As the big days approach, don't forget Sinner's Alley

Parents Forum
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<p>A word of advice from last year. As the days draw near when many acceptances/rejections arrive tempers can fray and emotions can boil and words can unleash…</p>

<p>Anyway, over in the Parent’s Cafe there is a thread called Sinner’s Alley. Fingers crossed it won’t be necessary, but should anyone find themselves with ruffled feathers, or <em>sighing</em> or thinking, geez, why’d everyone get their knickers in a twist over that???, I recommend you drop on by and curl up in the peanut shells with us.</p>

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<p>Alu- you’ve been a real support to all of us who are waiting this year! Your honesty and rational way of looking at things has been most helpful. I’m headed up to my own little pile of peanut shells right now where I’ll hopefully be able to snooze for a few hours.
And thanks for the invitation :)</p>

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<p>I would just add that it is important to keep the process in perspective.</p>

<p>Two years ago, my D set a school record (I think) by being waitlisted at the greatest number of colleges. You can imagine her disappointment when, on April 1, right around dinner time, she checked her email and found several emails with WL. She went on line and found the same. In fact, NONE of her notices on April 1 included an acceptance. No smiles.</p>

<p>She had been accepted to four schools previous to that, and is happily enrolled at one of them. In fact, she has said more than once to her parents that, looking back, she thinks she should not have even bothered applying to the other places.</p>

<p>At the time of the “bloody april 1”, she was very disappointed, especially when she went to school the next day and saw the victory dances of her classmates for some of the same places. But she moved on. She never did try to get off the wait list at any of the places, even though at one of them, a well known eastern U., her principal, who knew her well, also was a personal acquaintance of the dean of admissions, and offered to call, but only if she would promise to attend if off the wait list. She said no, so he called and got another student off the list.</p>

<p>Our kids will handle the disappointment. And remember, there will be more as they move on. Jobs they don’t get. Fellowships not awarded. Life has many disappointments, probably more than successes. But the successes last longer. And we should celebrate them. That’s what we did. After the dust settled for a few days, we celebrated her success by (1) dinner and (2) booking her prospie weekend trip with happiness.</p>

<p>Ultimately, the only sad part for us was realizing when she left for prospie weekend that she would soon be leaving for a much longer time. Needless to say she did not share THIS sadness. (fast forward to the end of summer: When she finally did leave, it was not that traumatic. How much do you think she hung around the house that summer? Family dinners were already a memory…)</p>

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<p>newmassdad, that was very eloquently written. Thank you!</p>