Reminds me of when my C17 applied to (I forget which college) and I was copied on an email update that included the line, indented and bolded and set entirely on its own:
But I initially misread it, and thought it read:
And I thought that that was maybe a little bit presumptuous on the part of said college.
Or perhaps said college was more insightful than previously thought… 
Give yourself – or C17 – some credit!
Just to add a little tidbit, my S24 applied ED1 to the school he/we felt was a best match and fit for him (also given fin aid needs, NPC calculators etc). He was deferred to RD, decided not to ED2 (against my advice ) and eventually got admitted to his original ED1. He got a great aid package, and is absolutely loving it. I sincerely don’t think there’s a right ex-ante strategy, sometimes you have to go with your gut…
Thank you for sharing this. I had conversation with my D25 just last night about it as the ED decision date is rapidly approaching. She told me that she’s not as convinced of her #2 school anymore. So it looks like she’s just going to roll the dice. I’m ok with that. After her ED choice, there are 2 colleges she really likes and then the rest all have pros and cons. We’ll just have to see which ones get dropped for financial reasons and which ones aid packages make them look better. 
My C20 was deferred ED1, decided not to apply ED2 to a school that they loved (and that I thought was a better fit) and ended up getting accepted to both schools. They ended up with several great acceptances in RD and chose a different school altogether. It’s been a great school for their interests, and they couldn’t be happier.
I should be grading, but what I find myself doing instead is checking ED school’s admissions Instagram to see if they’ve made any mention of when decisions will be made. (Not that I don’t follow them on IG because I don’t want to tempt fate.) Is this because they don’t have it posted on their website? Why no. It’s right there. Is it because they put a date range rather than a specific decision date? Of course not. They’ve given the date. I don’t know what purpose it serves to check. I guess I if I check enough I will not only will the decisions to come sooner but make it an acceptance. Meanwhile my D is planning secret Santa gifts and having fun in the school musical. I wish I had her chill.
I feel seen.
I’m doing the same thing. Actually, worse. I have gone back on Rose-Hulman’s instagram for the past few years to see if they posted anything about when EA decisions came out for the past few years. And the website says December 15th. But it might be released sooner, right? RIGHT?!?
S25 has a 10 page short story due Friday. He has written 3 pages. Which is better than the 6 sentences that he’d written last week. When I pushed about it this morning he said, “All the best things are done at the last minute.” So glad that this is the life lesson he’s learned! 
I am Just So Antsy for decisions. We have one school that is “mid-December” and one we know is Dec 17th.
Mid-December is Clemson and, like you @Rostov I’ve been on the Instagram multiple times every day since Friday, Just In Case they announce the day today. And like you @Kumihama-Cho I scrolled back to last year to see when they posted and the year before. And I think these things suggest that they’ll announce this week, but WHO KNOWS. Then the Clemson EA thread is all trying to do “portal astrology” and seemingly failing. There are four button/links that every applicant had in their portal yesterday/earlier in the application cycle. Now, it seems like two buttons have disappeared. Last year, students for whom a (single, different) button disappeared were all getting offers. So the desire is there for it to mean something. But it seems like for everyone in the thread the buttons have disappeared. So either all of our kids are getting offers or none are, neither of which seems realistic.
I’m stuck in a horrible mental loop of “what if we gamed this out wrong” - so many more OOS students applying to the same big public state schools that S25 is applying to. What if we really misjudged? I mean, I * know * he’s in somewhere, as he’s got a rolling admit already, and I’m as close to confident as I can be that he’ll get into JMU as an in-state student and I think he’d ultimately do great there and be happy. But you want your kid to get what they want, and he really wants one of the schools in his top three.
Yeah. This. 100%.
My C20 was initially deferred from EA (no ED option) to Regular then admitted. It happens!
Anyone else stalking portals for any signs of portal astrology? Just me?
When we announce our EA (or any acceptances), maybe we should try to list the date so when future parents stalk our board, they don’t have to wonder how precise “a year ago” actually is. My son’s most recent is Ithaca College, that he heard from on December 6th. They said it would be 2/1 so the early surprise was awesome. I just wish I had all of the specific dates for class of 24, 23, 22. Is it just me?
Definitely not just you. I’m becoming vaguely neurotic with it. (Ok, maybe not vaguely.) and I don’t even BELIEVE in portal astrology. And yet…
I’m rationalizing all of this by telling myself that part of why I’m doing all the weird checking and hunting for “clues” is because it’s letting me get my “fix” in as decision day gets nearer without talking to my kid about it. He has no clue that I’m so aware of all of this stuff.
Also, I fully admit, it could be a little bit of group-think / peer pressure. The Clemson EA thread is all about the portal astrology at the moment, seriously probably close to 40-50 posts about it today.
My son JUST heard from Ithaca College (EA) this afternoon!
Thank you for opening a new level of crazy for me 
Our kids could be friends who encourage each other to wait until the last minute. “I perform better under pressure” is a typical refrain from my D25.
Yay! I have heard all wonderful things and we had an awesome visit to their open house. Exciting!
I haven’t quite moved into looking at the code behind the portal websites but I’m darn close.
We have FOUR decisions we are waiting on this week or early next and my husband, D25 and I all seem to have an unspoken agreement to just.not.talk.about.it. It is excruciating for me. And has led me to a LOT of scrolling CC and stalking portals and Instagram. We are all snippy and jumpy (or maybe that’s just me??)
AND!!! With the smiley face, I think I know the result, but I once made the mistake of congratulating someone on their pregnancy. Alas, they were not pregnant. Hoping for good news!
This is where we are too. D25 should have an ED decision later this week and I think the whole discussion is verboten.