I am happy to hear she made a focused decision based on her near-term life goals!
One of my mother’s best friends was a principal. Her daughter was a brilliant student and a brilliant dancer. She was determined to pursue a career as a dancer, which bothered her mother to no end. The woman asked me a couple of times what would I recommend - which as weird at the time because years earlier she had been my middle school asst principal. Eventually, the mother allowed the daughter to attend a “lesser” university in a dance-friendly major in a major city. The daughter ended up dancing with a well known dance company for years, and eventually opened her own dance company. She’s been successful enough and has had the happiest life.
This really is the only time she’ll have to pursue a career as physically demanding as dancing. I’m glad she has you to support her decision.
Wonderful update! One of the silver linings of covid seems to be (for some) clarity around goals and the many, many ways to get there. There is a less of a prescribed path. Congrats to your daughter on finding a path that works for her!
Have any other 2020 families been hit with letter/packets from schools applied to a year ago that are trying to convince your student to transfer?
We may be getting more than normal because S20 applied to more schools than most. Some schools are offering to match or exceed the FinAid offered a year ago, and offering a seamless quick&easy transfer process.
Thankfully, S20 is more at home at his current school that he’s not thinking about transferring unless it was a combination of a homerun school and a knockout FinAid package. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about trying to help him through a transfer. Right now, all he’s concerned about are his spring classes, and which class(es) he’ll take in summer school to keep ahead.
Yes, my daughter gets those from from schools- even my D19 got some this year! What takes the cake is a school that my daughter pulled her app from last year- she decided not to apply- simply rolled the app over to this year without even asking. She got a notice that her app was complete and under review and was like wha? Ha.
Just thought I’d pop in and say Happy St. Patrick’s Day along with a quick update on my twins D20 and S20’s first year thus far…what a tumultuous first year for everyone.
D20 doing well at University of Mary Washington after a few bumps in the road (bad roommate first 2 wks, but then found great roommate and group of friends). It’s been difficult with Covid restrictions (UMW is ultra strict) but D20 has made the best of it and has not wanted to come home on weekends even though we are about 1 hr away (and even though her boyfriend still lives near us)…which says a lot. She hasn’t changed her mind about majoring in Elementary Education. Her only complaint is on campus dining quality and quantity of options but loves being in Fredericksburg - very walkable to downtown shops and restaurants. She hopes to be in campus apartments next fall so she can have a full kitchen and not as dependent on campus dining. Of course she is hoping to have her car with her…still thinking on that one.
S20…well…the bumps in his road required a DETOUR which hopefully will work out in the end. As a soccer athlete he was ecstatic to be recruited to play soccer at Virginia Military Institute - his uncle’s alma mater. VMI is tough even without Covid…and as an athlete, the rigorous “ratline” was a breeze for S20. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons it just never clicked for him – during the extended long winter break he heard stories from all of his HS friends and his twin sister about “regular” college experiences. On top of that he didn’t make it into Comp Sci major (VMI requires you select upon admission - he was a late admission due to being soccer recruit so no spots left) and they put him in Engineering which he didn’t want. Long story short, he is now completing his freshman spring semester at NoVa Community College with plans to transfer to Old Dominion University’s School of Cybersecurity where he plans to get a BS in Cybersecurity. ODU is the complete opposite of VMI and hopefully S20 will do well - I at least look forward to visiting him often as ODU is about 20 minutes away from Va. Beach!!
Hi everyone, I’m popping back in after being off of CC for nearly a year (and a bit confused by yet another new layout). Came back because my youngest S22 is getting to ‘that’ stage now but I’ll give you an update on D20. She’s at Reed which has been a great fit for her aside of course from the totally abnormal circumstances that everyone is facing this year. She loves her classes. Socially it seems pretty isolating but she’s a total introvert anyway and seems happy enough with online meetups.
Nice update, @scoutmom2002. Paths to success aren’t always straight. Glad to hear your twins are finding their way.
@washugrad, my D thought she was an introvert until the pandemic forced her online. She did meet some fellow UCLA freshmen and socializes with them via zoom. But now that the weather is getting a little warmer she’s finally wanting to meet up with local friends at the beach or park.
Thanks for the update @scoutmom2002 and @washugrad. I think the kids are definitely finding their own ways this year. My daughter switched universities after one semester as well and she’s thriving even though she’s doing all online classes. She’s working part time and joined a sorority so that she can be included in some type of campus activity. She has signed a lease with a couple of her sorority sisters for next year and looking forward to the move.
Here’s my mid-semester update. D20 arrived home last night for a visit after 11 weeks away. She has transitioned to life at school so well, and this is the kid who never transitioned to anything (summer camp, new school year, and so on) easily. She is still super happy in Boston, has managed to make a number of friends in addition to her four roommates and has just…blossomed…entirely.
She said that before she moved up there, she was having doubts as to whether or not she should have chosen a more traditional, suburban campus experience, but now cannot imagine not being in the city, and feels that wherever she decides to study abroad, she is confident she’ll be able to adapt to life in a new city once again. This is such a transformation for her. She is so happy and confident - I kept tearing up listening to her talk.
She is planning to live on campus in the fall and will go random for a roommate, as she feels good about her core group of friends and wants the opportunity to expand it and meet others. She plans to remain in Boston for a few extra weeks after classes end (her lease runs until 8/31), but will return here by mid-June. I have a feeling this might be the only summer she spends with us, so I’m relieved to have it to look forward to.
