<p>… S finally got his security clearance after ONE YEAR so he will be calling them on Tuesday to find out when they want him to report to work and work out his travel and moving to relocate to get to work (2500 miles from where he went to college & 5000 miles from our home).</p>
<p>We don’t know all that much about DC/VA area, but hopefully he will figure it all out & maybe his new workplace will have some helpful suggestions in helping him resettle. We are hoping to do a roadtrip – H, me & S, driving his car across country. We shall see! </p>
<p>We welcome suggestions & tips. His new job is within 5 minutes of the Dulles airport.</p>
<p>Hooooooray!! Does his new employer have a relocation department/service? Our son’s employer had a company under contract and paid to have DS fly out and apartment hunt with an agent.</p>
<p>Will have to ask S about this. He’ll be working with the federal government and have to ask about that. The summer he worked for NASA, they had agreements with some landlords, including the one he ended up with. It turned out that his landlord was NOT very good or fair and he did report to NASA about that so the future interns might have a better experience than he did.</p>
<p>He will call them on Tuesday & get details, now that the long processing wait is over and he has been officially cleared. Sheesh!</p>
<p>Congratulations!!!
(And - yeah!!! DS just got a job offer, in his field, in his specialty, at a company that specializes in his field, in his college city, with bennies, offering him parttime until graduation, then fulltime. He will NOT come home and scoop ice cream. Rats! I was kindof hoping for some time with him here… :))</p>
<p>One of the cuter Christmas cards I got this year was one with a short blurb about what all of the kids in the family were up to. About their oldest: “College works!” He graduated last May, was actually employed full-time at a job in his major. Hooray!</p>
<p>HImom, great news that your son finally got his security clearance. My S works for a government agency and I thought I was going to tear my hair out during the process (and it didn’t take 12 months). S had much more patience than I did. </p>
<p>Please know that gaining security clearance doesn’t always mean starting the job soon. After getting the clearance, my S was given a start date of 6 weeks later. A friend (in a difference agency) was given a start date of 5 months after all clearances were obtained. In these cases, start dates were tied into training/orientation classes, which are not always held that frequently. </p>
<p>I’ll keep my fingers crossed that your S can start his long-awaited job in a timely manner.</p>
<p>We will be OK with whatever the schedule is but it’s nice to know that things didn’t fall in to the infamous “black hole,” which is what we were starting to think had happened to his docs. I’m glad that he’s pretty mellow about things and enjoying this time to chill out and handle his dental and other needs. He will be contacting his employer on Tuesday & find out what the scheduling is. H would like to have some idea so we can start blocking off time & making reservations & letting my cousin know the plan (she’s been kind enough to store his car all these months–since August)!</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind thoughts and wishes, everyone! We’re thrilled that he will be starting a job in his major, which was his top choice of his 3 job offers.</p>
<p>VA/DC is a great area for young adults. My S1 has been there for four years and has really settled into the area. Lots and lots and lots of people in that age group.</p>
<p>It’s better for these young 'uns to actually live in DC proper, rather than one of the 'burbs. Son lived in one of the 'burbs for the first year and discovered that getting others to come visit was a challenge. DC is where it’s at.</p>
<p>Son works in DC but lives in Arlington. There are also lots of young people living in Arlington(particularly in the Clarendon and Courthouse areas). Right on the Metro so easy access to DC and probably a little less expensive. Closer to Dulles area as well than DC. In contrast,I would imagine the suburbs closer to Dulles like Reston,Sterling,Chantilly,Herndon,etc. would not have many young people at all. Congratulations! The DC/Va area is a great place to visit!</p>
<p>Congrats on him getting the clearance. It can be quite a waiting game so many quality applicants just move on and the government losses by taking so long.</p>
<p>I second sevmom’s Arlington suggestion. There are tons of recent graduates, apartments, bars/resturants, etc., and he would have access to the Dulles Toll Road to go “against the grain” to the Dulles area.</p>
<p>Thanks for all these thoughts & suggestions. Have read/heard that it’s good for folks to live very near their place of work, so they don’t have to wrangle traffic, but it’s good to read/hear different perspectives. Ultimately, S will make up his own mind, based on what he sees/hears. He has his own network as well, but I like to try to put out useful suggestions, since none of us are that familiar with the area.</p>
<p>Agree with others that the burbs near Dulles is not great for the singles scene. Arlington/Clarendon are where the young grads are, and it’s cross-rush hour to Dulles from there (and he’ll need that car because the Metro only goes as far as Vienna). The Arlington area will be more expensive, but it’s a social place, and it’s on the Metro if he wants to head into DC.</p>
<p>Living in MD (say, Bethesda, which is also a hot, cool area) would not make sense – the commute across the American Legion Bridge is awful.</p>
<p>Thanks for these thoughts. He will have a car and a good income. Will have to see what he wants as we move forward. Commuting against rush hour sounds much better than trying to fight it while being able to walk or catch transit to work is my idea of ideal. I know S tends to have his own ideas and will see how things evolve.</p>
<p>Well, today they said he could start in June, August or September! It seems they are really stretching things out here! We already have reservations to visit him in DC – in May! Oh well, it was a good idea when we planned it & had no idea what his plans were going to be. :)</p>
<p>just because you will be commuting against the traffic from Arlington to Dulles does not mean that there wont’ be traffic. Your S might well wind up in backups going “against traffic” also.</p>
<p>If you have time when you visit in May, it might be worth it to get up really early one day and do a practice commute from Arlington to Dulles to see how it would go… leaving around 7 or whatever time your S would plan to leave in the morning.</p>
<p>There is a decent bar scene at Reston Town Centre, but I don’t know how it is with young 20 somethings. I agree with the posters that most of the 20somethings live closer to DC… Ballston, Clarendon, Pentagon City are popular, and of course there are places in DC as well.</p>
<p>A year for the clearance sounds very excessive. They are supposed to have finished their backlog by now.</p>
:))</p>