My kid took a leave of absence midway through that included things like an internship that ran through the academic year, but she is now barreling through completing her degree in industrial engineering, on target to graduate December 2024 (which will be 7 semesters of attendance). This coming summer she has an internship lined up in the theme park industry, which is what she’s wanted to work in for years, so that’s a big one—she’s hoping that that will result in a job in that sector after graduation.
11 Likes
Not my S19 but my D17 got a dog about a year ago. She travels for work and still wants to go on vacation/etc. WE warned her that her life was not stable enough in terms of housing /job to get the dog. It has been a challenge for her to find people to watch her dog. We moved away so we are out of the picture. She loves her dog, but did confess that yes, maybe she jumped the gun.
6 Likes
@mountainsoul - Congrats on your D’s job! Also, so nice that your kids are in the same city!
Also, congrats to your D @dfbdfb - her internship sounds interesting. Hope it is a great experience.
Shortly after graduation, S19 headed off on his travel adventures. He spent a month surfing in Morocco, a month working on his Italian in Florence (plus a quick trip to Tel Aviv), and about 5 weeks in Turkey (hiking the Lycian way and staying for a while at the ending city, Antalya). Then he picked up the travel and hit a lot of locations (some with his high school best friend). He went to Greece (including a little trip to Milos), Copenhagen (probably his favorite), Munich for Oktoberfest, Amsterdam, France, Portugal, Barcelona (where he’d previously studied abroad) and Brussels. Then he met my H and me in Italy and we traveled together for 8 days. Spending time with him and visiting Florence and Sorrento together was so great!
S was originally planning to stay abroad until December, but he decided a couple of months ago to head back to the US after our Italy travel. He flew straight to NYC to be with friends for a little while and will head to see college friends at homecoming. S starts his job in January, so he may add in another surfing trip. At least he’s used his own internship money for all these adventures, and he’s extremely frugal, so it’s been surprisingly affordable. 
Shifting into the working world and likely travel for work will be a bit challenging, but he seems to be looking forward to it. I’m happy he had the opportunity to take this time to see the world. I wish I had done that!
10 Likes
What an amazing trip! Morocco is on my bucket list. How wonderful that you were able to join him for part of his travels. Hopefully, reentry to the working world hasn’t been too harsh (it would be for me).
2 Likes
Yes, getting to meet him and travel in Italy (my first time) was a dream!
4 Likes
Long time lurker on this page, first time posting. It’s been a big week for my D19 as she got accepted into 2 medical schools! She decided to go to med school just after spring break of her junior year so it was by no means a sure thing! She has to put a deposit down by mid-Dec to hold her seat so I guess we’ll know if she’s going to AZ or MO pretty soon! Such a relief to not have to worry about IF she’ll get in! (just have to worry about she’s going to afford this!)
Oh, and she got a puppy last May. She figured it was the right time knowing that once she started med school she wasn’t going to have time to train a puppy!
9 Likes
I was also late to join, but this is a lovely group and it’s lots of fun to hear how everyone is doing as our own kids make their way. Congratulations to your daughter for her accomplishment! And for the puppy!
3 Likes
D19 is living in NYC and doing an accelerated program to become an RN (she has a BS). She is doing well overall, but it’s very different from college, which I wasn’t expecting. I thought the big adjustment would be graduating, and saying goodbye to her college town, but since she would still be going back to school on the fall, it wouldn’t be that different. I wasn’t thinking about how she was used to living in a house full of friends, eating every meal with her friends, and being totally comfortable—in her element all the time.
So, she was very lonely at first in the city. We live a short train ride away, so she came home a lot, and I went in to stay with her to help ease the transition. But it was not easy for her!
Things that helped:
- Like many of our kids, she wanted a pet She thought it was too soon, so she signed up with Rover and became a dog walker. Now, she has several regular clients she loves.
- She met with her peer mentor at NYU and told her she was struggling socially. Peer mentor said that was common and had lots of great suggestions.
- She went back to her college for homecoming and had a blast. Also reminded all her friends that she has a (tiny) apartment in the city and some have already come to visit, which she loved.
The best news is she loves nursing, both the academics and the clinical work. She says there is a great sense of camaraderie at the hospital, but most people are at a different stage in life and not looking to make friends for outside of work. It’s also a surprise to me that her building is filled with young people, and yet they don’t get to know each other. Fingers crossed that if D keeps going to study groups, joining things and reaching out to people she will eventually find friends.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
11 Likes
It’s hard to be in a new city without the social structure of undergrad school! DD’19 has managed to build a small circle from work and church.
DD’17 has mentioned Bumble has a feature for those just looking for friends (Bumble For Friends).
