Celebrating parents! How did you and your senior share the good news?

Parent Cafe
41

<p>I am from a family that has never went to college. My neice who I help mentor in sports and in life would be the first in the immediate family to attend. On Dec 3rd her dream school deferred her, but she felt she belonged there. Her father and mother told her that she should just accept her fate, be happy and go tot he local CC, then transfer in. My neice is from a low income, (divorced mom/dad) family with challenges. Nontheless she was devestated when this Major well known University gave her the “soft rejection” deferral letter. </p>

<p>Me, never one to quit, and too stupid to know better, said to my neice, lets just get in the car and drive 500 miles to the University and argue your case, not really knowing if what I am doing is probably just wasting gas and time…for I figured this “kid”…my neice deserved a second look, due to all of her grades being a quality standard, all well as EC, and commuity service hours. </p>

<p>I figured my neice being the first in the immediate family to even go to college, she deserved this opportunity. Anyway, we drive like 500 miles, I say a prayer with her in front of the Football stadium ( I am a born again Christian) and I ask God/Jesus for his will to be done this day, that if it is “his will” that it will be done. </p>

<p>I then send my neice into admissions she goes and pleads her case. The admissions officer promply shoots her down, and says that her SAT scores were too low, and that based on lasts year they only accepted 200 off the deferral list and in 2007 it was zero! </p>

<p>Anyway, my neice comes out of the admissions office balling her eyes out…saying that her dream is now over and it’s time to go home. I remember distinctly looking at my watch and I saw that it was 10:30 am. I remember seeing a sign that said at 10:45 there is an admission meeting session going on for accepted students (students who have been accepted as still deciding). </p>

<p>Me never being a quitter…I told her to wipe her eyes, and that we prayed earlier to God/Jesus, and do not worry, that he was the one sterring the ship, and not one addmissions officer. Honestly my thoughts were that if this University accepted 200 students out of 4000 deferrals in the last 2 years, well why not another one?..Technically she was still on this list, and not rejected…right?..so why not keep trying?..was my thought. </p>

<p>Again I told my neice, we have the power of God on our side, and that I “truly” believe somthing big was going to happen this day. </p>

<p>We then went to the admission meeting ( another addmissions officer) and when the meeting was over I went up to her and told her about my neice. She then told me that they have a program for first generation students, from single parent households, that are promising kids, but have low SAT scores, etc. She said that the program was almost full, (2 chairs left out of 350) and would we like to apply?..would we like to apply I asked???..well does a bear live in the woods!!</p>

<p>Anyway, my neice applied, wrote an essay why she would like to be int he program, etc., etc…filled out all the paperwork etc. She said in 3 days they are looking at the final applications for the final 2 placements in program. 72 hours later she gave us the call…saying that my neice made into the program.</p>

<p>All I can say is God intervened and made this possible. My Neice and I humbly cried and gave thanks to our lord Jesus Christ…our Savior. I know now why I was so stupid for driving (1000 miles R/T) with no appts, no nothing…it was only one thing…It was God’s plan…and his will …Will Be done…For there simply is no other explanation than that.</p>

<p>She will now Be a Seminole at FSU summer 2009.</p>

<p>God Bless all.</p>

42

<p>I just love reading all the good news! It’s almost like getting accepted all over again.
So this is my story…
Three days ago, I was frantically trying to keep myself distracted with an AP Lit project, just to prevent myself from going crazy over the decisions. It was dawn when I had finished half a page of work in many, many hours, but I could NOT keep still. I was chatting with some of my friends, who’d also been excited that decisions would come out.
My dad was also so nervous that he woke up at 4 am and checked the log-in page at least five times in another room. Decisions would be posted at 6. I chatted some more, ate some chips, and continued to pace until 5:50. That’s when I tried logging in – all to no avail! The server was busy. That was the most frustrating time of my life, and I was re-typing in my log-in info when, at 5:53, my dad yelped, “CONGRATULATIONS!”</p>

