WOW! I am super impressed just by the verb! Hope he does well, bpath. : )

Best wishes to your son! Let us know how it goes. :)

Great analogy!

Good luck to him!!

Sending all good vibes to your son! Such a big achievement!

My senior thesis was a nightmare-- back in the days of floppy disks (1986), i spilled a glass of wine on the disk that stored my senior thesis file just three days before it was due!! Thankfully I had all of my research data... but none of the text. I had to write the whole thing in a marathon session! In the end, it all worked out.. my thesis got me a scholarship to a very competitive PhD program (which i ended up dropping out of .. but that's a different story)

Funky, after that spill I'll bet you REALLY needed that wine! Yikes!

Oh gosh, you've got to be nervous and proud at the same time! Do you mind telling us what he's getting his graduate degree in?

He'll do fine Mom, just breathe. :)

Hi, Oakley, he’s a senior in college. I don’t know if a thesis is always required, but he is doing one, in math and computer science with an emphasis on data analysis. I think that’s it, anyway. His thesis is on behaviors and their use to make predictions.

I am so incredibly proud of him. He has had a most atypical college experience these four years, and just as he was really getting on a roll, the pandemic upended everything. And yet, he stayed on his roll without missing a beat. Someone wise here once told me that he would be following a non-linear path, and they were so right. But, maybe the non-linear paths are the most interesting. (Certainly true when we are not talking metaphors!)

A big congrats to the young scholar and the proud parent! He seems like a very gifted young man, independent and creative.

Good luck to him! You have every reason to be proud.

All the best to your son, bpath. You must be so excited and proud, so I hope all his snakes are small from now on.

Best wishes to your son and the coming snake battle!

What good news!!! Kudos to him!

Whew, he’s glad that’s behind him. No spilled wine. I heard no hissing of snakes.

Congratulations to you and your son. Time has gone by so quickly. I remember your telling us about his college journey. I was thinking of him and you this week because my grandson has decided to take a sabbatical after his freshman year to figure out some things.

Good for him! To have stayed the course during this pandemic speaks volumes about how he will manage his future. Congratulations on your son.

Happy2b, yes, there have been a lot of odd detours along the way, and some happy turns as well.

Good luck to your grandson! It can take some courage and thought to decide to change routes. But he will surely come upon those happy turns.

@happy2b…gw, just adding that, I don’t know whether you have influence with your GDS, but taking a community college course or two, perhaps getting the associates degree, can be less daunting, and still help give direction and opportunities that no one expected, and maybe scholarship, too.

Oh b path, your love and pride leap,off the screen...and rightfully so. That’s pure happines.Congratulations..

The snake was lying in wait. The final write-up is due next week. The last backup of the computer was four weeks ago. The computer crashed today. We can change hard drives with another computer, but he is trying to recover the data. Everything. It was a very big, very strong snake.

Oh, no. 😢

I hope everything can be recovered!

Right now he's in that state of suspension: horror, dread, regret, unsure of what's next, working on a solutions (he loves to solve a math and data problem, so he's already on that). I have no idea what's going to happen or how to help. He's best left alone and kept plied with crackers and havarti later tonight.

Oh good grief! Something seems to come up at the last minute. I am sure he will figure it out.

OMG, I do not miss the stress of those days. Even though I was (sort of still am) in one of the most demanding fields, with very long hours, cutthroat competition, and high expectations, I still felt nothing in my career was as stressful as some days in college. I always tell my kids that ... it gets easier!

So exciting Bpath, that he has found his thing and is going for it!

Argh! Sorry, Bpath!

Lessons learned: back up, and don’t do an update during finals! Seems to be okay now, for now anyway.

That's good news.

Reminds me of my old boss, back in the days of typewriters, who had his PhD dissertation all done and ready to hand in...on his way he dropped it outside and papers scattered in all different directions! Trying to reassemble was a nightmare.

Everyone seems to have a story like that.

Last night he got an email from one professor that today’s exam would be via zoom instead of in person. Everyone in the class has been taking the course in person, so we don’t know what changed. Anyway, he has my father’s old computer as a backup just in case. The laptop that I spilled coffee on and now the keyboard and mouse pad don’t work so there’s an external keyboard plugged in and a wireless mouse. (I don’t like a pad so the mouse is better for me, anyway).

Oh, DS is getting a new computer for graduation, and I asked for one for Mother’s Day, too. So we are putting that order together.

I just wish the kid could have an uneventful week, one of these days.

I can imagine the angst your son must have felt but I know the emotions you are experiencing. It is so hard to be unable to make everything right for our kids and be only a supportive bystander. I hope everything works out this week and next week is bright and calm.

UPDATE: Snakes beaten aside, DS now holds his BA in hand. Whew!

What’s next? Well, a year ago the college asked him to work on a student database issue they were having, and he has done that quite happily for about 12 months, resolving the initial issue, and uncovering and resolving others. He was recently approved to continue for the coming summer. So THAT’s good!

Congratulations to you and your son for receiving his BA. He must be very smart and talented to work on the computer issues at the college. Having summer work is a plus.

B-path, My grandson does talk with me but is still very much a teenager. After being home for two weeks, my grandson has two jobs- typical student jobs but he is happy to be making some money. He has spoken about taking a course at the community college. He is not a slacker but did have to wind knocked out of him after college did not go as anticipated. He is doing a lot of reflection and self-examination on that. It was a weird time to be on campus during Covid. He did not know anyone and had a difficult time making friends. The roommate left every weekend and was politically extreme. For a kid who always had a social group and was sought out as a friend, the friend situation caused him to be very lonely.

I did not mean to hijack this thread about B-path's son's accomplishments.

So I will end as I began. Congratulations

I know the resident students at my son's college, especially the freshmen and even more the transfer students, had a hard time with friendships, as well as building relationships with faculty. His work, v even typical student jobs, will help, give structure and rhythm, and purpose. Lots of non-linear paths this year! Good luck to him!

I felt for you throughout his trials and tribulations . Most of all, I feel your pride for a son and his accomplishments. ‘You done good ‘Mama! “

Thanks, martinca and happy2b!