Parents of the HS Class of 2009

[woody]

Ooooh, now I have 4 threads to check: '09 and '13 parents of... for me and S's college and D's college for them! No time for work!!

[TheAnalyst]

ksabbo, you are going to have fun next year!

I am the mother of two boys. The 21 year old is a third year systems engineering student at UVA, who will be leaving for Brazil on June 27th to return after Christmas. He spent both of the last two summers abroad, so hasn't spent much time at home since he first left as a freshman. But, we go to see him, he emails alot, and phones a fair amount. He is such a night-owl, I'm fine with that arrangement.

The 18 year old is going to West Virginia University in the fall to major in biometric systems engineering. He is under orders that he must come home for Thanksgiving--already trying to get out of it since S1 won't be home. WVU is 5-6 hour drive so won't be as easy to pop in but H plans to go to a fair number of the football games anyway and the way the two of them are glued to the NBA games I wouldn't be surprised if H is there for a lot of basketball too.

[ksabbo]

TheAnalyst: WVU is a popular destination for the small college bound group of students at our high school. I see you're in VA. Do you still get in-state tuition? I know WVU's policy with some neighboring states was quite generous. Lots of WVU flags flying in some of our local neighborhoods

[TheAnalyst]

We do get in-state tuition based on his major, which is part of the academic common market. WVU is also very generous with merit aid, which is calculated automatically based on GPA and SAT so you know exactly what you will get prior to applying. Our son has a Mountaineer Scholarship, which is good for four years. No essay, no recommendations, no list of ECs. The application basically consists of your name and address. School sends transcript, college board sends SAT scores, and college sends acceptance letter. They accept about 90% of applicants. That process was very appealing to our son, needless to say.

However, beyond that we have loved everything about the school from the first visit to the weekly emails we get from the dean of freshman engineering. The school is just a breath of fresh air.

[DizziMom]

JerseyShoreMom - "I told D if she overspends on dinners out or luxury purchases the first few months in college, I won't buy her a ticket home for Thanksgiving"

^ I LIKE THAT THOUGHT. Wish Spirit Air flew to Nashville.

I'm mom of two. S1 on his way to Vanderbilt and D1 (or do I say D2 for second child?) is a sophomore (hs class 2011). Since she's been 8 she has wanted to go to UCLA. BUT, when S1 got accepted to UCSD, the $$ we were to pay for OOS was almost 100% so I am trying to gently tell her that she needs to think of a few other options. OR start getting scholarships now..... oh, two more years of this..... crying out of sadness and crying out of frustration. GLAD to be a part of this wonderful group! ::Cheers/clink/clink:: < finishing what was left over from the cinco de mayo party in '09 thread

[TheAnalyst]

I would love to have a cc reunion of this group some day. My H accuses me of essentially having one of those Internet "affairs" because I am so addicted to this site. Even though I assure him the vast majority of posters are women, that perhaps makes it even worse!

Anyway, H got the offer letter for the new position signed, sealed and delivered today. 25% cut in pay, not so good; any job at all, priceless.

[HarrietMWelsch]

TheAnalyst, that's *such* good news about your H's job!

[#theorymom]

Analyst
Priceless is right. Is it possible to be both happy for you and sad for you at the same time?

[TheAnalyst]

Harriet, thank you so much. From here on out, I promise to stay on point with college related discussions only. I just felt too exposed to start unique threads, but at the same time I am such a rule-oriented person, the guilt of going off topic kills me.

[cpeltz]

Oh, Analyst, I am sooo happy for you and your H. Obviously, we all work for money and a 25% cut isn't great, but for men in particular, their career and success there is such a big part of who they are and how they feel about themselves.

#TM, I'm happy RPI came through, but can feel your stress over more decisions from here. BTW, our S's are cut from the same cloth - mine thinks top sheets are useless. Here's hoping your S decides RPI is the right choice after all.

[woody]

It's ALL good, Analyst. For many people, if there wasn't a job, college would be out the window as well!! Congrats on the good news!

[shawbridge]

Wow, I'm impressed. 101 posts already.

I use tablet PC's as they are valuable for what I do, but I have gotten my family Macs. What I've found is that you can get pretty good deals on used Macs on Craigslist or Ebay, especially the last model after the latest and greatest has just come out. The market seems to underprice software, RAM and HD memory, so we've gotten really good deals on Macs with lots of RAM, HD and software.

I may have to get a PC for my son, because I've discovered that one can combine two software packages he uses (Dragon Naturally Speaking, and Kurzweil) so that they work together but have been told that this combination works better on a PC than on a Mac, even though we have Windows on his Mac.

My son thinks top sheets, bottom sheets, and extra pairs of pants and shoes are unnecessary. Also, cleaning up and laundry.

[lindz126]

congrats TA-pretty impressive that your H was able to land a new position so fast---he must be pretty marketable. (perhaps things will pick up w the economy and he'll receive a salary increase in the near future)

I too am addicted to cc -- having two kids one yr apart in school has had me on here continuously. I find simply being logged on here actually helps me deal with my emotions about my kids' leaving--not simply by talking about it, (that too of course) but by being immersed in something that is about them--keeps us indirectly attached somehow. like soon after my son left for college last year, when I really missed him I'd either come on here or go shopping for care package items to send him. yep, if I walked past his empty room and felt pangs, I'd go off to Target to get goodies, and ridiculous must haves...he enjoyed it, and it gave him a reason to call too...

[TheAnalyst]

I will be interested to see what happens to S2 with laundry when he goes off to college. For years, we had live-ins who did everything for the boys. Then they got too old for that, both H and I were working and the boys did everything for themselves from cooking to laundry. Then I quit my job and starting cooking and doing laundry, largely because I find it soothing and liked pretending to be a traditional housewife (never really get credit for that role here.) I recently started working part-time from home but still cook and do laundry.

My son generates the most laundry of anybody I have ever seen in my life. He wears at least six shirts a day because he wears two at a time and sweats them out constantly playing basketball and working out. I know he is capable of doing laundry because he did it for several years on his own, but I don't think he went through quite the volume of clothes before. He doesn't care about sheets, but his shirts and workout clothes are just drippy every few hours. Since I know he can do it, I will keep doing his laundry for him until he leaves. He will probably need 5 or 6 machines at a time several times a week plus a drying rack for his clothes. He is a fabulous cook--much more creative than S1 and at one point I thought he might become a chef, so I don't have to worry there.

[TheAnalyst]

lindz, the placement officer told H that the bank let 500 people go in this round of cuts and has reportedly placed 60% back within the firm, with a goal of placing 75%. I guess if you rehire everybody at a 25% cut in salary it's a great way to save money for the firm. But, I have no complaints. Everybody is doing what they can to survive in this economy. I hope we set a good example for our boys. If you have to wait tables or pick up garbage, a job is a job and you should be happy for the employment. If you can get a better job down the road, that's great. But you always start from where you're at, not from where you wish you were at.