<p>Happy New Year! We had a great time celebrating at our friends’ house last night. Most of us have college age kids and this was probably the first time in a long time the kids saw the parents dancing and having a good time. Last year was spent on pins and needles with college apps. </p>
<p>Older S left before New Years to spend it with GF and her family. D’s BF was here to visit. I guess this is how it will be now.</p>
<p>Oldfort, thanks for sharing the details–I’ve passed them on.</p>
<p>Very sorry to hear about the theft, Oldfort. D’s purse was stolen the night before she left for school this fall. The purse was on her seat and she had turned to hug a friend goodbye. Everything but the cash turned up later–the cash and a book that had been a special gift from her mentor. That’s irreplaceable and I’m sure the thief had no use for it.</p>
<p>What expectations do you (and your 2016 kids) have for the summer after freshman year?</p>
<p>I require my kids to work during their time out of school (I expect them to have a healthy nest egg when they graduate, since they won’t have any student loans), but at this early point, I wasn’t thinking of anything like an internship. DS16 is lucky that he already has an ongoing (1+ year) internship at his college with decent pay and many opportunities. He’s developed excellent relationships with people in the CS department, so he’s set.</p>
<p>DD16, OTOH, has been working at Panera, which she enjoys. I think it’s a great job, and she puts in a few hours even while she’s at school (and she’s been loading up on hours during her break). She and I were thinking she’d work at Panera this upcoming summer, and then she’d do something more professional during the summer after sophomore year. </p>
<p>She’s a Crim major at UMD College Park, and there are internship opportunities for upper-level (not freshman) students as the program progresses. For that reason, I wasn’t thinking of anything particularly career-oriented for her to focus on this summer.</p>
<p>But will she be missing the boat? What are your own kids doing? Is she going to be at a disadvantage if she only keeps a “regular” job and nothing more career-oriented?</p>
<p>Old fort, sorry to hear about D’s wallet. My D has “lost” her wallet in Boston, but then a Good Samaritan returned it to MBTA and she got everything back. I think hers just dropped out of her bag onto a seat while she was on the subway. </p>
<p>Tomorrow is the day S grades get posted. I have to wait not only for tomorrow, but for him to tell me instead of me prying and asking him. I can do it I can do it I can do it.</p>
<p>OHM2- The request for a face-to-face meeting is a positive sign. He has to look them in the eye and tell them why this sememster will be different than last.</p>
<p>DD finished Sem 1 with a 3.58 One of the “B’s” she was expecting, came in at a “B+” which scores 3.33 
Nice!</p>
<p>As for working? we never pushed our kids out to work in fast food or retail. DD is volunteering (isn’t that called “interning?”) over J term for 15 hours a week in a professional office atmosphere; I can see the value of networking there over $8.50/hr flipping burgers or folding clothes with high schoolers IMO.</p>
<p>JenPam - I think working a job over the summer is a fine thing for your daughter to do with her time! There’s a whole range of summer activities, from lying on the couch to having a great internship that leads to a job, and everything in between. Working at Panera is definitely fine! My freshman is going to stay on campus and work with a professor, but it isn’t funded (except for his dorm costs), and he’s giving up a $3,000 summer job that he loves to do it. My older S didn’t do a lot first semester - he worked 6 out of 14 weeks as a teaching assistant at his old HS, and then last year he did unfunded research with a prof.</p>
<p>Regarding summer plans, my son is applying for summer abroad in Spain through his college. If accepted he spends 6 weeks in Salamanca and Seville living with a host family and taking two (4 credit) Spanish classes, thus fulfillling his college’s 2 course language requirement. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t get this, he needs to get a job.</p>
<p>When I look at a resume, any work experience is better than none. There is much to be learned to work at a fast food place or a retail store. It’s hard for a first year student to get a professional internship, unless it is through personal referral, so I am usually not that impressed.</p>
<p>JenPam-Working a summer job to make money is a good use of time. I don’t think it needs to be related to her field of study, especially not after freshman year. My S will be working at his manual labor job because he is helping meet our EFC for school. There is some possibility that he may have a small engineering internship, but it would pay only a small stipend. He’d be able to take the internship and still keep his better paying job since he can start quite early in the morning, and the internship is only a few hours a day. </p>
<p>Next summer, he may start to look at finding summer work related to his studies if he doesn’t make it into the summer mission program he’s hoping to do.</p>
<p>On summer jobs-- D will be working this summer, it is just a question of where.</p>
<p>Oldfort- so sorry for your dd’s experience! That just stinks. :(</p>
<p>2016Barnadmom- we also have teen drivers sharing one car. DS will get up and drive DD to school if he wants to use the car for the day. They then figure out if she takes the bus home, he picks her up or what. They have to figure it out, but they both seem to handle it well.</p>
<p>DS will need a job to pay for books and spending money at college. Not sure what he will do if he gets an internship and isn’t able to work. Hmm. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. </p>
