<p>Wow! Quite a group, I must say. Congratulations for everyone with EA or ED acceptances. </p>
<p>Happy to share that S13 was also accepted at UIUC and Case this weekend. With the Case $$ the schools are almost exactly the same cost (unless we get more merit money from UIUC (other than $500/year for NMF) which is slim pickings). Nice to have to make a decision. Still a few regular decisions out there to add to the mix (we hope).</p>
<p>Didn’t realize how stressed I was about the decisions until this weekend. Hope those who are still waiting can find ways to relax & enjoy the season.</p>
<p>@DDHM I applied to Barnard as a political science major. I applied to Emerson as a political communications major. I was admitted to Quinnipiac as a journalism major. I was admitted to Central Connecticut State University as a political science major. I was admitted to Marymount Manhattan College as a communication arts major. I applied to Fordham as a political science major. I am applying to NYU as a journalism major. I am applying to UConn as a political science major. I’m applying to GWU as a political communication major as well. I’m applying to Syracuse first as a broadcast major, with my second choice as a political science major. I didn’t even have to pick a major for Skidmore or American.</p>
<p>With all of that said, my dream job is to be a news anchor on the Today Show. I’d love to have my own political television show on MSNBC. I want to be a journalist.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the praise! It’s very nice of you!</p>
<p>Congrats to all the EA/ED acceptances that keep coming in!</p>
<p>Well at least there is plenty of apparel, an entire store even, for anyone attending Gap! ;)</p>
<p>Congrats to all and hugs to others. I can’t WAIT to hear about all the good news come April!</p>
<p>Good news here: DS14 won his division at a big racquetball tournament in our state. It was a close match! Also met 2 racquetball playing grads of RPI who loved it there and they have quite an active team where my son would fit right in. And speaking of sports teams… the not so good news…</p>
<p>I now hear that there ARE tryouts for club tennis at Duke… this could change everything for DS13… have NOT told him yet… </p>
<p>If I was to think positively, as we suggest all the deferred kids do, there are plenty of kids who do not make the team who would like a “team” of sorts, so perhaps he could initiate something like that… hard to think about right now. What if you find out the one thing that puts a school way at the top of the list turns out to not be true??</p>
<p>Aaaargh! I think you groan really loudly, my3gr8t, and you head for Walker’s basement for a little pick-me-up (or two, or three), and then you go back to the drawing board. And you research exhaustively what other options might be hiding at the top-of-the-list school. Like maybe there already is a sub-club club. And you look at the other schools on the list and figure out what might make one of them the new top choice. And then after months of investigation and option-weighing your kid sighs heavily and goes off to the top choice school, or one of the other schools, and somewhere around day 3 of orientation he realizes that he was BORN TO SING A CAPELLA and never picks up a tennis ball again.</p>
<p>anouilh - Oh, how I wish he were a singer!!! College A Capella groups are the best!! </p>
<p>I agree with the other options for the school, but looking at other schools is not an option anymore… decision is binding. </p>
<p>As another mom has pointed out to me, he DOES still have 9 months to improve. Maybe he could still make it. Maybe its what he needs to learn to really push himself, as school and even the whole application thing has not really required him to push himself that much. I am so not a glass half-full type of person, so perhaps this will teach me something as well! ;)</p>
<p>I am super proud of S3, he drove himself down to San Diego, went to his sailing instructor class all day (8am to 6:30 pm), drove himself to my college roommates house (whom he had never met) and then got himself up and back to the class this morning. I guess he is ready to go away to college. Question, do you think this 40 hour “Small Boat Instructor” course is something we should mention to the colleges? </p>
<p>MyLB: My guess is that it would be converted to RD, unless they have rolling. I would stress to your friend the importance of checking all of the various portals.</p>
<p>My3gr8: My S2 is a junior at UCLA, he is in the tennis “club”. They have various levels and if you want to be on the competitive “traveling” team you have to try out, but if you just want to go to the practice twice a week (drills, matches, etc…) and the social events all levels are welcome. Are you sure Duke isn’t like that? </p>
<p>I again want to congratulate everyone on all the great acceptances. We probably won’t be hearing anything for a while, so I am going to try and remain calm.</p>
<p>tx5 - Great job on the part of your son! I am always impressed when these kids do such “grown-up” things on their own! I would say ‘yes’ to the boat instructor course! Sounds like a big deal and also unique!</p>
<p>Duke tennis - yes, that is how I THOUGHt it worked. We didn’t expect him to be able to travel or compete against other teams, but wanted the 3x/week practices.</p>
