<p>Amtc - does your D’s school have a club she can join? My guy says the class is easier since he’s learned many things through the club first.</p>
<p>Nellie - glad to hear the housing crisis is a non-issue!</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - interesting connection! We don’t have ASL classes at our school, but do have a couple of students who have an interpreter who attends classes with them.</p>
<p>pamayawaa - welcome back. Glad to hear your D is doing well!</p>
<p>Kind of doubt they have a club or she would have mentioned it, plus she’s so busy now with improv, tour guide, studio art, etc. that I wouldn’t want to add more to it. We’ll see how it goes over the summer and then she can determine if she wants to take it “for real.”</p>
<p>She did just tell me that she met with her LD advisor (can’t remember the “official” name) and has decided to apply to have a waiver for the language requirement. She just needs to write a letter to this woman (her LD advisor) explaining why and that begins the process where she then meets with the office team and, given her testing results from high school (her LD test results) she should have no problem having it waived.</p>
<p>She has come so far this year, I am truly, truly amazed! It might have happened at another college or two but I knew right from the start that she was in the right place.</p>
<p>Welcome back, pamayawaa. 
It’s fun to hear of your D’s plans.</p>
<p>My kid may be the only one who has no interest in traveling abroad! LOL</p>
<p>He’s hasn’t strayed from his intended major, math; his advisor is in the math department. He’s still deciding on a possible double major or minor in physics (that was the original intention and he’ll be doing physics research again) or management (finance). He’s really loving his econ class, so I would guess he’ll stick with the idea of a double major in math and management but he could so love his summer physics research (in biophysics of all the things, since he’s always disliked biology!) that he’ll change his mind again!</p>
<p>amtc, you know I am rooting for your D! I am truly impressed by her and so glad things are going so well.</p>
<p>Welcome yaliemom :)</p>
<p>S did his housing thing and is on a waitlist…again. He did everything on time but the upperclass dorms are simply full. He says a lot of sophs are in that position so they might convert some of a freshman dorm…he is NOT happy.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - thanks!</p>
<p>Welcome Yaliesmom</p>
<p>Creekland, very nicely written article. Great that you son is exploring other areas. </p>
<p>It is hard to believe that in less than 30 days, my son will have completed his first year at college. He emailed back an application for a job this summer for us to drop off and I was struck that in the education box, he wrote “Sophomore” which of course he will be when he starts the job.</p>
<p>UR housing requests start next week with their new computerized system. Hope it goes smoothly. I am anticipating it having some hitches but hopefully he gets into the dorm he wants.</p>
<p>Barnardgirl got put on the guaranteed wait list for housing. She thought she had the perfect group of people for a suite, but by the time their slot came to choose, there were no rooms left. Ugh. She’ll get her assignment sometime over the summer.</p>
<p>My D has been putting “junior” on her internship applications, since she will have enough credits for junior standing at the end of this semester. But I don’t think she’s fooling anyone – her resume includes a list of relevant coursework, so prospective employers can see that she has only taken lower division STEM classes thus far.</p>
<p>She is waiting to see if she can go back to NASA JPL this summer. She interned there last summer, and loved it. Her boss from last year wants to hire her again. Unfortunately, all their outreach programs are on hold because of the federal funding sequestration. </p>
<p>She has another internship offer, at the U in our hometown, but it’d be an unpaid post. She also has an offer for parttime work with her chemistry prof, if she decides to stay at college. We are already going to be paying rent there (the 1-year lease for her off-campus apartment starts June 1st), so she could do that parttime work and take 1~2 summer classes.</p>
<p>I have <em>no</em> idea what she’s going to decide to do!</p>
<p>Lake - where does your son want to live? There aren’t that many choices. My son did a special interest floor so he’s done with all that angst.</p>
<p>I also own a business so my son and his girlfriend will work for me this summer. I could actually use a few more college kids - I enjoy how my son tells me my company is so boring none of his friends would want to work for me. He doesn’t know this yet but part of his job is helping us move our office.</p>
<p>He’s also beginning to realize study abroad is harder to pull off than first imagined and making sure you can find a place that can offer classes that can transfer. I suggested a summer session but that was met with silence. </p>
<p>We have about a month before he comes home. I just hope he finishes strong. I may have to step in and find about storing stuff over the summer. I don’t really have the desire to pack up the fridge, bedding, winter clothes, etc when he could just keep them up there instead.</p>
<p>Wondering about a resume question - does it help someone to be doing a summer job unrelated to their major in college. How is this perceived.</p>
<p>texas - I think for freshman summer it doesn’t really matter. I review resumes constantly. I’d rather see something than nothing. I mean college grads can’t find jobs in their majors and most have to make money somehow, and I think most employers get that right now.</p>
