Thanks for checking! It was a rough and quiet week, for sure. He is better; he’s still disappointed but has shown interest in visiting a few of the schools that accepted him for their accepted student days. He got a few swag mailers, which made him smile, and a pretty competitive honors program acceptance which also appeals to him. I wasn’t sure how long to wait while he worked things out mentally, since we would need to arrange flights to some places and didn’t want to wait too long for that. One easily driveable visit day at our state school I just booked and told him we were going and he was fine with that.
He knew his #1 would be a tough admit, and thankfully the school is really transparent about its admission data. S25 was interested in seeing how tough of an admit it was this year, which seemed to help. None of the other very strong students at his school were accepted either, so they were miserable together…
GVDADABRK2022, I don’t think my original post communicated that I am trying to “do everything for him” and I’m not under the illusion that I can or should “fix everything.” I know my son is not alone in being disappointed by rejection from his favorite school and was interested in hearing the coping strategies that many helpful posters have shared. For us, it was data (not a surprise for my kid!), distraction, some well-timed love from other schools, and my spouse and I reinforcing that we are decidedly NOT attached to prestige or rankings, since I know many of the voices at his school are fixated on both.
Thanks again to those of you who commiserated and/or shared your experiences with your own kids!