<p>The 4th here was a bit anticlimactic because of the storm. ShawSon is living with us this summer before he heads to the West Coast for grad school. It is great when he is around. ShawD came out for Sunday (I picked her up and dropped her off) for dinner with a cousin who is having surgery this week for cancer. It is great to hear how much ShawD has already learned medically and she was able to answer questions and offer perspectives. Great to see her, though she is a little tired after the summer term. I showed her a USNWR article on the 25 best jobs for 2014. Number 4 was Nurse Practitioner, for which the unemployment rate was 0.9%. She isn’t finding switching from her current job as a CNA at one hospital to another closer hospital easy, so she was pleased to see that she will be in great demand in two years.</p>
<p>Shaw - I have a number of friends whose kids have just graduated from nursing/NP programs. Jobs abound but not in Boston. One group moved to Nashville and another to Austin. I understand that the economy has forced many nurses that would have retired to stay on longer but in a few years there will be stronger demand in Boston.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose daughter attended UVM as a sociology major. in her sophomore year, she decided she wanted to be a nurse, but UVM doesn’t allow a transfer into its nursing school. So, she took science courses necessary and then did the NYU 18-month post-bac nursing program. She graduated december '12, then studied and passed the license exam, and also looked for a job. Within a few months, she got exactly what she wanted: a position in pediatric cancer, and at a leading hospital, Columbia’s children’s hospital. I asked her mom this morning, after reading posts above, how the job market is in NYC for nursing, & she thought it’s still pretty good. So maybe, shaw, your daughter could take a couple of years exploring another city while she gets in her first post-college job experience, and then return to Boston afterward.</p>
<p>Thanks, @momofboston and @RenaissanceMom. Too bad if she has to move. We purchased a nice condo, in which she is now living, that would also be great for a young NP. Not fancy but walking distance to the Longwood Medical Area. </p>
<p>But good to know that she may have to move, at least for a while. She’s talked with me about Boulder as a place she might like to live as it is a very good market for a more holistic approach to medical care. She’s also heard that Santa Fe/Albuquerque is good for that. But she doesn’t know anyone really in either place. </p>
<p>Both D’11 and S’16 are in Colorado at a national youth conference through our church. D is there as an adult floating advisor to keep the adult/participant ratio in balance and S is there as a participant. D flew in yesterday and S is riding a bus that is almost there. S was so excited! He is not quite at the conference center yet, he did make sure to tell me when they crossed from Kansas to Colorado, and then to tell me when there was two hours of riding left.</p>
<p>D has had lung issues that in some people make flying inadvisable. Her doctor has cleared her to fly, but she knows to make a nervous mom a little less nervous and always calls when she lands to tell me all is well. When she called yesterday she told me that she has a job lined up for next summer after her college graduation, and then another job lined up for 10 months or a year, starting in September of 2015. That job could probably be extended if need be, but her plan is to be accepted into medical school for the fall of 2016. She knew two years ago that she wanted a gap year before med school.</p>
<p>Now, if she can just do well on the MCAT in August, nerves about next summer (and med school application season) will be settled even more.</p>
<p>Bajamm–good luck to your DD on MCAT’s. DS didn’t have an option for a gap year, so he had to take them last September. That’s after taking two physic classes with lab over the summer. He did well on the MCAT but wishes he’d had more time to study to get those extra few points that would have pushed him into the “competitive everywhere” range. I know he will do fine and get into medical school, but he worries over everything. He’s doing secondary applications right now–it’s a busy time! Then he will be interviewing (hopefully) during the fall semester at school, so he will be missing classes for interviews. Her plan will be much more manageable!</p>
<p>Hello everyone! I STILL am not used to our thread being on this page, but I guess we would be on page 20 or more if we were still mashed in with the regular Cafe page.</p>
<p>My rising senior (!) is having a great summer. Lots of his friends stayed in his college town for the summer so there are people to do things with all the time. He likes his job - second year at the same place, but with a raise. He spent the weekend in Montreal with some college friends who are attending his colleges summer program. They have a campus up there. He’ll be going to a hackers conference next month in Las Vegas, which he’s looking forward to. So glad he found his people in Vermont even if we miss him here in PA.</p>
<p>Congrats to mamabear’s Son for the job offer - way to go!!</p>
<p>Another life milestone – my son (the one who will be a senior in college next year) applied and was approved for a credit card. 
</p>
<p>Sounds like great progress on all fronts. And getting a credit card is not so easy, so nice milestone. I was able to arrange cards in both kids’ names (their credit record and not mine) but the brokerage firm did it because I was a patron. </p>
<p>I had DS1 and DS2 both on authorized user cards on an account in my name which I never use anymore. Pretty much only DS1 uses it (except when DS2 was in Israel – thankfully last summer and not this summer!) but as DS2 starts to order stuff for school, I want them not both on the same card (and needing to sort out whose charges are whose) so I nagged DS1 to apply for a student credit card while he’s employed for the summer. He makes good money during the summers, so I figured he’d get approved (and he did).</p>
<p>My DD kept getting Discover card applications…we told her to go ahead and get one so she can start establishing credit. She uses it to buy food and we pay for it.</p>
<p>I have both kids as authorized users on one of my cards. But D does have a credit card through her credit union and also got a discover card last year. It’s useful for her to build up a credit history.</p>
<p>They can build credit history with cards on parents’ accounts. That is all my S has ever had. He did pay rent for 2 years in college which may have helped, but when applying for an apartment this week he was told he had a 782 credit score! I was shocked.</p>
<p>Can not believe it has been three years already. I never thought I get through the first 6 weeks. Now I don’t even mind that dd is off to college all summer working a school job and working on her senior project. </p>
<p>Still hard for me to believe she is going to be finishing up this December instead of May. Glad not to pay the extra tuition. Not sure why they time has gone so fast. </p>
<p>We’re taking a lovely family vacation in Croatia and I’m having fun with ShawD, who is also graduating in December @momof3greatgirls. </p>
<p>She’s decided to complete her MSN ASAP (the next 1.5 years. She is a delightful kid who goes down some very funny exploratory paths and then makes good decisions. She was looking at positions in the State Dept for Nurse Practitioners, but you need a couple of years experience to qualify. She then started looking at military positions because she’d heard that the military will pay for the NP training and the she could have her 2 years experience. However, she is as far from military in personality as anyone I know. She went to yoga camp, meditates, did serious modern dance performance, dresses very well, couldn’t run a mile if she tried (though her core is unbelievably strong).</p>
<p>^^ Shaw - The military may pay for the additional school/training but they want it back in additional service time.</p>
<p>DejaVu - it’s like the fall of 2010 all over again. The college mailings have stated to arrive again for S. This time it is the law school mailers and postcards. He is registered for the LSAT this fall and the mailing list game continues! More to recycle.</p>
<p>D headed back to school yesterday after a week at home. We were all thinking about the first year drop off and how different that was from yesterday. We just dropped her off at the airport (as opposed to all of us driving down and settling her in the first year). She was very comfortable, very excited to be going back. Lots of anticipation for this final year - very confident. It’s so nice to see her like this! She has an awful sophomore year (in terms of social life) and dreaded going back, junior year was kind of ok, but she’s really excited about this year.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that she is looking at this year positively, @arisamp. </p>
<p>ShawD finished her summer term on the 4 August, spent 10 days on vacation with us, worked 3 overnight shifts, and is heading to an unused house in Sanibel for almost a week. She hasn’t had a real summer break since college started. </p>
<p>I just dropped off my new freshman today. Tomorrow we will send S11/15 back – it’s definitely amazing to reflect back on how much they’ve grown over the past 3 year. </p>