Thanks for the heads up about needing to bring substantial food when going into Denali. There is a fishing trip already booked during the reunion for anyone who wants to do that. I will took into Talkeetna. Thank you for the suggestions.

Each trip will need to start or end in Anchorage. However, we can go wherever we want for our extra time and spend a night there if needed.

I have read the recent posts about travelling to Alaska with great interest, because we will be in Anchorage for a family reunion this summer. Most of the trip is determined by the reunion, but I have an extra day or day and a half at both ends of the trip that I'm not sure how to handle. Sightseeing in Anchorage and Denali are already on the schedule. I would love to see Kenai Fjords by boat or kayak, however, we are going on a glacier boat trip while with family. In addition, it is farther than I want to drive for my bonus day/day and a half at either end of trip. Is it something I will kick myself if we don't do. So, please talk me out of driving the wrong direction to Kenai, and tell me what we shouldn't miss between Anchorage and Denali National Park. We will have a car and teens/near teens.. Thanks in advance. I haven't been to Alaska since college and my kids have never been.

I know someone who has worked in both locations. - for the same company? or different ones? Worked for one company in both locations, and worked for another company in just one location. Some company's have teams with people in both locations, so they could simply want both parts of the team to meet a potential new hire. possible, she'd love to stay here. it's a 15 minute bus ride (no transfers) from her house to their main campus here, and they give a stipend for not being a single occupant vehicle. however, - the impression she's being left with is they want to move her to California. last night, I was talking with her friend who recently went to work for this company (he's a dev. really likes it. his wife really likes it.), who didn't do any of the stuff they're asking her to do. no - read this to prep for your interviews. no - we'll be asking about ___, ___, and ___. no flying him to California for a full day of interviews with multiple people. no lunches. Good luck to your daughter. Hope the interview goes well. There are obviously plenty of people that live in both places that couldn't imagine living anywhere else, so there is no wrong choice. Something that has not been mentioned is Washington does not have income tax while California does. - yep. but we do have one of the highest sales tax rates in the country. currently 10+%. Mountain View and Sunnyvale have a 9 percent sales tax. The state tax website says California income tax is 9.3 percent for single people with incomes between (approximately) 55,000 and (approximately) 245,000. Other tech companies have buses in Seattle too. I don't really notice them. MS "connector" buses are everywhere - lime green and white. (ranging from cars to tour bus sizes - they have their own route numbers. they are only for ftes.) now I think about it, I do recall seeing T-Mobile's pink airport-sized shuttle busses, but there are only a fraction of the number as MS. the only amazon vehicles I see are delivery vans. Google, Amazon, Facebook also all have bus service for Seattle employees.

I'm sure it differs by company, job, etc, but the person I know found their company paid the same for the job, no matter if the employee was in Silicon Valley or Seattle.

I know someone who has worked in both locations. Some company's have teams with people in both locations, so they could simply want both parts of the team to meet a potential new hire. Something that has not been mentioned is Washington does not have income tax while California does. What I was told, new young employees in Silicon Valley were looking to share bedrooms while the same in Seattle were looking to share apartments. Other tech companies have buses in Seattle too. The person I know used company bus and bike in Silicon Valley and regular bus, bike and walk in Seattle. (Lives too close for company bus.)

Definitely sounds like a hard place. Vent away, so you can get these slights out of your mind and enjoy the wedding. I would suggest you remember that it would have cost hundreds of dollars in tux rentals for your three sons to be groomsmen. And that weddings make some people crazy.

I hate this for your cousin and family. I don't have any advice for you on whether or not to attend the funeral. I believe attendance at funeral is super important. However, being there after the funeral is even more important. And, that can even be done long distance. Cards throughout the years for birthdays, anniversaries (wedding and death date), days his absence will be particularly missed (graduations, holidays,) Be the one that remembers. In addition to cards, texting and emailing makes it super easy for people who have drifted apart to reconnect. Simply send her a quick/short text/email daily for six months/a year/whatever saying you are thinking about her, hope she can sleep, etc. Mention her husband by name. She may need a safe person to vent to. I don't have a book to recommend. I would recommend a grief group or camp or both for her daughter. This will help her daughter to know she is not alone in being without a dad. Even today, people often assume there are two parents. Many hospice programs have weekend camps. There are other groups that have week-long camps, that would work for next summer.) (Plus, counseling if it is affordable to your cousin.) The hive could help you find a group/camp close to your cousin. In addition to the blanket mentioned above, there are groups that will make teddy bears out of a loved-one's clothing. My kids made pillows out of favorite shirts. I am not sure how you would do these things long-distance though. You might be able to send gift-card for the blanket/stuffed animal, but your cousin is going to be swamped with things to do and she may not follow-through. Don't let awkwardness stop you from being there for your cousin.

