@Waiting2exhale If only all high school student broke out into a musical number whenever they are stressed or happy, life would be so much nicer!
@CAMidwestMom Congrats that is amazing!!! <:-P <:-P
Thank you all! It is really nice to share the excitement here.
Congratulations on your sonâs admission to Boston College Honors Program, kittymom1102! My son was deferred from MIT as well yesterday. He will work on his RD applications now. Best of luck to all parents here!
@labegg @waiting2exhale Not so much musical numbers in our house, but S16 can go from full blown existential crisis one moment to doing a happy dance an hour later. Anybody remember the stand-up routine either Robin Williams or Dana Carvey did about how a small child doesnât simply walk across of room? Halfway across they do a little precious skip of joy. Canât do it justice, but when heâs not angsty, thatâs my S16.
Really going to miss it 
@crowlady: Do you have an understanding that your son will reach out to you every once in a while from college? I have stopped expecting it, and even stopped asking the other kids to tell me if heâs posted to Facebook lately.
But I donât like my way. What have you worked out?
Today D received 3 different emails, one missed call and one voice message from a school that she isnât applying to. Quite aggressive.
@waitingtoexhale we regularly have both singing and dancing going on in our house. My D and S and would have easily joined your Dâs High School Musical extravaganza! Undercoverdad1 often wonders where these kids came from as he spent much of his free time on the basketball court and tinkering with cars and couldnât imagine performing.
A phone call? Iâve only heard of that at the last stages of the game where one college will openly court a student that they get the feeling is not going to accept. Iâve heard of real money being put on the table in those instances, too. But this early in the game? Hmmm.
Yeah, my W2exit is not the most free-flowing child, so I was really surprised to hear her say that she had done a Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds (can you tell what I spent many hours of my youth doing?) in the middle of the locker room.
I became fast friends with a girl in college in a much similar fashion, walking through the dance conservatory singing Orleansâ âDance With Meâ - I heard my call responded to in the far distance of the echoing hall, and we each traded off lyrics until we could see each other. We fell into each othersâ arms asking, âWho Are You?!?â
Undercovermom1: Donât you think we were born to balance out the basketball-tinkering people of the world? Yet somehow we are drawn together.
@Waiting2exhale We have a regularly scheduled Skype call with S14 on Sunday nights. Doesnât always happen when things get busy, but thatâs worked great. And he is pretty good about responding to text messages. S16, on the other hand, had a habit of going dark when he went off to summer camp. And he doesnât do Facebook. I donât want to predict, it could go either way when he doesnât have lights out or electronic devices rules.
On the topic of phone calls from schools:
My D had two schools call her several times apiece during the fall. They had received her transcripts and test scores but not her completed application. Weâd visited them both during the summer. Once she recognized the area codes, she stopped answering them. They were basically telemarketing, not an admissions official or anything.
Sheâs been accepted to both schools, and one or both may be contenders but they are not the front runners. On balance the phone calls were more of an annoyance than an encouragement or enticement.
Then there was a phone call from a school sheâd been admitted to, but her Honors College application was still pending, to the best of our knowledge - and they were inviting her to an admitted students day for the Honors College, including a stipend toward travel cost. D was not home and I took the call. It was slightly awkward, particularly for the young lady whose script obviously didnât cover this scenario. Later it turned out D had been accepted to that Honors college but the school got their actions out of sequence - communicate acceptance first, THEN invite to the event!
@Waiting2exhale, love that story!
Congrats to all of the acceptances and scholarship offers. Wow, so much going on now, itâs hard to keep up!
My D only applied to three safeties. One we thought at first was a match, but based on the average test scores, we realized it was a safety, too.
Her situation may be a bit different, I think - she was really burned out last year and hated school. Iâm just happy she is going to give college a chance! ANY college! 
We saw several college campuses before she finally saw two this summer that she actually liked - Ball State and Ohio. After both of those tours, she turned to me and said, Yeah, I like this place, Iâll apply here, do you think I can get in? lol She was never convinced they were sure bets. Sheâs so hard on herself.
She then applied to Southern Illinois U in Carbondale, sight unseen. When she was accepted, we visited, and she liked that campus, too.
I donât know if sheâs applying to anymore⊠these three would actually be a good social fit for her, I think, and Iâm hoping they will be a good academic fit, too. She found out she is eligible to apply for Honors, but she is gun-shy about doing so, says sheâs tired of being âlumped in with all the type A super-driven kidsâŠâ She insists she just wants âregular classes with regular college studentsâ. We are supporting her going in non-Honors, and letting her decide if she wants to apply later.
I commend all the kids shooting for the low acceptance rate schools, though - that has to be a stressful process, and high school in the college prep lane can be stressful enough⊠Best of luck to all of them! They are all qualified, they all worked hard, and it really is too bad there simply isnât enough space for everyoneâŠ
Wherever all of our kids end up, I hope they are happy and successful!
Oh, and phone calls - D has had many phone calls, from the same schools. One, from a school I really would have liked her to look into - Cornell College in Iowa. But she said there is no way she is going to a tiny school in the middle of Iowa. I think it sounds like a cool school, though. Itâs the one in CTCL that has one course at a time.
Another one was Daemen College in NY. Another was University of Kentucky. No idea how they got Dâs number, maybe from College Board? D never applied to them, never asked for info (except for Cornell College, we spoke with a rep at a college fair last October.)
