<p>Hi CC posters,
Hard to believe that many of us have been around this site for almost 10 years. Speaks to the sustainability of CC!! While I have a daughter who is currently a junior in college, I don’t visit this site much anymore.</p>
<p>However, many of the posters on this site helped us through the college process for both kids. It seems like we were more active on CC with our first child who graduated from college 5 years ago!</p>
<p>I thought it would be fun to catch up with some of the posters who helped us through the trials and tribulations of picking that “perfect” college so many years ago. </p>
<p>Needless to say, our son chose a path that was not what we expected. He joined the army after college and served four years as an officer traveling around the world (including Iraq.) He lived all over the country and ended his military career as a Captain last July. He landed a great job in the business world, and just closed on his first house in a vibrant southern city - only 1150 miles from home. (Think Country Music- Didn’t see that one coming!) He will be getting his Executive MBA at no cost - thanks to his company and Uncle Sam. (Yay!)</p>
<p>Big Surprise. He got engaged to a woman on New Year’s Eve, and will be getting married in the summer of 2014! (His fiance grew up about 5 miles from home.)</p>
<p>Bottom Line: He is happy. We are thrilled.</p>
<p>Love to hear what some of his virtual friends from the Class of 2008 are doing!</p>
<p>S1 is a member of the college class of 2008 and is looking forward to going to his college reunion. He’s been a grad student (getting his Phd) since he graduated, and is hoping to have that degree by June 2014. He doesn’t really have any idea where he’ll end up after that. He and his gf have been together for over 3 years and, at this point, she’s planning to follow him wherever he ends up after he gets his degree.</p>
<p>Not quite but almost. S1 graduated h.s. in 2005 and college in 2009. </p>
<p>S1 did NROTC in college. He commissioned into the Navy the day before college graduation (May '09). He’s just about to finish his four year commitment to the Navy and has signed on to extend two more years. He is an EOD Spec.Ops officer, currently deployed to Bahrain and looking forward to returning to the U.S. in June. He has bought a house one block from the beach in his military town and and a restored 1974 Bronco for beach cruising… seems to be pretty happy w/ his situation. Still keeps in touch w/ all his best buds fr. h.s. and college. His college roommate/best friend (also Navy SpecOps) rents a room in S1’s beach house.</p>
<p>S1 doesn’t have a serious gf. and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get one. His type of job is not very conducive to a relationship so doesn’t want to jump into something he’ll regret. Says EOD stands for Every One’s Divorced. It really stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal:)</p>
<p>I keep thinking I should stop visiting CC, since my kids both graduated from college in 2007. And yet, somehow, I’m still here. Old habits die hard, apparently.</p>
<p>My daughter has a growing wedding photography business in San Francisco (her rates are very reasonable, if you need a photographer, send me a PM and I’ll send you a link); my son just started a very cool company. I think my kids are amazing.</p>
<p>1sokkermom,
I remember you (and the other old-timers here) well. My son #1 is college class of 2007, so he’s really old. Like your son, 1 sokkermom, our son took quite the detour. He went straight from college into a Ph.D. program, planning to eventually become a college professor. He wanted to do that for as long as I could remember. After 5 years in the program, a standard amount of time, his dissertation was approved and…he quit the program without beginning to write it. A very long story about a dysfunctional dissertation committee. He moved back to the East Coast with his girlfriend who is finishing up her first year in law school. He is now working as a financial journalist. He seems quite content, and so are we.</p>
<p>I have two more who are juniors in college. They are headed in completely different directions than their older brother and each other. :)</p>
<p>S “walked” in 2009 but due to an administrative error didn’t actually receive his degree until a year and a half later. Didn’t use CC for this kid; given his prior academic performance I was delighted that he completed college at all! He has been working in his field (live audio production) since high school, and has put together a life he’s happy with…I’d like more stability, fewer road trips, and better insurance coverage.</p>
<p>D2 (HS '08, college '12) introduced me to CC - she also introduced me to the Duggar family, Jon and Kate plus 8 and various other things that have ended up filling many more hours than they should have. But she’s a really independent person, and I didn’t really “use” CC for her college search, although I have participated on a number of threads relating to her school and interests. She’s pursuing her dream of living independently in New York, along with a nice circle of friends, and struggling to move up from a relatively low level position in her field to something more creative.</p>
