It sounds like a lot of people have some extra classes to take for whatever reason.
DS is in the same boat, but just one behind. He's deciding if he wants to take an online summer course this summer or not. He really doesn't want to, but knows he probably should. He will be working and playing his sport for a summer team. He is thinking about the military after graduation. We think it would probably be good for him, as he has the right type of personality for it, he can learn additional skills, and it will open up some job opportunities later on. But we'll see - he has more exploring to do. He also found out he can fairly easily double major, which we'd never thought he'd do, but his advisor pointed out that it makes sense in his case (since he changed his major and took a variety of classes), so he's deciding on it and if so, what he wants his second major to be, there are two choices. He also has been living since last summer in an off campus house with five of his teammates, and it's been good for him. His grades were improved this past semester compared to being a commuter. It just got to be too much between classes and playing a sport to be commuting in heavy traffic every day. Had he not been playing a sport, though, he'd probably still be commuting, especially where he could do his schedule so that he only had classes on certain days and could skip a couple of commutes weekly; but he can't always do that. This semester he has to be there daily. (Already is, as he has practices and workouts daily now even though classes don't start for a couple of weeks yet.) He has also starting dating a nice young lady he met in class, who is a lot like he is, so they seem to get along really well!
DD has been working super hard to get ahead of her classes, as the ones she has are pretty tough. (Nursing.) A lot of the friends she made freshman year have either dropped out of the program or dropped back a semester when they didn't pass a class, so that was a bummer for her and it also made her anxious about passing her own classes. But she's hung in there. She took summer classes and even a two week intensive winter class last year so that she could keep just her major's classes during the regular semesters and that strategy has worked out pretty well as it allowed her to concentrate on the most difficult courses without a lot of papers and projects on the periphery. She is holed up quite a bit of the time making study guides and working on projects, and generally has a little bit of a freak out about 3/4 of the way through the semester, lol, but she really enjoys what she's learning and she only has seven classes left, so the end point is in sight! She still commutes but that works as she is only at school now two days a week, the other days she is in the hospital for clinicals (where she is meeting so many other new people, some of whom are older, with more life experience, some who even have children) and usually has a weekday off, too.
She also got a job in a hospital last spring so she works one or two shifts per week, and she's meeting lots of people there, too, as well as getting some great practical experience. (And she has been a huge help to me with my elderly mother, who also provides her with some great experience! And we talk about nursing issues all the time so she's learning a lot from me, too; always has, actually.) Her clinical instructor had some good feedback for her this past semester - she is somewhat shy so he wasn't sure of what she knew, but he said that every time he asked her a question she always knew what was going on, so that was eye opening for her. (It happened during a job interview, as well.) So she is learning how people may view people based on their persona. She would love to do something like the DCP or a semester abroad but it's not possible in her program unless she leaves it. She has a nice boyfriend who is also in a tough program at a different school but she works near where he is so they get to see eachother, even if it's just for a quick bite to eat, and they often FaceTime while studying. She's not sure what area she wants to work in after graduation, it will just depend on where the job opportunities are. They seem to like her where she is so that might be a possibility - she was thrilled to be asked to train a new student recently! She is also thinking about what she might like to do long term, and whether she wants to go for a graduate degree in her field, but she just doesn't know yet. No rush. She will just be happy to be done! (And we'll be happy they're done!
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