<p>Just caught up with 24 hours worth of notes. Was glad to see some islands of joy (and deposits sent in) among the sea of disappointment and indecision.</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom – was so sad to read about Oberlin’s decision. It’s their loss. Moreover, you’ve obviously done a remarkable job raising an amazing son despite some significant adverse circumstances. The only thing you could have to have increased his chance of getting into his dream school was to have had him five or ten years earlier when all this college admissions stuff wasn’t so totally nuts (and capriciously competitive). . . My wife is involved with our sons’ (private) high school’s annual back-from-college night. So over the last few years she’s heard a lot of kids come back and talk about the admissions process and their ‘fit’ at the school they’re attending. She says that there is a random splay of fit and happiness vis-a-vis dream school vs. second choice vs. fourth choice vs. not-much-choice-because-of-finances. Put another way, there are kids that are happy and there are kids that are disappointed and unhappy at their dream school, and also at schools that were farther down the list. It has more to do with the kid than the school. I’m sure that your son’s disappointment is heartbreaking, but given who he is he will excel anywhere he goes and will never exhaust the educational resources at any of the schools to which he’s accepted. . . MANY years ago I graduated at the top of a lousy high school in NJ, got rejected from my top four choices, and ended at what I considered a much lower-tier school. I was treasured and valued there, much more so than I would have been at my higher choices. I ended up going to an Ivy Med School – half my med school class was from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and they were certainly no better prepared than I was. . . Sorry for being so long, but my strong guess is that six months from now your son will be happy and totally engaged in all sorts of good stuff at school. You’ll have to let us know.</p>
<p>My S applied to Stanford just for the fun of it right after Christmas so he has to wait until tomorrow afternoon before he can send in his deposit for Rice. He doesn’t expect at all to get into Stanford, but he had a lot of fun with the application and wrote some really whimsical essays that he enjoyed composing. Also, his Mom really wanted him to apply to Stanford and there is that old saying that “If you did not get rejected anywhere, you were not ambitious enough.” Rice has been his “dream school” for over two years now and he was admitted there so a rejection tomorrow afternoon would be more of a welcome relief than anything. If a miracle were to happen and somehow he got in then everything would be muddled and confused and it would be an extremely difficult decision for him, so I am pulling for a rejection. I am not too worried as I am quite confident that Stanford will prove that he was ambitious enough. I think that Stanford excels at that.</p>
<p>It’s been a crazy few days for us all on this thread. I think about @Apollo6 every day and the pain she is enduring. Two friends have lost their children to suicide the last few years and it’s been heartbreaking for the families but as well as their friends and the community. </p>
<p>I have been feeling that the excitement of Ivy Decision Day is a bit trivial in light of what Apollo6 is going through. A surge of guilt fills my body each time I think of what today could mean for my daughter. How can I think of her future without thinking about Apollokid? It all feels so hedonistic.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom, life is full of misery and tragedy and it always ends badly. That is why it is so important to celebrate the good things. Please don’t let dark thoughts spoil your attitude when it is time to celebrate with your wonderful daughter.</p>
<p>@austinareadad, so true…it’s so weird how we have never met, but I feel an odd connection to you all. I’ve never laid eyes on any of you, never broke bread or commiserated on the phone about my temperamental teen but you all matter so much & her horrible tragedy has affected me so. DD is working until 9:30 tonight and was so put off by the fact that I had to wait until she gets off…I was so excited about 3/27 before her shocking post on Tueday. It all changed after that. I will get over these feelings. </p>
<p>I’m feeling better today and I hope he is also. He is at his Dad’s house this week so I couldn’t check this morning. Admittedly, Apollo’s shocking news has me more concerned than I would typically be. I had some texts back and forth with his dad and he told me was worried about S14. I told him to keep an eye on him. He has play practice right after school until 5 and then has to be at the school board office for a curriculum committee meeting at 5:30. I don’t know if he’ll check his Brown decision in between or not. I don’t think that rejection will sting as badly as Oberlin did because he knew it was a lottery all along. </p>
<p>I’m taking a harder look at the financial aid offers for the two schools he did get into and making pros and cons lists in my head. I’ll tell him we’ll figure out a game plan for making a decision this weekend. No need to think about until then. He did joke a few weeks ago that he should go to Michigan and be in the Residential College so he can marry last year’s valedictorian and Homecoming Queen. And he has a couple very close buddies going to Western Michigan which is right next to the Kalamazoo College campus. So he’d have a tribe in the area, if not at the same school, which could be good for him. </p>
<p>I just had a fortune cookie at lunch that said “Happy news is on its way to you.” Let’s hope so!</p>
<p>We are awaiting 2 final decisions today - Cal and USC. They used to be S14’s top 2, but I think he has put UCLA at the top. So I am feeling more relief than anticipation that this roller coaster ride is about over.
