My poor S22 has not had a great start to the third quarter. On the drive back to school today (9ish hours from our house), a dog, or something dog sized, ran out in front of his car on the New Jersey Turnpike. He was going 60ish at the time when he grazed it (his word, it sounds like he was able to move far enough in the lane that it mostly hit the side panel and front corner). The dog ran off by the time he even knew what happened, but given the damage to the car, I can’t imagine the animal makes it. He’s upset about (likely) killing something, upset about the damage to the car (we had planned to transfer title to him in May, but he thinks of it as “his” car) that he’ll need to pay to repair, and this just made for a really much more stressful drive back to school. The good news, though, is that he and his passenger are ok.
Thanks - I’m actually from NY (born in the city, grew up in and around the city, though largely in the suburbs, moved back after college and stayed until my early 40’s) and my D22 spent her first few years there before we moved away. So she’s somewhat familiar with the city and we still know people there though it’s been quite awhile. But I do think it’s a different world. As I posted on the jobs thread I moved to NYC (Brooklyn) in the mid-80s pretty much straight out of college (lived at home for the summer, then moved in August or September). My salary at my first job was $14,500 which Google tells me is the equivalent of $47,000 today. My two roommates were waitressing. We easily afforded a lovely large 3 bedroom apartment on a tree-lined brownstone block in Brooklyn. My $300 share in rent is equivalent apparently to $975 now which is probably just not possible today. At the time our concession was lining in Brooklyn, not Manhattan. Now who knows how far out you’d have to go. But like Evie’s son my D22 seems willing to live in a way less nice place to be in NY - we will see if she can make it happen!
This is probably going to sound crazy, but I once had a dog hit my car. I was driving, saw a blur and heard a thump. Thought for sure I had hit a dog. It turns out the dog ran into the side of my car. Hard enough that it dented in the side panel. I stopped and was able to locate the dog and the owner. The dog had a slight limp immediately after, but recovered fine. I still see it out on walks in the neighborhood (on a leash now). So it is very possible the animal that collided with your son’s car is ok.
Based on the dent and how the dog limped right after, we think the dog saw my car at the last minute, tried to turn and hit the car with its back hip. (While not ideal, that’s way better than hitting its head.) The fact that the dog was capable of running off is a really good sign!
I wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t happened to me.
That is reassuring - thank you for sharing. Now that I’ve looked the pictures of the damage to the car, I wonder if it’s something similar. The damage is mostly to the side panel and he did describe it in a way that sounded more like a sideswipe than a head on impact with the dog. And it definitely ran away, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. Regardless of the dog, he does now need to get some work done on the car. The panel has what looks like a tear in the metal, like 5-6 inches long, coming up from the bottom. Since he’s in MA and I expect a lot of wet and salt, he doesn’t want that to rust, so he’ll need to do something.
I’m glad your son and his passenger are OK.
If this happened on the NJ Turnpike, it’s fairly unlikely it was a dog - my guess is it was a baby deer (deer collisions are fairly common in our state). While a small animal might not be badly hurt by a car traveling 25–35 mph in a residential neighborhood, it’s a different story on the Turnpike, unfortunately.
In any case, it’s not your son’s fault, so he shouldn’t feel too bad. I hope his car doesn’t cost too much to fix.
And I’m very happy to hear that things worked out well with his job!
Thank you! I’m so happy about the job situation. That was the other issue with Monday - the whole day (because it takes pretty much the whole day to drive from our house in VA to school in MA) he was waiting to hear about the job situation and if it was resolved ok… then he hit the whatever it was on the Tpke and that was just NOT something he needed.
I’m really glad he and his passenger are ok - he doesn’t drive a big car, it’s a Mazda 6, so any impact, let alone one at Tpke speeds, could be really bad. I’m also glad that he didn’t instinctively swerve away from it and into the next lane over of traffic (frankly, knowing my kid, I’m also kind of shocked he was in the slow lane). Baby deer makes more sense to me than dog, and might make him feel better than imagining someone’s pet got loose at a rest stop and got on the road by accident.
I wish him all the luck!
My nephew did a 5yr film program at ? college.
Family lives on Upper West Side so he’s all set for free rent.
Him and his buddy did a bunch of short documentary films, etc, for few years.
His parents are somewhat connected and they tried to help, but no luck.
