Yup! We got a letter from one of S24’s EA acceptance schools telling us what a fine job we’d done. Thanks! That’s nice of you to say! No idea if he’s going to end up there, but a little external validation for the parents was a nice touch.
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It’s been busy the past couple of days. Can’t remember if I mentioned that D24 had her last voice lesson this past weekend. We started the voice lessons on a temporary basis awhile ago just with the intention of it helping D24 with her music scholarship auditions (i.e., for non-music majors). Well, those auditions are all done now. She won 2 out of the 3 scholarships she applied for. Yay!
Voice instructor proposed that D24 continue weekly lessons until she goes to college. At $75/lesson and there’s 22 weeks between now and when D24 heads off to college, that’s $1650.
Nope, not doing it. We’re gonna use that money instead for travel expenses to get D24 moved into college.
I do think that the voice instructor was very useful and helpful and I’m glad that we did it for this purpose. But all good things must come to an end. Singing is something that D24 has done for fun. It’s not a career goal. She doesn’t have plans to go on Broadway or try to make it in the music business or anything like that. It’s a “just for the heck of it because I like it” thing that’s given her a fun breather from school work.
Totally different focus than the voice instructor, who of course is all about music all of the time and it’s the center and focus of her life.
the voice instructor said that “most colleges with music scholarships basically require you to do a music minor and some of those classes are really hard and they expect you to keep up your music instruction until you start there at the college.”
Ok. Fine. But D24 attends weekly choir rehearsals, too. There’s music instruction there, too. And there’s the choir trip to NYC that’s happening after the school year is over, so there’s going to be extra practices for that prior to the trip starting.
I’m also glad/relieved that we won’t have to hear anymore of the voice instructor’s repeated strong suggestions to wear something different to the auditions. The instructor has a specific style of dress and has been really specific in suggesting for D24 to wear THIS particular dress. Even to the point that she sent me a link to an example of it on Amazon. 
D24 just wore her regular choir performance dress instead each time and she looked lovely and all was well. Other people auditioning were dressed similarly and it was no big deal. No need to go out and buy a whole new set of outfits just for 3 auditions.
For the love…
</end rant>
Besides, now D24 has extra time in her schedule to get more hours at work.
Thank you for letting me whine.
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I started taking a lot more pictures of my S the last semester of hs.
Like when he’d be in the kitchen making cereal, standing there talking to me, saying goodbye to me as he walked towards the garage, when he’d come home at the end of the day, etc.
He humored me.
More frequent hugs exchanged, too.
And I always said, “I’m going to miss you and I want you to know that I’m excited for you but I need to make the most of these last few months.”
He’d smile and give me an extra hug.
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Oh, this resonates with me.
Our kids’ coaches don’t overdo it with the purchase suggestions, thankfully, but we are expected to purchase items for the sport that are not necessary. I didn’t realize how unnecessary they were until my son was going through the recruitment process for his sport and was competing with athletes from across the country and not just from our coast. That was an eye-opening experience to say the least.
Norms differ widely based on zip code, that’s for sure.
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I am so happy to hear I am not alone in this battle!
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I think I need this for my own bedroom
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UMASS Amherst runs like a well-oiled machine. It also has a very positive and helpful parent group.
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Thanks @randommom1 - happy to hear that!
So. This place is D E A D as a doornail! (Entire op-ed in WaPo today about using outmoded words)
We and I’m sure many others are about to enter the razor sharp teeth of the real meat grinder of selective college admissions. Not sure how I’ll handle the many responses coming our way, but I wanted to chime in before the Sword of Damocles drops to thank everyone for the support, fun, info, advice, and just plain niceness.
Thank you, and bless you and yours.
See you on the other side.
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Yes sitting on pins and needles and trying to pass the time. D24 will receive several results while away from family at the Emory scholars week. They are reaches and she is nervous to face opening those portals alone. :(. Then It’s straight to spring break, which will be impacted by the remaining results. Are we having fun yet???
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Vent away because that voice teacher is being absurd. I have a daughter who IS training for Broadway and I’ve never experienced this kind of ridiculous nonsense. Sigh. It’s like the I’ve heard stories of high school theatre directors who make ridiculous requests of their student that would almost never be requested of a professional, like dying their hair for a part in the school play. I think it makes them feel “important” when they spout out these “rules.” Sorry about that.
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For us, “decision week” coincides with spring break – I think C24 expects to hear from 9 schools between the 22nd and 28th (ish). We don’t have specific travel plans, but are semi-planning informal road trips to various schools if C24 gets in. The spring musical will dominate April, then there’s really just a month left of senior year after that.
I’m learning that I tend towards the useless end of the spectrum when C’s expecting decisions – for example, last week we knew a decision was coming on Thursday, Wednesday I was as nervous as a cat. Same this week (thursday decision, wednesday anxiety). So that week of concentrated decisions should be super fun. C’s definitely dealing with it all better than I am. Either that, or we’re both working real hard to hide our nerves from each other.
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Mine is only waiting on two decisions, but I think one will be pretty soon, and this morning it led to a conversation about schrodingers cat, so hey, at least we are making it educational?
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Mine has all of her admission decisions and she has narrowed her decision down to two schools.
We are just waiting on one last FA package, which will either rule one of the final two out completely, or lead us to an accepted student event the first weekend in April. I expect she’ll decide by then, at the latest.
Good luck to everyone still waiting, be it on admission decisions, financial aid packages or just their own kid to figure out what/where they want. Although it doesn’t seem like it, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!
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I have been stalking the website for S24’s school to try and find out the cost of attendance for 2024-5. Still not there. Have most schools released this already?
Waiting on eight. No idea what to expect. Thankfully, one EA came through with big aid, and it was always in her top five, so no more white knuckles. Almost all of D24s friends have big schools in tow already (ED at Notre Dame, Duke, American, and MIT) but at least one other friend is also checking portals and holding breath. I had no idea about any of this stuff. Almost as tough for parents as it is for kids.
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My older son’s college doesn’t release next year COA until June. 
(And tuition/r&b are due Aug 1.)
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When i called to ask they said that it will be released before the current students leave campus and that bills are due in august!
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For some public universities, they have to wait until their legislature is out of session to announce tuition because otherwise legislators will cut their state allocation by the amount raised by the tuition increase.
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S21 goes to a unc and they released teir coa in november
S24 and I seem to be encouraging each other more toward the “nervous excitement” than “nervous anxiety” end of things. For a while I was trying basically to not say anything for fear of pushing toward the latter, but recently it has become clear he wants to talk a bit sometimes, and as usual I am impressed with his mature attitude toward all this.
Of course it helps a LOT he already has some fantastic options in hand, so it is theoretically all upside from here. As discussed previously, I do think it is possible he has overapplied to reaches in a way that will make this next phase a little more rejective than it had to be–but again, he seems fine about that prospect, so on we go.
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