Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
10861

<p>The news from Japan is very worrisome.</p>

<p>S learned yesterday that he was accepted to UCLA. He didn’t find out on Friday, when the info was posted, because he couldn’t find his id number anywhere :-). He found it yesterday but still couldn’t login, so he sent mail to tech support and they said to try his name without the built-in punctuation marks. That worked.</p>

<p>About friends and acceptances - S does have a friend whose college list has high overlap. Both are strong students at a very small high school. S has a strong favorite among his schools, and friend applied there too. Friend has a strong favorite, and S applied there too. I’m hoping that they don’t end up getting accepted to each other’s favorites and not their own. Since both colleges have low acceptance rates, the more probable scenario is denials all around, but you never know.</p>

10862

<p>Thanks madbean for summarizing the past few pages for us. I read every entry, but was dizzy trying to keep them all straight. If our kids could get into their first choices based on support from our group, they all would be in and on a full ride. No matter the negatives of the past year, the friendships and support we all gained were worth it. </p>

<p>Wishing all of you great news this week. Breathe. Breathe.</p>

10863

<p>It is so sad to see the devastation in Japan. It does put our worries in perspective.</p>

<p>Congratuations for all the good news and my sympathy for those dealing with disapointment. Good luck to everyone waiting for results in the next few days and weeks. It sounds like most of the kids here have good options aready. Like Flmathmom, I have really enjoyed sharing the experience with all of you.</p>

<p>It sounds like most of your kids are being very considerate of their friends and classmates as they get results. I think kids deserve a chance to enjoy their accomplishments, and that good friends will have the generosity to be supportive. My daughter told me that a boy in her grade was really obnoxious on facebook. He was very dismissive about his honors acceptance and scholarship status at our state flagship. I’m sure he never considered how kids who were rejected might feel. </p>

<p>I hope to see more good news in the next few days.</p>

10864

<p>Thanks, Aniger and CalReader - I did not realize you can rescind an acceptance. How long can this go on?</p>

<p>One of the joys of a good education is the ability to appreciate bad puns - here are a few I got from a friend today:</p>

<p>The fattest knight at King Arthur’s Round Table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi. (A cautionary tale for our MIT applicants!)</p>

<p>I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian . </p>

<p>She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. </p>

<p>A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption. </p>

<p>No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery. </p>

<p>A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart. </p>

<p>Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie. </p>

<p>Atheism is a non-prophet organization. </p>

<p>The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large. </p>

<p>The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. </p>

<p>A backward poet writes inverse. </p>

<p>In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; In feudalism it’s your count that votes. </p>

<p>If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you’d be in Seine . </p>

<p>A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.’ </p>

<p>For AmandaK: Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too. </p>

<p>Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other says ‘Are you sure?’
The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’ </p>

<p>A Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal. His goal: transcend dental medication. </p>

<p>Finally, here’s one that I do not understand - any explanations would be appreciated:
There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten DID.</p>

10865

<p>No pun intended.</p>

10866

<p>325…</p>

<p>Those were great. Thanks for sharing.</p>

10867

<p>32578233, thanks for the laughs! Too funny. And I agree with Calreader, it’s “no pun intended.”</p>

<p>I’m waiting, waiting, waiting. Trying not to be too anxious in front of D. Wishing this month was over already. 10 decisions coming within the next 2+ weeks - yikes!</p>

10868

<p>Sending happy thoughts to all of you who are still awaiting decisions! Can’t imagine how hard it has been and what a LONG process for all of you. D heard admissions decisions from all her schools awhile ago, but we are of course just now getting the FA packages and have yet to make a decision. Can’t imagine having to process acceptance/denials/waitlists AND the FA in the one month span that some of you have!</p>

10869

<p>Wow! This thread is moving fast. Miss a day - miss a lot. Congratulations to all new acceptances and FA packages! Hugs to EmmyB’s Japanese D and her visitor. The news from Japan looks devastating, I am glad their families are ok.</p>

<p>AmandaK – I am 100% with you – the daylight savings time should be outlawed!</p>

<p>UT and Aniger – congrats on the sneak peek into the Dartmouth admission decision! </p>

<p>Good luck to all waiting for the pi day decision. I will keep my fingers crossed for all of you tomorrow.</p>

10870

<p>madbean : great summary. Son’s euphoria has now been tempered quite a bit by the rejections at UCLA for several of his close friends who expected to get in. Quite a roller-coaster.</p>

10871

<p>325 - thanks for the needed laugh</p>

<p>Not only am I having trouble remembering what you guys wrote, I can’t remember what I wrote. Time to join my parents at “the home”. Forgive if I am repeating (or drooling). Got a surprise email from a non-IDOC school to send them a copy of our tax return with schedules, W2s, 1099s that was due MARCH 1. Cr_p!! Well, at least it is done. Just a copy job.</p>

10872

<p>I will also say “ditto everything Madbean said!” Whoosh, this thread is moving as fast as the roller coaster many are comparing the next two and a half weeks with!</p>

<p>My daughter has two schools (top choices) that over-lap with two friends (top choices for them as well). On the cc forum for one of them, students near-by received decisions yesterday, so daughter and her friend should be hearing Mon or Tues. I hope they both get in so there can be congratulations all around. I am also anxiously awaiting to hear if daughter’s bf got into a school that announced by e-mail yesterday and if he will get into his top choice of MIT tomorrow. Daughter should also hear from two other schools this week, including state flagship/financial safety. Her final 6(!) decisions will be end of March-ish.</p>

