other and I guess it’s supposed to be a mystery until move in day. Ha. She’s gonna walk over tonight and see if anyone wants to let her in for a peek.
That’s kinda strange. NYU had open dorms for freshmen to visit on admitted students day, and opens the upperclassmen dorms for viewing before the next year choices are due. Plenty of videos too, some official, some not. Anyway, hope she gets a good one!
D19 on the fence between dorm & sharing apartment for next year. She has till early March to decide (dorm deposit due).
@SJ2727 I agree it’s weird. I’ve scoured the web and there are not even unofficial tours or photos floating around. She was given the choice of two dorms today and picked sight unseen.
DD and roommate recently did a dorm tour, even though they have an apartment claimed, because there were door prizes. DD won a $50 Walmart card.
@milgymfam hope she got somebody to let her have a peek. DD’s school has a few pics and the floor plans online. I think by now she has been in most buildings anyway to see people.
DD’s play starts tonight and runs through Sunday. Her boyfriend is in the State Wrestling tournament starting tonight and I know she hates missing that, for a play she really doesn’t enjoy!
@bjscheel she just went over last evening and asked a student to be let in and was. Ha. She was able to see the common areas, and the common room for her specific suite. No clue what the actual rooms are like, but she’s very happy. The bathrooms are bigger- and more importantly cleaner- than her current dorm, and the suite common room is large with a huge window. She was also able to pull in a friend to be in her suite, and she and him are both excited about next year.
Today she is flying to Cali to visit some friends one more time before they all graduate high school. She’s taking the long weekend (no Friday classes) and is excited to have discovered the USO lounge in the Philly airport is fantastic.
I’m confused about how the housing stuff is working for S and I haven’t been able to talk to him much about it during this pledge period, but it sounds like he and friends are on top of it. They find out on Monday if they get into one of the residential colleges for sophomores and are hoping for a suite. If they don’t get that, they will apply for some other options.
I’m thankful that pledging should be done this weekend. Hopefully grades and health haven’t taken too big a hit.
Glad it all worked out for your daughter, @milgymfam.
While my D didn’t get her top dorm choice, she was able to get her preferred room type. She had friends who weren’t so lucky. At her college, housing isn’t guaranteed all four years and several of her friends were completely shut out. They’ll have to find off-campus housing for next year. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that D wouldn’t get assigned on-campus housing. How stressful for those kids and their families.
DS19 applied over the winter break to many research internship programs (I thought “application” process is over! but it looks like this application for summer internship – updating the resume, asking for reference letters, and writing up short pieces – will likely be an annual task for awhile) and was accepted to one that is 10 week long and pays stipend.
It must have hit him that he won’t be spending any significant amount of time at home anymore. He will be “working” away from home. He called and we talked not a lot but for two hours. We cried a little. ? There has been a couple deaths on campus also. He is a bit homesick and lonely. ? ?
@payn4ward oh no. That’s such sad news about the campus deaths.
I’m glad your S got himself an internship. S19 is making it a priority to be home this summer because he knows the internships he’s interested in are not here and he’ll be looking at them starting next summer. There was one here that he thought about applying for but it was ten solid weeks as well and we just thought he would have one more summer without a solid block of work. He will find something here that makes a little money and also reach out to some contacts here and see if he can do a mini internship or some shadowing.
How does it work if a student has a stipend and an internship but no where to live? How does one find a place for just ten weeks?
We rented an Airbnb for one of my kids since her internship provided a stipend but no housing. It was cheaper than corporate housing. If the internship happens to be close to a college, you could check to see if they rent out dorm space to other students over the summer. I am sure many schools do.
Alumni networks also help with finding places for interns to stay. Students can connect with alumni chapters in the cities in which they want to stay and find places to stay. D19 is posting on the Alumni FB for Chicago. She has a few places, but unfortunately they are not within one hour commute of the internship, but its still early.
