I have the same husband (who I have been married to for 37+ years and love dearly), same job, and live in the same place (overseas in Asia) as I did when I joined CC.
I started lurking without an account starting in the spring of 2014 when my daughter was a junior in high school after Googling about the national merit cut offs that brought me to this website. I lurked more in the fall when she was an applying senior and kept telling my husband different things that I learned to the point that he registered me for an account so that I could not only read but post if I wanted to. I wish I had found this website sooner because we were on the hunt for merit, and my daughter and I would have figured out more about the process faster. But we stumbled on the merit process on our own and it worked out because she did end up getting a competitive full tuition scholarship. Since I don’t do other social media, I found this website helpful for getting information about when decisions were coming out at the schools she applied to.
I’ve had my addicted phases with this website, and I’ve had my “I quit” phases with this website. I come back because I do learn a lot from many who post here. I am cut off from a lot of popular culture in the US, and some of you actually help keep me somewhat more up to date. I’ve made a few PM/email friends with other parents whose college kids attend the same school as my daughter.
My only child is about to graduate from college in May at the top of her class, and has been admitted to three PhD programs (two with fellowships), and has interviews at two others so far. Others are still pending. She is visiting/interviewing at four of these five programs during the next two weeks. The graduate school application process is somewhat different from undergrad. I lurk on Grad Cafe now, and it’s very very quiet compared to CC, not nearly as helpful, though I do like the results page on Grad Cafe though and the ability to search by major or institution for trends in notification timing.
It’s impressive how long some of you have been coming here. But, I totally understand why. Most of the time it’s a pretty positive place. When you hit a thread where people are getting unpleasantly snarky, there are plenty of other threads to move on to.
My very first post resulted in being “corrected” for a spelling error. Luckily a number of other posters told me it was “OK” and made me feel welcome. The critical poster disappeared LOL.
I finally recover my “two cats” CC account which has not been used for years - by guessing my old password correctly. But I still could not find a way to update my long obsolete “sbcglobal.net” email address to my currently-active email address (Is sbcglobal Southern or Southwest Bell, i.e., one of the Baby Bells spinoffs from the Mother Bell/AT&T?)
From my iPhone 6S, somehow I still could not get the recommended recovery method: “trouble in logging in” followed by “contact” to work for me. When I click the contact, it gives me some gibberish error messages that the end user should never see.（including error messages like “no device memory space available and even some valid Linux command like mkdir.)
A shout to the tech support for the CC: this could be a fun afternoon project for you: to get this problem resolved. Also, please provide a way for the CCer to update his/her email address (from an iPhone.) — You could tell that I am a tester now
@oregon101 - I neglected to mention that I, too, used to frequent the gardenweb (thathomesite) forums a decade ago when I was as obsessed with home remodeling as I have become with college applications in the last half dozen years.
@mcat2 Updating email addresses is not longer a self-service option. Email admin@collegeconfidential.com with your username, current email, and the email you want it changed to and he will update.
I joined in March 2011 when our oldest was juggling baseball offers with a desire to be a ChemE. Thanks to Fenwaysouth and others on the athletic recruiting threads, though I never had the courage to post myself.
How life gets in the way of plans. Stress fractures in his back ended his big league dreams along with the scholarship offers. He took a year off, switched colleges, switched from baseball to marching band, switched from engineering to a B-school degree, and now works for a software consulting firm. He did put the home run derby title at the company picnic out of reach for others the past couple of years.
D came along next and all the good info on Honors College helped with her journey. She is in her first year of Peace Corps service, planning for graduate school apps next year.
S2 graduated HS in 2017 and, thanks to the generous sharers on here, had a well-crafted application plan by the beginning of senior year. REA at Notre Dame had him finished in December. He is in his sophomore year, a dual-major in Economics and Data Analytics, happy as a clam, looking for meaningful work for the summer before heading to London next fall.
I will probably stick around at least peripherally, while D looks at grad school and S2 works toward a career. I realize now I need to find some real-life friends and actually do stuff instead of puttering around reading about other people’s lives.
“Email admin@collegeconfidential.com with your username, current email, and the email you want it changed to and he will update.” @skieurope - how are we supposed to know what email address CC currently has?
I dont see it on my profile- the drop down shows only preferences.
I joined when DS was a senior in high school in 2010, but I think I was reading on this site before then. He graduated from the state flagship in 2015, after taking a gap year studying and working in Taiwan. He spent three years working in software development in Silicon Valley, and now has formed his own company to be a digital nomad. He is in the process of moving to Seattle. He is single.
DD graduated from HS in 2013, and I was a very heavy CC reader during her junior and sophomore years. She finished her undergrad in 2017, did a one-year master’s degree in 2018, and just started a job in Silicon Valley two weeks ago. She met her BF while she was doing her master’s degree, and he is wonderful.
We found @Hanna on here for her help. But now, I mostly read Parents caring for parents and the retirement threads and really enjoy the @coralbrook flips. We moved in 2016 to live beside my father, built a home here, and have found new friends in our new community.
