<p>S got a call today from the boss he had last summer. He had emailed work before Thanksgiving asking if they could use some help over the holidays. He was working as a maintanance/landscaper helper last summer at a very large apt complex. Emails were traded and I talked to women who manages the property (I know her as a casual acquantance) and she told me they were looking for something for S. Ends up someone forgot to let S know they could use him. So he lost 2 weeks of work but will get a full 2 weeks starting Monday. yea. he really needs the money. He spent some time earlier this week applying for temp positions and then this comes through. So there is some good news wrt S. </p>
<p>We usually go skiing with another family between xmas and new years and celebrate with them playing board games. They have not had the money to go last year or this so we organized a big bowling get together NYE last year. Not sure what we will do this year yet. Many years ago we used to do the First Night thing in Boston, maybe we will do that again, although I would not be upset if it was a casual night at home. I like the questionnaire thing Shaw. Not sure whether we will allow S to go out with friends NYE or not. They are welcome to stay over out house, but I get nervous having S out on the roads with so many drinking. </p>
<p>Nice to read about the good news HH! Congrats to your D.</p>
<p>So now I am ready to tell the grade story. S had very bad grades at midterm & worked very hard to bring them all up & was successful except for 1 lab class. He missed 2 out of 12 labs & got an A on the lab final and ended up with an F in the lab(he had a D at mid-term). This was combined with his B+ in bio to give him a C- in the 4 credit course and he is pre-med,ugh!
How I this possible? One of the labs he missed was equivalent to a test. The syllabus said that there would be a 20 point deduction for an unexcused absence on this lab. Well he emailed both the TA & lab prof about making it up multiple times, met with them both & he still was given no guidance & conflicting info on how to go about making it up. “get the data from a classmate, it’s not a classmates responsibility to give you the data” etc.</p>
<p>There are still emails going back & forth. “what class were you in again, it’s too late to do anything about it”.</p>
<p>As much as he dug this hole himself, gosh they certainly don’t make it easy to get out. It was suggested that he email the Dean of the dept, he is reluctant to do that, but this is such a huge penalty I don’t know what to tell him.</p>
<p>Idinct, was there a reason your S missed the labs, illness, etc? Tell him to keep pushing if there is any hope. It sounds like he is at least putting forth some effort since midterms, more than I can say my S did.</p>
<p>Re: New Year’s. We are recent west coast transplants and some friends - also new to the left coast - invited us to spend the evening and watch the ball drop Eastern time. Yay - party and home by 10:30!</p>
<p>Boychild just called me to tell me his grades (we left it up to him to share or not.) He sounded very very disappointed 1 B+, 1 B, and 2 C+ and then said he knows he has to work much harder. I told him he did just fine, not to fret and that I’m sure he’s capable of working harder.</p>
<p>Idinct, sorry about your son’s lab grade and ensuing difficulty in getting it resolved. I’d chalk it up to lesson’s learned an hopefully he won’t miss anymore labs in the future.</p>
<p>Yes I would normally tell him it was a learning experience but that one grade is the only critical grade of the semester. He brought up all his other grades by 2 or more grades after midterm. Between his scholarship & med/grad school it has put him in a big hole. The only reason I’m not freaking out more is he had some mitigating transfer grades.</p>
<p>He had a challenging first semester, he was sick a couple of times & had to have minor surgery week 1. The biggest issue was pledging since it took up an incredible amount of time. Once that was over he was able to get his grades up.</p>
<p>The main reason we are letting him bring his car second semester is so he can get to the health center to get treatment & a note when he is sick, as you have to have documentation when you are I’ll.</p>
<p>But that said it was a tremendous learning experience and feel that he has a much better idea of what it takes to be successful at college.</p>
<p>Been gone for a long weekend and had lots to catch up on here! Spent the weekend with friends - was a fabulous time. We had rented two suites - one for the adults and one for the “kids”. The kids didn’t really care to be supervised We all spent time together, watching football, playing board games, party games, going on long walks and of course, eating! A good time…</p>
<p>For new years, we usually have friends over. About 7-8 families get together at our place and we come up with food/entertainment ideas to keep everyone awake until the ball drops at midnight. Most of the kids do sleep over and we have pancakes/waffles for breakfast together on the 1st. We’ve been doing this now for over 15 years and they love it! The challenge is coming up with something new to keep the party fresh! Shaw - your idea of a questionnaire does sound interesting - I’ll PM you.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about those who are having issues with grades. It is definitely a learning experience for these kids. D never really “studied” in high school - she got a rude shock on one of her first biology tests. Scared her enough that she worked hard after that - and was able to pull out an A. She did tell me the other day that she was very satisfied, very happy with herself - the work she put in was “so worth it”. Nice to see the maturity emerging. She has been working on a spreadsheet/plan for classes for the next few years…playing around with ideas for a possible double major or an accelerated masters. Very very interesting to listen to her thought process.</p>
