Those who were considering cake jars…there’s a Groupon:
So glad not to be a senior’s parent waiting with my child for any admissions decisions. There are a lot of stressed out high school seniors today all around the world today.
I joined the Parents of 2020 thread since I have an 8th grader, but man, they are already so stressed out I may have to unfollow that thread for a few years, yikes!
@ITBgirl, you can be the voice of reason for that group!!
@ITBgirl @mtrosemom I also have a 2020 (and a 2017). We can be the chill people sipping cocktails while we read…amazing how much more relaxed we are after having done this a couple times!!
I will bring you guys cocktails. 
Awwww…thanks @suzy100. It’ll be nice to see the cabana boys again!!
Great to go into your next rounds with your eyes open. Especially with regard to paying for it all.
What really surpised us last year was how long the process went on and the shifting sands as for my daughter each admission came with a better scholarship and started the whole process happy to go to any of the schools she selected to apply to. I am not sure, knowing what we know now, she might have done differently. I admit that I am glad I figured out the whole merit scholarship vs need based aid thing on my own, but do wish I had found this site a little earlier in the process and would have learned about those automatic full tuition and full rides.
Anyway, it all worked out and she LOVES her school and is doing very well.
My heart is breaking though for all those kids on here who got into great schools and now realize they cannot possibly afford them.
Some cocktails would have helped last year though. LOL.
So glad that I have a couple of years off (S18 and S23). But we are planning to take a few tours next week. Looking at the school where S15 ended up and 3 more that S18 didn’t even consider. And on the 2018 page there is so much stress already! We need to calm down… long road ahead!
I have an S18 - don’t need any more stress right now so I will postpone going to that page for now!
@wrights1994 I have twin S23. Want to guess how many schools will be over 100K a year by then?
@Mom24boys … I can’t even think about it. At this point we are one year at a time. We will only have one year where we will have more than one in college, if that. S15 could graduate in 3 or 3.5 years. It is so scary, I do not want to have to take out loans but FAFSA thinks we are rolling in the money that they must see growing on the tree in our backyard.
I’ve gotten my first job! I’ll be working as an assistant swim coach at the pool on campus for a local swim team. Yay! I’m not going to get rich, but at least I won’t have to have an entirely blank part on the “work experience” part of my resume!
Congrats @albert69 ! Is that for the summer too?
@STEMFamily No, but I will still have the job in fall, the coach assumed that I’d go home for the summer. 
I’m planning to try get a job as a lifeguard back home during the summer unless one of the internships I’ve applied for there work out.
DD’14 and DS’15 went back home yesterday after a week of spring break. It was so wonderful to have all my kids together again, joking and goofing off together. And hearing DS belt show tunes in the shower. I’d forgotten how much I missed that . DS is going to be a camp counselor one last summer before he starts engineering coop work next year, but DD is still looking. She’s a little shy and reserved and putting herself out there is hard for her 
but I’m not sure how much I can help.
The kids and I finished our taxes over break 
and my, it’s painful when they start coming off the Earned Income Child credit, one per year. It’s partially offset by not having to buy groceries for DS but it’s worrisome to see things getting so tight with DS’17 coming into college age. But one year at a time.
I have a 2017er and the national merit cutoff thread has just started hopping because someone posted the commended cutoff for this year. I remember the stress with D15. I am more relaxed this time around.
I get to see D in two weeks for her spring break. Yes, she has a late one compared to everyone else. I am meeting her and my Mom in NYC for 5 days of Broadway shows and sightseeing. I am looking forward to seeing her because she won’t be home again until August. She has a 2 month internship working with youth at a juvenile detention center. Not my idea of a good time, but she is looking forward to it! (And that is what counts.)
Well, we got a place to store our daughter’s dorm stuff all summer figured out last night (thank you roommate’s Mom and Dad!). It is getting real that this first year of college is almost over. I am getting excited to see her in about four more weeks!
^^Thanks for the reminder @NorthernMom61 - I need to get on that. I really don’t want May 10th to come about and get this phone call, “Mom, I don’t have a place to store my stuff. Can you drive out here with a truck? Please?”
D and two friends will be sharing a storage space for summer. Whew! The only thing she needs to nail down is a climate controlled place to store her instruments (guitar and banjo). Hopefully she can ask a local friend to keep them safe for her. She will be taking one guitar and her ukulele to her summer internship. She can’t go a full 2 months without playing!