<p>It is very hard for a freshman to get a meaningful job, but any job experience is important when it comes to looking for jobs in the future. It is one of the reasons I always insisted on my kids to have a job on campus, even if the pay is minimum.</p>
<p>D1 had a part time job doing web design, filing, general office work the first year. She worked at an equity research firm for 3 weeks the second summer, and 4 weeks internship at BB firm in Australia, finally a full time internship junior year, which lead to a job offer after graduation. </p>
<p>D2 is working 5-8 hours a week in an office (student community service office). It is the only work experience she has. The director likes D2 a lot, so he may allow her to work from home remotely this summer. D2 also applied to work at a summer camp in NYC. They just interviewed her via Skype and she will find out next week if she got the job. The camp director asked her about her current job on campus even though it didn’t have much to do with being a camp counselor. I am sure the director wanted to know how committed D2 was to her work and if she would show up for work everyday.</p>
<p>Yes, I think most employers want to hire people with work experience, even if it is not related to their area of study.</p>
<p>eyemamom, I believe his first choice is to stay in the Quads. He has one friend he wants to room with. I mentioned to him if he thought he might end up in the towers that seeing if there are 2 other boys who would want to do a shared double (2 rooms that share a bathroom) would give them more options. </p>
<p>I just anticipate their new computer program to have some type of failure. The fact that they scheduled kids to go in, in 2 min time slots already sounds problematic.</p>
<p>Last semester, my son had one lab time slot in his “shopping cart” for Chem but the system dropped it out when he went to check out with it. In the seconds it took to go back and put it back in, the lab was full. </p>
<p>I can only imagine how this will go for housing. </p>
<p>I’m glad he has a few job possibilities already lined up. Last year he wasn’t able to find any summer work.</p>
<p>Yeah, this online thing doesn’t give me a lot of warm squishy feelings. My son chose with one of his friends to do special interest, and then the rest of the suite backed out. They chose to stick with it and who knows who the others in his suite will be. He thinks he just wants to stick to that building through graduation. Registration however was easy for him. Got everything, no problem and they even opened it early so he didn’t miss his first class. I do find it strange they’d have registration while they’re in class.</p>
<p>Yes, since this is the first time of a computer use, I think it would have made more sense to have students report to a computer station and let a residential staff enter the requests so they could struggle with any bugs. </p>
<p>I suspect there will be a lot of texting back and forth while registering. I agree the in class time seems a poor choice.</p>
<p>Checking in after a bit away, so I will try to catch up on all the topics. </p>
<p>D2 registers next week and did get a spot in the audition drama class she wanted. She also has housing for next year in what is not her first choice, but a not too bad dorm. She has not declared a major but is leaning towards International Relations and/or Peace and Justice Studies. She is scooping ice cream again this summer - which means she will be home - Yay! However I think I get a Bingo letter for the kid who has managed to stay on campus until the very last day both semesters. Her a cappella group sings at graduation - so she is there till the bitter end even though her finals are finished much earlier. She will go abroad for one semester junior year - somewhere in South America - but not sure where. D1 is in Argentina this year and having the time of her life!</p>
<p>D1’s landlord for next year (apartment rented in October) turned out to be a bit crazy and invasive. Called D1’s roommate 14 times in one day about summer sublettors. The end result is deciding to get out of the lease, and she is searching for a new apartment from abroad. Not fun and a bit stressful for my hyper-organized first-born. Warning for the future - talk to your kids about the normal process for leasing and how to do due diligence on their rental. Oh well, life lesson.</p>
<p>Hooray for almost surviving the first year!</p>
<p>Lakemom - I think they can get onto the housing selection website anytime from their assigned time until it closes - I don’t think they have to be right in their two minute window. My son thinks he’ll be OK because the dorm he wants isn’t popular at all.</p>
<p>I believe so but like the registration process, you have to be quick to get what you want. I don’t know which ones are the popular places to be. If it was me, I would want the new dorm wi A/C :)</p>
<p>I spent a few hours with D today. We looked at the memory foam mattress toppers and she could see the twins would be too short. Settled for a memory foam pillow and will look more in August for the mattress topper.</p>
<p>Texas,</p>
<p>I asked that very question of some experienced MIT parents. They said it’s perfectly fine to be working in a field that’s not necessarily related to the major. I was worried about that very same thing but it seems that gaining experience is important whether or not it’s in the intended major. I think my son is just happy to be getting paid for doing research, though the pay won’t be nearly as good as an internship with a company.</p>