@mdcmom, I think it is common. My engineering daughter is half done (can you believe it, half done with college!), but feels she doesn’t know enough to get an internship and is a little discouraged in her job search. She just called and asked if she should ‘just babysit’ this summer. She can actually make a lot of money doing that, plus pick up more money housesitting and pet sitting, or may even get a restaurant job. My nephew, also an engineer, just started working as a busboy for the money. They have a cousin who started as a busboy and now is a waiter at an high end restaurant, and makes a lot. A lot.
My other 2014 daughter? La la la, no need to think about things like jobs, graduating, careers. She’s got 3 weddings to be in, friends to visit, vacations to plan. She is not half done.
And many don’t really get on the internship/research ball until after junior year, @mdcmom . My oldest was in nursing, and externships just weren’t possible until after junior year. Before that time, a student simply wouldn’t have enough clinical experience. Maybe linguistics is that way. Any work looks better on a resume to an employer than no work. If she ends up back in food service, it’s not the end of the world
That sounds reasonable to me . I’ll share these thoughts with her to encourage her that while she feels like she’s not doing as much as her very impressive friends, she’s not really hopelessly behind. Thank you! And @twoinanddone, thank you for the laugh with respect to daughter #2. Reminds me so much of some of my kids’ friends who are like nieces to me.
So funny @twoinanddone! Reminds me of a favorite quote from the movie, “Cousins.” Describing Ted Danson’s character: “He’s a failure at everything but life.” I wish my type A super busy D would take a breath every now and again.
My son looks for internships but hasn’t seen the right one for him yet. In the meantime, he’s working at a restaurant and has been promoted from busser/host to server and they are talking to him about possibly being an assistant manager. Since one of his dreams is to open his own restaurant, this could end up being valuable experience.
DS has interviewed for a job on campus over the summer – mixed feelings - it would be nice to have him home for the summer. If he gets the position, he will take a course or two and earn a little money.
DS feels that most companies are looking for post-juniors for summer internships, at least in CS (or at least the companies he is interested in). But he got a dream (for him) summer job - teaching programming at “idTech camp” (week-long summer camps for kids 7-17, where they learn game creation, web design, and programming). He attended when he was 11 and 12 (then we moved out here, and couldn’t afford to fly him to the mainland for camp), and when he found out that they had a camp right at DU, he was all over it. So we won’t see him all summer, then he’s off to Glasgow for the fall.
He has really started to get some of this “adulting” stuff, finally - finding an apartment for next year, taking care of the lease, handling the job paperwork (he did ask for help with his W4, though), arranging for a CPR course that is required, and doing the study-abroad application. Phew.
And he’s so happy to actually be taking his first game programming class this term.
Now we have to figure out if we can afford a trip to Scotland next fall!
Anyone else glad about the FAFSA and Profile “prior prior year” change? At least next year we won’t be scrambling to get our taxes done in order to file for FA! We can use 2015 info again.That will be great. And then we’re done… unless you have another kid.
I forgot about that FAFSA change! Oh, that will be so good. I’m assuming that works for my DS’17 too, so that should eliminate the stress of trying to get taxes done in January.
FAFSA change is great. We didn’t even know about it, so it was a great surprise. DS announced over the phone last night that he wants to go to law school – he is so good in math and science that I just thought he might go a different direction, but he seems enthusiastic.
He also mentioned he only has three more weeks of classes and then a reading period before exams. Half way through college already - what happened?
On FAFSA: I told my husband the other night that we need to fill the thing out once more, at least, that is what I’m hoping! What a pain. Then, I got a list of things from my son’s financial aid office of what was missing. I’m filling out some more papers this weekend. Hopefully, it will all be done in a few weeks.
Glido: My older son, who is a UVA Law, is a real math whiz. Perfect scores on the SAT math and math II, BC calculus and stat and the GRE. Was a math minor as an undergrad. The funny thing is, math is always the comfort zone. When he selected law classes this year, at least half had some sort of math bent to them. He’s looking at going into anti-trust law, I believe. His math, as well as his undergrad degree in economics, has served him well. He did a grad assistantship last summer with one of his law professors who teaches that math-based class.
@momreads — I was an antitrust lawyer when I practiced. I started at a large firm representing the merging parties and then moved to the government investigating mergers. I spent a lot of time with economists!
Thanks @momreads - DS’14 is minoring in Econ. (I told him to take Statistics and some accounting as it will play to his strengths and come in handy when arguing damages claims - but will he listen?)
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated. Son is set to graduate from his engineering program a semester early. His internship for this summer fell through. The company got a huge order and couldn’t dedicate the time to take on an intern even though they had planned to have him. He’s working at two engineering camps for his advisor though and making decent money at that as well as getting a restaurant job over the summer. He’s living off campus next year so he had to pay for the place all summer anyway. Hoping he’ll get a good internship next summer.
I’m a lawyer and I use math a lot. Finance math mostly (arithmetic and algebra), but I had to use trig once to figure out a property description. And other kinds of lawyers use more fancy math.
I actually have my undergrad degree in biochemistry and physiology, and I took the patent bar. Patent law is fun (and lucrative). I ended up in trust and estate law, but there is hardly a day that goes by that I’m not glad I have my science degree.
The kind of logic that is inherent to math (and computer programming) is also at the heart of “thinking like a lawyer”.
DS is still waiting for the posting of an internship he wants to apply. If that does not materialize, I am not sure if he has a plan B. Maybe I should suggest that he studies for MCAT this summer? Is this a good time to do it, the summer before junior?
I cannot wait for my son’s sophomore year to end and have him home!
The semester has been a roller coaster of illnesses, a car accident (the car was totaled), a break up with a girlfriend and two trips to the hospital (one following the accident). The latest in the hospital visits came while I was in town for my son’s Honors Day. I woke up to a text saying he was in the hospital. Asthma attack. The stress level had just become too much for him to handle. I got to see him just before I had to fly home – he is feeling much better.
This is the kid who said that he wanted to stay at school for the summer and secure a job there. Now, even he looks forward to coming home to his bed, free food and laundry and time to chill out without drama. He has about two weeks off and then he starts an internship. Got a feeling that he will be grateful for small town life again.
Aww. @momreads! I am so sorry for all of the challenges of this semester. That is too much for your poor DS. Glad he can come home and re-group soon. I hope he is feeling much better and it will be smooth sailing here on out.
Sending positive thoughts your way @momreads, Had a nice chat over the phone with our DS’14, he will be coming home for the summer too. There is some solid upside to that.
. I’ll share these thoughts with her to encourage her that while she feels like she’s not doing as much as her very impressive friends, she’s not really hopelessly behind. Thank you! And 