@Vineyarder I hope things work out well for your D. (Or already have worked out).
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Thanks for asking. The strike was just resolved this week. So far, one of her professors has decided to give only A or A- grades and one has asked for an essay and presentation this week to wrap up the class. Her capstone project is going to be graded based on the work completed before the strike, so she thinks that will be the only B of her college career, which weāve assured her is nothing to worry about at all (the 4.0 would have been a nice technical achievement but isnāt something employers will care about). Think sheās waiting to hear how one more professor will handle things, but she isnāt concerned. Sheāll be all wrapped up with her coursework by Friday and should get her degree either Dec. 31 or in early January (the university extended the grading period to Jan. 3 because of the strike). Exciting that sheās just about done! Weāre so proud of her.
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Sounds like a good resolution for all involved! Congrats to your D (and the capstone grade really is a technicalityāseems like she really did achieve a 4.0 but forā¦).
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Good! Now enjoy your trip to London!
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Congrats to your daughter @Vineyarder!
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Back from a few weeks in Oz. D19 joined us for two of them. We did so much that Iām still digesting it, and D19 had the time of her life.
She also interviewed for two post-bacc jobs while there, at 6:30 in the AM, because she did not want to tell them that she was on the other side of the earth. The good news is that she has an offer for one (project manager + tech), and the other is waiting to hear if he is getting the grant that would support the job that she would take. She took advantage of the fact that we were still sleeping to do some indoor rock-climbing, and exploring of Sydney on her own.
So it was great to see her, and great to be able to celebrate her job offers.
We got back on the 29th, and she was able to also join us at our very close friends for a very Russian New Yearās Eve, night, and early morning. Itās like Thanksgiving, if TG was with your favorite friends and family, there was enough food to give a troop of hungry baboons a food coma, had unending toasts, and it was celebrated from 10 PM to 4 AM.
The friendās son just got his PhD, and there was his friend there, who is a PhD student. For the first time in the 15 years weāve known the family, D19 and their son (and the friend) actually bonded, and hung out together and talked shop (they both have love affairs with data analysis and stats).
On that topic:
To everybody on the thread: Š” ŠŠ¾Š²ŃŠ¼ ŠŠ¾Š“Š¾Š¼!
āSā Novym Godomā if you donāt read Cyrillic
PS. D19 has decided to take a year or two to work in an academic lab before going on to do her PhD.
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D19 got her final grades, and sure enough, she missed out on a 4.0 ā she finished with a 3.99 
. Obviously couldnāt be prouder of her. She has an interview lined up soon with a gallery, and hopefully her job search will be successful soon. Sheās launched!
Happy New Year to all of you and yours!
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Congratulations to your daughter - and to you! Thatās quite an accomplishment. We sent off S19 at the airport this afternoon for the trip back to Ohio. Itās hard to believe itās already the last time weāll be doing that. Heās heading back to something of a mess, as the pipes in his campus apartment burst during the break and he and everybody else from that building are being moved to temporary (he hopes!) housing. He worked on his graduate school applications while he was home, and they can all be sent out as soon as he gets his fall transcript from the registrar. Edinburgh has a deadline on January 16, so I am hoping he does not get distracted between pre-season training for track and building himself a new computer to replace the one that got wiped out in the flood.
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Congrats @Vineyarder and I hope the job search is successful without too much stress. Thatās the next hard thing and then the making new living arrangements, etc.
@tkoparent did a lot of his stuff get ruined? At least they have alternative housing set up!
DD will be home this morning. Yesterday they drove as far as her sisterās. Tomorrow we are going to Disney World!
She has not had much luck yet making friends in her new city, except sort of a couple of co-workers. Itās just really different from college where there was always someone to hang with. This month there will be a new group starting up at the mega-church she can try. At least her BF and his cousin are there so sheās not all alone.
