<p>cakeisgreat: My older son loved TCNJ when we visited six or so years ago. Lovely campus. Lots of school spirit. Awesome academics. Too bad they had just ended their big scholarship program, or I think he would have seriously considered the school. Thought it was so much better than nearby Princeton. Younger son received mail from the track and field coaches at TCNJ, but he was already committed to attending college down south.</p>
<p>We are now ready to board the SS Indecision as well. I haven’t been posting much because my D has not really wanted to talk much about college until now. Actually, she still doesn’t know what she wants to study or “do”, so she is also applying for a gap year fellowship. Here are her college results:</p>
<p>Accepted:
Drew
Duke
Furman
Texas Tech University
University of Denver
UNC</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
Rice</p>
<p>She didn’t get any full tuition type scholarships, but has good FA/merit at all. </p>
<p>Our family is also making a big move - after living overseas for the past 8 years, we are moving back to the U.S. in two weeks! Lots of changes for all of us.</p>
<p>Good morning everyone. We are in for a crazy few weeks here at Headquarters, between spring sports for both kids, a trip to L.A. to help with the college selection and just general life (remember that?). And amid all of this craziness, I keep thinking about graduation looming in just two months. </p>
<p>@eyemamom - Too bad you can’t take that girl to Vegas!
@2Tallblondes - These decisions are tough, but in 4 years, will it really matter if your D’s went to a “top” 20 school? I seriously doubt it. Please don’t take these rankings to heart because they’re just not based on solid statistics. What is important is fit, and how much your D’s make of their college experience.
Prestige is fleeting. Debt is forever.</p>
<p>Sooo, it turns out that maybe we will be joining as passengers after all. Son was accepted to a school that we didnt visit (since it was a longshot and kinda far away). So we will be visiting on his spring break next month. A recap of his list is below:</p>
<p>Accepted:
University of Rochester (with some merit)
James Madison University (waiting to hear about honors program)
Christopher Newport University (honors and presidential leadership program, includes merit)
Roanoke College (with merit)
Virginia Tech</p>
<p>Deferred and then Denied:
William and Mary</p>
<p>Still waiting on financial info from two schools. </p>
<p>It is crazy to think that we spent all this time worrying about him getting into schools that he liked. Now that that has happened, I am worrying about being able to afford a school that may now be his number one choice. When will the worry end and the celebration begin?!</p>
<p>Finally heard from our last school, here are S14’s results (Film Production major)…</p>
<p>Accepted:
Emerson College
Boston University
Cal States - SDSU, SFSU, CSULB</p>
<p>Rejected:
USC
Chapman</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
Loyola Marymount University</p>
<p>We haven’t received the actual letter from LMU yet so I’m not sure if he’ll choose to stay on the waitlist or not. At this point Emerson is the front runner, but he wants to go over everything again to be sure. I don’t think I’ll be a passenger on the SS Indecision and I really have trouble with sea-sickness. I was thinking I can help with check-in and boarding then wish you all Bon Voyage. :-)</p>
<p>^ Those are good choices. Remember, Steven Spielberg went to Cal State Long Beach :)</p>
<p>So many great results and excellent choices! Congratulations everyone on an outstanding job guiding your children through the admissions quagmire! It sounds like there will be some heavy drinking on the Indecision, but better to have tough choices than no choices!</p>
<p>@spritle - I think that is one of the most difficult aspects of admissions. The other thing that drives me crazy is the “wide net.” Because admissions, merit and FA are unpredictable to varying degrees, students feel compelled to cast a wide net. But the wider net that each student casts, the more competitive admissions becomes. It is self-defeating. And then I wonder how many acceptances are garnered and scholarships awarded that are turned down and that would have been used or benefitted another kid? It would be nice if FA decisions came first and merit awards were more clearly delineated (granted this would be difficult) so that students could better narrow their choices based on cost at the outset. I think it would avoid the heartbreaking “we can’t afford it” talk, as well as alleviate some of the competitiveness. Hopefully, the NPCs will continue to improve and be better utilized toward this end. </p>
<p>So many updates and positive news!!! And sad stories!!! I couldn’t help but think about Apoolo’s son. </p>
<p>D has some good options along with local state university, a good back up. She sees herself happy at any of these places which is a good thing and I am happy that she is open. That means, we will be on Indecision and need good coffee. May be Caramel Machiato! Captain, do you serve Starbucks? </p>
<p>I feel you, @3tallblonds. My son didn’t seem to care much about the prestige thing when he applied but applied to a few “top” schools at my urging. The only one he got into was Michigan, which quickly became his favorite but we told him he could only attend if he received merit, which he did not. He seemed to be fine with his second choice, Purdue, until he started hearing of other classmates who are going to Michigan and higher ranked schools. Now, I feel like the parent who is breaking her kid’s heart because we won’t take out loans for him to go to his top choice after all he did to get to this point in his HS years. This process is not for the faint of heart!</p>
<p>Not a parent, but my younger sister is in the Class of 2014, and I helped her out a lot with the college process. (I posted a thread back in August asking for advice on schools for her, and want to say thank you again to everyone that commented - it was really helpful.) She’s in the process of doing her final visits to colleges now, and seems to feel the same about every place she’s seen so far - “I like it.” Oh boy. </p>
<p>Acceptances:
Smith
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Illinois State University (w/ Honors Program)
University of Iowa
Augustana
Miami of Ohio</p>
<p>Rejected:
Pomona
Santa Clara
Richmond</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
Holy Cross
William and Mary</p>
<p>I don’t know what FA she’s gotten but we’ll probably sit down and talk about that this weekend. She’s visiting Augustana now on her way back from Iowa, and is headed to Smith in two weeks. Not sure if she’s planning to stay on the waitlist for Holy Cross and William and Mary or not.</p>
<p>Boo hoo-ing all day. After not sleeping last night, the stress and reality of having to make last minute visits and make a decision is getting to me. I so wish there was one school that was the dream school but although there are good choices, I have this weird let-down feeling. Maybe it’s just sheer exhaustion and the fact that I don’t want him to leave me. 