<p>My mom and I screamed, “What?!” and RAN all the way to the room and scanned the letter: “Congratulations, xxxxx! It is my pleasure to announce that you have been accepted to Dartmouth” (or something along those lines). We three screamed, jumped up and down like crazy and hugged. It was the best moment ever. Then my mom pulled away and said, “Wait, you two need to take a morning shower!” and laughed and screamed some more. Then she immediately called her mother and my best friend’s mother. We were all screaming joyously! That’s when my brother woke up.</p>

<p>At school, when I came in smiling, almost everyone (including my close friends) yelled simultaneously, “CONGRATULATIONS!” The counselor rushed over and hugged me three times. It really was one of the best days of my life.</p>

43

<p>First son’s acceptance to the one school he applied to was quite matter-of-fact, as he/we expected the acceptance.</p>

<p>Second son applied EA to three schools, including his #1 choice (MIT). The online decision came out at noon on a Saturday, while we were at an orthodox Bar-Mitzvah (no cell phones allowed). He left early to check his decision on his laptop, and my wife and I went outside, behind a hedge, at the appointed hour to await his call - “ACCEPTED!”</p>

44

<p>When I got an offer from my first choice school, the University of Edinburgh, my mother just said congratulations. We were already going out to dinner that night with a friend, so I just pretended that was a celebration dinner. I think my mother is glad for me, but we mostly keep everything low-key at my house.</p>

45

<p>I wasnt expecting to get into Penn. For the past week I had actually been bracing myself for a slow rejection (aka deferment). haha, like around 2:55 my parents gathered around my laptop and we kept refreshing until around 3:05 when the decisions were posted. i remember before tying in my username/password I told my mom to look for the first word b/c if it said “congradulations” i was in. Lo’ behold the first word was congradualtions! all of us were psyched out. later that night (after coming home from dinner) i called my grandma and she was really excited.</p>

46

<p>Four years ago, MIT did not send out electronic notifications, only snail mail (and even then it was the standard big-envelope package, not the tubes they started sending the following year). He had applied EA and then promptly pretty much forgot about it: seriously, when someone asked him in Oct. where he was hoping to attend, he said, “I’m waiting to hear from Berkeley and Mudd and maybe a couple other places.” No mention of MIT anywhere.</p>

<p>The large envelope from MIT showed up in the mail on a weekday. I saw the yellow stripe across the outside and my heart turned over; I had never expected to see it. I put it at my son’s place at the table … and cried. When he got home later and walked into the kitchen and saw it, he just stood and stared at it silently for a few moments. I won’t ever forget the look on his face. It was priceless, and something email notification does not provide in the same way, I don’t think. There wasn’t any screaming, but there was a lot of hugging.</p>

<p>We went out to dinner (I think it was Mexican food). Then a couple days later, I joined CC and made my first post. And the rest is history! ;)</p>

<p>Congratulations to all who are hearing their good news this month. What an exciting time!</p>

47

<p>It was a saturday and Chicky and her dog went for a walk. I heard her come back in the house but I did not hear her or the dog come upstairs. Chicky finally came upstairs but the dog was not following her. </p>

<p>She was crying and I asked her where was the dog (I thought something happened to the dog while they were out). I asked “where is the dog?” She said “I got in.” I said “where?, Where is the dog”? I was dumbfounded as it was only February so it was too early for a RD response. She showed me her likely letter from Dartmouth, asked was it real. I said yes, it. She cried somemore and and gave her a hug. She called her grandparents, I called my sister. </p>

<p>She told one of her friends who she was on IM with and her friend put it up as their away message that Chicky got accepted to Dartmouth. The phone began ringing with the friends starting to call to offer congrats. When she got to school on monday, her friends had made her a big congratulations banner and hung it in the hall.</p>

48

<p>uncleboog, Your committment to your neice is beautiful. Even if she had not gotten in (congratulations that she did!), your belief in and willingness to go the distance (literally!) for her would have been a huge gift in and of itself.</p>

