Swamp Kids in College Thread

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 10:43 am

I just dropped my daughter off for her first day of school, at the U of Utah. Both my kids are in class there as we speak. (Though I had to stalk my son's phone to make sure.)

I am not sure if both or either of them will finish the semester there, but they're there now, and that's a start.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:22 am

Took my youngest to UNC a couple of Saturdays ago to start his college career. We also stalk him on his phone and he's been spending a lot of time on frat row!

Took his older brother back to Swarthmore for his junior year a couple of days ago. We're officially empty nesters now. It's pretty weird.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:36 am

Taking The Daughter back to Denver next week to try and relaunch her DU career. She effectively took a gap year with COVID, while taking a few classes at the local community college. She needed a mental health break.

Crossing our fingers that she's got the tools to head back and be productive and finish things up.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:38 am

Shirley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:22 am Took my youngest to UNC a couple of Saturdays ago to start his college career. We also stalk him on his phone and he's been spending a lot of time on frat row!

Took his older brother back to Swarthmore for his junior year a couple of days ago. We're officially empty nesters now. It's pretty weird.

If your son at UNC takes any public policy, this prof is a high school friend, soccer teammate, neighbor growing up.
https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/benjami ... d-llm-phd/

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:40 am

Mine is back but we didn't have to take. The beauty of an off-campus apartment.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:54 am

Shirley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:22 amWe're officially empty nesters now. It's pretty weird.

I wish we were empty nesters. Our daughter is living in our house while we are living in our summer home, and things are going about as you would expect with an 18-year-old having no parents around. We finally had to lower the boom on parties or even more than three people coming over because neighbors were starting to complain and there was just too much mess and too many beer cans and liquor bottles around.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:36 am Taking The Daughter back to Denver next week to try and relaunch her DU career. She effectively took a gap year with COVID, while taking a few classes at the local community college. She needed a mental health break.

Crossing our fingers that she's got the tools to head back and be productive and finish things up.

Yeah, I am in a difficult limbo with our son. He definitely needs a mental health break of *some* kind, but I think sitting around doing nothing will end up being worse for his mental health than taking classes. He signed up for a pretty heavy workload this semester, but I am strongly encouraging him to drop at least one of his classes, maybe two. I would rather pay for an extra semester or two of school than have him break down from stress (or worse) in October.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:01 pm

Yeah, my son crashed out of Northeastern pre-COVID and is now doing really well with virtual classes at the same local CC. He's looking to hop into a 4 year program and finish up in the next year starting with a winter or spring semester.

Everyone has their own path, and all that. I'm just tired of burning through 10s of thousands of dollars with "lost" semesters. Thankfully, he really looks like he's figured his shit out and is motivated to move on and start his life.

One thing we are going to explore is having him look at some of the Denver-based schools. Colorado has a Denver campus, for example. They also have a brewery tract, which I'm very much encouraging him to pursue. I can totally see him getting a solid career going in that field.

We would love to be empty nesters, having had two adults living under our roof the last 2 years. Love them dearly and all that, but we are also looking at our future and that very much includes moving away from this area.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:06 pm

Yeah, we very strongly considered doing a gap year for my son at Swarthmore. Last year was really tough on him with all virtual classes. He just doesn't learn well that way, and being autistic, just isn't very good at being flexible with things like that. He had a good summer though and we're hoping that this year, with in-person classes again, he'll do better. Fingers crossed. (And yes, it's a shitload of money to be gambling!)

bfj · Post by **bfj** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:11 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:38 am
Shirley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:22 am Took my youngest to UNC a couple of Saturdays ago to start his college career. We also stalk him on his phone and he's been spending a lot of time on frat row!

Took his older brother back to Swarthmore for his junior year a couple of days ago. We're officially empty nesters now. It's pretty weird.
If your son at UNC takes any public policy, this prof is a high school friend, soccer teammate, neighbor growing up.
https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/benjami ... d-llm-phd/

I'll add if they take any psychology classes, this guy was a good friend growing up for many years.
https://jonabram.web.unc.edu/

bfj · Post by **bfj** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:13 pm

MIne goes back to Towson on Sunday and he is more than ready to move out again. I'm all for it. As far as empty nesting, I don't ever see that in my future with Max, but I would love to move away from Baltimore when my oldest is done and out on his own. I want to live near a beach.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:44 pm

Shirley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:06 pm(And yes, it's a shitload of money to be gambling!)