<p>Anyone here know anything about communication disorders as a potential major? That’s one of the choices she’s thinking about…</p>
<p>A belated merry Christmas, a still current Happy Hanukkah, and wishing all a wonderful new year.</p>
<p>We’ve been having such a good time with both our boys home for a long winter break. Since they are at the same college (just for this one year until S1 graduates in May), their schedules are aligned making all very simple. My senior is seeing a lot of HS friends, all of whom are suddenly talking about grad school plans, jobs lined up. Whoosh!! It goes by very fast, dear friends.</p>
<p>S2 has been seeing a lot of his HS friends, too, who are in colleges all over the country now. Are your kids coming home with stories about how college choices are turning out? We’re hearing mostly great news with only a few odd roommate or freezing weather anecdotes thrown in, which is delightful. </p>
<p>Hard to keep up around here, but I’m thrilled for all the kids with happy semester grade news. I see S2’s confidence and I must smile! And I send hugs to those dealing with disappointing grades. Sometimes it seems our kids need to be as wise as a forty-year old to make it through college and utilize all the help services, or negotiate with uncooperative bureaucracy. I relate to the wish that they would hurry up and grow up–but they always do in their own time. Here’s to patience and appreciation that not everyone’s road looks the same, yet they mostly do get to a great destination… in time.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, I’m another who would love to see your questionaire. Is it something that you could post here? We’re hosting a small dinner party on NYE. I think this might work into our plans, which include a big dinner, board games, and caffeine to keep us awake until midnight!</p>
<p>madbean, if you use the pulldown menu under my userid (shawbridge), you can send me an email with your email address and then I’ll attach it. It’s a couple of pages formatted. If you PM me, you need to spell out the email address (e.g., madbean at yahoo dot com). Otherwise, CC turns it into asterisks.</p>
<p>We’re wishing our kids realized how much time it takes to do the things they saved up to do at home, particularly the things they’ve saved up at home to do with my help. ShawSon comes home. He’s always lovely but sleeps for the first few days after exams (he’d done a 3 day all-nighter and then slept for one day/night before coming home) and then is entirely focused on getting together w/his friends and puts off stuff like flu shots, going to the bank, picking up prescriptions. ShawD needs to allocate some time to figuring out the what next. She had a wonderful time shadowing a youngish nurse at a Boston hospital and has confirmed her decision to study nursing, but does she withdraw now, take a class or two at a local school and get a nursing related job/internship, or does she stay where she is (knowing that she gets almost no transfer credit from her bio, chemistry or math courses – only from psychology) and working really hard to keep her average up.</p>
<p>Although this is my first post, I have been reading this particular thread for quite awhile. By the number of views, it appears I am not alone. I want to express my thanks to all of you for sharing your stories; they have helped me so often from the beginning of the processs until now. Your experiences are reassuring, heartwarming, difficult, informative and often funny. I am certain my own process with my son, who is in the class of 2015, would have been much harder without you all. From the angst of the process last year, to which supplies to bring, the ache of the empty nest, countdown to return home, and now the first grades, you all have provided much support to those of us in the “watch” (I am trying not to self identify as a lurker.) Happy New Year and a heartfelt thanks!</p>
<p>Welcome BJ1212!! Perhaps we need to come up with a different name for those who follow but don’t post. Lurker may have a creepy connotation, lol. Anyone have ideas here?? So glad you joined us on this side today and please feel free to jump in as often as you like! :)</p>
<p>Coffee’s on y’all so help yourself. Also setting out a maple french toast breakfast casserole that’s been a real hit in our home this holiday season with a hearty side of bacon. It’s all virtual so NO guilt!! :D</p>
<p>I was thinking last night how S has been home almost 2 weeks and it is like he never left for school last August. Funny how we fell back into old routines. He has been very helpful around the house and helping transport my Father around since he has been back. </p>
<p>Shaw sounds like your D has started to plan the next steps, does she know what school she wants to attend for nursing?</p>
<p>Well D is heading back home this am, bringing the holiday to it’s official end. I think we managed to actually have 1 dinner all together this holiday added to Christmas morning brunch, we did ok. She is flying back with her dog who has spent the year with us. I will miss him & I’m sure my dog will too. I’ll be a serious empty nester now.
