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[sciencephd]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

[prytania3]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Clearly you're the most brilliant scientist in the world and know everything and we should just bow down to your munificence.

[sciencephd]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Clearly you're the most brilliant scientist in the world and know everything and we should just bow down to your munificence.

Hahahahahaha, do let us know how this turns out !

[buy_low]

I spent a good chunk of my 20s like Amlithist's daughter, except that instead of manual labor I was doing office temp work.  At the time I found that as long as I worked an average of 3 out of every 4 weeks I could do fine with my low budget lifestyle, while living in a fairly expensive city (with roommates).  I still look back on those years with fondness.  The sheer amount of time I and my fellow "slacker" friends had to hang out, talk, be close, read, or just be adventurous (let's go camping in Baja over Christmas!) is something I could never do now, and I'm so glad I did it, and didn't force myself to jump into a career.  

The necessity of living with roommates meant I learned how to get along with different people, or how to deal with crises (such as when a roommate turned out to be a psycho and I had to find a new place ASAP).  I learned to spend as little as possible and save as much as possible, and this gave me a freedom many of my friends who earned many times as much money as me did not have.

Sorry to be so long winded . . . sometimes the unconventional path can lead to more resiliency later.  I feel like it has for me.  I do understand that if bi-polar disorder runs in the family that Pry would worry about her son . . . my heart goes out to her on that, as someone dear to me also deals with this disorder, and worries for her own children.  

[prytania3]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Clearly you're the most brilliant scientist in the world and know everything and we should just bow down to your munificence.

Hahahahahaha, do let us know how this turns out !

I can tell you now how it will turn out. He'll major in English, but that's not because this plan won't work. It's not his fault he dropped out of school at 15 and was still smarter than his peers.

But I have so had enough of you. You used to be fun, but now you have turned bitter and nasty, and you really are a loathsome snob. And I don't like loathsome snobs.

You suggested someone on this fora needed to get laid last week. That must be coming from experience.

[sciencephd]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Clearly you're the most brilliant scientist in the world and know everything and we should just bow down to your munificence.

Hahahahahaha, do let us know how this turns out !

I can tell you now how it will turn out. He'll major in English, but that's not because this plan won't work. It's not his fault he dropped out of school at 15 and was still smarter than his peers.

But I have so had enough of you. You used to be fun, but now you have turned bitter and nasty, and you really are a loathsome snob. And I don't like loathsome snobs.

You suggested someone on this fora needed to get laid last week. That must be coming from experience.

You can dish it out, and escalate into total nastiness, as illustrated pefectly here,  but you can't take even a tiny fraction of your own medicine.

[prytania3]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Clearly you're the most brilliant scientist in the world and know everything and we should just bow down to your munificence.

Hahahahahaha, do let us know how this turns out !

I can tell you now how it will turn out. He'll major in English, but that's not because this plan won't work. It's not his fault he dropped out of school at 15 and was still smarter than his peers.

But I have so had enough of you. You used to be fun, but now you have turned bitter and nasty, and you really are a loathsome snob. And I don't like loathsome snobs.

You suggested someone on this fora needed to get laid last week. That must be coming from experience.

You can dish it out, and escalate into total nastiness, as illustrated pefectly here,  but you can't take even a tiny fraction of your own medicine.

You belittle both where I work and my kid. Why don't you attack my mother while you're at it?

Tiny fraction? Gee, what's a big fraction? I'm really stupid in math.

And another thing, I bet you're a product of some stupid rich kids' school, and I bet I'm right because I'm the Foracle.

[dellaroux]

Peace be between you both, please.

[tolerantly]

(wading into the mud)

The only thing that concerns me in what you've described, Pry, is the private-school tuition/fees, because they are el stupido. However, you know how the loans game works, and without your help or fat scholarships he won't be able to borrow enough money to go to prince & princess school.  So sit back and let him figure it out & make a virtue of necessity.

