<p>Sounds like he’s still in mourning. So give him a day or two, and then…well, you know your own kid best, but right now you hold the power because you hold the checkbook. He is asking you to take out far more in loans than you’d anticipated before. If he’s asking that of you, then you get to ask something of him, namely, that he make a real effort for the few other apps on his list. You can pitch it in various ways: pure threat, brisk expectation that he gets back up on the horse, gentle prodding that this is not going to be the last time he doesn’t get something he really wants and dealing with this is hard but essential, etc etc etc. </p>
<p>D2 was just admitted to Pitzer. I cannot imagine her being accepted at any of the other 5Cs. Each of the colleges in the consortium are so very different; why should any of them have admissions that march in lockstep? I’m sure you could take a look at last year’s admissions threads on the Claremont and Pomona threads and find examples of students who were rejected at one and accepted at the other. </p>
<p>S14 got his first acceptance! Emerson College for Media Production: Film & Video. So happy to get the first one, but clear across the country, not sure about that. It will be a while for the top choice but what a big relief.</p>
<p>Congrats on all the other great news and big hopes for those still waiting.</p>
<p>DS14 got 3 acceptances between yesterday and today: UVM, WPI and Northeastern. The latter included a nice scholarship (though not enough – we will only be able to afford it if he becomes a NMF and gets their higher NMF scholarship) and an honors college invitation. No such details from the other two yet. His only other early action that we’re waiting on is Drexel, which should be releasing decisions any time now (they say mid-December). (NEU was a surprise today, because they said they’d be announcing by Dec. 31)</p>
<p>Hi parents! Dropping in from the Class of 2013 at this time of year to congratulate those with admissions in hand, and offer some good thoughts for those with redirections and deferrals.</p>
<p>For those who are getting disappointing news, know that there really is no rhyme or reason to some of these decisions. And in the end, your kids will find their way and have some great options. And yes - every school is different and every admissions cycle is different. My sense from this year is that early action/ early decision is especially difficult, especially at schools that are not so concerned about yield. From last year’s thread, we had many students disappointed this time of year who received wonderful news by spring and who all landed at great schools. One mom today was just remarking that her student’s denial from his #1 was the best thing for him as he is thriving and very very happy at the school he now attends. It will all work out how it’s supposed to…
Good luck for all who are biting nails and holding breaths for upcoming deadlines!</p>
<p>^thanks anniezz for stopping in and giving us those kind words of support. Having gone through this once before, I can vouch for everything you say. Thank you.</p>
<p>No good admissions news here, but I am happy to report that my beautiful boy is 18, and he just celebrated with 30 of his closest friends. They had a great time, brought Champagne, sang Happy Birthday to him. He is so happy right now (regardless of admissions decisions).</p>
<p>If the true measure of a person is having friends and being a good friend to others, my son is a tremendous success. Forget the accept or reject decisions. Those are not a measure of who he is.</p>
<p>Classof2015, that sounds like a great 18th birthday party. It’s nice for those 30 good friends to enjoy each other and not think about college for one evening.</p>
<p>Six to go and the stress level is not good. They will get done but hard to convince him that they don’t have to be done before Friday. He has a couple of good acceptances, a big EA decision coming, hopefully this week, and another probable admission that should come this week. Most of the rest are stretchy for anyone and he is losing motivation. Learned a lot this first time through and luckily his younger soph. sib already knows where he wants to apply and should be a one and done. We were surprised that most everyone we know did ED. My DS was not ready to commit earlier this year and still doesn’t even have a frontrunner! Congrats to all of those who can relax and good luck to everyone waiting for news this week!</p>
<p>Congrats to all those EA and ED acceptances! Especially those who are pleasantly surprised - what wonderful news this holiday season! And I’m so sympathetic to those receiving not so good news - must be especially hard when others around them are getting accepted.</p>
<p>DD is still waiting for her EA news. I had a panicked Mom moment yesterday when I was rereading one of her college’s websites. Many of the schools she’s applied to are test optional and I’d had discussions with her GC and an admissions rep about whether she should send her scores or not. Her scores aren’t awful, they just don’t support or add anything to her otherwise strong application (high GPA and class rank, excellent ECs, leadership and recommendations). So she didn’t send them or self report them to the test optional schools. Fine except that the one school I was looking into takes the test scores into account when awarding merit aid - ugh! And her scores were well above the scores they mentioned. So panicked Mom called the admissions office to see if it would be a problem if she hadn’t submitted her scores and if it was if she could send them in later if she didn’t receive the aid we were expecting.</p>