49

<p>: ) it’s so great to read all these you guys!! share the joy!</p>

<p>anyways, here’s mine… i applied ED to William & Mary, and on December 2 (the letter was supposed to arrive the 1) i was texting my mom like crazy all during the school day to see if the mail had come yet (it’s weird because i NEVER text anybody during school, or even after it for that matter). Anyways, i told her to text me and tell me IF the envelope had come, not the size of it or anything, i wanted to find that out for myself. So anyways i was right in the middle of my AP french class when my mom texted me and told me that the letter had come. i just kind of stared at my phone, wanting to text her, but also wanting to wait till i got home. my french teacher saw me and was said (in french), “what are you looking at?” and i said (still in french) that i just got my mail from william and mary. so long story short everyone in my french class freaked out (there are only four of us, and i think someone was actually gone that day) and they MADE me call my mom during class and she read my letter over the phone with me and my teacher listening (it was all good cause french is my best subject and my french teacher and i are like buds… she actually wrote me my recommendation for governor’s academy for french (i am convinced gov ac helped me get in) and she wrote me my college rec). so yes. we had a big party in that class. the bad thing… we had to get back to work and it was SOOOO hard to concentrate lol.</p>

50

<p>I didn’t expect my ED decision to be sent until Monday, honestly. So yesterday I got up around 9, ate breakfast and watched some movie on TV. I was walking up to my room to shower and my parents asked if I had checked my email yet. I laughed and told them no and that there wouldn’t be anything (a veryyy skeptical me). So I decided to check my email just for them, and the first thing in bold was ‘Northwestern Application - Status Update’. Recieved at 6:01 that morning.</p>

<p>I won’t lie, I didn’t think I had any chance so I stared at the link for like 5 minutes, took a big sigh and clicked it— Read congratulations and couldn’t believe it.</p>

<p>So, feeling emotional, I got a little teary-eyed (happiness) and decided to play it off to my parents. I told them to come upstairs and they saw a crying me and went over to my laptop, before my dad could read my email and my mom could give me a sympathy hug I said, “I got in”. Parental freaking out ensued lol.</p>

<p>Very good day haha. :)</p>

<p>Thankful the stressing is over!</p>

51

<p>When Michigan said yes he said “anyone can get in there”. He was a little more excited when Notre dame said yes-“that was my safety school”(!?). He really wants West Point, but is waiting on his congressional nomination. I wish he would get more excited but he is such a good student he just expects things to go his way. I showed him the Stanford Slaughter link, where perfect ACT scores get rejected and he just said-“I would have made it”. The Army will knock that cockiness out of him LOL. I know there are other parents out there with these prima donnas-please post!</p>

52

<p>I was in the middle of production/show week for the high school musical, so I was pretty much living at the school the week my MIT acceptance letter arrived. </p>

<p>My mom and brother found the envelope in the mail and held it up to the light until they could make out the “congratulations!” written on the enclosed folder. They showed up at the school, and my brother came backstage to tell me Mom needed to see me. I was in the middle of a scene, and I figured that I was probably in trouble or something bad had happened (why else would Mom need to see me so urgently in the middle of dress rehearsal?), so I put off going to see her for about 20 minutes.</p>

<p>I think it was worth the wait for her when she saw my face. :)</p>

53

<p>My acceptance was a year ago. I was on the phone with a friend of mine who was on a bus (she was applying to Rice ED as well, but her being on the bus meant that she couldn’t check her email), and we’d been calling each other frantically throughout the afternoon to see if the decisions had been emailed yet. I finally got home and checked my email, and I got in! The joy was tempered a bit by the fact that nobody was at home, and my friend understandably didn’t want me to check for her (she found out later that she had been deferred). So there wasn’t much celebrating that Friday night, but somehow everybody found out by Saturday and I kept getting people calling me to congratulate me.</p>

54

<p>Well, the first thing I did once the envelope arrived was to call my husband, Ward, at work. After debating whether it would be appropriate to come home early–after all, Mr. Johnson was paying his salary for a full eight hour day–he said, “shucks, why the heck not.” Once Ward arrived, we called the Beaver over at Whitey’s and told him to come home lickity-split. He hopped on his bicycle and was home almost by the time we hung up the phone. Before we had a chance to suprise Wally coming down the stairs, one of the girls from the club phoned and I just couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. Pretty soon the whole town knew and we were receiving well-wishes from everybody, even Lumpy’s dad, Fred Rutherford, whom we always suspected of being a communist, the little snoop.
Finally, we got to tell Wally the great news, and he just looked at us and said, “Gee wiz, Mom, Dad–can’t a guy even open is own mail?” Well, we sure learned our lesson. When Beaver gets accepted at State College, we’ll make sure to dry out the envelope before we bring it in to him.</p>

