Today is D24’s last real day of school. She had a science presentation, but next week is senior finals and she doesn’t have to go because she is exempted out of all of them because she has straight As. Today was the day all of the seniors wore a school uniform skirt decorated with their college choice (she goes to a Catholic girl’s college prep school). Tonight is her last choir concert too.
Graduation is a week from tomorrow. She has to come in for some special Senior luncheon thing and graduation rehearsal, and has to come back one more time post-graduation for an AP test that was double booked.
For her graduation present I told her I was basically going to let her get all of the things from the gift shop at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam on the family trip she picked. She was so happy with that.
I manifested that she was going to get into this Honors thing that lets her move in to the dorm a week early and do a one week class that adds on community service projects in local schools. I had booked the non-refundable hotel room for the super-convenient hotel on campus for the early move-in date, but she got in yesterday!
Late-breaking, very surprising, totally welcomed news: My CoE/CS droid received a LEAD scholarship from UMich! Email arrived today, well after the date that they’d said would likely be final.
Haven’t asked LSA Honors droid yet…but they’re better about checking email so if similarly awarded we should know soon.
Thank you!! Yes I have to admit that we’d very much moved on from considering it as a possibility. I think they’d said that 4/26 would be the final announcement date, and that they didn’t anticipate making any awards after then.
S24 finally committed to Purdue for FYE yesterday! Very excited for him. Boiler up! His best friend is also going but to a different program. So atleast, they will have a friendly face to hang out with and have company for travel back and forth. S24 also requested a birthday/graduation party before actual graduation in end of June as many of his friends have big travel plans. Have to start planning that next. Exciting times!
Today was son’s last day, they had a bbq and took pictures. So bittersweet to see him complete this chapter. These past 4 years have been the best, hopefully college life will be even better.
Your son is gonna love Purdue! Mine spent the summer there last year for a class, it was awesome! The campus is huge, people are always welcoming, and there’s lots of places to eat. It was a great experience. My nephew just graduated and landed an aerospace engineering position in Georgia. His dream job.
Congrats to your son! My husband and I went to Purdue for undergrad. He was also a professor there for a while. We live near Philly now and miss going to Red Seven and Nine Irish Brothers. Boiler Up!
We went to D24’s last choir concert today. It was bittersweet. The older kids all sang this “Crowded Table” song and it totally made me cry. 2 of D24’s crew of friends came, too…that was nice and it meant a lot to her. Hard to believe that my kid is graduating in a few days.
Oh wow! I have a feeling many of us will be in those same shoes this month. Is she accepting the spot? Congratulations to her - even if she stays with swat, it’s always nice to hear the YES’s.
I think there’s a good chance she will. She really likes Swarthmore, but her two concerns were its small size and not enough social life. But she figures she can mitigate those concerns by taking the occasional class at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, or Penn. I think Swat’s very easy access to Philly and proximity to DC and NYC are also draws. In many ways, Pomona is like Swat–e.g., academic rigor, diversity, intellectually inclined, similar size, access to a city. But the 5C consortium seemingly addresses her size and social concerns. Pomona is also 2,000 miles closer to home and offers more outdoorsy opportunities. Having gone to school to LA myself though, I think Philly is much more accessible on a day-to-day basis from Swat than LA will be from Pomona. A big consideration will be D24’s assessment of Pomona’s art program, which looks good on paper.
The James Turrell (Pomona '65) Skyspace on campus is a point in Pomona’s favor: TikTok - Make Your Day
Yeah, at this stage of my life, the idea of being able to take a short train ride into the heart of Philly would have huge appeal to me. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Philly and I think it is a great city for visits–lots to do, lots of character, easy to get around, just a very attractive sort of city to me to have on your doorstep like that.
But, when I tried to sell Haverford to my S24 on this basis (let alone Swarthmore, which we visited but he then ruled out and didn’t apply), it really meant very little to him. And in fairness, at his stage of life, he is much more focused on what his daily campus experience would look like.
So yeah, I could see really any of the Claremont colleges standing out as a special opportunity for your actual college experience. And I gather some people do in fact quite like Southern California too, even if it is not quite as convenient to get around . . . .
I would take Philly any day over LA but that is just me
Any kids with the Calculus AP tomorrow? My D has been holed up in her room all weekend in preparation. I am barely getting her out for Mother’s day brunch.
Mine has calc AB tomorrow. I’m not sure he’d be holing up and studying of his own volition, but his Dad is his calc teacher, so there’s some pretty heavy review going on here this weekend. He and his brother are going to see the Decemberists tonight and then exam first thing tomorrow morning, so we’ll see how that goes…perhaps Colin Meloy is old enough now that he likes to call it a night early
His best friend is also going but to a different program. So atleast, they will have a friendly face to hang out with and have company for travel back and forth. S24 also requested a birthday/graduation party before actual graduation in end of June as many of his friends have big travel plans. Have to start planning that next. Exciting times!
