<p>This is really intriguing, ya’ll are expressing various forms of guilt at receiving multiple admissions, which is what we are all hoping for, many choices in April.</p>
<p>I do feel sad/guilty about the rapport we’ve developed with 3 of the coaches out of our 6 admits. Those are our three finalist schools and each of them is good for a different combination of factors. We’ve visited all three and one of the coaches even visited us. These three people we instrumental in our narrowing the options to those three and saying “NO” to two of them will be poignent.</p>
<p>Has any one else whose kid is juggling multiple acceptances found the kid to be more stressed now that the offers are in than they were when awaiting the news. The ramifications of the next decision (the rest of your life!) seem to be weighing very heavily on my kiddo. 6 of 7 is nice (interstingly S denied us, too), but emotionally tough.</p>
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I don’t mind at all. We live less than 20 minutes from the Stanford campus. My son has spent several weeks almost every summer in courses on campus, and goes there regularly for competitions, to use the library, etc. It is a place he is very familiar with (which is partially why he didn’t formally tour the campus, he felt he knew it well already). More to the point, though, is that my son’s HS is very much <em>like</em> Stanford in many ways. Its academic rigor and approach to curriculum is similar in many ways (although of COURSE not at a college level… at least not all the time: some of the very advanced coursework at his HS is college level), and in the same climate to boot. If I had to condense it into a phrase, I’d say I feared it would be “four more years of the same thing” for him. I felt he needed a new challenge, a different climate, a break from some of the people he’s spent HS with (and as you saw, many of his HS classmates do apply to Stanford, and a good number are admitted and matriculate). I absolutely know Stanford to be a FINE school, and he could have done just fine there! Your S’s excellent experience is the norm for the great students I know who attend (and who WILL attend in the fall). But I thought for my S, given his expressed desire to branch out into new areas and seek new experiences, it would not be his best choice. Besides, much as I love him, I do NOT want to see him showing up at the door every 3 weeks with a carload of laundry, LOL!</p>
<p>I felt he would thrive and grow more if he had something new and different. As it is, he’s choosing between two schools on the east coast, and I don’t think he will go wrong with either of them.</p>
<p>Thanks for asking, and in a respectful way; I hope this has helped clarify that I don’t mean any disrespect to Stanford AT ALL and I wish nothing but the absolute best to all those who are and will attend. For mine, a change of scenery seemed a better choice.</p>
<p>Thanks mootmom. I know what you mean about your son benefitting from a new environment. Although my son’s high school was not as rigorous as your son’s, so this part of what you said was not an issue for him, he got much more excited when he saw Stanford then the East Coast schools. It seemed more exotic to him, I guess. In fact, when we visited Princeton on a hot summer day (it is less than 30 minutes from our home), he said that, “The dirt here smells the same as where we live, and they also have the same problem with geese that we do!” I think a change to a new part of the country which doesn’t seem as familiar to your son will be a good idea, as it was for mine.</p>
<p>Mootmom, I do understand how you feel – we are in a similar position, and I was happy for my son’s 1 rejection letter. He was WL at 3 schools, so was not batting 1000, but still has a variety to choose from. However, it was absolutely not a case of trophy hunting or taking spots from other kids – we were just unsure of how high he could reach and what merit aid he might get. We also had a very hard time coming up with a list that my h and I could agree on with our son. In the end, instead of fighting over whether to apply to a particular school or a different one, we just did both. We certainly did not expect so many acceptances – we had expected about 33 – 50%.
But I did feel sorry for kids we know who were not as successful, and I thought it was good for our son not to get overconfident. The issue of applying to too many schools and therefore taking someone else’s spot has some merit. But unless there is some external controlling factor, it’s hard to expect one kid to apply to fewer schools. I think it will all work out in the end, since they can only attend one!</p>