What a relief.

I read this question differently than PP, maybe because I read something on here recently that indicated that it does matter for jobs. I do not have a nursing student, but a good number of my friends have daughters in nursing. One graduated high school and went to OOS college with my oldest. She was not admitted into nursing on the first go around, but was on the next term she was eligible, so she graduated after summer term. She was engaged to a classmate, who was hired for a national program that didn't place new hires into a city until after the trainee program was completed. Her new husband was placed 1,000s of miles from their school. She had no problem finding a nursing job there. The next friend has a daughter who majored at a regionally ranked directional school. She also was not admitted the first go around into her school's nursing program. She graduated in December. She was able to get an in-person interview at the Cleveland clinic, which is not in her state. She decided she didn't want to live in Cleveland, so I'm not sure if she received an offer or not. She also interviewed with hospital in Florida, where her parents moved after she was in college. In the end, she decided to work local to where she went to school. The freshman admit program for nursing is very enticing. That is what the daughters of two other friends have done at diffferent OOS schools. Another had a daughter who was admitted to both of those programs, but decided to go to her dream OOS school, where her parents went, without direct admit. She decided not to let fear of not getting into the program make her decision. She got into nursing on first try. All made the decision that is right for them. None of these 3 plan to work in the state where they go to school and they know many graduates from their OOS colleges get jobs in our state after graduation. Of course, their plans could change. Someone who graduated college with my oldest came 1000s of miles to go to school there and ended up staying in-state after graduation, due to a relationship. Having watched these girls make their decisions or go through college, I can't imagine what advantage the BS to RN programs would have for a student who knew she/he wanted to be a nurse entering college. Maybe if it was a BS to MsN program. Good luck to your daughter.

Intern means different things to different people. The first thing that comes to my mind is the full-time internship, that is frequently done in the summer. Some companies offer full-time internships in other terms also. Some places also offer internships that are part-time and done while also taking classes. My oldest did this while studying abroad; took 3 classes and worked part-time for a company programming. It is late, of course, to find an internship for this summer, but things happen. She needs to talk to a professor or person who helps with internships and also to the person/professor who helps Wirth grad school applications.

That is a quite a relief. As others suggested, if everything goes as expected, then grandmother can help pay off loans after graduatio,. Or, she may even be able to pay for senior year if they decide to retire at 3 years.

I think the family needs to tell Grandma an exact number they need to make Yale work. She may have no clue what colleges can cost these days. If she says yes to the amount, then I would ask her to pay that money after final CSS/FASFA are filed or after grand-daughter transfer/drops out. (I'm not suggesting the daughter will not graduate, but I would want the money to still be there in the unlikely event she does not finish.) I would suggest the parents use their house money to pay for Yale and then use Grandmother's money to pay for house. (Depending on family dynamics this might need some type of legal document. It would also need to be written into the will.) I would contact Yale and ask how retirement is treated since the father is of retirement age and will be retiring while kid is in schoo$ I would suggest the parents either contact Yale to see if that will impact financial info in future years, phrase it in if a family member is willing to assist with the cost this year., but I don't know if this would open a can of worms with the school wanting even more money. I have never had to deal with a CSS school. I don't think you friend did anything wrong. They probably believed what they were told that meets needs schools would meet their need or cost x if they made X. Every school is different and there is no way to know all the ins and outs. Net price calculators have come a long way, but they still don't work for unusual situations. And, I'm saying that as someone would have absolutely no problem telling my Yale-accepted student to go to Hendrix (no clue if it is big enough that she wouldn't see high school guy) or Oxford for two years or whatever state school she applied to as a safety. I probably would have ruled out Yale a long time ago in this process.