God, this. My kids are going to the state school, and I can afford to take a hit if I have to, but still, the amount of money at stake when a kid has to bail after a couple of weeks is crazy.

I was lucky that my son dropped out of the Colorado School of Mines early enough in his second semester that I was able to get almost all the tuition and room/board money refunded. (And I was able to get him into classes at the local community college right away, so he didn't fall too far behind a normal progression.)

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:04 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:01 pm Colorado has a Denver campus, for example.

CU-Denver is pretty great. They share a campus with Metro State and kids can cross-register. Also, cool that the campus is served by our semi-ok public transit so students can live someplace more reasonable than downtown Denver and commute in.

(I love their on-campus pub, we always try to have the campus library meetups at CU-D so we can have beers afterward.)

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:06 pm

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:04 pm
Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:01 pm Colorado has a Denver campus, for example.
CU-Denver is pretty great. They share a campus with Metro State and kids can cross-register. Also, cool that the campus is served by our semi-ok public transit so students can live someplace more reasonable than downtown Denver and commute in.

(I love their on-campus pub, we always try to have the campus library meetups at CU-D so we can have beers afterward.)

That pub put that place on the map for us. We were just kind of wandering around and found it with an app and really enjoyed it.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:40 pm

I would love to see my kid do a semester or two there. I loved having an excuse to visit Denver when he was at Golden.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:45 pm

All you guys must have kids on semesters. UW-Seattle is on quarters, so our daughter will be starting her senior year in the back half of September. She and her roommate are once again moving apartments, so we are driving up the coast in a couple weeks to help her move. Hope the smoke from the fires isn’t too bad while we’re en route.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:47 pm

DU is on quarters, she doesn't start until Sept. 11 (technically, classes don't really start until the 13th.)

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am

Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:04 am

A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.

Well that means you have not gotten the DC ones yet. There is a nasty one in the short tunnel near you kid's office. DC had them off most of Covid but they are back on now.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:17 am

A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.

They are poorly marked and always a fucking surprise.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:23 am

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:17 am
A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.
They are poorly marked and always a fucking surprise.

The question is what is nonlinear's budget for tickets each year? His county has them ALL OVER THE PLACE. You know where they are because you see cars fly down the road, brake hard for a few hundred yards, and then hit the gas again. Near my office they have a nasty red light camera that hammers folks at my company for not coming to a complete stop before right on red (and they love including a link to the video so you don't fight them).

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:38 am

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:23 am
tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:17 am
A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.
They are poorly marked and always a fucking surprise.
The question is what is nonlinear's budget for tickets each year? His county has them ALL OVER THE PLACE. You know where they are because you see cars fly down the road, brake hard for a few hundred yards, and then hit the gas again. Near my office they have a nasty red light camera that hammers folks at my company for not coming to a complete stop before right on red (and they love including a link to the video so you don't fight them).

There are a lot of traffic light cameras in my area, and I just learned NJ banned using cameras for ticketing back in 2014. These cameras causing fear in me as I run yellow lights are used to control the lights by tracking traffic. All these years sitting at red lights like a fool...

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:03 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:38 am
wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:23 am
tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:17 am
A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.
They are poorly marked and always a fucking surprise.
The question is what is nonlinear's budget for tickets each year? His county has them ALL OVER THE PLACE. You know where they are because you see cars fly down the road, brake hard for a few hundred yards, and then hit the gas again. Near my office they have a nasty red light camera that hammers folks at my company for not coming to a complete stop before right on red (and they love including a link to the video so you don't fight them).
There are a lot of traffic light cameras in my area, and I just learned NJ banned using cameras for ticketing back in 2014. These cameras causing fear in me as I run yellow lights are used to control the lights by tracking traffic. All these years sitting at red lights like a fool...