I still log in every day. I value the insights of others caring for elderly parents. The first two years of living beside my father were very trying. I probably didn’t sleep through the night at all that first year. But we have settled into a nice routine. Thanks to all who contribute to the Parents caring for parents thread.
I, too, was on the old forum since DD1 was in senior year fall 2001. I read the Class of **** groups for all 3 of mine, participated in the school forums of DD1 and DS schools. I connected more when DD2 was applying - in 2006 and met thumper’s daughter, Carolyn, and mootmom on accepted student trip to CA in spring of 2007. I remember watching the horror at Virginia Tech on a screen in a California school student union. I migrated to the Parent Forum and remember so many moving threads and all the generous posters.
I often think about SunriseEast, latetoschool, interesteddad, and the alcoholic young man - whose name I have forgotten.Their stories, like so many others’, are etched into my heart.
I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet many of you in person, as well.
When I joined, I was a nurse in an ED, had a husband who traveled a bit for work and 3 teenagers. In the interim, all of my children have passed age 30, and together we’ve lived through the deaths of DH’s dad(2003), my mom(2011) and my DH/their father(2012). I have witnessed the weddings of my 2 older children, the cancelling of a wedding of my youngest. I now have a grandson, who arrived this summer with a bit of angst, but is now delightfully on target. I am now exclusively in the Cafe.
@mominva yes indeed you did meet our daughter…as did @mootmom and a handful of others. She gave some CC members private tours of her college…and every single one took her to a nice dinner as a thank you.
@mominva - I think the student poster who died of alcohol poisoning was lucifer11287. So many posters tried to warn him, and he was so cavalier about his ETOH consumption. Xiggi also lost a friend to alcohol poisoning, and lamented about it for many years, warning others of the risk.
While we are strolling down memory lane, who remembers the urban moundbuilders thread? It was Classic. ANd many have mentioned the clam farts thread and the Yale applicant who got in besides that snafu in his essay! Then there were the limericks, the puns, and the enjoyment of the quick, clever wit and banter.
I neglected to update— DH and I will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this year. He has long accepted the fact that when we travel somewhere, there is the likelihood that we will be having coffee with a cc’er.
This is a fun thread.
I lurked before I joined, but It looks like I joined in the fall of 2011, when my oldest was looking for colleges. I think my first post was about the likelihood of my older son getting accepted to Johns Hopkins. He wound up not even applying. We chased merit money a little for him, and he chose another private that was a good fit for him. Younger son was looking for a strong business school in 2014, and we received help from CCers for that decision also. (Special shout out to a CCer from Ohio who since then moved to DC and had a serious stroke or something - maybe momof3boys?). He attended our state flagship. My stepdaughter took a little longer to graduate than planned, so some years we were paying for 3 tuitions at once.
Both of my sons graduated, in 4 years each, and are gainfully employed at this red hot moment. Stepdaughter is working part-time and going to grad school part-time.
I have the same house, the same husband, and work at the same place I did in 2011. We saved enough to pay as we went for college, so kids graduated with no debt. Youngest graduated in May of 2018, and moved out in January. We love our kids, but are enjoying our empty nest.
We will likely pay off our mortgage this spring (thanks to no more big tax break for mortgage interest), and we are seriously thinking about retirement, possibly as soon as 2020. I can retire now, but it would be better for my husband to work at least until next summer, so I’m staying until then also. Big “job” this year is trying to figure out how much our annual expenses really are, after so many years of supporting/helping the kids. Once we figure that out, it will influence our decision about when to retire. I am also considering whether or not we should move as we retire, and if we should plan for just one move, or maybe go to a “fun” place for 5 or so years, and then move again a little later in retirement.
Back in 2007 I found CC by googling Laurence U. vs Beloit College and came upon a thread describing that very dilemma! Carolyn helped me with her comments, and D1 ended up going to Beloit. A few years later I learned that Carolyn’s D and mine were buddies, but I never did meet Carolyn. The other two were done with college decisions by that point, and S was graduating college, but as I was fascinated by the college application process, I had a great time visiting colleges and discovering those who shared that interest on the threads.
At this point my 3 are done with grad school and living interesting, if less than high earning lives. No grandkids, though two are married, one couple in Peace Corps, and D is heading off to another six month paid internship in the field she loves but has not found a job in. My three are among those burdened by debt, as my ex who insisted they not have debt developed dementia and could not honor that promise.
I downsized, have been rehabbing my 1920s little house, and traveling to visit kids in their far flung adventures. I am far too happy with evenings on the couch reading threads on CC as discussion are so informative and worth a laugh. “Imaginary friends” on CC have become real through visits and are a precious part of life.
I joined in Oct. 2014 when DD was applying to colleges. I assumed she would be graduating this year, but life is nothing if not unpredictable. She hated the school she first went to, which had seemed perfect on paper. Came home after a year, started community college, got into a serious car accident, breaking her spine and spent a year recovering and miraculously relearning to walk. She is finishing up community college now and waiting to see if she got accepted to her first choice school to transfer to.
We’ve been in the same house with the same two cats. I had been at the same job for 19 years, but just took a new one two weeks ago, which is taking a lot of adjustment. Still 8 years to go till retirement, which feels both impossibly far and right around the corner.