It was a bittersweet holiday for a lot of reasons, but we did manage to spend some time together as a family since it will probably be next Christmas when all 3 kids will be home together.
S heads back next weekend already & older S is getting ready to move to the UK if he ever gets his paperwork completed.</p>
<p>mamom, she loves her current school and has made friends there so her current first choice is to stay there if she is admitted and people say it is a good program. Her second choice is to stay in Canada – she is a dual citizen and I think she would prefer to stay there. There are six or seven other schools in Ontario that have a common app. But, she hasn’t looked at all elsewhere. I went online and found quite a number of schools in our state, Massachusetts, including the UMass schools. which she can still apply to for next year. On the friends front, she can make friends anywhere anytime so she will not be scared of moving. </p>
<p>However, I have no knowledge of which are thought to be good schools and which not and what implications that has? Better education, better placement, better acceptance rate in grad programs, etc? If you want to be in investment banking or private equity or hedge funds or high-end consulting firms, for example, attending one of the top name schools increases the probability of going down that path. The same is not true, as far as I can tell for med schools, which look predominantly at grades and board scores. So, I’ve posted on the nursing board to see if I can educate myself. I did pick up the fact that there are lots of nursing schools and the total output of BSN degrees will probably exceed the total job supply in the US. The same will not be true in Canada as the government has restricted the class sizes of medical and nursing schools, so her choice to live in Canada might turn out to be a good thing (although as a dual citizen I don’t think she would have any difficulty studying in the US and working in Canada).</p>
<p>Blue - I want that recipe! Sounds really good.</p>
<p>I’ve been mostly out of pocket due to my older brother visiting for a week, and once he goes, younger bro comes out. So between Christmas and New Years I am cooking for 8-10 every night +/- a dog or a toddler. Eesh. </p>
<p>Ds is mainly spending time with sisters or texting, not a whole lotta going out with the friends, although that will be his new years. It’s nice to have him home but I can’t imagine how a longer-than-2-wk-break would be productive. He goes back Tues, classes start Wed. and Thurs. the band travels by bus 12 hrs to their bowl game. Good news is that as far as books go, he only has to get something for 1 class, the rest of the classes continue to use the expensive fall books! I will have to go hunting on threads, but does anyone remember the best options for selling books back? Philosophy - barely touched, needs to go.</p>
<p>Shaw- My neighbor graduated from UMASS-Amherst a couple of years ago with a BSN. Even after working in a Boston hospital in the ER for 2 years while in school she could not get a nursing job, it took her a year to find a job. She told me with the downturn in the economy that many older more experienced nurses were picking up more shifts or returning to work FT locking out the new grads. I have a niece who is gong to another of the MA state schools (Dartmouth??) for nursing, in her third year. It seems to be a rigorous program, but I only know of her experience. Good luck.</p>
<p>AK- I have had good luck selling books on half.com. You can see what others are selling for and price accordingly. At S’s school the class of 2015 has a student FB page and I see some students selling books there, perhaps there is a page like that your S could post the books on. I wish I knew what S needed for books next sememster, with his crap grades I have no idea what he will end up taking, so we may end up having to pay full retail at the bookstore last minute.</p>
<p>AmandaK: S1’s school has an online website where students can list books for sale. It’s nice because there’s no shipping – just meet up with someone on campus to make the delivery. He’s done well selling books that he didn’t want. Our next option was half.com, but we didn’t have to go to that because he got rid of the expensive ones using the campus website. I didn’t bother to list the little paperbacks on half.com because I figured it wouldn’t be worth the hassle. Oh, the other nice thing about using the campus website was that he had to take care of listing the books, collecting payment, and delivering the books. It wasn’t my job!:)</p>
We all spent time together, watching football, playing board games, party games, going on long walks and of course, eating! A good time…</p>