(Thanks for letting me have my moment.)</p>
<p>@Mrspepper - maybe it’s not such a bad thing that there isn’t a dream school? To me, that sounds like your child could thrive anywhere. It’s a good thing, I think, to see the positives in things/situations. 
</p>
<p>I know the feeling of the stress of visits! DD will have one on a Thursday/Friday and another the Sunday/Monday with a day at home for a break. Luckily we’ll be able to sleep at home Friday and Saturday nights so she’ll get some rest and be able to get homework done. Looks like she’ll end up missing three days of school (yikes!) but only one day of play rehearsal if I get her back in time for rehearsal on Monday. And then she’ll visit the last over her April vacation (22nd to 24th). Just not sure whether she’ll stay there both nights or not. And I’m still trying to figure out what nights to send the dog to the kennel and when we’ll be able to be home to pick him up! Looks like she’ll be spending her 18th birthday at a college visit! Hopefully it will be a fun time for her and we can celebrate when we get her home. And if she decides, we can go on a college store shopping spree right then and there!!</p>
<p>@pageturner5 Welcome, and it is great that you are helping your sister through this process! If she’s analytical, you can always help her list the pros and cons, or make a spreadsheet with factors in it rated for each school. Or just talking about how to do that might bring to light her gut feelings. She’s got some great options!</p>
<p>We just got an email from my son’s school. All they told us was a freshman girl died over the weekend and no foul play was involved. My son just told me it was a heroin overdose. Not sure what I make of the school not addressing the issue head on, but they do have counselors available. Heroin is becoming a big issue in my area as well. Scary stuff!</p>
<p>That is horrifying. Alcohol and marajuana I would expect, but heroin? That scares me. </p>
<p>Heroin has become an epidemic among young people. It is readily available, cheap, and no longer has a stigma because it can be snorted and does not have to be mainlined. Athletes and students who have suffered injuries are especially vulnerable. It can start with a legitimate need for strong painkillers, such as those often given after surgery or for severe injuries. When Vicodin, or OxyContin is discontinued, the young person searches for a substitute. We had a wonderful scholar athlete die from heroin. His addiction progressed in exactly that manner.
This is no longer a “back-alley” ghetto drug. Our affluent and successful youth are getting hooked. I also personally know a wonderful young man who was a newlywed with a brand new baby who died as a result of heroin. I never EVER would have thought he was an addict. Neither did his wife.
Kids are trying it “just once” and heroin is so much more addictive than most other drugs that it is often all it takes to get hooked. It is not a drug to experiment with!
Again, hug your kids! </p>
<p>And the school may not be at liberty to tell anyone how the student died. The parents may have requested privacy and HIPAA laws will then prevent the school from releasing a cause of death. Students ALWAYS know this stuff, even when administration can’t divulge and even faculty are in the dark. Please don’t blame the school for not being forthcoming. I bet you will see a parent organization meeting (or something similar) addressing this in the near future! </p>
<p>Of course, the death certificate will be a public record, so the cause of death will probably be in the local newspapers.</p>
<p>It certainly caused discussion with my son up there and my daughter here. Once is all it takes. I’m sure that girl had no intention of dying last week. I’ll be curious if it gets mentioned on the school page here. She had the world at her feet and probably worked her butt off to get into that school in the first place. It’s just so shocking to hear heroin, my son wasn’t aware there was more than drinking and smoking pot going on. </p>