Here’s a distraction from the weighty college admissions day. Any of your kids’ high schools doing something called Senior assassin? Each Senior who signs up gets assigned a target that they have to shoot with a nerf gun by the end of the week to stay in the game. I just got shot this morning when I went out to walk the dog. The Senior was so disappointed and embarrassed that they got a mom 
. My German shepherd mix was completely unfazed- not a guard dog by any means. No skin in the game today for my kid who had her decision in December but I am rooting for all your kids still awaiting decisions and those making decisions.
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My 2023 daughter’s class did it last year, it’s loads of fun.
There have been a few cases (not locally) of parents pulling guns on kids hiding in bushes etc. Tell your kids to make sure all the families know about the game!
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My D’s school and other close schools play assassins but with water guns, so be thankful you only got hit by a nerf. 
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My admit rates are upside down……got in low admits MIT, Caltech, UVA oos, Tufts, got dinged by higher admits UCLA, UCSB, UCB….praying I extend my lucky on Stanford/Ivy day
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How do you know you got dinged by UCB? Berkeley announces today.
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Some schools have a FAFSA filing deadline and they vary, so make sure to check with your school if relevant. CSS schools may not need it.
My kid’s assassin game starts on Monday. For our school, the kids play in teams and apparently things can get intense.
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Just followed the Berkeley portal astrology thread w/ bcsweb.is.Berkeley.edu, click campus solutions, enter your email/password……forbidden=admitted, unauthorised=reject/waitlist
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I completely agree. I went to a LAC as an undergrad and then to an Ivy (Brown) for grad school. I worked as a teaching assistant for a number of undergraduate courses. Brown is known as an Ivy that prioritizes undergraduate teaching but the experience of the students was still completely different from my LAC experience.
At least in my department the introductory courses were large lectures with little personal attention. By contrast, the introductory courses at my LAC had 25 students in them. During my time at Brown, there was only a single undergraduate who was a visible presence in the department and developed strong personal connections with professors. He was an extremely advanced student and took some graduate classes. (For comparison: I was not nearly as advanced as an undergrad and I graduated in three years and went on to get a PhD. It takes a lot to stand out at an Ivy.) At my LAC, I introduced myself to the professor in my ultimate major after my first introductory class, went to lunch with him a week later, and did research for the department that first summer.
The professors at Brown were known researchers in their field, and many were good teachers. They did teach undergraduate classes, and at least some took their teaching responsibilities seriously. But almost all of them looked at undergraduate teaching as a chore - they would have rather worked on their research or interacted with graduate students. If your first priority is research, and it needs to be to get tenure at an Ivy, undergraduates are mostly a distraction.
If I was a student now, I would choose an Ivy or similar research university only if I was either extremely advanced in a field and knew I wanted to (and could) take graduate level classes in that field; or if I had a pre-professional interest not offered by most LACs (engineering, business, etc.); or maybe if I knew that I would be unhappy with the social life at a smaller school to the point where it would interfere with my work.
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We are struggling to sleep late night and hopefully it ends well today!
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I haven’t posted much here during the college cycle since my daughter wasn’t sharing (outside of parents) her list. She just preferred to keep the stress minimized that way. She decided early on she didn’t want to have “one dream school” so she could stay open to possibilities. Honestly that worked out very well for her because as acceptances came in, she really did explore the options, emotionally. (we had agreed to visit top five after all acceptances).
Then, she was accepted to USC (California) on Friday and it was a whole different thing. She knew. One of her sisters even said “if we could curate a perfect school for her – rigorous but also some California vibe – USC would be that school.”
So, she didn’t even wait for any more decisions before making it social media official that she is going to USC Marshall School of Business. To have March 27 and 28th be completely carefree days when they’ve been on our calendar as big decision dates feels so…amazing? weird? unexpected? lovely?
Thinking of all of you who are getting big decisions today!
xxxoooo
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Yes. I have a firm rule that we do not accept exploding offers in this household- not for jobs, real estate deals, school admissions, or other types of investments. Our lives have gotten a lot less stressful since we have agreed on this rule, but the whole process is just too much back-and-forth and too much focused on institutional need, not student fit. We are all feeling beyond it now.
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I probably am living vicariously through my kid. So many of the opportunities I wished I had had as a kid, so many ways she has been able to avoid pitfalls that I walked right into. Every thing happening right now is the last time it will ever happen, and I am trying to enjoy it all because the empty nest is right around the corner.
I also admit to being really curious where D24’s friends, classmates, and cousins are going to end up (a couple of Duke and Ivy hopefuls in her close circle). It is the big thing going on right now, but it will soon simmer down. The fact that there is almost no overlap in the very selective schools the people in her circle applied to is making things much easier.
In real life, I don’t talk about college except when people ask, so hopefully I’m not annoying anyone there. I am really happy to have CC where we can all be a little over the top with this stuff. 
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this board has absolutely allowed me to not drive my family absolutely insane with college talk all the time.
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D24’s school does not, but it is happening at several schools in the area. I don’t know if it’s like this everywhere, but at one school participants each put $10 in a pot and the winner(s) get to split it. It is something like 700 bucks and her friend is ALL IN on trying to win. D24 thinks it is hilarious and is going to see if SGA can get it going at her school this year.
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There’s a pot of money at my daughter’s school too. She knows she’s not likely to make it that far so no big aspirations there. However, she most definitely did not want to be one of the first ones out.
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It’s gotten very intense here too and created some drama among friends. Thankfully my kid is just having fun with it and not taking it too seriously.
Even though we are out of the game, we will be rooting hard for S’s friends tonight. The boys are so supportive and hype each other up. It is very heartwarming. They will post an instagram story featuring the friend’s acceptance (with permissions) since posting one’ own acceptance is done a bit cautiously (and sometimes never at all) at the ultra competitive school.
And I will be rooting hard for ya’ll too!
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I hear you. One of the most exciting things for me about the college process is seeing my kids have dreams come true for them that I didn’t even know existed when I was their age (I grew up under rather intense first gen circumstances where–to put in mildly–education was not valued). It’s a feeling of joy I couldn’t have imagined. Yes, there have been moments of insanity. Sadly not immune to that! 
And I am going to be a basket case on move-in weekend. But overall I’ve felt gratitude. My kids are not in the game today (one was accepted ED2 to a top school and the other only applied to 5 schools ED/EA – he’s going to one of those, an amazing school but not his first choice but he is still thrilled). So I have my fingers crossed for all still in it here and for my kids’ wonderful friends. And then D26 will apply in 18 months and I’ll really lose it.
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Same!!! Our son threw us for a loop when he decided to apply to so many reaches and there are few people in my circle that know the ins and outs of this or want to hear about this drama non stop. Very thankful for cc for the education and support!
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