Us too! We use points to pay for flights overseas, and for hotels a lot of the time. Or we stay in apartments which can be bargains in off the beaten path places. It’s still a luxury to be able to travel overseas though, not something to be taken for granted.
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Yay!! Thrilled to read about the UNCW honors college acceptance 
, since I know you had been waiting (forever…and ever…) on that one.
And yeah, the ick is definitely going around in North Carolina. We had it here at my kid’s high school last week, knocking my S25 off his schedule for tackling a ton of assignments due this month.
Hope your house can get some rest, and recover fully and soon.
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On the subject of travel and kids… I need to whine for a minute. I want to do it here, because I don’t want my kid to know I’m sad.
My older son, my college junior, is a great kid who works super hard. Last summer at his internship he busted his butt, routinely working 60 hour weeks (where he got paid time and a half for 20 hours) until HR basically told his boss that he was working his interns too hard (the boss wasn’t, my kid volunteered for the extra hours). He did really well last summer saving money so that he’d be able to splurge some this year.
Some of the money is going towards buy a car, some was for spending money for travel while he’s on his seven week term abroad, and some was for a trip after the year ends with his friends. I support him doing all this travel and adventuring now - it’s a lot harder when you’ve got more bills to pay, less leave from work, and potentially kids involved. But it’s so cutting in to the time I have with him and it makes me sad.
For example, he’s doing this seven week term abroad in Greece. He will land back in the US on May 8th in the DC metro area. On May 10th he needs to be in Tampa to head out on a five day cruise with his best friends. He gets back from that May 15th. He just told his summer employer he could start work on Monday, May 19th - outside of Pittsburgh.
So he’ll be home on the 9th, we’ll do laundry and try to squeeze in a doctor’s appointment since he has to do a med check every six months. Then I’ll have him on Friday and maybe Saturday if he waits until Sunday to drive to his summer housing.
I miss my boy! I’m hoping to do a week at the beach or something this summer with both kids before they both start college in the fall, but I really don’t like this. I mean, I’m thrilled that older kid is launching, and making friends, and self sufficient. That’s part of your job as a parent, right? But I wasn’t ready for him to be all adult-y. When I was in college I still came home and lived with my parents over the summers. I didn’t really head out on my own until after that and, even then, I still was in the area so I could see them pretty regularly. I get that he needs to go where the jobs are and I’m thrilled he has a job that he’s excited about. But oh. I wasn’t ready for him to be totally out of the nest.
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I personally found my S23’s admitted students day to be worthwhile. It alleviated some of his fears about going to a school in a very big, very busy city and got him excited for what was in store for him in college. The school he attends was not at the top of his initial list, but after admitted students day, he realized it was where he should have been all along. As well, he was able to connect with professors and students in his program, which also solidified his (and our) commitment to the school. It’s hard if you have to travel far for these visits, but it was so, so helpful in reducing the stress of making a final decision and creating excitement for what’s to come!
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I’m hopeful that we’re past the worst of the sick days, but worried that we might be hosting more than one bug (the kid that stayed home yesterday has very different symptoms from my daughter, who came home sick Monday)
Hmm, maybe I should advocate harder for the admitted students days? My daughter has expressed zero interest. Ours are all on Fridays or Saturdays so the missed school isn’t too bad.
I need to contact the financial aid office. Is this something I should make D25 do or is it perfectly acceptable for me to do it? Since everything is based off of our finances, I feel like it should be fine for me to contact them, but I wanted to check here first.
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Did you do the school specific admitted students days (school of business, nursing, etc…) if applicable or the whole school admitted students days?
We are close to the schools and can do both types of days, but we are not sure what would be best. Thanks!
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Rule of thumb is student contacts for school for anything except finances, as they cannot be expected to know how to discuss (assuming the parent is paying) - so yes, fine for you to do so.
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Today is senior night for my son. I remember back when he started school, it was one of those things I couldn’t wait for…He played baseball since he was 5..but in 10th grade after having major surgery, put the bat away and hasn’t played since. Last school year, he was asked to help start of the Unified Bocce team at his school and he jumped at the opportunity. He is one of the captains of the team and it just brings me so much joy to see how great he is at what he does. I wish education and teaching was in a much better place than it currently is because as a 2 teacher household (well one is now a principal) I see an amazing educator in my son…But I would never steer him in that direction right now.
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S25 received his National Merit Finalist notification in the portal on Monday. School hasn’t mentioned it, but at least it’s confirmed. Should he reach out directly to his top choice (Rose) and ask about additional scholarships? Or wait to hear from them?
We’re also dealing with a headache over another scholarship application. Husband’s company offers a $4K a year scholarship that S25 is applying for. The one hitch is that he has to directly upload his letter of recommendation into the portal instead of teacher or counselor uploading it. His teacher, who wrote his college rec, doesn’t seem comfortable sending him the letter. Not sure how to move forward with this but hopefully we can work something out.
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Congrats on the official NMF notification!
With respect to the scholarship at your husband’s work, can the HR office do the uploading? So perhaps the teacher could send the LOR to HR and then HR could upload it?
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Congrats on the official NMF! My son was a commended scholar (he goes to school in DC so its insanely high) and all he got was an email from the school saying he’ll get his certificate at some point. That point has not happened.
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Yes, this is what I would do!
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Congrats! My S25 also received official word that he’s a NMF. However, he had to check the portal himself–not one word from the school. . .
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Same for D25. The kids should all be getting letters to their homes soon too. Our mail is supposed to have a letter from NM today. I need to email the financial aid offices of the top choices today to see if there is additional merit. Someone posted this link in the National Merit thread to see if your college is on it.
2025 Merit Sponsor Leaflet.indd
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Thank you for sharing this! I will start booking the hotel for the one admitted student event that’s confirmed. I’m hoping to get a sense of the vibe/friendliness/social life of each school, as I believe this is important as well as the academics.
We emailed HR, and they said, “Sorry, the only way is for you to upload it yourself.” I think I’m going to send him to the counselor to see if she can upload it for him if he logs in. Such a pain! But it’s worth the money to go through the process!
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Sorry…just saw this! Yes, he did a school-specific program (and major-specific, since he was accepted directly into a program with a relatively small cohort) during his admitted students day, but we also did some school-wide activities (like looking at dorms, student union, etc). All of that was completely locked down when we toured his college, so we only saw the outsides of buildings. Not sure if it was just due to it being Covid-times during the tour, or whether they still do it that way. It was so nice to see the red carpet rolled out and there were a ton of people there! It gave all of us nice vibes as he accepted his offer!
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Thank you! That’s very helpful!
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You could also just ask a different teacher that is comfortable sending you a letter of rec.
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