@amandakayak “spoiling the nest” . I so get that. and its not just the summer before! it seems like the whole 2nd half of senior year!
I definitely have some anxiety about D19 going off to college! I’m the only one at home who seems to even think about it. DH doesn’t deal with anything like this until much later. D19 still has the March SAT to take (re-take). We’ve been on several college tours but nothing excited her yet. I would like to plan a summer vacation for this year, but not sure when I should plan for it to happen. I’m thinking earlier rather than later in the summer since I don’t know what kind of time college applications are going to start and how long they are going to take her (us). This could be our last “all four of us” family vacation, so that in itself is making me kind of crazy. I’m a big time planner so all of this unknown stuff makes me anxious!
Im not anxious about S19 but a tad concerned. By birth he’s first but D20 is at boarding school so we continue to adapt to a different family dynamic. S19 is not super independent and the months are clicking away. I’m keeping him busy prepping for the February ACT and he’s taking a 3D cad class where I work this semester. We are hoping for a Tuition Exchange option through one of the colleges we work at. But they are competitive so the net needs to be cast wide-ish. He’s planning on civil engineering and his favorite so far is Wentworth followed by Quinnipiac. WPI, while pretty local to us, didn’t seem to be a good fit for him as they have pretty large classes the first two years. I have to pick up my D20 in NYC in March so we’ll visit Manhattan then. And I did add Clarkson to the list. His prep ACT tests are very high so maybe we’ll mix things up is the actual score is close.
LOL, @Dragonflygarden, I noticed. You’re so funny! I won’t bother pointing out Princeton’s silly gothic architecture, strangely interrupted by brick in places, and it’s in the middle of hard-to-reach Central Jersey, too! Probably seems close in comparison to your S16, though. 
I will miss hearing S19 practice every day. He is finally at the point where it is a pleasure to listen to him play. I also can’t wait for him to open his wings and soar. He seems so ready.
@EastGrad I will agree that no one likes NJ. Even Princeton kids wish the college was located elsewhere. Virginia would be a good choice.
I need to stop reading some of the forums here on CC - I keep coming up with new schools to research lol. I saw UCF has some good merit for out of state (basically bringing OOS to IS rates, which are less than VA IS rates), and internship opportunities with the research park next door. We have several friends who have moved to Orlando area and we’re planning to retire there, so it seemed like a good idea, but then I started researching and wow. That school is massive! 60K students! A lot of reviews from engineering majors say class sizes are too big. Oh, well.
Anyone else feel like they’re overdoing/overthinking things sometimes?
Better to research a school now than be frantically trying to come up with alternatives next December. I don’t know how my kid will change but I know it’s going to happen. I think you’re eminently sensible, @parent2one
I always think it’s better to know too much than too little.
Did someone say overdoing/overthinking? Guilty as charged @parent2one .
I keep wanting to research. Find that one school I may have missed that would be a great fit. Truth is that S19 has been very clear about his criteria and we have a solid list of 10. We have visited them all. And there is a definite “top of the list” favorite that we agree is the best match. My guess is that he will apply to six or seven of the 10.
Now, I have a distance limit. And I have exhausted that limit. If I didn’t have a distance limitation, I would never stop. 
Finding CC created a College Search Monster. LOL!
@parent2one. I’m guilty to over thinking it. I’m hoping son19 would just have a few choices.
In reality, he’s visited a local school several times, said that he likes it, he should get in, and can play sports there, and it’s a decent school. and we can afford it.
It’s like a no brainer really. I don’t really have a good reason to even consider any other options.
I keep hoping for that elusive closer to home safety. Kiddo has 5 schools he is sure he is going to apply to, but they’re all match or reach. There are 2 safeties on the possible list, but the closer one is 2000 miles away.
There are a kabillion schools in the world, there has to be another that fits criteria and is in the continental US. Right?
@parent2one Guilty here too. S19 has a bunch of schools on his list where he’s in the top 25% for scores/grades but acceptance rates are below 30% at all of them so his list will be long. Especially when looking at small schools, I feel like fit is important. I’m trying to keep myself from thinking that there’s one or two perfect schools though. I just bought a book called “8 Top Choices”. It’s a good reality check. Kids can prosper at many places.
@mountainmomof3 I completely get the “Why Alabama” questions. When I mentioned that my daughter had Bama (the one in Tuscaloosa, not Huntsville) at the top of her list, people from the Northeast and even from Texas all were wondering the same thing. However, when I was in Georgia, the people there understood the allure of Bama much better. Funny thing is, on sites like CC, if you mention Bama and are from out of state, people assume you’re a high stats kid chasing merit aid.
Be sure to check out the boards here that cover the Alabama schools: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-of-alabama-huntsville/ for UAH and http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/ for Tuscaloosa (D19 isn’t interested in engineering, so isn’t really thinking of UAH).
If we weren’t, would we be on College Confidential?
As for anxiety about D19 leaving, I thought I was just fine. Then D19 got an early college mailing and asked me if she could leave high school a year early and start college. All of a sudden, I became a lot more anxious about her leaving. (She was just joking and doesn’t actually want to start college early, she just wanted to see my reaction).
I assume that, although I am 100% fine with it now, I’ll be completely different in July of 2019. A part of me actually does wish high school was over, though. It just feels like, although she has matured so much from 8th grade to 11th, I don’t see what 12th grade will add to that, compared to what college will add.
I’m guilty too. @RightCoaster Its the “no brainer” that I’m worried about. Did I miss something?
Should we visit another school that he’ll never choose?
But I justify by saying that there is nothing else to do while waiting for the final offers to come in.
Give us a freakin crumb of news this week please! An honors program, anything
Boy keeps going to the mailbox I keep stressing over the unknown
@dfbdfb FTW!
I am so guilty of over thinking this too. I have gone through Ds list a million times. Usually after reading something on CC. We already have 18 colleges in the list, I really don’t think I missed any!! 
I totally own the fact that I am overthinking and over-researching, however, I feel good about where S19 is in the process especially since he is a planner that likes to pace himself. S19 now has a solid list that checks off all of his boxes thanks to all of my overthinking. Soon the rest will be up to him in terms of apps/essays.
I’m guilty of overthinking, but not over pressuring.
I don’t want to miss any opportunities at schools that have his major (film prod/screenwriting) and full need met (or close). I thought it probably doesn’t exist outside of USC - but CC has shown us a few options. Then I go and search for more 
@gusmahler Thanks for the links - I have already been stalking those forums! Has your family been to visit UA yet? I am interested to see how S19 reacts to both UAH and UA when we visit next month. Both are great academic and financial fits so it will come down to the rest. S19 has been pretty consistent in saying he wants a big OOS school around 30,000 but since his current school is under 1000 and we have lived in a small mountain community for the past 6 years, I am not so sure. He is focused mainly on the East and will look at some other schools this summer. None of those schools are automatic merit so I have a feeling the process will be long and drawn out next year unless he becomes hooked on one of the AL schools. If that were the case, he could go into senior year all set.