<p>D3 is now a junior in college and it is her journey that has been the central focus of my own CC experiences. The wonderful folks in the Music Majors forum guided us through the process.</p>
<p>count me in too! the worm had 2 years between graduation and grad school, with awful job, refocusing, research tech position, etc. lots of problems in grad school, now taking 3 months off to work for Google (long-term g/f in LA area). Holding my breadth that he will finish PhD t MIT,tho has 3 years of NSf funding left. life is curvy.</p>
<p>Great to hear from some familiar posters! keep them coming. The post college journeys are very interesting.</p>
<p>(It is funny how my D who is a junior in college is very different than her brother in many ways. However, as they get older they seem to be getting much closer. In fact, she LOVES country music and will be graduating next year with a BSN in nurisng. Nashville might be a great place for her to start her career too. Who knows? Big brother has offered to let her stay with him if she can land a job there next year. Seems like Nashville is a great place for health care opportunities. S’s fiance is in the health care field, and just accepted job at Vanderbilt Medical Center.)</p>
<p>P.S. I didn’t know how to change the title of original post.</p>
<p>I lurked during my son’s college years and officially joined CC just as he was about to graduate in 2008 (when his younger siblings were beginning the college search).</p>
<p>After graduation, he spent a year teaching English abroad, then a year teaching grade school in the Midwest. After that it was off to graduate school, where he earned a masters in Theology and is now working on his PhD and preparing for an extended trip to Asia. No steady girlfriend—living overseas and then in three different states over the past five years has not been conducive to maintaining a long-term relationship.</p>
<p>Hi 1sokkermom and everyone!! Wonder if it would be helpful to merge these 2 threads? I would love to keep our discussion going. I wish we’d had a “class of…” thread when we were going through this , like the newer parents have.</p>
<p>My older one is living in a 16th Century palace in Venice:</p>
<p>[Fondazione</a> Giorgio Cini Onlus | Il sito della Fondazione Giorgio Cini. L’offerta culturale, gli eventi, le biblioteche, le visite guidate.](<a href=“http://www.cini.it/]Fondazione”>http://www.cini.it/)</p>
<p>Class of 2008 daughter: Works in a highly competitive industry that was her major. She is moving up the ladder. She learned that most people, especially women, quit. She’s not quitting. Her first piece of wisdom? NEVER let them see you cry.</p>
<p>Class of 2012: Worked at a PR agency in event planning. Worked major events (jym heard some of the stories) like the Oscars. HATED it. Turned around and interviewed for a major sports team public relations division. Got the job and loves it.</p>
<p>I feel like I fall in the cracks here with Classes of 2007, 2009 and 2011! Class of 2007 S is finishing a joint degree in law and urban planning next month. He worked in California after graduation, got laid off when the real estate markets tanked, went to DC to work in policy and has been in grad school for the past 4 years. Class of 2009 S graduated on time into the disaster that was the job market at that time, had an entertainment industry internship that turned into a very entry level job, left that to take classes he had managed to avoid in college and finished grad school (MA) overseas in 2012. Currently working as an intern (again) in the financial industry and looking for a full-time job. D, Class of 2011, worked jobs and internships in DC and will start law school in the fall. I feel like S1 got out of and then back into school just in time, S2 has borne the burden of the economy in the most significant way and D timed it pretty much just right, given the fact that all 3 graduated with social science degrees from top 15 universities. I’ve come to the conclusion that the launch process is just longer now - by the time I was the age of S1 I had graduated college and law school, married and was pregnant with him. None of mine are even close to that stage of settled!</p>
<p>Good idea, 1sokkermom. I didn’t know about CC when our D was going through the college search process/college years. I found it later for S’s search years and have enjoyed many of the threads here. D graduated in 2008 and began medical school that August. She graduated from medical school in 2012 and is now an exhausted intern. She can’t wait to go back to her undergrad for her five-year-reunion soon. She and her college friends have remained close (even though they are spread from Boston to Dallas to Los Angeles) and will all be together at their beloved college for one fun-filled long weekend.</p>
My son 
Like your son, 1 sokkermom, our son took quite the detour. He went straight from college into a Ph.D. program, planning to eventually become a college professor. He wanted to do that for as long as I could remember. After 5 years in the program, a standard amount of time, his dissertation was approved and…he quit the program without beginning to write it. A very long story about a dysfunctional dissertation committee. He moved back to the East Coast with his girlfriend who is finishing up her first year in law school. He is now working as a financial journalist. He seems quite content, and so are we.</p>