I did not mean to leave my last comment unfinished. I had to rush out of the house to get to a doctor’s appointment, haha!
Almost a year ago now, S26 was drawn to SLACs, specifically Kenyon, and he was open to other SLACs as far as Kenyon from home. We visited Kenyon 3-4 times, I think, and that last visit made him realize that he prefers being closer to home! He loved his time at Kenyon last summer for their summer workshop, but he admitted that it was too remote for him. This secretly crushed me and my husband. We thought Kenyon was his place - the students there seemed to be his people, and they offered merit/grants that brought COA below his in-state options. But we could not make him choose it - we just couldn’t.
S26 also realized that while he loves being in smaller creative writing classes, he admitted that once in awhile he would like to fade in the background and be in a larger class! This was also a 180 from last year! He realized that he wants a larger school than Kenyon and Susquehanna and then Va Tech felt too big. So what’s left on his list? UVA!
UVA was not on his radar because he didn’t like that the creative writing concentration was gated. His reservation at the time was, “what if I don’t get accepted into the concentration?” He only ended up applying because I made him LOL - because it’s in-state and it has his major. What sealed it for him was the visit that allowed him to sit in on a creative writing class where he got to chat with the professor and with some students. He had the biggest smile on his face, and he knew. And we knew. Even more so after their admitted students’ day and their dean talked about Raphael’s School of Athens, liberal arts education at UVA, and when two History professors spoke, my S felt that “this is it” moment.
So he’s heading to UVA where he will find his people, where he will evolve and grow. And be happy. I wish all this for him!
Thank you, everyone, for listening, for advising, for suggesting, for caring. What a journey it’s been!
The End. 