jude_36

Thanks to all of you for making this process a little more fun... "I'm in purgatory" made me laugh out loud, really.

As for colleges, I think I applied to four. In my memory, I applied to the University of New Hampshire, Wells College, Kenyon College and either Clemson or Clarkson. Also in my memory, I got accepted at all four. Of course, I don't have the letters so I could be making all of this up, because somewhere in the back of my mind is the idea that I applied to two women's colleges and two coed colleges, but Clemson and Clarkson are both coed, right?....

Yet I can recite D's choices alpabetically, alphabetically by state, by tuition cost, by distance from home...

Consolation

I love hamentaschen. I'll take prune! When I was little, my grandmother had a Hungarian neighbor who used to make pastries with prune filling (and apricot, yum). I've had a lifelong love of prune as a result.

When we started this process, my son's then-GC identified two wonderful, highly selective schools as "safeties" for S. (I still think he really meant "matches," but I do have the photocopied page from Ruff's with an "S" next to those names.) I think this colored my S's view of the whole thing, and he just would not become interested in any slamdunk safeties. He had only one "safety" on his list, and it was NOT that safe. I was so terrified that my S would be Andison II, as many people warned me might happen, that I made him apply to two more schools at the last minute. Both were highly selective, so what good it would do I don't know, but they were both very suitable for him and it just seemed as if it would increase his chances in the "lottery."

Now he's heard from 3 schools, and been accepted at all of them. Which ones? The "un-safety" I found, and the two schools identified by the GC! Even if he's rejected by the rest of the schools on his list, he has great choices.

Hindsight is 20/20, but I'm now wondering about the realism of our fear levels. (Of course, we'll never know how close the decision between acceptance and rejection was...and many superb candidates have experienced the flip side of the coin toss.)

kitkat82

The stats of some of the Duke rejectees were amazing. Absolutely phenomenal. It really makes you wonder how they get into the schools that do accept them! It was an eye opener for #2.

Our GC is worthless - absolutely no direction whatsoever is provided for kids in our school system. Just a pat on the back, good job and good luck.

jude_36

My D had the good fortune of being accepted into a summer program at a private school last year. THEIR college admissions guidance counselor helped her narrow down her choices. She started with a list of around 20 schools, narrowed it down to 12, then 10, then 8. I think the GC looked at the 8 as two safeties, two matches, two slight reach, and two reach. Although as consolation noted, my D has been accepted at schools that were identified as reach schools by the GC. Still waiting to hear from two.

university1

KitKat -- your son is looking at Pitt? Have you visited? We are from the Southwest, so Pitt will be a real culture shock (read that FREEZING), but my S visited last summer and really liked it. We are on our way tomorrow to see it together.... have a Pens game to go to also.

Good luck everyone!

I remember I applied from an East Coast HS to at least 6 schools, waitlisted at 2, accepted to 4 and picked the one with the best football team closest to the beach (USC) which also had the best financial package. Nowadays, the competition is FIERCE and the money is being spread thin. What I don't remember is the panic/purgatory of the MAILBOX MOMENT that I am going through now.

I guess this will all end by mid-April (?) and then we'll find something else to obsess about, right???!!!! :O)

kitkat82

Yep #2 is looking at both Pitt and CMU. I think we will go to next weekends' visits for one final look-see. He got into honors program, and into the b-school - a big deciding factor for him though will be whether he can do a walk-on on the swim team. It is a very nice school - perhaps a bit urban for my taste but I went to a small school. It has some great programs. Alot too will depend on if there is money from CMU.

Let me know how the visit goes. What isyour son going into???

nceph

If I had seen this vigil thread a month ago, I might not have gone into the hibernation I did. As it was, about a month ago, I decided the stress of reading CC was too much for me, so I decided I wasn't coming back unless or until my DS had another choice. He had been accepted to his safety back in January, but I didn't think I could deal with reading about early writes and wondering why he wasn't getting any or worrying whether he applied to the wrong schools. He finally got into another school yesterday evening and now officially has "a choice," so I logged onto CC and noticed it had been exactly a month since I last read CC. I can so relate to the stress everyone here describes. Before my DS checked his decision online yesterday, he chastised me for stressing him out. He said the only thing that was stressing him was the way I was behaving. He's always been more mature than I am.

rodney

Boy, do you miss alot when you sleep around here.....

1. I'll take the prune hamentaschen (my husband ate the last one yesterday)

2. dadII: Never had any doubt this would be your d's outcome

3.kitkat: Re: Emory....not over till the fat lady sings...we are waiting for that one too!!

4. Back in the dark ages, I applied to 2 schools: SUNY Binghamton and Franklin & Marshall...accepted to both: Parents said "debt or no debt?" I chose the latter; loved SUNY-B, took debt for Ivy MBA.....

5. geezermom: I literally laughed out loud reading your post....we have two left as well with a super-reach also....I'm thinking we too may be done....

jude_36

Speaking of dreaming.... I had a dream last night that D got the fat envelope from her dream school and she was reading about how they're going to give her all this money, blah blah blah, and I was reading it over her shoulder and noticed that the letter had someone elses name on it. So I kept trying to interrupt her to tell her that it wasn't for HER, and she just kept celebrating her good fortune.

Ugh.

citymom

Good morning, I am back. I would suggest that a freshly backed apple pie a la mode would be right for an early before lunch snack.
Abandoned the vigil yesterday for a brief celebration of DDs acceptance to Northwestern. The first one outside the safety/low-match range. Since fin. aid info is not yet available, our happy mood was not shadowed. Now I can start worrying about it.
Now DD has a "choice" - excellent school with most probably a HUGE debt or an affordable safety outside the "top 20" company.
Seven more schools to go. We expect two replies this week, but the last five should be next week. So I will stay with you till the very end.

bethievt

Dad II

So pleased about your news and also not surprised.