So he finally had to scrap that plan/dream, and got a real job.
He’s getting his MS in Data Science/something at night.
Saving up to get married/buy a house in some suburb/rural area with land.
Hey, you gotta go after your dreams, yes?
Thank you! That’s how I feel too. Let him be a starving artist for a bit and chase his dreams. He’s a smart kid. He will figure it out on his own and in his own time. I know he can always seek out a regular job later.
@OctoberKate glad to hear your son is ok. It must have been quite scary. I once witnessed Garden State traffic coming to a halt for while about 5 deer crossed the highway.
Good luck to all adventurous 22s who are moving to NYC!
@txfriendly what an enviable situation to be in when a top grad school spot is pretty much guaranteed.
@SpreadsheetMom I hope your daughter is done with all her apps. I am sure her GPA and GRE will get her a spot in more than one SLP program.
S22 is going to a grad school! Earlier this week, he got accepted to a fully funded PhD program (T25 in his field) and nominated for an additional fellowship We are all relieved and very happy that he has a spot. He also had a couple of interviews in the last two days, one of which he really enjoyed and got a bit smitten by the program. A huge majority of the programs haven’t released their decisions yet and won’t for a few more weeks, but the pressure is now off.
Huge congrats to your S22! What great news, and what a huge relief – fully funded programs are getting so hard to find. And sounds like might even have several options to choose from – fingers crossed. 
Mine has submitted two more – the two reachiest ones (but also likely the most expensive). She still has two more by Feb 1, and the last one by Feb 15. This kid, I swear. The last three apps all require some analysis of charts or scenarios, plus a 2-minute recorded video, and a sample follow-up email in a client situation, etc. Not just the standard essays, of which she has already written 15 and could re-purpose, lol. So these are particularly challenging for an out-of-field applicant, and she’s dragging her feet.
The last three app requirements look more like assignments for grad school courses and not something one should be capable of before starting the program. Good luck. It sure sounds intimidating.
I know you didn’t mean it with any disrespect, but as a person who makes my living in the television industry, our jobs are very much real. I think what you meant was that he was unable to find work in his chosen field and had to look outside of that field for gainful employment, right?
Lots of college grads want to get in to the entertainment industry, and it is very competitive and crowded and can take years to find success if one is able to patch together work building experience and contacts. Many can’t so they move on to other fields. Totally understandable.
What?
I wasn’t being disrespectful.
Nephew’s dream was similar to becoming a big actor, which is slim to none chance for most people.
I meant a regular job in the usual 9-5 world, attainable by most, especially if they have a college degree, not just by luck or connections.
Exactly, he couldn’t wait around any longer, and so he had to scrap that plan (put it on the back burner), and earn a living that he (and his future wife) can depend on.
Congratulations!!!
As my S22 gets ready to start his new job on Tuesday, he’s received another piece of positive (though now unneeded) news. He had applied to a grad program at the London School of Economics, and he got in. That runs the higher-ed application record for our family of four to 10-0 (three undergrad for me; two undergrad and one grad for both my wife and son; one undergrad for our D19).
@CMCMLM How are things going for your son?
@Vineyarder congrats to your son even if he isn’t going to attend there. I am sure it is a nice confidence boost.
Materials Science decisions still for the most part have not come out for the schools he applied to. Maybe this coming week we will hear something. But he did get an acceptance for a Masters at his current school, so we have that at least. Thanks for asking😀
Congratulations! it’s so nice to know that there are other option. It takes at least some of the pressure off.
Good luck!
For students still searching for jobs, I just discovered this (and maybe your child didn’t know about it).
Love Handshake.
For many job postings on Handshake, there’s often an HR or recruiter or Manager or CTO/founder (if the company is tiny) listed. And you can send them a Handshake message.
And Handshake will tell you once they’ve read your message.
With Linkedin, it’s usually difficult to find the HR/hiring manager, etc to send follow-up messages.
For a job DS found on Linkedin, he applied through the company’s website, and then went to Handshake to look for that company, and found the HR and Engineering Manager, and he sent both messages to introduce himself. Handshake Notifications showed that the HR manager looked at his profile.
Good luck!
Results are coming in! He has 3 PhD acceptances, all fully funded and top programs. Still waiting on a couple more. Feeling blessed!