Same. We will be saving money just on the smoothies alone.
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My DH is really concerned about what I’ll do with my time once the college thing is done. I think he’s afraid I’ll make lists of house projects for him to do. 
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I love TJ’s niche items so much – I think I follow two different people on Insta who make easy TJ meals. 
If your kid is going where I think she’s going, there will not be any shortage of good food. 
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There is actually a cookbook for college students around meals made from TJ shopping trips. I forget the exact name. I bought it for D19.
“The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook”?
It looks like there are a few others out there, too.
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Haven’t posted in this thread in a long time. Just curious if everyone already has a 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice etc?. My son was accepted to 12 schools (super surprisingly as he is a very average-below average student which is why we cast a wide net). Waiting on 3 more that wanted first term grades. Problem is that son has no idea which schools he’s interested in or not interested in. We’ve eliminated a couple because of cost but there are still about 8-9 we can afford. He’s totally undecided on major too so that’s not helping. All but 2 are OOS and we’ve visited all but one which we are visiting in 2 weeks. Some are small, some are mid-size, some are near cities and some in college towns. I feel like he’s just a very easy going, quiet kid that might be happy anywhere that he finds a few friends to hang out with and classes that interest him. Just have no idea how to help him make this decision. He does have ADHD so we are using EF supports as one of his important criteria. And we are planning some admitted student days but so many fall on the same days and none of the OOS ones that are near each other are happening on the same weekends. Sigh. Guess I’m just hoping something “clicks”.
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Nope… My D has not visited most of the schools she applied to, and at this point she hasn’t ranked them at all… She also happens to be the member of our household who typically has the most trouble making decisions.
Congrats to him on all those acceptances! That is amazing. And your plan of having EF support as a criteria I think is a great start to narrowing it down. If you look above over the past couple of days, a couple spreadsheets were posted. The one I believe spreadsheetmom posted with Google docs link I thought was great and I saved it. And sbinaz also has posted hers and I saved it in the past. It might help to go through one school with him and see which criteria are more important than others. And hopefully that will also eliminate some of the choices. I am excited to see if admitted student days help make D26 choice more clear. Right now she is down to 2 and we are going to admitted student days for both of them next month.
Yes, I think that’s the one.
Daughter got deferred to northeastern - honestly we were super surprised. We have a lot of financial need and expected a rejection! So yay - she will do a LOCI and we will see what happens in early April.
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Ditto! S’26 was also deferred for civil engineering and we all fully expected a rejection, so he’s pretty elated! And it’s not even in his top 5, so no harm if it doesn’t happen ultimately.
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Congrats on all your son’s acceptances! What a great spot to be in if 8 or 9 are affordable.
What are some of his hobbies – what kinds of activities or extracurriculars might he pursue? What groups are his high school friends in? (Mine is a band kid, so band opportunities are important to her, and likely where she’ll find a friend group.)
I would look for stuff like that at his various school options, see what offerings are strong – whether it’s intramural sports or chess or music ensembles or rocketry club or whatever he likes to do. (Mine is also looking for the sort of place where people play Pokemon and watch Minecraft streamers, lol.)
You will hopefully be able to get a vibe for the types of students at some of the admitted student days and see if they’re his kind of people. And if he still really doesn’t have a preference, I would honestly go for something in-state and easy to get to!
To answer your question, my D26 will be trying to choose among five schools, and it changes every day in which order she prefers them. (We’re visiting four over the next month and a half.)
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I was guessing VT by the housing contract and supportive FB community. Just wanted to jump in and offer help, if needed. My daughter is a junior and Hokie Ambassador tour guide. so I am glad to ask her anything.
As for housing, she was ED when they still had it and got a great pick in West AJ - it had air conditioning and was considered very desirable. She found pretty quickly that it was HUGE and felt like a conference hotel and she preferred visiting with friends in smaller, non-AC dorms, because the community is better. Blacksburg isn’t hot for long.
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Yesterday my D22 turned 22 – I had Taylor Swift running through my head all day, lol. I had sent her a birthday care package (that D26 wrapped in duct tape with a frog print, so D22 found it in the mail room immediately 
) as well as treats from a local bakery. But we were both so busy that we only managed a short video call in the afternoon for an “unboxing” – and this was happening while I was supervising movers bringing in my parents’ stuff to their apartment.
