<p>olderwiser - Thanks for the note regarding MIT’s announcement day. I will modify the countown postings to include the “regular” notification day and I will add the MIT “Pi” day of March 14th.</p>
<p>MIT applicants - Only 3 weeks and 3 days until your anticipated announcement date of March 14th (“Pi day” - 3.14).</p>
<p>Other school applicants - Only 5 weeks and 6 days until your anticipated announcement date of March 31st. ** Ugh… :-(**</p>
<p>I realize that there are schools that may announce before or after March 31st / April 1st. I selected that date as it appears to be the most common date for those more selective schools that do not have rolling acceptance dates. Some schools, such as Stanford, follow the March 31st date but have in past years posted announcements a few days early. Such changes are based on the admissions staff being able to complete their class slelection ahead of time (that is what their web site says). In any event, we all get to wait a few weeks.</p>
<p>I think there are several schools that start to announce decisions all through March. Although some of the Ivies and other schools still stick to the March 31st date. Should make for an interesting and very chatty month here on CC.</p>
<p>Mixed news for D here. She found out yesterday that her GPA after mid years is now higher than it has ever been before. Rank improved - she was thrilled by this news. She had been very disappointed at the beginning of senior year when she was told she dropped a few notches - now, she’s back to where she had been earlier. This is likely the final standings - and she is happy (we are very happy!) with it. She was very excited and sending us email from class On the other hand, it looks like she didn’t make the cut for a large scholarship - a bit disappointing - we knew the odds were against her, but she felt a little sad, especially since she had put in a lot of effort for this. She bounced back fairly quickly though - discussing the good news! It took me a lot longer to come to terms with it - I don’t think I still have. Feels bad that someone “rejected” (so to speak) D. I know it’s not rational - but that’s how I felt.</p>
<p>Arisamp I know exactly how you feel. And I dont find it irrational at all. I think I feel worse than S in such situations, but I have to be the one who tells him that its not a big deal.</p>
<p>I am almost done with the finaid stuff. Sent IDOC packet, FAFSA/CSS Profile are done. Sent our 2010 tax return as well, the earliest I have ever done. One college doesnt use IDOC and I need to send our tax return directly to them. And I just need to double check that I am not missing anything. </p>
<p>AvonHSDad thanks for starting the countdown. Ill have to remember to send good wishes to the kids waiting from MIT on the pie day.</p>
<p>TGIF TGIF TGIF</p>
<p>It was a long week for me. We didnt serve drinks here for awhile and I can use one today. Chocolate martinis with liquor filled chocolates for everyone!</p>
<p>arisamp- I suspect you are very much not alone in taking longer to bounce back than your daughter from these disappointments. I am very glad they are resilient and focused on the good things that are happening. You can come here for commiseration.</p>
<p>Thoughts of college are mostly getting pushed to the side as D ramps up for her play next week. Its a nice respite.</p>
<p>Nothing much to say here, I don’t know what an IDOC is and I am hoping this is something that I don’t need to know about! My taxes are done (except for the fabulous paying part), being a small business without any kind of K-1 is good! Ds has 4 more local scholarship apps, unfortunately requiring 2 recommendations each and essays, hopefully we can streamline this process. Then we wait. Depending on what shakes out, I guess we have to figure out whether spring break is for checking the finalists or not. I don’t know, but I wish we were just going to the beach, I need a vacation. The melt-off here has left lots of soggy-ness.</p>
<p>As far as graduation, I think we are going to throw a big backyard/house party for ds - he is the only kid here that enjoys big parties and has never hosted one here. I’m thinking a local (HS) band and dancing techno but I have to check with him. Poor kid had to pull out of the Mr. HS pageant because it conflicts with jazz band and they have state qualifiers coming up. Oh well.</p>
<p>My son’s weighted GPA went up 1/6th of a point due to a LOT of AP and college classes. His class rank stayed the same, but his class size dropped by 15% – as a 3-year graduate, he went from being ranked #1 in the junior class to being ranked #1 in the senior class. However, the #2 student will be the school’s official valedictorian, because only 4-year graduates are considered – apparently it must be much easier to get to number one in 3 years than in 4! My son is actually rather pleased that he won’t have to get up at commencement and give a speech.</p>
<p>Through the Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC), the College Board collects families’ federal tax returns and other documents on behalf of participating colleges and programs. The College Board will notify students selected by participating institutions when they must submit the required documents. </p>