<p>I definitely agree that many kids who say “Oh, I didn’t want to go to X anyway, just wanted to see if they’d accept me” are saving face, and understandably so. I’d be curious if anyone’s kids have a friend who got accepted by a reachy (or at least non-safety) school and said “I never wanted to go there…”</p>

<p>The only school my daughter applied to that she doesn’t really want to go to is the financial safety. Even in that case, there are a lot of things she likes about the school. But she wants very much to attend a small LAC, which the safety is not!</p>

10873

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<p>Madbean: Yes, the kids at my D’s HS are pretty careful about not crowing about their good news. D spent Friday night and Saturday afternoon with a swarm of seniors from her HS yet she has no idea about who was accepted/denied at UCLA. Since about half of the senior class applies there, there certainly were other acceptances/rejections. D isn’t telling anyone her good news either except for her one very best friend who did NOT apply to UCLA.</p>

<p>Actually, I’m proud that the kids are so considerate of each other’s feelings. Still many more acceptances to go, and no doubt, everyone will hear some good news by April 1. We’re just lucky that the first of the college news is good, but I’m sure we (or at least MY D) won’t be batting 1000.</p>

10874

<p>As I read some of the cc backlash after decisions come out to various schools, I keep thinking that some adolescents are so… adolescent! heh. </p>

<p>They are dealing with being judged, their perceived place in the pecking order as determined by adcoms, and status among their peers–all troublesome self-esteem reflecting issues to kids.</p>

<p>Well, of course they never wanted to go to XYZ College (a perceived academic or financial safety) when they clearly feel destined to go to Yale, or Harvard or MIT or Stanford. So they must be thrown for a loop when XYZ waitlists or rejects them–hey, not so safe was it? To compensate for their shock (hey, if XYZ won’t accept me, what chance do I really have at Yale or Stanford…?) they may be venting their fear-fueled wrath on otherwise lovely XYZ. Sigh. Even if accepted to some slightly lower down the rankings colleges, some kids get defensive among competitive peers and put down the those schools to feel in with the ivy-or-bust types.</p>

<p>And some colleges tend to get a lot of that abuse since they fall just below the top 10 or 20 in rankings. I just think more parents might take a moment to instruct their offspring on good manners in trying times.</p>

10875

<p>This is my S’s experience, too, Camathmom. I feel so much sympathy for the fantastic kids that have not been as fortunate as S2. For instate, UCLA admission is pretty insane and it is especially hard on private prep schools like S2’s school with its harsh grade-deflation policies. So in the past, absolutely fabulous kids literally get into ivies and not into UCLA! ??? So difficult. This has been one of those sad Catch-22’s as we feel like we’ve been paying a lot to send both S’s to get fabulous HS educations only to shoot them in the feet (so to speak) when it comes to their chances at the best instate U’s–the most affordable options in case of low/no merit $$ at selective privates. With this mindset, we were mildly blown away that S2 got accepted to UCLA. Wha?? So happy. :slight_smile: And I’ll point out that S1 did not get accepted to UCLA–but was accepted to Duke, WashU with scholarship, USC w/full scholarship, and many others.</p>

<p>Final note–at the UCSB reception yesterday, the head of admissions spoke and told the crowd that they received 49,000 applications and the average GPA of this year’s admits is 4.09. And that’s a school a bit down the ladder from UCLA.</p>

10876

<p>Falling back to the Spring Admit observation. My DS was accepted to UC Berkeley on a spring admit, and he was still able to live on campus. He roomed with two other kids from his HS who were also spring admits. They took classes at the UC Annex there in the fall. On the other hand he was a spring Admit to an LAC who told him he could not live on campus and if he wanted to take classes it out have to be approved classes at a Community College.</p>

<p>My DD called from her admitted student day/honors competition at an LAC in Wash. (Whitworth University) She is not meshing in with either the students or the program there, so the positive we get from this is that this helps in her decision making. I applaud the school because when visited in the fall they told us that before making a decision we would have to come to school when class was in to make sure the environment was for her, as it was not everyones cup of tea. This reinforces the idea (that runs throughout the forums here) that, if at all possible, you have to put “boots on the ground” before making this type of decision</p>

10877

<p>FIMathmom,</p>

<p>I second the suggestion. When I was taking baking classes, one of the chefs said “when you come to a difficult question on the exam, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and move on”.</p>

10878

<p>Madbean: My D’s small private HS has the same grade deflation issue, as well as the problem (I think) of continually reducing the number of APs offered. So, typically less than 10% of the senior class is accepted to UCLA, while about 20% of the senior class actually matriculates to HYSPM/ivies. It’s crazy!</p>

10879

<p>Calreader–in all my flurry of posts (what’s gotten into me this morning?) I somehow missed congratulating you on your S’s UCLA acceptance. Huzzah! Wonderful. :)</p>

10880

<p>Thanks, madbean :-). We are very pleased for him.</p>

<p>About Berkeley and spring admission - it actually sounds like a great way to begin at Berkeley, and I wish applicants could opt in for spring admission. The retention and graduation statistics for spring admits are slightly better than for the fall group. I’ve heard that the spring admits develop a strong sense of community with others in their cohort, as if it were a small college within the big university. Kumitedad, I’d be interested to hear if that’s how it worked for your S.</p>