@snoozn…that power systems lab is INCREDIBLE to see. Those students were all up in it…hands on.
Another curiosity QOTNight: Are your kids savvy with public transportation?
We have always lived either rurally or in suburbia. No city buses, no metro/subway. Taxis are people’s personal vans that they stick a sign on (and you have to call way in advance and these “cabs” existed long before uber.). Uber, however, is starting to move into the area.
I don’t think there is a metro/subway anywhere in our state. City buses? Definitely none that you can catch out in surburbia and ride into the city. You’d have to drive to a city in order to ride a bus. (It is why our Aspie who refuses to learn to drive has to live within walking distance of work. Car, bike, or foot are the only means of transportation.)
(I know that I have no clue how to use a city bus system. I drive into the city, so I drive where I want to go.)
Am I the only one insisting that my son send a handwritten thank you note to his interviewers? He looked at me as though I were crazy.
I told him that if he had intended to thank via email, he should have done so immediately.
Any opinions?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek – I couldn’t hazard a guess at percentages, but I would have to think your children are not in the minority in not using mass transit. We live less than an hour from Manhattan (via train; traffic is unpredictable) and it was not until each of my boys had to commute into the city that they actually ‘learned’ how to use mass transit. The older son took a while to pay attention when entering the subway to make sure he was on the northbound side if he wanted to travel north.
I grew up an hour outside of Manhattan (different state) and didn’t learn how to take the subways until I moved to NYC for work. I imagine your children will figure it out when they need to.
College of Charleston-- I was talking to my sister tonight and she told me my niece absolutely detested it when she visited. She said there is no campus and that buildings are scattered around Charleston and can be blocks apart. We are still going to visit (I want an excuse to go to Charleston!) but this might make dd strike it from her list. She hated VCU’s city runs through it campus and this sounds even less of an organized campus than that.
For those who have been there, did you find it to have no real campus?
@ct1417 My kids have emailed thank you to alumni interviewers and dept faculty that they have met with. The only had written note was to a registrar who took us on a personal tour.
@VickiSoCal — there are a lot of small schools in a lot of small towns in PA. I actually thought Lancaster offered more than Dickinson’s location, Carlisle might have been the name. Lafayette is in a small town, Bucknell in another.
Thanks @Mom2aphysicsgeek …perhaps I am showing my old-fashioned sensibilities. I still think that he should have written immediately if he had planned to email. May pick my battles, especially since his handwriting is teeny tiny, impossible to read.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek D17 has used our public bus to get to school, and the subway/elevated system to get to work and social activities in the big city (ball games, movies, Chinatown). She HATES to ride alone, so always has gone with friends (I ride with her to work since it’s close by) on the train.
@CT1417 I vote for email. It will still get there sooner. Were the interviewers in admissions? That’s the only thing that might make me reconsider.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek …we are completely trapped in suburbia, ugh. So D was not exposed regularly to public transportation.
In the last four years we have had trips that have taken us to Boston, DC, NYC. In Boston after a few days I started teaching her how to use the subway and then in DC and NYC she pretty much took over. She is faster at it than me and I just learned to let go and let her figure it out. She does pretty well.
She does not know how to use a bus system really so that will need to happen if one of her schools works out.
Re: QOTNight: Are your kids savvy with public transportation?
No, they weren’t. But DS 14 picked up the bus systems in Pitt easily. He now uses the bus system for trips to and from the airport, trips to the grocery store, and occasional trips to restaurants. It helps that Pitt students ride for free and one of the orientation classes at Pitt includes “assignments” of going to different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
Following some advice here, while visiting Boston for D’17, we only used the T and had no problem. D’17 was quite comfortable by the time we left after 3 days.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I have never heard what you have described about the CofC campus. I’ve actually heard it’s quite pretty…but, then, I’ve never been there. I’ve also heard it is very much woven into the city of Charleston. It’s also small…60-75 acres? You’ve probably seen this, but it gives you some idea of the campus:
@Dave_N …I love the “assignment” using the bus system at Pitt!
Well we have virtually no public transportation here where we live. However we have travelled to London three times, Barcelona, Madrid, NY", Chicago, SF, Portland, Santiago, Amsterdam and the kids have used public transit in all of those cities. DD17 has done some without us as,well.
@Dave_N I like that Pitt assignment, too. It makes me wonder if not knowing how to use a bus is more the norm.
@2muchquan No, I hadn’t seen that map. Honestly, I never thought of looking! But that map seems pretty normal campus to me and not at all what my sister described. She said the main part of campus was only a couple of buildings and everything else was spread out all over the place. Not sure why they got that impression.
Our goal is to visit in Sept. We started back to school so early bc it is miserably hot here and I want time off when the weather is nicer. A trip to Charleston will be thrown into that mix.
D17 is having her wisdom teeth out this morning, and I’m more than a little nervous. Nothing like CC to take your mind off things!
QOTD (catching up): We have lived in 8 different houses since our girls were born, but we have currently been here for seven years, so it really feels like home by now. I think my wanderlust died - I never want to move again. @Mom2aphysicsgeek I used to marvel at extended families in one place and wish we could have that, but it’s pretty rare in military families, lol!
Public trans: My kids grew up far away from subways and buses, but I think D15 would be fine. I know she has Ubered. Not sure about D17. We’re still working on looking both ways before crossing the street with our littlest. :x
Public transportation - We live in the suburbs, so you have to drive everywhere. She’s had a taste of using public transportation on several of our vacations. I think she’ll be fine traveling by public trasportatoon and Uber in college.
JOTD:
Charles Dickens walks into a bar and orders a martini. The bartender asks, “Olive or Twist?”
public transportation. We live in the suburbs, my kids drive everywhere and have no clue about busses. Just yesterday my D16 (who is leaving for college next week :(( ) and I looked at the bus schedule because one of her classes is across campus, over a mile away from her dorm. She is so stressed she won’t know which bus she should use, but when I drop her off we will do a dry run and hopefully she will feel better.
@lemetz good luck with the wisdom teeth.
Public transportation:
I have only used public transport a few times in my life. I doubt my kids ever have. I’ve never been on a bus except to school when I was young. I’ve taken the T in Boston once or twice and took subway in NYC. Really not my cup of tea.