I am drew Magary and he is me.

"Now, speed cameras are better than police stops and I support municipalities using them … so long as I’m not the one getting tagged. But I am, and therefore I consider them to be a grave injustice and an unjust way of bilking taxpayers. I had two camera tickets arrive in the mail on the same day, each one from a separate state. And my wife always sees them. Does SHE ever get a camera ticket? No. Why? Because the cameras are sexist again men, that’s why. UNFAIR."

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:47 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:23 am
tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:17 am
A_B wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:53 am Kid spent the last week of internship in DC. Apparently there is a 35 MPH zone that they decided to ignore. Two tickets so far and to maryland's traffic cameras I say a hearty FUCK YOU.
They are poorly marked and always a fucking surprise.
The question is what is nonlinear's budget for tickets each year? His county has them ALL OVER THE PLACE. You know where they are because you see cars fly down the road, brake hard for a few hundred yards, and then hit the gas again. Near my office they have a nasty red light camera that hammers folks at my company for not coming to a complete stop before right on red (and they love including a link to the video so you don't fight them).

The only one that gets me is on Randolph, because they put in for a week and then take it out for 2 months and you can forget it's there. All the other ones... I drive around so much for my job, I just know where they are and don't get tagged very often.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:49 pm

The other thing is that here in MoCo, there's at least a 5 mph leeway given. Which is why it drives me NUTS when people slam on the brakes and go 20 mph when the speed limit is 35. FFS.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:17 am

Took a campus visit to Eastern Kentucky yesterday with the youngest. He's been on the fence and actually was considering the local community college for a couple of years. But after visiting is all in on EKU. It's a pretty self contained campus with a small town downtown within walking distance and also it's just 30 minutes from home. He applied last night, he was so excited. I've asked about others, but absolutely fell in love with the campus and the idea of college there. Same school my mom (and I believe her mom) went to, so it runs in the family.

Pretty cool to see him actually get excited about it and realize he can get in because he isn't as strong as student as my oldest. Was thinking comm college for that reason but really perked up when they showed the requirements and he was easily in the range.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:27 am

ETA: dammit

wrong directional...

But congrats!

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:33 am

That is outstanding, AB! Give him my best!

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:45 am

rass wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:27 am ETA: dammit

wrong directional...

But congrats!

Don't put that Bowling Green stink on me. Or god forbid Highland Heights.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:48 am

Giff wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:33 am That is outstanding, AB! Give him my best!

Will do. He even picked out an EKU Mom keychain for the old lady to show how much he liked it. I got a simple t-shirt.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:59 am

Outstanding! Hopeful it works out.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:14 am

Nice!

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:42 am

Nice to hear, AB.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:56 am

Always fun to hear about a kid getting excited about their new college.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:37 pm

That's cool AB

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:25 pm

Hey, A_B. Did you ever have any problem with mail getting to your daughter at Boston University?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:44 pm

No never an issue I recall. She has lived off campus for two years though.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:46 pm

Oldest has the COVID. Lives with three roommates so there is some consternation. One roomie has MCAT Friday so is staying with boyfriend or his week. Others supportive but kid is staying in room as much as possible. But they will probably all get it I assume. My sister also tested positive this weekend for first time. I guess it comes for everyone.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:04 pm

My youngest is on the streak of getting wait-listed everywhere. She's been accepted to Gonzaga and U of Redlands, but then waitlisted at Loyola Marymount, Scripps (which was where she really wanted to go), and Miami (FL).

Some of these schools are showing acceptance rates of 3-4%! Its crazy...and the bummer about being waitlisted is that you won't get the financial aid packages.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Sat Mar 26, 2022 10:54 am

Looks like I'm going to be a Double-Gonzaga parent. Younger daughter and I talked last night, and she's decided she's going to go to Gonzaga. Getting waitlisted at so many schools bummed her out, but I think that seeing how much fun her older sister is having in Italy is helping her get past that.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Sat Mar 26, 2022 11:06 am

Congrats, Dave!