Or the roommate's boyfriend/girlfriend if they spend a lot of time at your place. My oldest lived with the same person for 3 years in an on-campus suite with two-others and then off-campus apartment with one other for two years. By the third year, they had a bit of falling out due to the friend's SO, who my kid thought was all wrong, always being over. A few months after graduation the roomie called off the engagement and their friendship was back on track. My current high schooler has a friend who wants to room together next year, but I don't want it to impact their longterm friendship. I thought singles were sought after, so it seems odd to me that students are forced into them. I wouldnt be happy with that My sibling ended up in a triple freshman year for a few weeks. They liked each other so much, they stayed as a triple when a different solution was offered. They are still friends many years later

I think it is time for Papa to get a new passport. Congrats to your daughter on her accomplishment. I learn so many cool things on this board. Definitely, never heard of that style harp.

Sorry to hear the writing score is looked at all, but glad to hear that your daughter will be able to score the necessary score. Goof luck to her on studying for the Math section. If you don't still have the general prep book that she used in the past, I would recommend buying one that only has math, like a PP mentioned, since she won't need the other sections. Good luck to your daughter on the test.

I am reading this thread to root for the TWTM kids still waiting on decisions. It is great to hear the exciting news about college admissions from fellow homeschoolers We have known for years where my current senior would go; the same school as older siblings attend/attended as well as parents/aunts/uncle/and a few grandparents. My time there overlapped with 3 cousins and a sibling. Joining my kids will be their first cousin, who is a senior this year. The current seniors, who live in different states, have been planning on attending college together for a long time. I love the "cult" as a friend calls my alma mater, since so many families send kid after kid, generation after generation there. However, I do know we are lucky to have a connection to a school with merit aid. When I read your post today, I remembered that I meant to reply to an earlier post where someone said her kid wanted to intern and work at Google, so he couldn't go to a college that gave merit aid. I never post exact information about where we live or where my kids go to school, intern, work, and I felt like I needed to reply with some of those personal details on that post to say the son could attend a school with automatic aid and reach his goal to intern/work for Google. However, I never got back to posting on that thread. Then, I read this post about applying to college after a divorce, and I read it to mean you were going to be divorced when your daughter goes to college and therefore you would not be able to pay the same amount as you will have to pay for your son's college, so he could intern/work for Google. I felt bad that I had not told you that expensive schools are not needed to intern/work at Google. However, I never made it back to re-read the first post to verify I didn't have two different posters confused. When I read your post today, I had time to check that the previous texts were by same person as well as to reply, so I felt compelled to reassure you that students can/do intern/work at Google from schools that are not reaches for smart kids. (I read on my phone, so I don't see signatures.) I had no way of knowing you know Google's hiring practices, because your thoughts are different from my experience. I took your posts about your son needing to attend a name-brand school to reach his career goal at face value, so I broke my don't post personal information on a public board rule to reassure you. I also broke my rule of not to assuming things, but I didn't want you to feel pressured into a school you can't afford to help your son intern/work at Google. All I know about Google's hiring practices is that Google hired my student (and classmates), who go to a school, much smaller than Penn State, far away from California. While my kid did intern at Google before being offered a job there, others were hired straight out of college without an internship. When checking online to see if the names I knew had interned first, I saw a number of older alumni listed as working there. Some have a bachelor's/master's from big state u, and some worked for another company or two before Google. Others had bachelor's degree from a foreign university, and then a graduate degree of some type from Big State U. In the grand scheme of things, this school doesn't send many people to Silicon Valley; there are plenty of software engineering jobs much closer to home. With your inside information I'm sure your son will have no problem getting a job/internship with Google no matter where he goes to college. For anyone with a student interested in interning/working at Google, you can simply search on LinkedIn to if graduates of their school/possible school are working at Google or at whatever company they want to work/intern for. I was also confused and thought this was your first senior. I'm not sure when I joined the forum, but I know I ordered "Story of the World" in 2002, when I started homeschooling my oldest, and when my current senior was 1 and wreaking havoc during our first day of homeschooling. I did not mean to frustrate you; I simply wanted to ease the stress of fellow boardie, who was going through college applications for the first time. However, since I have already frustrated you, I guess I should go ahead and remind you that teens don't always do what we think they will do. (Did you read the article posted here last year about the girl who turned down Yale? There is always an article like that come May.) I even posted on this thread a while back that my senior, who has always wanted to go to Big State U, spent a lot of time this year looking into the University of Hawaii, simply because a good friend wanted to go there. When I pointed out it didn't have the intended major, my kid said, "I'll just major in something else; I can do anything." Good luck with your countdown and to your son with his remaining decisions.