<p>DS has a paid internship over break. It has kept him very busy. In addition we were away for 5 days visiting family and we have had two different groups of college friends of DS’s come stay with us while they visit NYC. It has been fun to get to know some of DS’s college friends! In fact, he did not go the New Years Eve party thrown by an old HS friend, instead he went with his college buddies to see the ball drop in NYC. They left the house at 6ish, got to the city by 8:30 pm, jumped tons of police barriers and ended up one block from the ball drop. They were standing with people who had been waiting since 11:30am. My son leads a charmed life! He was back home by 3am, tired, but he has crossed NYC Times Square off his bucket list. I figure if we are the house that always has people staying here so they can see the city, I’m fine with that!</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone!</p>
<p>Re: summer jobs. JenPam, working at Panera is a great place for your D this summer. If she is able, she may want to do a little shadowing in her chosen area of study. That way, she can also be exposed to the different career opps and even internships that may be a available. </p>
<p>D will be returning to her very part time job this summer. It gives her free access to practice her sport. So, the 4-8 hours she will put in weekly will help quite a bit. She has also applied for an internship with a local agency. It is somewhat of a lengthy process. This will not be a paid one but would hopefully lead to one next summer.</p>
<p>JenPam, I think a regular job is a good thing…and it provides spending money for the coming year. Our D is considering an internship, but wants to work in “regular job” as well. It’s possible we can make that happen, but if it comes to a choice, I think it will be the job this year.</p>
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<p>I can’t say I’ve ever weighted minimum wage jobs while working through college, over internship experience, at a any period. However, success has always been (at least) equal parts “who” you know and “what” you know. Personal referrals into professional internships leads to personal referrals into professional jobs. And if properly planned and executed? Will pay huge career dividends long after the 3 grand earned at a minimum wage summer job is spent, if given the choice.</p>
<p>Most don’t have that choice. It’s usually one or the other and you have to the make the best hand out of the cards you’re dealt.</p>
<p>In terms of summer plans. D1 had the best of both worlds last summer working part time at a paid research position in her field and part time as a road manager for a horse show barn, heavy physical labor, long hours and good pay. I think being a working stiff is a very informative experience for a young person.</p>
<p>We told our freshman D2 to go for some theater options this summer. It is not what she wants to do for a career, and by next year she will probably be looking at internships. Her goal is to find something that will not cost anything for living expenses, even if she does not make any savings. Last summer she scooped ice cream, and if she cannot find a performance job she will likely come home and wipe tables.</p>
<p>D1 is abroad most of the summer and hopes to do some serious shadowing when she returns in August - since she will be a senior next year and needs to make some decisions.</p>
<p>My oldest worked in a food factory his freshman summer. It really inspired him to get other jobs and intern-types of jobs his second summer. Now that he’s a junior he’s getting a major-related job (accounting) for this coming summer.</p>
<p>My freshman is going to try for hospital work possibly coupled with summer research. I’m not sure how much will be paid vs volunteer, but it’s all important for future med school opportunities plus just making sure that’s the route he wants to go. Right now he’s looking forward to it.</p>
<p>My youngest (still in high school) might get a job soon. We wanted him to have his Driver’s License first and the teen onset epilepsy gave us a 6 month setback and now his latest car accident (even minor) might set it back a little more. He does still help hubby when hubby has engineering field work.</p>
<p>One of my friends worked in a food factory (Green Giant) for her first two summers of college. It sounded tough, and hellish, and hilarious. Seriously, her experiences gave her stories and gave the rest of US stories for the rest of our lives, lol!</p>
<p>I don’t know if my D will work next summer. A dance trip and then two sessions of coaching at dance camp does not leave a lot of weeks for working. Hmmm. I sense a pattern that’s been there her whole life.</p>
<p>I agree that getting a career-related summer job can be difficult without contacts. W recently changed jobs from hospice chaplain to community educator with our local children’s advocacy center. From dying adults to sexually abused children sounds like ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ to me, but somone has to do it. She offered to help S with an internship (probably volunteer) at the center where he’d be able to observe “the process” from start to finish. It would be a good opportunity for a psychology major, but I think he wants to stay in the Chicago area. Summer school for a summer-only class is a possibility.</p>
<p>I mentioned a while back that seventh-grade D had taken the ACT for Duke TIP purposes. We got her scores and although they haven’t posted this year’s cutoff yet, I think it’s relatively safe based on percentiles to say that another trip to Durham is in the works. To keep the peace in the family, I only told the kids they’d made the same composite. What I didn’t tell was that she’d outscored S in three of four area. I think he was prepared to hear that, though, as he’d already remarked that I honed my coaching skills with him as guinea pig and that his sister would be getting the benefit. :)</p>