@payn4ward I’m so sorry your S has had to experience the campus deaths. Our kids are all at college hoping for bright futures, and these tragedies bring real life too close. And that first summer away will be hard on you both. I’m sorry! Not dealing with that this summer, but soon…
S19 has applied to a couple of local internships for summer, hasn’t heard yet. Applied to several local banks for internships/part-time work, they aren’t hiring. Suggested he ask his buddy who is going to work construction if there is another opening. We live in a small town, options for anything are limited.
At least he got the housing he wanted next year (4-person on-campus apartment, all single bedrooms) with the guys he wanted. And the roomies are all from out of state so thrilled that I have been stashing old kitchenware that they can have.
Alumni networks are a great idea @MWolf! Along those lines what I also did was looked at the local college websites for off campus housing (as well as on campus student summer housing). So, for example, if you have an internship in DC, you can look at the DC universities’ web sites to see if they rent dorms rooms to visiting summer students, plus see if you can get access to their off-campus housing listings that will typically show summer sublet listings. I felt more comfortable doing this than seeking random sublets through Craig’s List, which one could also do as well obviously.
And as luck would have it, my own alma mater had off-campus housing listings on its housing website, but access was restricted to students and alums. So, I was able to get access to these listings as an alum. If good fortune puts your kid in an internship near your alma mater, maybe this would be an option.
And finally, if you google search “summer internship housing” or something similar and the name of the city and state of the internship, you may find special companies that provide summer student internship housing. I found such a company in DC, though the name of it escapes me now.
Lastly, the airbnb idea could be very economical if your student can find someone renting a room or maybe a basement apartment, which would be cheaper than renting the entire house or entire apartment. It all depends on your student’s comfort level and feelings about safety issues with living with a stranger and/or living in someone’s basement apartment, etc.
I have looked into Airbnb in case DD gets the internship 50 miles away. It’s in a rural area, so there’s just one possibility, a basement apartment with a retired lady upstairs. If she gets it, we might see what she would charge for the month of July at least. But there’s also a strong possibility she can carpool and just live at home.
A similar job actually came up in our town, but it doesn’t seem quite as geared to her interests so I haven’t pushed her to apply yet. If she doesn’t get her first choice, maybe I can get her to check on it.
Thanks for the ideas about summer housing for internships. I’m hoping S19 will be home this summer although we haven’t had much time to talk about anything lately. Fortunately the pledge period is over and they finally got initiated Sunday night. I’m pretty annoyed by the whole thing, especially the last week - the sleep deprivation was really mean. I’m guessing his health and his grades took a hit, but he says it’s all good. Oh well, I’m glad he got through it and is ok - he and friends will definitely be glad to relax a little soon, as spring break starts this Friday.
@elena13 I’m stressing a little bit about a job for S this summer. He’s on LinkedIn now and finding some things but most deadlines are March 1 and I think most want sophomores or juniors. I hope he can find time to show interest for at least a few.
I hope your S can get back in the swing of things now that initiation is over!
@homerdog thanks! I think there are a good number of freshman who end up with internships or research jobs after the first year, but so many don’t and it’s fine. I definitely don’t think it’s something for kids to be stressed about this early in their college career and you’re right that many positions aren’t open to freshman. Guess it’s still good to try for a few!
@elena13 I would be a bit frustrated with the fraternity rush period, too. Not sure why people don’t get that sleep deprivation is a health issue (physical and mental). Also a safety issue. Glad it’s over and they get a break! I was Greek in college, and I have to say that those bonds have really lasted. We were together in October for our 25th reunion! I went running with one of my sorority sisters just like we used to in school, and it felt like no time had passed. Very special.
As far as summer goes, D19 will be doing a 5 week study abroad program starting when school ends, but after that, she’ll be home. Yay! She has a part time job and she’ll be helping me and D21 with a volunteer project. She’ll go back to school early to lead the freshman adventure trips. I would love it if she wanted to do the same thing sophomore summer.