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S19 wonāt really know until he gets back to campus. The school has apparently boxed up some of his belongings and then he will be allowed in the building for an hour or so on Monday to āevacuateā the rest. One of his friends was able to test the computer and that is definitely gone. The temporary housing should be interesting. Itās an old building that was most recently used as a COVID quarantine facility, but it is better known for having been a station on the Underground Railway. Also interestingly, the school has assigned him to a double with his female suite mate. Itās usually against the rules, but because they are already living in the same 4-person suite, an exception is being made. S19 is fine with it, but my husband was rather shocked.
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Hope the temp living situations work out, and most of his possessions are ok.
Both my kidsā colleges (LACs like Denison) allow roommates of different genders, whether a 2 person room, suite, etc.
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So now D19 has two (well three) job offers for next year. Two āpost-baccsā with well established neuroscientists, and both will be interesting and will provide her with additional expertise, and both will allow her to pursue her own research projects. Both are also for two years at most, and will also require that she apply to grad schools by the second year. She also has a standing job offer with the lab where she worked over the last two summers. She now has to visit both labs. Both are in major cities or urban areas (NYC and Boston area), so itās good that she will know ahead of time so she can find a place to live.
Hopefully sheāll now be less stressed for her last two terms (J-term and spring), but, considering who she is, she will probably find a way to feel stressedā¦
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Nice to see all the updates and congrats to your daughter @MWolf on some great options! My D17 has enjoyed living in Boston since she graduated.
I canāt believe S19 has started his last semester. Crazy! It seems like it will be another busy one, with his organizations, applying to grad school, and adding club tennis. I hope Iāll be able to see him play at some point. I definitely miss watching him play sports! S is still waiting to hear about his start date from his company. Heās still hoping for January, and is going ahead with plans to be in Italy for six months before he starts the grind. Fingers crossed that he gets to go, and that I get to visit!
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Is anyone familiar with grad admissions? My daughter has a formal interview invite for UPenn next week, and she is wondering how it will differ from the informal interviews sheās done (with a professor and two PhD students), and also if they offer most people interviews as they do with undergrad? She was recently rejected from Cambridge, and the UPenn invite came right after, so it was easy for her to fixate on it a bit.
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Congrats to your daughter on getting an interview. I think the interview process varies depending on the school and the particular program. Have you tried looking on Gradcafe to see if anyone else posts about getting an interview at UPenn in the same program? I have a daughter in a grad program at UPenn so feel free to message me if you have general questions. She did have an interview for her program but itās a relatively small program and I expect the process varies from one department to another.
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I just checked there and there is one person (in 2020) that notes an interview and then an acceptance six days later. Italian doesnāt have a ton of traffic over there, it seems. Thanks!
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Good luck to your daughter. Mine loves living in Philly.
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I love seeing all of the updates! D19 is down to three classes this semester. She is free Tuesdays and Thursdays which she will use to put more hours in at her job and to just have some fun. Mardi Gras season has started so Iām guessing Tuesdays will be more about work and Thursdays for fun.
Winter break seemed long this year - she was a little bored and was excited to get back to New Orleans. We did head to MA for Christmas and she got to go to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to see Tulaneās amazing comeback game. She headed back to school a few days early and D21 went with her to have some sister time in NO.
Now we are on to planning graduation - crazy to think it all happened so quickly.
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Probably impossible to answer without knowing what program.
My daughterās program was highly selective, commonly requiring repeated applications year after year, while building up experience and showing commitment to the field.
For those universities that disclosed estimates, about 20% of applicants were invited to interviews, of which about half would be admitted. Iām sure those numbers vary in both directions - but in general, being invited to the interview meant you were a strong contender, and the interview with the head of the program, and separately with a 2nd year student, were very specific to her studies, internships, practica, etc.
My daughter had a pretty good sense from the āengagedā reaction of the Prof. to points she made, or responses she had offered, what the outcome would be.
PS: Interestingly, in at least one case, the interview with the Prof. seemed more conversational/relaxed (but very informative in both directions), while the interview with a current doctoral candidate was very formal/structured - exactly opposite of what she had expected.