The apple pie ala mode does sound tempting!

And jude--what an annoying dream!

owlice

:: restocks freezer with vanilla and butter pecan ice cream ::

:: polishes the forks and spoons, stacks clean plates and bowls ::

:: notes someone has found the rum stashed under the table ::

:: starts pots of coffee and hot water for tea and cocoa ::



May all your mailboxes be filled with fat envelopes today!

alchemymom

This thread is the first comfort I have found all year!!! Thank you!!

Stress? You want to talk stress?? I have home schooled my daughter since she begged me to take her out of kindergarten and do so. I went through the periodic bouts of self-doubt and wondering if I was screwing my daughter up for life that most home schoolers do, but the results over time were so great and my daughter was so happy that I eventually left all the second-guessing in the dust.

Or so I thought. Last October, all my doubts and second-guessing came roaring back with a vengeance. We had no guidance counselor, even a worthless one, to advise us about anything - I had to be the guidance counselor. Besides everything parents of traditionally schooled kids have to do, I also had to create a transcript, a school profile, a course description document describing every course my daughter took, fill out the secondary school report form, the home school supplement form (complete with essays of my own), and write the guidance counselor letter. She needed extra tests and extra recommendations, and we had to get official transcripts sent from six different course providers. It was soooooo time-consuming and so anxiety-producing. It really felt like it all came down to me, and how well I would do my job as her "school".

I just could not stop the wild ravings of my mind! I would wake up in the middle of the night going "What was I thinking??? I home schooled my daughter through high school!!! What a wild card to be holding in the most competitive year ever! What have I done?" I thought I would die before I got everything done and mailed out to all of dd's school choices. The anxiety leading up to December 14, when EA decisions were released by her top choice school, was absolutely unbearable. I could not stay off of college confidential every available minute, as if there were some important piece of information I could still unearth that would help her, some stone I had left unturned. Seriously, I thought about starting a Chance Me thread on whether or not I would go insane.

Thankfully, both my brothers were visiting me at the time and kept me occupied, or I do think I would have been hospitalized before 5 pm on December 14. They also got to enjoy seeing me do Pee-Wee Herman's "tequila" dance when dd was admitted that day to Yale. Stress over with, right? Well, for awhile....

I relaxed about the home schooling thing, and went back to knowing it had been the right decision for my daughter, and the best thing in the world for the relationship I now have with her. Life was good. In early February, I realized I was going whole days without thinking about college admissions, I'd go weeks without checking CC, and we focused on dd's senior year endeavors (although it seemed we went straight from finishing applications to putting together the MidYear Reports for all her schools). In mid-February, totally out of the blue, daughter got a call from Harvard saying she was admitted. I'd never really known about likely letters but went straight to CC to find out all I could about them. This happened to be one week before we were making a trip to Cambridge so dd could check out Harvard, in case by some miracle she got in. Well, now dd loves, loves, loves Harvard.

Here's the really sick thing I will now confess. I feel more stress than ever lately, worrying that Harvard will rescind its early write! DD was interviewed by the Crimson, and had some horrific grammar "quoted" at the end of the article (definitely not what she said). I worry that Harvard will change its mind before Monday! I worry that ridiculous things, like posting this for catharsis in this forum, will somehow cause it! I think my head will simply explode before 5 pm on Monday night.

Just wanted to share with others admitting they need a 12-step program for the anxiety. Mind-numbing stress has become my natural state this year. I have wondered if the unrelenting anxiety of the college application process is Nature's way of getting us to wish for senior year to be over and helping us get ready for the empty nest. I mean, who has any energy left?

Seriously, this has been such a learning and bonding process for us and, in our case with home schooling, an amazing opportunity to take stock of the last 13 years and all we've done together. What a ride it has been!

Best of luck to everyone in these last few days! We're going to make it!!! Beulah, another mojito, please.

mountains

alchemymom - Congratulations to your D! I am quite sure your D will be admitted to Harvard. Our stress is getting the better of us.

Mailbox scene at our house (daily exchange)
Me: "No college mail today?"
H: "Nope."
Me: "Are you sure?"
H: "Yep."
Me: Walks over to the mailbox to double check and looks around surrounding snowbank just in case mailperson missed the box! UGH.

CountingDown

Dad II,
Congrats to your D -- we told you so! Hope the FA is what you want to see!

DS2 (my soph) is making more hamentaschen (prune and cherry) this afternoon. I am going to suggest that he send some to his top chocie schools come early March, two years hence.

He has had a busy day: got his learner's permit this AM, whereupon we went out for our first driving lesson. I am teaching him w/a stickshift. (I need a drink and hair dye. Hope I don't mix the two. ) Then he got home, called a local picnic/catering company for summer work and they practically hired him on the spot -- he has been volunteering on the catering committee at our synagogue for the past two years and has lots of experience. This would involve mostly weekends, which still leaves him time to volunteer during the week at the archaeology camp he worked at last summer. And last, but not least, an environmental camp he attended a few years ago finally got back to him about being a CIT this summer. Volunteer, not paid, and he might have to wiggle a little bit with one weekend of catering, but it might all come together (he also wants to do some research for a possible science fair project, and this camp would give him some opportunity/contacts). The dates all coordinate, and he could still do karate and weight training for football. Cross your fingers -- it may all work out!

This is a good way not to worry about the Trials and Travails of FA and the Waiting Game for DS1. DS2 will take a different road, but it promises to be a very interesting one!