<p>…IDOC is only available to students that participating colleges and programs select and the College Board notifies for participation. Do not enter the site unless the College Board notified you that at least one of your colleges or programs participates in the IDOC Service.</p>
<p>Have any parents here received “legacy letters” from their alma mater after D or S applied there? My DH received one today and we aren’t sure what to make of it. The letter stresses the importance of legacy relationships, says it is a “plus factor”, but it also says that they “desire to invite new memebers into the school family” and that many legacy applicants are unfortunately rejected.</p>
<p>Pessimist that I am, I see this as evidence that D has been put in the reject pile, and it is the school’s way of letting us down easy.</p>
<p>Whew, this thread is growing exponentially!</p>
<p>Congrats to madbean, mosb, and amandak on acceptance, scholarship and merit$$$ (and any others I may have missed when the thread started to blur together).</p>
<p>AHSD, thanks for the countdown, but can’t you make it go faster??</p>
<p>owm, I definitely appreciate the story of your son’s transformation, as my daughter has gone through a similar one since middle school. All of my kids have thinkgeek shirts, including “Stand back – I’m going to try science” (middle daughter). Duke TIP brings back memories – I was in it way back in the mists of time. Lastly, thanks for pointing out Pi day – daughter’s bf’s top choice is MIT – I hope he and your son have good news 3-14!</p>
<p>MM, I agree with you on the importance of visits. I’m glad I’m in a position to be able to visit most of daughter’s choices. And like you, I have a special needs middle kid (autistic) who is going to need the absolute right fit. I think visits will be even more important for her.</p>
<p>Grad present: iPhone. Parties: Wha…??? I hadn’t even thought about it. Will start thinking.</p>
<p>My daughter got some good news: $20,000/yr merit from Ursinus. Not too shabby! (And now we may have to visit…)</p>
<p>She’s had two auditions, today and last weekend. (One more to go – next Friday!) The one last weekend, she felt like she didn’t do great. It was more ballet focused than she had expected – she said the modern dance (which is her stronger area) was really just “creative ballet.” But she felt that she gave it her best and was pleased with her solo. The audition today was at our local U. (the safety that she’s been hoping not to go to). She fell in love with the dance department all over again (she’s been going to various events there since she was a freshman) and felt really good about the entire day. I’m just glad that she’s become more enthused about her safety!</p>
<p>We received this letter for both DS1 and DS2 who both applied early to the “family legacy” school. One was accepted, the other deferred (now waiting for RD). All legacy families receive this letter at this school and it has nothing to do with chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>I still have the vivid memory of my father receiving this letter when I applied. At the time, it was phrased less gracefully, and said, essentially, even if we don’t take your daughter, we hope you’ll continue to give us money. He did not hesitate, walking directly into his office, where we heard the typewriter, responding that if they didn’t take me, they’d never see another penny! I got in, though I’m quite sure the donations were not sufficient to be a difference-maker. It was a nice example of paternal loyalty!</p>
<p>I have to say that I totally understand your dad’s response. While my D is not at all 100% sure that she wants to go to my DH’s alma mater, my DH is 100% sure that he will be angry if she is not accepted.</p>
<p>arisamp–I totally relate to your feelings of sadness when rejection befalls your D. They work so hard! They are so deserving of the recognition! I’ll admit, it takes me about 2 days to get past such disappointments on my kids’ behalf. However, I find once I’m past it, it’s all okay again. That dream dies (sigh), but with so many schools yet to hear from, the future is still filled with possibilities. I sort of dread April 1 because–ulp–what if when the college music stops, S2 is left without a chair (we can afford)? </p>
<p>So I conveniently slip back into denial after about 2 days of mild grieving for the latest loss. I know we spent a lot of time focusing on building a good list–but it may now be time to accept that some of those schools are slipping down (or off) the list. I’m trying to let them go. LOL. </p>
<p>tried to catch up with the last few pages here…D1 and I are out of town, she’s doing a scholarship event on Sunday</p>
<p>“glad” to see I am not alone with some senioritis hitting, she’s slacking off a bit and, while on the one hand she deserves a break, on the other don’t need grades going down…already went down a bit since fall. </p>
<p>Very glad we were able to visit D1’s schools before applying, it changed her list and cut at least one out, but that was possible because she chose to stick to our state and a neighbor state.
