<p>Congrats to Agentninetynine’s spygirl on the Oxy decision!</p>
<p>Congrats to 2018dad’s D on the Cornell decision!</p>
<p>Finally, we also have a decision!!</p>
<p>Our son will be attending Emory University this fall. On Monday we were at Emory’s final ASD. It sealed the deal. All of his other acceptances were either to state schools (UC’s) or to private schools with merit aid – Emory is the one school to which he was accepted where we’ll be full-pay, but so it goes.<br>
HIs mother and I are thrilled. We think it’s a good fit for him both academically and socially. Although it’s pretty far from home, we have family in Atlanta. And they don’t have a football team, so he might actually get some work done on the weekends.</p>
<p>This whole process would have been much tougher for me if I didn’t have this wonderful forum/thread to read several times a day, as well as a couple of wonderful CC parents with whom I’ve been corresponding. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge, experiences, thoughts, and emotions through all this rocking and rolling.</p>
<p>Hey @crewkid, congrats on Chapman! My son is about to hop of the boat at that same port. Like @AsleepAtTheWheel, it’s a more expensive option but it seems to be The One. </p>
<p>congratulations everyone on all the final decisions for colleges! it is so fun to see where everyone is going and I have found out about a few really nice colleges that I hadn’t heard of before but will now be looking into for my other kids because of CC.</p>
<p>thank you also for the excellent advice on backpacks and I will be shopping and looking into all of those suggestions!</p>
<p>this is the coolest thread on CC.</p>
<p>@agentninetynine @alseepatthewheel and @2018dad Congrats, what a relief! Great choices…</p>
<p>Both DH and DS use Swiss Gear backpacks – coincidentally, the same model. DS has used his for three years of HS now, and it is in nearly new condition. The kids in his HS don’t use their lockers and just leave their backpacks on the hallway floor or on TOP of the lockers (but not in them) so it hasn’t exactly been pampered. It’s an interesting school culture – the joke is that you can leave your laptop or wallet lying around and they won’t be stolen, but you better not leave any food unattended! </p>
<p>DH has had his for about the same amount of time and actually bought it without a clue that it was the same backpack. He uses it every day and on all his travels so it has seen a lot of use – he is on pace to travel over 250,000 miles this year. Again – looks like new.</p>
<p>@2018dad - Re: Cornell Store Sale. They sent me an email a few days ago, probably b/c I had ordered a sweatshirt at Christmas. If you go to the Campus Store pages now, all items are automatically 20% off.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Cornell Days info. My sense, in general, is that Cornell does not do a good job marketing itself. Having said that, we never bothered attending a tour or revisit day, so I may not be the best judge, but I feel like I hear of better revisit days at other schools. </p>
<p>As to scheduling during pre-lims….yes, that is unfortunate, but I think they chose that week because every public school in NY, NJ & CT were all on break last week. </p>
<p>I’m sailing until at least Sunday so keep the drinks coming please. I did tell him I think we should deposit where ever when he gets back on Sunday. Michigan’s housing forms are due May 7th and they don’t send them until the Monday after you send the deposit. </p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom – There should be an award on the cruise for the kid/parent who get the closest to May 1 before making a final decision. Am hoping that your equanimity persists.</p>
<p>It is easy to be equanimous in a forum post. In reality- I’m not quite that well put together this week. Also, I know he’s spending the next few days with a band instructor who went to Kalamazoo College and three buddies who are going to Western Michigan, which is right next door to K College. I will not be suprised at all if he comes home and they’ve convinced him K is the way to go. </p>
<p>I might win the ‘last-to-get-off’ award. Just don’t forget I am still on the boat when you guys all disembark. Please leave the lights on for me. </p>
<p>It’s really been so exciting to share in everyone’s news and decision-making process. I’m not sure why I thought this would be the easy part. After all, just getting in was enough of a challenge both physically and emotionally. I know we were not prepared for this latest roller coaster of emotions. That said, go2girl found a roommate on the admitted students page. They’ve been texting for hours and she seems like such a perfect fit! At least that part wasn’t terribly difficult.</p>