1 Like
Grad school does seem to be a big adjustment, even if things are going well overall. Our S19 is currently doing a one year “conversion” masters program in psychology at the University of Glasgow. It’s basically a program intended for students who either have undergraduate degrees in a different field or have degrees in psych but from schools not accredited by the British Psychological Society, including any US school. He loves Glasgow and has made some friends, both in the psych program and the running club, but I think he is always aware he’ll be someplace else next year, which makes it hard to form the same kind of friendships he did as an undergraduate. Also, he’s been through a lot of the coursework before, so it’s hard to stay super-motivated even though he knows he needs good grades to get admitted to the next step on his academic path, a masters in sports psych. He’ll need to change schools for that, but hopefully he can find a school where he’ll be able to stay on for his Ph.D studies as well and, in any event, the course material will be something new. We’re looking forward to have him home for a month at year-end.
4 Likes
Also, often grad school programs can have a limited class size. At college you take different classes throughout the week, with different peers, possibly different from your room mates, and then a whole different mix again the next semester.
My daughter’s thinks all her cohorts are genuinely really nice - but some have family, even kids, some can’t afford to live “in town”. They still made plans and got together often - but one problem is, conversation tends to always drift back to gripes with whatever professor, course, assignment, lab, grade, etc. – so you never quite “escape” school.
After settling in academically, she made “making friends” her project, joining seemingly completely arbitrary activities. It took half a year, but then she had a number of non-University friend circles. Another 6 months later, when she moved to a different apartment across town, there wasn’t enough parking for all the helpers who showed up mid-week.
3 Likes
I finally have some news that we’ve been waiting for a while! DD is engaged! Just happened on Friday but we’ve been expecting it for some time lol. They are looking at June 2025.
DD met him the first week of college on her dorm floor and they became best friends pretty quick though dated other people through most of college. It took them a bit to see what everyone else had already figured out 
9 Likes
Congratulations to your D and the whole family! How exciting (even when you know it is coming).
1 Like
@bjscheel - Wonderful news! Congrats and thanks for sharing!
1 Like
Congrats, @bjscheel! Great news. And @3SailAway, I hope your daughter finds her people soon.
My D19 is thriving at work, as a gallery assistant in Chelsea, NYC, and still lives with the same three good friends from college with whom she’s been sharing an apartment since sophomore year. (They moved in together in January 2021, even though classes were still remote, because they were all tired of rattling around at home.)
She’s never had a romantic relationship and would like to be dating someone, but she hasn’t met the right guy yet. (And guy is correct — she has assessed the situation with clear eyes and open mind, and knows she’s firmly hetero.) She isn’t a big joiner or a big partier, and her workplace has a staff of about 12. She and her roommates have started going to a bar near where they live in Brooklyn, though, so maybe more concentrated exposure to other human beings will help. She’s not miserable, just ready. DW and I aren’t stressing about it or applying any pressure, just keeping an ear open for potential setups and hoping for the best.
8 Likes
That’s what happened with my daughter too. And if they hadn’t been dispersed to different parts of the world, they’d still be living together on the UWS. Instead they made a point of meeting/visiting thrice already since graduating.
Dito, again.
Although at this point I secretly question if my “talk” in middle school might just have been a bit too effective?
2 Likes
So a few posts up I mentioned Bumble For Friends, as a possible way to meet friends in a new city, though I don’t know anyone who has used it.
But as far as romantic relationships, Bumble worked for DD’17. She chose that one because the girl decides who to message. Her results are probably not typical, but she only went on one date with another guy before finding her now-fiancee. She really didn’t want to resort to dating apps, but college was over, her workplace was small, her church only had one young single guy, and she wasn’t finding anyone in the produce aisle at the grocery store. It’s tough out there!
3 Likes
She should have gotten there early, when everything was fresh…
Love seeing these updates, so I thought I add mine. After graduating from Tulane D was a little unsure of what was next but thought law was something she was highly interested in. So she opted for a gap year to study for the LSAT and apply. Her gap year job was working in entertainment at Walt Disney World as a performer. She’s loving it and so happy that she decided to go for it.
D just recently found out that she got into her top choice law school - Wake Forest. It’s my husband ‘s and my Alma mater so we are all thrilled. But that process brought back all those application nightmares I had with her and D23 (now at Tufts.)
Congratulations to everyone and keep the updates coming!
11 Likes
Hi all, it’s been a while! Nice to see all the updates. As most of you know D19 is a year after most of yours after COVID breaks, but is now heading into the home stretch - fall semester finals next week and graduation in May. We have another close relative at the same school who will be graduating with their MBA at the same time so it’s going to be quite a party!
D19 was considering grad school for a while but seems to have cooled on the idea a bit, at least for now, so will get to start looking for jobs soon I guess…
8 Likes