Calming Tea, I think you are saying that a student must go to "tippy top selective school" to go to straight to work at Google without a master's degree, because I read something like that here in the last month that you may have posted, because I think Penn State was mentioned there too. I want to set your mind at ease that Google definitely hires straight-out-of-college software engineers, who never attended a tippy-top selective school. I know, because my oldest, who graduated from a big-state U that offers merit aid, had classmates go work for Google in Silicon Valley as software engineers after graduation. Google also recruits on my student's campus twice a year, and these recent-hire classmates are the ones Google flys back to recruit on their campus. https://money.cnn.com/2015/04/09/technology/google-people-laszlo-bock/index.html https://qz.com/967985/silicon-valley-companies-like-apple-aapl-hires-the-most-alumni-of-these-10-universities-and-none-of-them-are-in-the-ivy-league/ Parents of high school seniors sometimes post here that their student will never get hired at x company or go on to y graduate school if they don't get into whatever tippy-top selective school is desired, however, I have never seen in many years of reading here, a parent of a college senior post that their student was not hired at x company or accepted to y graduate school, because they were a student at a non-tippy-top selective school. Good luck to your student.

Not an answer to your question, but do you know if they look at the writing score? When my oldest took the ACT, the writing portion was required for a school, but the school didn't use the writing score. So, I was wondering if this might apply to your daughter's program/school.

Thank you for "remembering your friend" and for taking her daughter on these trips. I'm guessing it is a bittersweet time for you. It can be hard for a surviving spouse to make college visits work with other kids/responsibilities, so I'm sure your efforts are appreciated by dad and daughter. I have great memories of the college visits I made with my older kids, and I am sad I didn't do any visits with my current senior.

I'm definitely ready to push this baby bird out of the nest, however, I felt that way with the older ones too. I believe them driving me crazy at the end is my/their way of making sure I am ready form them to leave... something I could not imagine feeling at the start of senior year (at least for most of them.) With the others we knew where they were going before the start of senior year, and I thought that was the case with this kid too. However, another school was mentioned frequently during the application process, because a close friend was going to go there. In the end, they both decided to go to the school my kid has always wanted to attend. Still, there are some things that just leave things unsettled this time around, like uncertainty about major, etc. I always thought I liked surprises, but I have discovered I am definitely not good at college surprises. For all of you waiting, I hope your spring brings happy surprises.

I'm assuming St. Joe's is St. Joseph's. If so, I wanted to let you know we know someone who was accepted there last year with similar (or lower) stats. It was the second-best financial option. Good luck finding the right place.

Everybody brought up great points of how to decide if a department is too small. And how small departments can work with students to get them what they need.) This post brings up what went through my mind when I read the original post; you need to think about your student's personality in determining how he will fit in a small (or big) department. My current hs senior has a Big personality that people love or hate. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. A small department would never work, because there is no way to know how the faculty will react to that Personality day-in/day-out for four years. (in fact, this kid only had one school to apply in major, because the second closest was a tiny program/school.) Unlike my hs senior, my oldest never wants to be center of attention, and never was interested in a small school after going to a large, high-performing public school. Despite being a "wallflower/worker-bee personality," this student had no problem being hired to do on-campus research starting sophomore year, finding professors to write recommendations for a REU during freshman year and for internships/scholarships/conferences throughout college. This student had a job offer before senior year started, so not being a stand out on campus wasn't a hindrance to landing a dream job. Also was able to approach professors out of class with questions, for an exception to a study-abroad requirement (which was granted), etc. If this student had been interested in grad school, she would have made the connections needed to guide that process, because she is very goal oriented and would have known that was necessary. Good luck to your son in making his decision.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-with-full-ride-scholarships Broken down by region. These schools give merit aid. Whether or not it is just a few big ones or smaller amounts for more students depends on the school. There is a list somewhere of schools with large NMF scholarships. (my search only brought up old lists) My oldest received merit scholarships from Rose-Hulman and Drexel that brought the COA down to 20K or so.