<p>@agentninetynine @alseepatthewheel and @2018dad – Congrautlations! All amazing schools. I am certain each will make their mark in significant ways. staceyneil – I hope you are feeling better. I can’t imagine dealing with surgery and supporting your daughter through finals, college stuff, etc. </p>
<p>My 8th grade son is starting to get scared! Yep, with go2girl out of the house, he’ll be my focus for the NEXT four years! Poor kid! This evening his school is having the author of Colleges that Change LIves speak. While, it’s very early for him, I think it will be interesting. He’s very different from his sister and i’m sure his college choices will be, too. </p>
<p>And ot the rest still reclining on the Lido deck, I’ll be pouring my famous Kaffir Lime Gin & Tonics in the next hour!</p>
<p>@go2mom That’s what we told d’14 when d’11 graduated, “Now we can focus all our attention on YOU,” Wasn’t crazy about that notion for some reason!</p>
<p>@StaceyNeil, hope you’re taking it easy and trying to recover amid all the madness. </p>
<p>LOL @go2mom & @ordinarylives! Spykid is going through the same angst, although he’s excited to get her room when she leaves!</p>
<p>Can’t really think about dorm shopping or any further college thoughts as DD is treading water with the end of year stuff. I know that at @go2girl’s school, students can skip finals if they have an A in the class. But across town at Spygirl’s school, it’s business as usual and that means finals, AP tests and the usual end of Senior year festivities. Plus prom and the spring sport. Gah…</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel - I feel your pain about full pay. My D got merit aid to just about every college that she applied to - except UT (which is where she is going). We have friends/family in Texas so I keep telling myself that that is more important since she will be so far away (we are in N Cal). This is a bumpy ride no matter how you slice it - I’m sure even kids that decided last Fall are going through a range of emotions.</p>
<p>We just bought Lilly Pulitzer bedding online - my kid is going whole hog in to the Southern, preppy thing… </p>
<p>Agentninetynine – They can skip finals as long as they haven’t missed five days of school. I think go2girl has exceeded her limit with college visits so she’ll have her first final next week in AP Calc.</p>
<p>@4beardolls – I don’t think you’ll be the last to disembark. My D leaves tomorrow morning for her final accepted student events, which continue through Monday. Her last summary still has four schools in the running, along with the huge category “other.” I think we’re going to be enjoying the bar service until they kick us off the boat.</p>
<p>I am very late to this party if some of you have been posting since your S or D started high school. But here I am now.
We did 10 visits to 8 schools with D. She applied to 6 of them, and one other ‘safety’ we’ve never visited. She applied ED to Wellesley but was not accepted. She was accepted to 5 liberal arts schools around the Northeast and RIT, but in the end the decision came down to RIT and Mount Holyoke. After a long weekend of travel to ASD at both in mid-April, she ultimately decided on RIT and will be majoring in Museum Studies. </p>
<p>I’ve been saying ‘what a long strange trip it’s been,’ since we began the college visits the same time we were moving my mother to a memory care facility. Visited colleges, cleared out mom’s house, visited more colleges, put the house on the market, took a family vacation to DC to tour the Smithsonians (that museum thing) and closed on the sale of mom’s house. </p>
<p>Senioritis in the version of letting her grades slide was bad over the winter, but since she’s made her decision she seems to be happy and up for this final push through APs and research papers. She’s finishing up her volunteer hours (at a museum) and should nail down a job soon. </p>
<p>Thanks for letting me join the party a day late and dollar short. Once the tuition bills come we’ll be many dollars short. :-)</p>
<p>Speaking of college gear, a service club at DS’s school is doing a neat charity fundraiser. They’ve asked students to donate college gear from schools that they won’t be attending, and then reselling the gear to other students. DS picked up a nearly new quarter zip fleece for $15 that goes for $65 new (I know since we bought a very similar one last month). All proceeds go to charity. </p>
<p>Another club does a similar thing with test prep books. </p>
<p>
The last person to disembark gets to take the Margarita machine with them to use for the next 10 1/2 months as we need it back for the 2015 cruise season!</p>