<p>She started with five weeks traveling last summer with her best friend (who had not been to Europe previously), spending a week each in London, Rome, Florence, Paris and Madrid. Then she joined us for ten days in Ireland. In September she got involved with a six-month service mission that began in England (Harpenden, just north of London). There, with 30 other people mostly her age from around the world (five Americans, the rest from other countries), she underwent three months of training and teambuilding, interspersed with short service outreaches to test what they were learning. That culminated in two weeks of working with the homeless in Knightsbridge (London), before deploying to Ecuador in late December. She worked in several locations in Ecuador until this week, and now she’s back in England for debriefing. Then she’ll do a ten days of final travel (Spain and France), fly home, and spend the spring and summer between Louisville, Kentucky (where we live) and central Florida, where her grandfather has a house, working to save money for school and doing some road trips. She turned 18 at the end of August, so she decided that another year of experience would be a good thing. She’s very glad she did it. Getting a break from last year’s load of 7 APs (sure everyone here can relate to that) has been wonderful.</p>
<p>wooot! cant wait to see yall at bdd! :D</p>
<p>this thread makes me happy, cuz even though i was deferred by yale, i like hearing stories of acceptance anyways</p>
<p>I agree with pigs! I would definitely love to see more stories :)</p>
<p>^ totally agree.</p>
<p>I wasn’t on CC when I found out so I’ll post my story now:</p>
<p>I got out of ski practice and was all antsy 'cause I knew decisions would be out soon but I didn’t want to go home and find out alone, so I went to my mom’s office (she’s a college admissions officer so everyone in her office was all worked up about me finding out anyway, so my reaction to whatever I found out wouldn’t have freaked anyone there out). I logged in to my Yale account by nothing was there, so I got some water and came back and kept hitting the refresh button over and over. Finally it loaded really slowly and I started talking to some of the students that work for her and then the Bulldog started singing and I kept screaming “No, no, no way!” at the screen until I clicked through and saw the letter specifically addressed to me - then I started crying. It was so surreal. I eventually got around to updating my Facebook status and calling a couple of my friends; news traveled fast so I spent the rest of the night answering calls and texts and generally being on top of the world. =]</p>
<p>here’s mine:</p>
<p>got home after school and got onto the Yale account. I had heard about the singing bulldog on cc and so I closed my eyes right as the page began to load. i heard… nothing. So, i start freaking out and i thought i was gonna cry. And then i opened my eyes so i could actually see my horrible fate… and it said “welcome to the class of 2014” and i was like omgomgomg. Started freaking out again (good way this time) and skipped/danced around my house. mother was happy but annoyed and drove me to the gym so i could get the excessive hyperness out of my system. i think i was on the elliptical for like an hour that afternoon. personal record. yesss.</p>
<p>I’m counting down the days for regular decision! Cant wait for the other yalies to join us on here and on the admits website. it’ll be so much more lively! :)</p>
<p>u think there will be a singing bulldog for rd students? lmao</p>
<p>i hope so! i want a singing bulldog lmao</p>
<p>k, dude, u already got a likely…stop worrying haha</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure there’s a singing Handsome Dan for RD too 
Good luck, guys!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone guys!:)</p>
<p>Don’t be so anxious!Everything gonna be ok!</p>
<p>i am soooooooooooo nervous. Yale is my top choice, and the decisions are less than 24 hours away! its terrible when everyone expects you to get in, and then if it doesnt happen i will not be hearing the end of it :(</p>
<p>congrats to those who already were accepted! and good luck to my peeps out there who are as anxious about tomorrow as i am XD</p>
<p>^ I totally feel the same way. SOOOOOOOO anxious. Everything’s gonna turn out for the best though. :)</p>
<p>two hours left now</p>
<p>i was in my room with my mom and i had three decisions coming out at the same time…i checked brown first: rejected. penn second: waitlisted. at this point i was totally resigned that there was no way i was going to get into yale, but at the end of the day i hadn’t been stressing too much about it anyways and i had a couple other options on my plate…
so i go to the link, expecting to get a white screen…and it redirects me…to the blue bulldog screen!!! my mom and i were soooo dazed and confused and then my mom started crying and screaming you’re in!! you’re in!! </p>
<p>possibly the best night/thursday and friday of my life. the next day i drove to yale and bought myself a sweatshirt.</p>
<p>the day after I saw my decision, the local alumni association delivered a sweatshirt to my door :)</p>
<p>Congrats to all the Yalies 2014!!! I am so excited for Bulldog Days! Hope to meet all of you there. @outofluck: Your story is awesome. Something similar happened to me. After checking Princeton and being rejected, I lost all hope of getting into my dream school. I went to the site, wrote my id and password quasi-reluctantly, anticipating the rejection letter, when the screen turned blue and BULLDOGS BULLDOGS BOW WOW WOW, ELI YALE!!! I was speechless for like a minute. Then, screaming and jumping around, running around the house screaming the news. Needless to say, all my neighborhood found out I got into Yale. Definitely one of the best thursday night/ friday of my life as well.</p>
<p>I was actually going to another college visit. I was at baggage claim when I figured I may as well check, meaning I got no bulldog, just text on my phone. I refreshed twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, then I started giggling insanely. I think that’s a good thing. :D</p>
<p>Of course, then I had to spend three days at a school I then knew I wouldn’t go too, but it was fun anyway.</p>