If D2 wants to go a LOT farther not sure how that would work with time and money for trips but have a few years before that worry–she’ll be HS grad 2015 </p>
<p>Wow, some of you are amazing with the grad party and gift ideas!</p>
<p>“My mantra: He can only attend one school!”- Madbean I have to remind myself of this all the time because my d’s top two are both great schools, but have different strong points, so she will “losing” out on some aspect by choosing one over the other! In reality, I know that she will have a great experience at either of them, but I will secretly be sad over lost opportunities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the “one school” reminder. I’m finding myself caught up in all the good school possibilities for my son and have to keep reminding myself that he can’t really attend school in three different states. Wish the financial aid packages and remaining decisions would get here sooner so we could decide what colleges are must re-visits.</p>
<p>We have all entered the state of Limbo…the worst part of this process at least to me.</p>
<p>Until all the information is in no decisions can be made and my son cannot or will not spend the time having a backup plan so there is no point badgering him anymore. I was at the HS the other night for my daughter’s Open House for her entering 9th grade next year and I got to talk to a couple of his teachers and a few of his friends and the consensus is he is very stressed out and overwhelmed so I have decided no matter what this vacation week is going to be pleasant and college will only come up if he brings it up.</p>
<p>My husband took over all the financial matters since he didn’t like how I was doing it so as far as I know that is being handled properly. There is nothing left for me to do other than to be here if he wants to talk and ironing out details with his HS about where he will take the AP exams. He has a pile of scholarship applications given to him from school but only he can decide if he is going to do them-his efforts the next few weeks will determine where he is going to college because unless his father sees more effort on his part the money he has to spend for college will be reduced. My husband is very strict on this and I have decided much as I want to give my son everything I have to step back and let his father take this over-I know in the long run it is the right way to do it. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t get accepted to another school he already has some wonderful opportunities that are also very affordable-far greater opportunities than I ever dreamed of at his age.</p>
<p>My son and I have been very close but in a good way since he was a little fella. I don’t want to do anything in the next few months to damage that-and I feel like we have been on the edge several times. This I am told is the process of separation so it’s a good thing-I just need to make sure on my end I remember that ultimately he is the one deciding what direction he wants to take in his life and much as I want to spare him making a bad decision part of growing up is making decisions and living with the consequences-good and bad. Looking back on my life I realize I learned as much if not more from my mistakes than I did from my good choices-and much as I would like to spare him from repeating my mistakes I know I have to let him do what he needs to do. I hope and expect he will ask for our help in choosing his school but in the end it needs to be his choice-for better or worse.</p>
<p>I trust that all these years of raising him and being here for him while letting him be as independent as possible will help him be ready to make a good one.</p>
<p>Dh comes home with the big headline “I was speaking with my coworker whos dd goes to “State College X” and he said tuition is going up by 20%” - no trending analysis or spreadsheet projecting it out the 4 yrs we would be impacted, but yes, just the headline. I have done all the research here, dutifully so, and it is annoying to have these moisquito-like bits of info that just try to derail my scientific culling of the list of 3000+ colleges in the US down to the list of 7 to which he applied and now, NOW? now is when dh wants to give input? In the form of tidbits gathered from the WATER COOLER??? Just a rant and believe me, dh heard it too.</p>
On the other hand, it looks like she didn’t make the cut for a large scholarship - a bit disappointing - we knew the odds were against her, but she felt a little sad, especially since she had put in a lot of effort for this. She bounced back fairly quickly though - discussing the good news! It took me a lot longer to come to terms with it - I don’t think I still have. Feels bad that someone “rejected” (so to speak) D. I know it’s not rational - but that’s how I felt.</p>