<p>Well…I guess I don’t have to worry about it looking bad that D2 pushed the button on her CV scholarship right before she left for her performance! LOL…if the rest of these great kids did the same thing, she’s in good company. She had a great play, then came home showered, and went to Waffle house to meet her AP gov friends to study at 10:00. I think she got home around 1:00a.m.? Then she and D1 stayed up and giggled till 3:00… Niether made it to church. Guess she really is ready for college!?</p>
<p>Swizzle - You are going to SHINE wherever you land. Add me to the long list of people whom love your attitude!! One word of caution about GWU. Step-D and I toured the campus this past summer. She liked it, but they cut their AT program (for freshmen) so she did not apply. It is VERY, very expensive. So, make sure you check into what kind of aid they routinely give, etc, before you push SEND on that application. At any rate, I am very excited to see where you ultimately end up! You Go Girl!!!</p>
<p>YDS - thanks for writing (a zillion pages ago it seems ha) that you were happy to see my ‘despair’ and my ‘excitement’ on Friday night! ha ha What a difference a few hours can make! </p>
<p>And I do concur with nerdydad - it IS hard to feel any kind of despair for Step-D’s admission status at College Y or University X when there are parents whom are never going to see their 5 and 6 year olds, alive, ever again. </p>
<p>tx5athome: I would definitely send the “Boat Instructor” information to all of the colleges! That is interesting, shows initiative, and is just flat out unique! (like my3gr8boys) mentioned.</p>
<p>S is ecstatic. He just checked his semester grades on line - all A’s. This means at 2:30 tomorrow he will be on Christmas Break - no midterms. :)</p>
<p>H and I just bought and put up a Christmas tree on our own, with no kids to help. D has been very busy this weekend and the last couple of weekends, so we finally decided to just do it without her, which just felt wrong. She has always been the one who had to carefully select the most perfect tree. S is still away at college, back during the coming week. </p>
<p>It was weird thinking that it is a sign of things to come - in not too long we’ll be empty nesters, and will do a lot of things with no kids around.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone with acceptance and lots of prays and hugs for those that are deferred. I’m sure good news will come in April. </p>
<p>DS got the letter of good news on Friday but when I asked if he was going to post it on FB. His reply was “no, because a lot of my friends did not get in. I don’t want them to feel bad”. I think I am more proud of that statement than I am of the acceptance letter.</p>
<p>My3gr8 – way to turn it around. Very nice. S can avoid senior slump by fighting it out on the tennis court, and with 13,000 students hanging about, I’m sure he’ll find good tennis partners if he doesn’t make the club. </p>
<p>tx5 – glad son is back from his adventure. Pretty cool thing that he is getting Instructor certification. If I were an admissions officer, I’d want to know.</p>
<p>Galaxy, how wonderful that your son will be on extended break. In our state, all hs students take exams in mid-late January. No one is excused, and exams are hanging over your head all through vaca. bleh.</p>
<p>sacchi – very strange to contemplate, isn’t it? For the last two Christmases, one D or the other has been gone at tree decorating time. Last year, it was brought to my notice that only one of them is actually interested in decorating, and she was away! This year, the “right” one is home to do the job, and the other one just has to show up next week and admire.</p>
<p>ldavis – thanks, and same to you.</p>
<p>poohbear – your son is a mensch.</p>
<p>nerdydad – your description of the scene in the car is funny and poignant. I loved it. It is so hard to contrast the anxieties we have for our kids with the devastation of parents whose little ones were massacred. But you are sad because your daughter is sad, and you’re anxious because you know there may be more disappointment coming and you’d like to shield her from it. Those are the emotions we are supposed to feel as parents, and I think it is okay.</p>
<p>Galaxy: D2 <em>thinks</em> she’s in the same boat. Except 1 teacher hasn’t been putting all the grades in the online gradebook. I LOVE that senior privilege; a great carrot to dangle to keep the seniors engaged the whole 1st semester. Now 2nd semester might be different, but since 6 of 7 classes are AP anyway, and you’re exempt if you take the AP test then she should be OK :)</p>
<p>poohbear - you did good raising your son. That was not the statement of a teenager, but of a man.</p>
<p>annouilh - Only seniors are exempted from exams and only in classes where they have not missed 6 days (excused or unexcused including college trips). But luckily, our midterms are right before winter break. No stressing or studying over the break. I do feel sorry for those celebrating Hanukkah this week. They had all the stress of midterm during their family celebration and no time off to compensate.</p>
<p>Good luck to D2 RobD. They definitely keep track of those days. We postponed a trip to UChicago because S didn’t want to risk it. He said as soon as he went, then he would get sick and miss a day.</p>
<p>S has another week of classes before break, then when they return, another week of classes before midterms. No exemptions permitted, but some of the AP teachers make their finals pretty easy.</p>
Oh, how I wish he were a singer!!! College A Capella groups are the best!! </p>