55

<p>I knew that my decision would be online at midnight, but I was way too nervous to check, and I remember that I had to be up very early the next day for a debate tournament, so I just went to bed. I gave my mom the log-in information and I told her, don’t you dare wake me up unless it’s good news. Well, she came into my room very loudly (on purpose, of course), banging the door and knocking into things. I heard her put something on my desk…I was so scared to look. Finally I couldn’t take it, and I turned my light on. She had printed out my “congratulations” letter and wrote across it in big green marker, “CONGRATS, girl, we love you and are so proud!”</p>

<p>I went out my parents’ room and they were up, waiting for me. Lots of hugging and excitement ensued. I was pretty out of it the next day at the tournament, but out of it in a great way!</p>

<p>It’s a really great memory…now I’ve just finished up my first quarter of my second year and I’m having the time of my life. I wouldn’t have things any other way :)</p>

56

<p>This is such an uplifting thread. Perhaps it should be starred and retained for years. The Cleaver family story made me laugh and Uncleboog’s faith in his niece and the wisdom of FSU’s admissions staff is soulful.</p>

57

<p>my son patiently waited for the envelope from Washington and Lee–(everyone else had received it a week earlier, and although he had other great acceptances he hoped to be awarded a Johnson scholarship. He opened the envelope in the kitchen with all of us holding our breath, and went thru pages of papers with a look of "oh well guess I didn’t get it…and then pulled out a paper stuck in the envelope which said Congratulations you have been awarded a Johnson scholarship (full ride merit) He was frozen taking it all in. I didn’t stop screaming Oh my God for twenty minutes. We went out to his favorite Sushi restaurant for a low key celebration…</p>

58

<p>My top two choices were Wisconsin and USC. I had been waiting for my Wisconsin decision for 2 months (rolling decision) because I “knew” I wasn’t getting into USC, as did my parents. Finally one morning I was checking my status online and I finally recieved my acceptance to Wisconsin. I called my parents who were both ecstactic and they decided to take me out to a nice dinner that night. When I got home (this was in early January) I got the mail and saw a large envelope from USC… I didn’t think anything of it because it was so early, however I proceeded to open it (while driving) and saw a large “WELCOME TO THE TROJAN FAMILY!” … I almost crashed my car, however I made it safely inside. I decided not to tell my parents, and I hid the acceptance letter in my purse. In the middle of dinner, I pulled it out and just placed it on the table. My parents sat there in shock and just stared at it for five seconds before screaming with excitement in the middle of a public restaurant. (Very embarassing.)</p>

59

<p>I got my acceptance letter to Rose-Hulman today, I dont know too much about the school yet but I decided to apply there anyways. After I read the letter I told my mom I got something in the mail she should read and that I didnt think she would be too happy about it.</p>

60

<p>After reading this thread, I actually created an account just to post this story. I was just accepted to Georgetown SFS and Chicago, but the best acceptance story of the year was my friend who applied ED to U Penn.</p>

<p>She absolutely had her heart set on U Penn, and everyone at school was on edge as we waited for her to hear. I had decided to go down to Starbucks and buy her a coffee in my off period so that we could either celebrate together or mourn together. While I was walking to another friend’s car at exactly one o’ clock Friday, I heard a scream come from inside the building. I had no way of knowing if it was a good scream or a bad scream and so I pulled out my phone waiting for her to text me.</p>

<p>As it turns out, she got accepted to U Penn! Apparently she collapsed onto the stairway screaming and crying and even her friends who were walking with her couldn’t tell if she had gotten in or not until they took her phone and read the text her dad had sent her.</p>

<p>When I came back, she was still crying tears of joy as I handed her a Starbucks and I knew that everyone was just incredibly happy for her. We spent the rest of the school day celebrating and even now I am happier for my friend than I am for my own acceptances.</p>