USAFA Cadet survived Basic training this summer, and first semester. They really grew him up in a hurry for me. I miss his more laid back personality, but am kind of in awe that he is completely independent…and thriving. Without my nagging. I don’t want to send him back on the 5th 
Congratulations @shellz to your cadet. Sounds like an amazing transformation. Enjoy having him the next few days.
Congratulations, @shellz . Your son sounds like a fine young man. Awesome that he is thriving at the Academy!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Happy New Year all! Wishing you all the best for 2016. So great to have our daughter home, the first two weeks flew by, but we have another week or so to go.
Happy New Year to @shoboemom and @GoAskDad as well.
Happy New Year everyone! DS will be back from Miami tomorrow and won’t have to leave again until the 15th!
He is looking forward to the spring semester with a little trepidation because he was informed before Christmas that he will have a roommate. His assigned roommate first semester never completely moved in before changing to a different dorm so he had the room to himself.
Congrats on your first semester @albert69! Hope you have a great spring semester.
Just a quick HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! D is home until the 7…the break sure did go quick. S’16 finally finished up his applications yesterday …definitely a different bird than his sister; this time last year we were finished including depositing for housing…looks like I am in limbo with this one until at least April :-? Hope everyone is getting lots of kid-parent time and maybe if you are lucky an extra hug or too…here’s a wish for everyone: a stress free second semester for our college freshmen.
D16 needs advice: Last year, once your DC15 picked where to attend, how did your DC tell the remaining colleges to which they were accepted that they were not going to enroll.
We’re finding that it’s a bit wrenching for my D16 to reject colleges that she courted so seriously. Should she just keep it simple and official or offer some kind of rationale, especially to the LAC adcoms she came to know?
@dyiu13 how about “it’s not you, it’s me”…
All kidding aside, college admissions is a business, so a politely thankful email to the adcoms for their time and help should suffice. They know not all will choose them, so I’m sure it will go smoothly.
@dyiu13 I did email the college that I decided not to attend. I kept it short, just said that I had decided not to attend that university and thanked the adcom for help, advice, etc. Came off fine, she replied and thanked me for letting her know and that she’d deactivate my account.
@dyiu13 , many of the schools that my D applied to had online forms to fill out for either accepting or declining. That’s the very easiest. There’s usually a series of questions to fill out about where you will attend and there’s a space for comments. At least two of my Ds schools told her they would keep her file for a period of time in case she decided to transfer.
@dyiu13, agreed with others, my daughter wrote to each school via email to thank them for their offers of admission and scholarship offers and to let them know that she had decided to attend elsewhere. It was surprisingly hard to cut those ties, she really did like all of the schools on her list. “Courting” is a good term because they were oddly like little break ups.
Same here @dyiu13, once my D sent her acceptance to her school of choice, which for her happens in March, she sent emails tall of the other school’s admission counsellors or used the email web address that came on the acceptance letters to decline admission. Some schools she “rejected” early after a school she liked more that we could afford accepted her.
One more week before D goes back to school for her second semester. She has had a good break so far. She has visited friends, worked some to replenish her bank account after the Christmas drain, and applied for a summer internship. She should hear about the internship later this month. If she doesn’t get this one, she will have time still to apply to other summer programs. It is just hitting me that she will likely not be home much this summer (or really any other summers). I’m glad I have one more left at home for a couple more years!
One more week here too. Husband and I have been off for two weeks but we head back to work this morning in a few hours (I can’t sleep). She too made some money this break, she had a music gig in a club on New Year’s Eve, and got a scholarship check in the mail for a local scholarship that she applied for last spring and just assumed that she didn’t get selected for. That was a nice surprise. Her goal this week is to apply for some summer internships too, not sure what her chances are as a freshman, but there is no chance if she doesn’t apply.
I think I am having trouble sleeping because a lot of feelings are hitting me too, like she won’t likely be with us much this summer, and all of the other ways that she has started a life that is separate from us. Next Monday morning’s drop off at the airport is going to be really hard for me, though I know that she is starting to get excited to head back.
@NorthernMom61 great surprise about the check!
We have really enjoyed the time with D, I take her back on Friday, classes start the 11th but she is eager to get back and see friends. I think this drop off will be almost as hard as the first, I have gotten very used to having her back. I think she will be home this summer, but I know this may be the last one and that does make me sad. She had 6 friends from school come start with us for two days to go out on New Years, and I really enjoyed having the houseful and meeting the ones I hadn’t yet met.
She has applied to be an RA next year but I don’t know if I even want her to get it, it might be too much responsibility. Either way she plans to stay in the dorm next year, although many of the kids are moving out next year, she has had offers to go into a house with some girls, but we really want her to do two years on campus.
Just got an application off for some local internships, I’m hoping for the best!
Good luck @albert69.
Taking daughter to the airport in about an hour. Been a very nice time with her. I am excited and happy for her about her happiness to go back, sad day for me though, but I will get over it.
Had my cry, am doing okay now. Amazing to think she is on her way to the second half of freshman year. Glad we are not where we were last year, so despite my sadness that the vacation had to end, I am happy that she is heading back to her new young adult life.
@NorthernMom61 It is as good as it could possibly be. She is happy and thriving. It really is the best we can all hope for-though geographically closer would be just a bit better.