<p>I was so surprised when I was transferred to the Director of Admissions who was SO pleasant and helpful! She was able to look up DD on their system and said that she had received their highest “rating” so she would be accepted (yay!) and would probably do fine with the merit aid but it was done by financial aid and by some formula and they had changed the formula from relying quite so much on scores so she should be okay. However, she suggested that they could accept scores sent directly from the school. So I talked with her GC and she sent over DD’s scores. Now we wait and see what happens and hope it all comes out okay! School sent decisions on Monday but merit aid comes later. Hoping DD will hear from her schools before we leave for vacation on Friday!</p>
<p>He has 4 apps to go yet. He’s done everything but the essays. These are the schools he really, really, really wants to go to and also the ones that are most difficult to get into. Honestly, with play practices and classword demands and then play performances, he’s barely had time to get his homework done. I told him the goal is to have them done before Christmas Eve so he has a few days after school gets out to focus on just that.</p>
<p>DD still has two to go. One is almost done…the other, who knows? I’m hoping she gets at least the almost done one submitted but she’s got a huge English paper rewrite due tomorrow and packing to do. Talk about last minute!</p>
<p>@BarnardMom: We are in the same boat, except that my DD has heard back from one school - deferred. And patiently waiting on U Michigan’s notifications. Don’t be hard on yourself for not visiting schools earlier. Even if he had applied Early, there is no guarantee that he would have been admitted early. Most likely, you would still be waiting until spring for the final decision.</p>
<p>D14 has at least four more apps to finish, but she no longer “loves thy safety”. I don’t know if she will start to love it again, or if we should quickly try to find another safety.</p>
<p>Three apps for three reach schools still left to be done by Jan 1 for my S. He has 4 acceptances already and part of me hopes he might just wait for his Michigan EA decision hopefully this week and then be done.</p>
<p>We are also waiting for the Michigan EA decision. I get so frustrated with that school. I know it is very presitigious and has a great reputation, but at the same time, it is a massive bureaucracy and can really be a pain the rear to deal with. </p>
<p>Kalamazoo College is supposed to snail mail decisions on Friday.</p>
<p>Albion? Who knows what is up with them. They keep sending him emails to finish his application so he emailed the admissions rep for his region to see if the whole app was there (it’s Common App!). The admissions rep replied that they didn’t have his Teacher Recommendation (which common app says is downloaded), ACT scores (which ACT said the schools have to connect and download), and his transcript (which goes into the Common App through Parchment). Common App doesn’t say the School Profile is downloaded though. I think they gave him the list of things that they HAD and said that’s what they still needed. I think they have it all mixed up. S decided he’s not going to worry about it since it’s a mega safety and he thinks he’d go to Kzoo or Michigan first anyway- and those two are AFTER all 4 he is applying for RD. So, he’s not going to worry about whether they even process his application. I’m ok with that.</p>
<p>Just went to the mailbox. Found a 5x7 thin card from an admissions office of DS’s EA “College That Changes Lives”. It is hand addressed and has a holiday stamp. Do you think it could be a Christmas card? Supposed to hear by the 20th. It certainly isn’t a fat envelpoe or a packet of info. This is maddening. He should have been a shoe-in at this school, stat-wise. I’m going to refrain from using a letter opener and a glue stick, like I did with the last one. (Please don’t judge. It was a safety and you could see the Congratulations through the envelope window-ha!) He also got a small envelope from another safety’s honors program today. Parents on his last EA (a match/reach) thread are working themselves into a frenzy about when envelopes are to be mailed. THey’ve been calling the admin office daily. At least I am not that stressed, but the suspense may drive me to drink…</p>
<p>OK, I don’t feel so bad reading that so many other parents are in the same Stress Boat as us! </p>
<p>Brought S2 coffee this morning (he has finals) and sat on his bed and talked. I explained that I had a well thought out strategy for getting to April 1 with an affordable great choice in front of him, and that to derail the process we had both agreed to before would not be in his best interest down the road. I explained that although Tulane is a great choice, he does not want to graduate with a lot of extra debt if a little more effort might yield a better result. I also likened a Yes from his reach school, Pomona, to winning the lottery - a lot of people with the same slim chances will apply, and he is smack in the middle of their admit stats, so it is not a waste of time - probably a lot less of a waste of time than my purchase of a Mega Millions ticket last night (I didn’t win). So he agreed to the Pomona app, I explained what I will do as far communicating with Tulane in the coming months (same FA counselor as S1 had, so that helps), he will also apply to at least one other school that is an academic and financial fit - Emory apparently has no-loan after EFC for parents earning >$100K and he would be a strong fit there, and there are some others - and he will also work hard on all available local and outside scholarship apps. I explained that I will do everything I can, and hopefully April 1 will find both of us much happier, and May 1 will find him satisfied. So now all he has to concentrate on is finals. Oh and I visited his guidance counselor who gave me the necessary, “Yay mom!” pat on the back to make me feel less of the bad cop with bad news.
Phew!!! Need an adult beverage tonite!!</p>
<p>LOL Mrspepper, in that we are both turning to alcohol at this point. And the glue stick thing is funny - I used my iPhone’s flashlight to read through the envelope for the Tulane acceptance.</p>