Good luck to everyone awaiting "lottery " results.</p>
<p>Good Luck and best wishes to everyone waiting on the decisions! Irrespective of the decisions, I want to applaud our children for their hard work and tremendous effort. I am very honored to be among so many dedicated parents who have spent so much time with their children’s education and well-being. </p>
<p>I am spending the day cooking – Our son college senior and his team are driving up 8 hours for a weekend tournament. It is 2 hours from where we live. We are planning to go and watch him play. It has been 4 years since we watched him from the side-lines. I am making a lot of food and taking for the team. 6 dozen cookies, multiple trays of brownies, home made pita chips, several pounds of southwestern pasta several pounds of thai peanut noodles. </p>
<p>Just you know, 4 years ago this is the son, who was heartbroken when he didn’t get in to his dream school. Now, he got into the same school for graduate studies along with admission to several other top 10 schools with funding. </p>
<p>@Minnymom and @GertrudeMcFuzz
I wish your kids the best of luck. USC just announced their acceptance rate this year: 17.8%. This is almost 2 percentage points from last year’s 19.68%.</p>
<p>@2018dad - yeah, I’m ambivalent about what we are going to see from USC. It would be a top contender if D had gotten some academic merit. Since she did not, it is probably not do-able for us, even though it is a perfect fit in nearly every other way. There are 3 possible outcomes for her: accepted both academically & to the Thornton School of Music; accepted academically & re-directed to second-choice major (can’t even remember what she put, but this would effectively be a rejection); or rejected from all. There may be some tears…or there may be a major display of indifference since she is genuinely happy with her other 2 choices.</p>
<p>So much for waiting for the lottery decisions to come out! DD just went flying out the door to pick up her bff from school and bring her somewhere as she has a plan. It has nothing to do with colleges but with a whole “assassination” game going on with the home town seniors. Teams of 3 try to shoot other teams of 3 with water all while avoiding getting shot themselves. Only rules are that the school, religious places and in a car are safe. And you can’t go into someone’s house unless invited but there seems to be a lot of staking people who are leaving jobs or are getting into cars at home. So DD is off to help her friend (in MY car as it’s not as known as hers) and may or may not be home by 5:00! Of course, her friend also is waiting for 5:00 decisions and has two acceptances (large envelopes) waiting for her at home which her mother is waiting for her to come home to open (I was on the phone with her DD came down). So while we’re stressing about the upcoming decisions, I haven’t seen DD so happy and excited in a while! Since she’s at a different school she’s not officially involved but she’s obviously thrilled to be a part of this today! But really - the timing could be a lot better :)</p>
<p>Honestly akmom- the timing is probably perfect The decisions won’t change if she doesn’t check them right away and half the web sites crash when kids are all trying to get in at one time. Maybe your D is being healthier about it than ALL of us are! S14 is home from play practice and will be able to check in 4 minutes, but we were texting about accepted student days and he sounded like he was good with those plans. Oops, 3 minutes. That clock is moving s l o w l y. </p>
<p>Go2girl in at Penn; no from Yale. I believe my son is relieved that hse didn’t have a perfect record! I told her to go buy a lottery ticket!</p>
<p>Best of luck to all today and tomorrow.And like the rest of you, I am feeling the discomfort of celebrating in light of Apollo6’s tragic news. It feels so shallow in the whole scheme of things. You are all so awesome–I feel so lucky to have this virtual community. </p>
The decisions won’t change if she doesn’t check them right away and half the web sites crash when kids are all trying to get in at one time. Maybe your D is being healthier about it than ALL of us are! S14 is home from play practice and will be able to check in 4 minutes, but we were texting about accepted student days and he sounded like he was good with those plans. Oops, 3 minutes. That clock is moving s l o w l y. </p>