It was so much chaos. But I nailed it with one of her presents – two of her current professors collaborated on a new translation of the Aeneid, which just came out a month or two ago. I read about it in Rice Magazine, so I sent her a copy.
She was amazed – “Wait, did I tell you about this? How did you know about this? I went to a book talk where they were doing a raffle for preview copies but didn’t win. Maybe I can ask both professors to sign it!”
Total mom win.
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Of course! PM away. My older DD LOVES VT!
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S26 was accepted at Northeastern, to NU.in. This was his first choice of campus experiences, as he’s heard so many good things about it from various family friends whose kids have done it. He’s more excited than I figured he’d be—S26 is probably the least “pre-professional” person you could imagine, and that is NEU’s biggest selling point. But he likes Boston a lot, and he liked NEU’s Boston campus better than BU’s, which is how he ended up applying (and they make it very easy with no extra essays). Spending a semester in a European city with a smaller cohort of his classmates also sounds very exciting to him.
Can a philosophy and math major who makes art find happiness at NEU? To me, he’s a classic liberal arts kind of kid (who, frankly, would benefit from smaller classes, professors who know him). But part of me wonders if their co-op model would encourage him to think about how he might want to make a living. We are still a ways away from decision making, but his excitement took me by surprise a bit.
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Congrats to your S26! It’s very telling when you see their excitement (or lack there of) when they get a decision! I have a friend whose D went to Northeastern, and she loved her time there and benefitted so much from their co-op program. You’d be surprised at how big schools create opportunities and spaces for students to make it feel more like a smaller school - perhaps the philosophy department or an LLC could provide that small-school feel.
I’m on the same boat. I feel that my S26 will benefit most from a SLAC than a big school. S26 hasn’t made up his mind yet about that and has been accepted to SLACs and big schools. I’ve decided to not share my feelings (yet) until he visits his top 5 schools again for their admitted students’ days. Hopefully by then he’ll have some clarity as far as preferences go. Sometimes our kids get so caught up in the excitement of being admitted to a school - and there’s nothing wrong with that, they should be celebrating! - that once the dust settles, hopefully they’ll start to really think about which school is the best fit, academically, socially, and financially!
Congrats to your S26 again!
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Both my boss’s kids went to NEU. One did journalism, graduated a couple of years ago and is working at the same big broadcast network she interned at. Given how difficult the field is these days, that was a great outcome. The other is doing her masters at one of the top universities in the UK. Good outcomes.
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Yes, it’s VT. It’s one of my son’s top 3! Thank you so much and yes, I will reach out to you if I have additional question!
Was she in the West AJ residential college? I saw that the dorm had 800+ beds! Yikes! From just the pictures alone, the building looks HUGE. I honestly don’t know how my son feels about that. He feels really pressured to decide on housing now when he is still waiting on a few more decisions. But allure of that dorm, the features, and the 2 year contract are desirable to him. He understands the implications of a 2yr housing contract, but he’s not one who’s easily pressured by friends and he likes the idea of not rushing to sign off on an off-campus apartment his sophomore year in the fall of his freshman year.
That being said, if West AJ doesn’t work out for him, it’s good to know that the non-AC dorms are just as fine and sounds like they have a more community feel. Which dorms would your daughter recommend for a kid who’s shy at first (he opens up once he gets to know people more), likes to hang out with friends but needs time to himself to re-charge, and who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke?
Huge congrats to your S26! Northeastern is so hard to get into, so this is a big win. I love that he’s excited. Does he know where he’d be going for NU.in – or does he get a choice of places? I’m not totally sure how it works. I know several schools offer this kind of program, but not all kids are willing to start their campus experience abroad, so it’s great that he’s excited about this option.
I’m with you on being (privately) unsure about the school – my D26 has a couple on her short list where I’m dubious about the fit. But I’ve resolved to keep my mouth shut and see how she feels over the next month or so. I think there are pros and cons to every school, and that initial excitement from the kid is important.
Congrats again, and best of luck as he weighs his options!
(I have a friend whose twin daughters both attended NEU – one for engineering and one for some kind of science research field, don’t remember exactly. Both had fantastic experiences and great opportunities there.)
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