Ha @RightCoaster @liska21 I think it’s all teenagers, not just sons…
I don’t think we can post memes here? Have you all seen the “going into a teenager’s room is like going to ikea” one?
@gallentjill the good thing about having a puppy is that if I send D15 a photo of him being goofy she always responds right away. Great way to get proof of life! ?
@SJ2727 How about: “going into a teenagers room is like opening a box of crappy chocolates - you never know what you’re gonna get, but whatever it is, you won’t want it”.
@monkey99 We pick our puppy up in 2 weeks!!
@firstwavemom I’ve retired my martini sipping lobster in honor of my daughter’s school selection, The University of Tampa!
It’s been a long 2-year road, visits to 27 schools across 6 states and 10 applications resulting in 7 acceptances (6 with merit and 2 honors programs), 2 rejections and 1 wait list.
D was accepted to Tampa undecided, but is leaning towards a Management or Communication major with a Leadership minor.
I’m incredibly proud of how she approached her decision. While Tampa is not the most rigorous school she’s been accepted to, it will provide her a solid education and the honors program will afford her opportunities she wouldn’t have at most other schools (i.e. honors-specific classes, scholarships for travel-study & research, potential for one of six positions awarded annually to Tampa honors students to study at Oxford). She’ll also graduate from Tampa with little to no debt. Most other acceptances would be considered higher-caliber, but would have left her owing $80-$100K.
Wishing only the best for our '19s as they make their way down this next path of life!
I was in a sorority. We moved in immediately after rush right before school started.
You changed rooms, and roommates, every quarter. It forced to you adapt to lots of different personalities quickly and helped avoid cliques forming. It sounds like a pain but it really was a good thing.
3 out of 4 kids preselected roommates. 1 through an ED accepted student event, locally. 1 through the admitted student FB page and this last one through the private app the school has.
Pros and cons to each but so far my kids have gotten really lucky. S17 is likely to live with his roommate all 4 years, we just adore him!
@ifer67 - Yay!! That’s great- good for her!
@ifer67 Congratulations to you and your daughter for her decision!
@ifer67 Congratulations to your daughter on her decision!
@ifer67, I used to have family near Tampa, so I know the school—a beautiful compact campus. (Onion domes and water and sun! What more could you want?)
I also have a professional friend who works there, and raves about what an amazing place it is to be as a faculty member, so I figure that bodes well for the student experience, as well.
@ifer67 Congratulations to your daughter (and your family) on a great decision! It’s exciting to see the kids making choices and the changes in icons, but I did like that lobster. Looking forward to changing mine at some point.
Admitted students day was wonderful and there are no doubts left in anyone’s mind about D’s college choice! Hooray!
congrats @ifer67 on the decision!
good news @gallentjill !
We are going to accepted student day later this week. Mostly because son is happy to skip school for a day, but I think he’s also a little bit curious to meet some new people and learn more about what he’s signed himself up for.
@gallentjill - Yay!
My kid cleans up relatively often, usually doesn’t leave food in his room, knows how to do laundry. My main hygiene worry is that he doesn’t think to take a shower unless I tell him to. I guess his roommate will help him with that. Maybe. Maybe I should set up a reminder on his phone before he leaves.
We have 2 admitted students days this coming weekend. One of them they don’t seem too enthused about us, the other is rolling out the red carpet. I know which one I hope he chooses, but we still have waitlists (small chance) so he’s not going to be settled in his decision until late May probably. Sigh.
S19 and I are in a hotel room for a week in a city that I wouldn’t normally visit. Not for college, but for his sport. One of those parenting things that will soon come to an end—though not until end of summer when he leaves for college.
Like others, I am looking forward to reclaiming my time. I have thoroughly enjoyed these years but it is all consuming. It’ll be healthy for me when it ends. Not so sure for H. With my encouragement, he took on a coaching job that will hopefully take over his after work time once S19 is gone. He likes the other coaches and it’ll help fill the very large void. I’m an inveterate volunteer so my after-work time will quickly be taken over by organization roles. Or maybe I’ll refocus myself on my career which has taken a backseat the last 4 years.
I definitely will get a dog when S19 leaves. We have always had dogs. Our last one died last summer and we usually wait a year before getting a new one. I miss having a dog a lot. One of the things I miss is being able to hug my dog the way I would hug my kids when they were little. I could lay down and hug my dog whenever I had that overwhelming sense of whatever it is called when you miss kids (who are in the other room) so much that you want to hug them for 5 minutes. Of course, I still hug my kids but not like I did when they were little—they’d find it weird and a 6’ teenage almost-man is not as cuddly as an adorable soft 5 year old.
@Trixy34 @liska21 Ditto. Love D to death, and we are super close. Still ready for a break and not being servant to the school calendar. I also over-volunteer, so will likely take a break for at least 6 months. I work just below the typical US full-time ee standard, so will likely go to true full-time plus now. On a Shutterfly album kick right now, so a bit nostalgic, but still ready. No pet either for at least 6 months.
Congratulations to all those that have decisions finalized.
We hope to be there soon. “We” is the right pronoun at this point, because it’s moved beyond being just a student decision. Next week D has a HS honors program, so dad is in town. One college is quite impatiently waiting for a decision, but they will have to wait until next week’s family meeting. Thanks @eandesmom and @mom2twogirls. Your recent posts on cost decisions have been helpful.
Since D19 got her driver license I have hardly had to spend any of “my” time on her/her school stuff. There’s not a lot of ongoing HS volunteer work, and there’s a certain …crowd who seems to take most of it on themselves (I put my name on the list every year and never get called), so the emptiness will mostly be at home … that empty chair at the table is going to be a big hole for a while, i think. I still have D26 of course who will need plenty of time! But she’s really going to miss her big sister. Their spring breaks next year don’t coincide, so we’ve already decided to spend D26’s break in the city D19 will be at college (obviously thanksgiving and winter breaks are very similar). We’re yet to see of course if D19 will come home for her spring break or if she’ll be off with a new bunch of friends somewhere…
OK, so maybe I spoke too soon. For some reason, today it’s finally starting to hit me. Maybe it’s the weather sending clearer signals that it’s Spring. I decided it was probably a good idea to start shopping online for a dress for graduation - then S19’s dad called to finalize plans for the St. Lawrence accepted student day, which has just turned into a mess. Feeling pulled in 12 different directions that weekend (which is Easter) and it looks like I’ll probably end up not going on the accepted students trip. Anyway, tears started flowing a little bit. I guess i was really beginning to look forward to spending that time with him.
One thing I am definitely looking forward to is our “raise”. Having both kids in college will save about $20,000 a year that we spend on their ECs and associated travel. That’s like a huge raise with no change in taxes due or EFC.