Beyond that, he's 20, he's single, he has no responsibilities outside himself. The math won't hurt and might help. He has many years in which to screw around before he's in trouble.  Mix yourself a nice drink and say, "He's grown, he's grown, he's grown."  Could be worse, he could've knocked some girl up.

[collegekidsmom]

What's the latest on when the male brain reaches maturity? I think it's around 25. I think if a 20 year old shows real interest in science, then that's cool. Many have no interests, or can't figure out what might interest them. Physics is cool, and if he studies it, it will add to his life. Let's see, the only person I know who got an undergrad degree in physics went on to get an MBA in his thirties and is now a CEO of a major corporation. So, who knows? Especially, with 20 year old boys(or are they men?), I think they still appreciate and need advice from their mothers or someone else who loves them almost like that. I would be proud of him for his plan and for his interest in physics. I would help him-anytime school is involved.  Sounds like he is trying to go in a new direction and wants to continue learning science in a more formal way. I think it's all good.
If he wants to be like you, that is flattering and is all good too.  He will be a different kind of person in a few years and have more figured out.

[amlithist]

Buy_low, thanks for the encouraging words---this is exactly what I'm hoping for Kid #1!  And, truth be told, I'm sort of jealous of her at times, not that I have an adventurous bone in my body.  Still, as a colleague and I often discuss, we were both born "old souls" with that sense of responsibility that's always told us, "I must first do this, then I must do that, then I must do something else...", and we're the types who always have done what we're "supposed" to do.  I actually do admire my daughter; like you said, she's going to have a lifetime of memories about things I sometimes wish I'd had the guts to do. And in many ways, she's a lot smarter than I am, at my age, exactly because she's gained those skills you mention.

(And someone please explain why I can't be this rational and laid-back when I wake up at 2 a.m. worrying about her?!)

[spork]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.

You've never been to a community college, so you wouldn't know.

I've been to an Ivy League school--2 actually and I've gone to a community college.

You're right.  Clearly Columbia would be an undershoot.  He should apply to Stanford with MIT as the safety school.

Are you so persnickety because you didn't get into any of the above?

[astronomygal]

Okay, so I'm liking the idea of physics a lot. I just hope Prylet is not bipolar like his mother and this isn't some manic phase.

Great news! Even if he doesn't stay in physics, that foundation would serve him well in whatever he choses to pursue.

As far as the math goes, our local cc offers Calculus I, II, III, and Differential Equations that articulates to the universities. Many students transfer directly into Junior-level programs.

[labronx]

Pry


These are the faculty openings listed JUST THIS MONTH in an engineering journal
to which I subscribe.


1 Biomedical Engineering
7 Chemical Engineering Faculty
7 Civil Engineering
1 Computer and Electrical Engineering Technology and Information Systems and Technolgy
2 Computer Engineering
4 Electrical Engineering
1 Engineering Technology
3 General Engineering
1 Industrial Engineering
24 Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
1 Nuclear Science and Engineering


Physics is OK...
But... there is that quote:
The Greeks had the brains, but the Romans had the drains.

And then there is this quote from DaVinci
"Mechanical science is the most noble and useful beyond all others,
since by means of it, all animated bodies that have motion perform
their operations."
                                                                Leonardo
                                                                Da Vinci

Mechanical Engineering will always be rich with opportunity.
(The only difference between Civil and Mechanical, really, is that
in Mechanical, things move)

Consider animated film and computer games:
The next phase will be physics based animation.  And this will not
be done by physicists as readily as mechanical engineerings.  ME's
have the comp.fluid code, the dynamics codes, the finite element codes;
while physicists tend to take such theory and embed it in some
Hilbert Space.


And then there are jobs in the theater - take him to the backstage
of the Metropolitan Opera and let him see the mechanical devices at work.

Turn him toward the mechanical sciences....

[kiana]

(The only difference between Civil and Mechanical, really, is that
in Mechanical, things move)

I thought the difference was that Mechanical Engineers build weapons, whilst Civil Engineers build targets. :)