@flatKansas That is awesome!
@flatKansas One of many firsts for this group I’m sure. Congrats.
Swag update: Just got a pack of cards from Connecticut College. OK, that is just another version of a brochure, so I guess we are still swag-less. Dang it. Not sure how we got on their list…pretty sure you need to wear pants there, and our list is already too long…pants or no.
@CA1543 I don’t know what USC’s birth of the Internet story is, but UCSB was the 3rd node on ARPANET after UCLA and Stanford. http://jeweledplatypus.org/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/text/ucsbnet.html and http://www.thocp.net/reference/internet/internet1.htm I don’t think we have a shrine or mention it on tours, though. (Same goes for the lunar rover. You have to go to DC to see a museum exhibit about the lunar rovers being built and tested here.)
DS toured CMU sophomore year with his hacking team. DH chaperoned the trip, and they had a great time. They did go up Mt. Washington. They went to the Carnegie Science Center and played air hockey against a robot. Also went to an Escape Room, but you can find those in most cities now. The CS college was quite impressive, but the physics department not so much. Agree that it is quite expensive. The current plan is that CMU is the only place DS is applying CS; all others are as a physics major. He will have to interview in Los Angeles or with CMU alumni. He hasn’t interviewed anywhere yet, so no interview tips so far.
When you say UCLA CS tour, do you mean the engineering tour, or is there a separate CS tour? General tour seems to only be offered during the regular school year when it is tough to attend since they are on the quarter system.
Public link to DS’ summer program activities is http://www.summerscience.org/the-ssp-experience/orbit-determination/
@Ynotgo, I had assumed but not sure if your DS is in SSP; I understand it is ultra difficult to get in and the link shows how established and well organized it is. You can rest assure that your DS is having a time of his life. Congratulations!
About flying to the wrong airport. I’m fairly commonly for me to buy tickets to San Jose, CA. I have in the past accidentally chosen San Jose, Costa Rica when choosing airport code. (It’s easy to do) But since it’s WAY more expensive & takes a lot more time to fly to Costa Rica than across the state it becomes immediately obvious and it’s never gotten beyond the what why is it so $$ stage. 
@flatKansas =D> Congratulations! I love that you embarrassed him with applause. Sending more applause his way.
@flatKansas, congrats! It’s a great feeling to have one in hand this early.
@snoozn, Manhattan, KS is nicknamed Small Apple. 
I though Santa Clara was fairly generous with merit, but maybe it’s hard to get. I don’t know the details, but i do know teens who were offered good merit there.
@curiositycat333 I probably should have clarified and stated the Catholic universities offering high enough levels of Russian. St. Louis University is one of the few that does offer significant merit.
@Ynotgo – Wow – SSP – what an amazing program!!
Re UCLA - sorry – it was an engineering tour that we went on in addition to the general campus tour but CS was discussed some as I recall.
@CA1543 CS is part of the School of Engineering at UCLA. Computer Science doesn’t always live under the Engineering umbrella. It really varies from school to school sometimes it’s in the same school as Math and other times it’s own school/department.
Ok, my dh just brought up an interesting point. Will attending an out of country university impact her if she wants to work for the gov’t? Or applying for critical language scholarships like Boren? (We’ll have to do some more investigation.)
Pokémon GO is not helping with son’s summer itinerary. The last thing I need is another distracting App. Sheesh!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - It certainly wouldn’t if she ended up doing some sort of graduate program. For an American citizen, I can’t imagine that having an an international undergraduate degree would have any negative impact at all.
@STEM2017 - DS13 & DS19 went out last night for Pokemon GO. They came back all excited about it. DS19 thinks it;s the best thing in a long time. He said there were a ton of kids at out. We live in a golf cart community and kids can drive their golf carts with a DL permit by themselves and most high school kids use them to get around even when they have a DL. Anyway he said that he saw kids running all over to different places including the overweight kids. He thinks it’s good that this game is getting people out talking to each other and having fun.
DS17 didn’t go along because he knew they would be out for hours… However he didn’t work on his college apps so he has NO excuse as to why those essays aren’t done yet.ugh.
@stem2017 I don’t know anything about the Pokemon app. But last night ds was telling me he was walking home from work and saw a kid pass him on his bike playing the app and the next thing the kid crashed his bike into a tree and went flying.
The verification is in to FAFSA…struggled mightily for a while before I realized that I had clicked "Parent 1"instead of “Parent 2” and that made the form reject my ID and password. BUT that sinking feeling to read the data should be available in “3-5 business days.” :((
Because once FA is done, then it has to go to the bursar, who then has to cut a check to the study abroad organization. I see little hope of that all happening next week. Hoping that the semester abroad office will have some flexibility.
Lessons learned: don’t forget to pack pillow! Can’t believe I forgot that!! My supportive girlfriend said pillow is overrated. Better for spine to sleep with no pillow 
QQTD: what are some of things you forgot to pack for your kids for trips? --this can be shared lessons for all of us in preparation for next year!!
@flatKansas, =D> more applause your S’s way!!
@Ynotgo What a great program! Even better that your son ended up at CU Boulder and not NM Tech!