Final words - she spoke about how all of the disappointment and loneliness of fall semester (spent at home) was 100% worth it for what it led to (decision to find a random group to move off-campus with), and that if she had been on campus in fall, in a single dorm room with grab and go dining and all of the necessary precautions in place, she feels it would have been a miserable and isolating experience and soured her on her school entirely. I’m not one of those people who believes that things happen for a reason, but I am one that believes there is meaning/lessons to be found in almost everything that happens (especially the disappointments), and this certainly fits that narrative.
Well, one thing that is dependable in life is that things/plans change. Ha. I know I posted not too long ago that my daughter decided to give up her admission and scholarship to Goucher in order to stay at her ballet company another year (and planned to attend a CC at the same time).
Then she was accepted fairly out of the blue to what had been her #1 choice last year, LMU. I say out of the blue because she applied as a transfer in august and didn’t hear a peep until the other night. She had assumed it was a no awhile back and mostly forgotten she’d even applied.
Since it was an acceptance to her dream school, after being deferred/waitlisted/rejected last year, she is now rethinking her plans yet again, and I don’t blame her. Like I told her, community college and her tiny company (where 8 of the 10 paid dancers- she’s unpaid- are dance major college graduates) will be there I either when she graduates or if she decides it isn’t for her after trying… but this could be her one shot to go to college and major in dance in SoCal. In terms of what could lead to regret later, it seems like a no brainer to me. She’s given herself until Monday to decide, but is already 80/20 towards going.
Look carefully at the financial aid package from LMU and the requirements she needs to meet to keep it. Are you receiving more aid this year because you have another student in college? I know a couple of families who were wooed by the 1st year aid at LMU but then stuck paying full tuition (or close to it) when the aid disappeared their second year.
oh wow! I love all these twists and turns. When better to experience them than when you’re young and life is still full of all possibilities. Congratulations to her!
Just hopped onto CC after a year and thought I’d give an update on D20. She had chosen last spring to attend Duke Kunshan University just outside of Shanghai, China. Due to COVID, she is doing her freshman year virtually and not enjoying it. She doesn’t want to transfer, she just really, really wants to go to China and the University has had no luck to date getting the approvals from their province to start the visa process. It upset her when NYU-Shanghai students got to return (but they were in a different province) and she has friends in Int’l business programs here in the States who are planning on doing their sophomore year in Hong Kong and she is still having to plan on a virtual first semester for sophomore year. I understand her frustration. She is debating on taking a LOA but it would have to be for the full year and she has no idea what she would do if not in college. Classes are at odd times (with one of her labs from 2-5am in the morning) which does not help. She used to LOVE math but after a rough class first semester, she never wants to take another math class. So she feels everything is up in the air. On a good note, other than the math class, she’s done well in her classes and is on the board of one of the clubs and I think she’s in another club as well. She’s been tutoring elementary and middle school kids in Chinese and coaches at her old gym to earn a little extra money which we are saving to help reduce future loans. She’ll continue coaching this summer as well as shadowing a physical therapist. Our fingers are crossed that there will be some movement on the visa front very soon. She is fully vaccinated and hoping that at least the students who can prove they are vaccinated will be allowed to go to campus. However, in order to make it there by start of the fall semester, the province would have to begin approval process no later than 5/15. I just try to support her with everything but it is hard.
It’s very impressive that your daughter continues to do well in this very challenging environment, virtual school is enough of a challenge, to add a huge time difference multiples the difficulties. I am sorry to hear of her poor experience in her math class, perhaps once the schools are able to resume in person attendance, she will be able to regain her love of mathematics.
I keep on trying to remind myself that as hard as this year has been, it has also taught/strengthened our children’s resiliency. My daughter had been accepted to a study abroad for next year and then found out that home stays were completely cancelled, private apartments for each student would be the set up. Since she was going in large part to strengthen her Arabic, she decided to postpone her study abroad until home stays would once more be allowed (lucky enough to be able to do this and her acceptance was pushed forward a year by the program), but it also meant figuring out a completely different plan for the upcoming year.
Hope everyone else continues to stay healthy and is able to finish this year strong!
This seems to be one of the quieter threads on CC…I blame Covid and the disruption it brought to all things college-related right when our kids were midway through the admissions cycle. Anyway, just wanted to send best wishes to all of the HS class of 2020 kids who are heading off to school for the first time this semester! My D20 was remote all last year (albeit, from an off-campus apartment in a new city with new friends for spring semester). She gets her first dorm experience this week when we move her in. Keeping fingers crossed it can be closer to a normal experience than what she’s had so far.
We just moved my daughter on Saturday to her first off campus apartment in Charlotte. Unfortunately, no college on campus experience. But she is living with a couple sorority sisters and will hopefully spend a lot of time on campus at UNC Charlotte. Hoping all of our HS kids of 2020 get to have an actual experience this year.
I took my son back to school on Friday. They were on-campus in 2020-21 for his freshman year, though half the classes were virtual. So, he got to experience his first year on campus, even if many campus activities were canceled or limited.
The administration says over 70% of students and 80% of employees are now vaxxed, the dashboard is status Green, and there’s one active new case since students returned. Most of his classes are scheduled to be in person, he loves his new dorm pod, loves his roommates, and is almost too happy to be back on campus. He’s a sophomore, but he’s totally in his world.
I just hope college transition goes half as this easy with D24 as it did with S20.