Two schools she did apply, and was admitted to, both called her recently and asked if she thought she may accept, and if she had any questions. But they never called before she appliedâŠ
My son has said that a lot during this process!
BeeDAre: I was going to say that I am not familiar with Southern Illinois U, but then I thought, âCarbondale,â I know that place. I looked the school up and must tell you I was so drawn to that school when my son was looking for colleges. There was something about their approach when introducing their research opportunities, and something about the colors and the feel of the mailings (no joke) that made me hold on to everything they sent. When they sent the t-shirt it made me really happy to see him wearing it (he has now grown, uh-hmmph, thicker).
I have not had an opportunity to get to their campus, but I think Iâll make that trip with my youngest boy as he begins to look at colleges.
Letterman has made me familiar with Ball State, and the kids here at CC who talk about the musical theater program.
Ohio (Columbus or Athens?) is a huge university that has been able to rally probably half the state to love it. I walked the campus and was amazed at how lovely and clean it was. They do everything at Ohio (Columbus) â she would never have to leave!
Isnât finding that your child has come to their own decision about what looks right/feels right, and what they simply want to shed or embrace, interesting? Trying to negotiate the space as a parent between the child I nurtured from my body, to this woman-child who is now driving and navigating her path forward is⊠a lesson still unfolding.
âShe insists she just wants âregular classes with regular college studentsâ.â
@BeeDAre @CAMidwestMom weâve wrestled with that with our D as well. Thereâs a fine line to walk. In general sheâll achieve at the level of the students around her, so we like those to be the ones for whom academics are a high priority, but thereâs a tipping point. If theyâre too aggressively type A, she doesnât want to compete with that and have to be âonâ all the time.
Where Iâm parked right now is that if she attends one of the large publics sheâs been accepted to, weâd prefer that she at least start out in Honors. For the smaller class sizes, the LLP and other perks, and to be in proximity to the higher-achieving and disciplined students initially. She can always discontinue, but I think itâs tougher to get into Honors later.
The three privates sheâs been accepted to have Honors programs that seem to range from excellent to an afterthought. One of the schools is more selective than the others, and I think the âregularâ students set the bar high enough. One program requires yet another application (Feb 1). And one doesnât seem well developed enough to be worthwhile. Thatâs all on the back burner for the moment.
Thank you @LKnomad. S17 is interested in grad school in STEM and hence is such high up on his list. But he is not at all into politics which makes Reed not such a good fit for him. He loves the school and everything about it but we are worried that he may not fit in
Actually, she applied to the Ohio in Athens. Itâs also a lovely campus - very old and stately, surrounded by a beautiful rural areaâŠ
Someone on CC suggested SIUC. After we saw Ohio, and D liked it a lot, everything I read about SIUC indicated D would like that campus, too. I also really liked everything I read on their website and from different departments. The staff and professors all seem very nurturing, but not in a condescending way⊠I just get the feeling they are comfortable catering to kids who arenât quite sure of themselves yet, and helping them find their untapped potential and talents. Thatâs something my D really needs right nowâŠ
Hereâs the thing I havenât mentioned yet - D decided, back in the summer, she would only apply to schools that offered Anthropology (and it had to be on itâs own, and not lumped in with Sociology - her requirement), Linguistics, Classics, and at least a few non-Western languages. Now, she will probably not have time to take all of those subjects, but she is very interested in the first three as potential majorsâŠ
So, SIUC has all of that.
I also like their focus on undergrads and according to their website, and what we heard from the student tour guides, each and every undergrad can apply for UG research positions. They re also strongly encouraged to seek research opportunities with professors, etc. So, the research opportunities are not just for Honors students or grad students. Some of them are even paid positions.
The campus is also gorgeous. Very natural and wooded. Carbondale is more of a low-key, quaint college town, but it has everything a student would need and want, and downtown is walking distance from campus.
SIUC would also be our cheapest option, as itâs both in-state and she got a half-tuition scholarship.
I recommend a visit when the time comes. They are also popular school in IL for Engineering. Easier to be admitted to than UIUC and much more affordable.
BeeDAre: So glad to know these things from you. Once again I see why I looked at SIUC with a sustained interest. Thank you so much.
Your daughter sounds like she knows herself very well, and will make nothing short of choices that suit her and her interests. Linguistics and Classics. Conversation at your home must be very spirited, very wide ranging.
Ohio in Athens - I have not visited that campus. âVery old and stately,â sounds wonderful to me. In my youth, that plus the rural description would be a real draw for me. Sounds perfect for your daughterâs âmust havesâ.
I met a young woman this past summer with interests similar to your daughterâs on a college tour with my next daughter. The young womanâs dad told me of her summer travels where she studied and practiced French I believe, and how the colleges they would look at were those which others had recommended. We had been at a womanâs college at the time, one with lots of trees and somewhat of a sprawl, but not by any means rural. She, too, had a few strong requirements for the focus of the Linguistics department, and knew she would concentrate in the Classics.
Sounds as though there are young people out there looking to find each other as they step into the next step of their new lives.
I hope your daughter is enjoying this process. I hope you are, too. (Sounds like things are going swimmingly.)
@rdeyus I donât know if an interest in politics is necessary. I do know that the school is very very liberal, so while the student may not be politically minded, they probably wonât be as comfortable if they come from a more conservative background.
My cousin went to Reed and we took a tour with my older kid. It is a very intellectual school, with a definite appeal to the âquirkyâ student. When we were there, there was a group of students passing by in capes, and our tour guide explained they were part of the LARPing themed dorm.