I highly recommend reading the reddit thread about how to prevent baby quail from offing themselves (or maybe I’m just easily amused). Watching S25 and his friends try to navigate this collectively is a bit of a white-knuckle experience. (also learning that he’s apparently fondly considered to be the schlemiel of his little group. Ha!)
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Laughing at D25 as she texted how shes freaking out because people are already posting post grad plans on her hs senior IG pay. She said she feels so behind! (Of the few posted they are basically either tech school or recruited athletes.
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Mine is having a similar issue. Freaking out about finding a roommate and housing because she is hearing from classmates who have already chosen their school that they are messaging/snapping/whatever so many people about roommates.
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We’re way behind this. Still not decided on a school, Penn State didn’t turn out as he hoped, and not to mention still have applications out there. Over the holiday, the deferral now seems to have risen in interest. I think the friends must be talking. The next 6 weeks will be interesting, by then we’ll know all outcomes.
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Lucky! We will be waiting through March to know all outcomes. It seems so far away at the moment!
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My S is nowhere near a decision either. If you include deferrals (there are 4), he is waiting on 10 schools. The one he really wants will release end of Jan, but that could easily turn into a deferral as well. I guess we are in it for the long game…
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March does sound like a long time. I suppose there are probably RD applications some are putting in so in that case, yes! Mine pretty much did all EA, or if not it was rolling admission. Interestingly still waiting on one rolling admission decision.
S25 has acceptances to Bard & Ursinus. Waiting on our in-state UNH which will release another waive of EA decisions this month. Then it will be a longer wait for others.
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Same. My kiddo is waiting on two rolling admissions that were both submitted in October (I think your kiddo and mine are both waiting on the same school). It turns out that rolling admissions stink if you are in one of the last releases..so anxiety inducing. Working on my anxiety/patience.
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We will be March between his deferrals and a few RD apps he just submitted (they only had ED). I can’t say it enough for a process you had to have apps in by Nov 1 to not know for almost 5 months is ridiculous. We wonder why these kids are stuggling so much with their mental health, look no further than how ridiculous this process is for kids and I’m not sure why anyone is confused about the why it’s gotten so difficult on them.
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Same boat as many here. S was rejected from his ED1 school and another school near the top of the list and decided not to do ED2 anywhere. He has two deferrals from schools he likes and some early acceptances to schools he’s not as excited about. He is expecting more decisions before the end of the month and then a bunch more in March. Meanwhile, his high school has an Instagram page for the Class of 2025 where they post about a classmate committing to a school daily. He wants to be done with this process, but between waiting for March decisions and financial aid packages, I don’t expect he will know or decide until April.
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Our school has 2 weeks left of 1st semester also. However, they do finals before Christmas break so they don’t have to do that at least. I think D25 has a project or 2 to submit and my son might have a chemistry test or something. It’s nice to at least not have to worry about studying for finals over the break.
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My son is so worried about not getting in anywhere he’s excited about he wanted to ED2 somewhere but for us we just can’t commit to that kind of money without knowing the broader financial picture of the other schools. He’s in a full blown panic. I’m typically the panicked one in the family so I’m trying to hold it together.
I honestly NEVER thought in a MILLION years my youngest would be causing this much stress in college admissions. Never. January is going to be so rough. I’m happy theater is starting up again so he’ll have less time to spend worrying and more time to just immerse himself in the things he loves.
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We’re still waiting to hear from her last school. This wait is so hard. D25 has been enjoying her 2 weeks off and is sad it’s almost over. She’s been able to get to her internship 5 times over break which leaves only 3 more times she needs to get there before March. Hopefully she’ll be able to squeeze it in.
She is going to one of her top choices at the end of next week for a scholarship opportunity. This particular opportunity is for kids with at least a 1420 on their SAT (Or ACT equivalent). I told her even if she doesn’t win the scholarship at least she’ll be able to meet others that will potentially be in her class looking for the same rigor she would be. She has already been accepted into the honors college at this school. I really hope it goes well for her as she has lost a little love for the place after hearing she didn’t win any of the other scholarships from them she applied for (they are partial need based).
Really hoping to get out of limbo with the last college soon!
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Happy New Year everyone! The stringbird household is expecting to hear back from four schools this month. I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing decisions!
My daughter, not so much. She can be an anxious kid who sees the world in extremes, and the college application process is very much bringing out this part of her character. She now characterizes two of the three schools she has been accepted to as “bad schools.” Never mind that she chose to apply to these schools for specific reasons. This change of heart seems to be because they accepted her, or because they have high acceptance rates - or at least, she hasn’t articulated any other reason for her judgment. She is certain she won’t get into our flagship state school, and if she does get in, she’s certain that’ll be even worse because she’ll “flunk out” because the classes will be too hard.
To top all this off, she is STILL writing essays for scholarship applications, which she absolutely hates, and which she does not hesitate to sulk and complain about. So yes, I’m super excited to move past this phase of the process!
I don’t see that I ever posted her stats or college choices, so in the spirit of providing future parents with practical data that applies to a non-superstar student, here goes.
NC resident, competitive public magnet
Guilford County (3rd largest county in NC)
1390 SAT
GPA 3.78/4.22
8 APs, 4s or 5s on the four exams so far
Good extracurriculars, music/poetry/health sciences
Low rank (around 50th percentile)
Her major intentions are not very firm and vary by school, but are mostly biology-adjacent.
Accepted (these are all rolling admissions) :
-ECU
-Temple
-UH Mānoa (has absolutely everything she wants, but out of the running as she has decided it’s too far from home)
Pending, with posted dates for decisions:
-UNCW 1/20
-RIT 1/31
-NCSU 1/31 (I should note that she only applied here because I asked her to)
-UNC-CH 1/31
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I’m sorry that your D is feeling so anxious and negative about the options she currently has; hopefully once she’s had time to step away from the applications she’ll have a more positive outlook.
I think she sounds like a star!
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Hate to hear this is so stressful, and that she’s worried about flunking out before even starting. My heart goes out to you!
LOVE to see that UH Manoa application, though…glad she is looking to opportunities beyond our wonderful Old North state. Best of luck with all the future decisions. FWIW, I’ve seen lots of neighboring kids coming from our stressful high school absolutely excel and find their flock at both UNCW and ECU. This time next year, we will all have a much different perspective.
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My son’s school has the same kind of Instagram too, is that a thing at high schools now? On his school’s page they post college commitments paired with the students’ baby pics which is pretty darn cute but I can totally see how it can add to the ongoing anxiety for students who aren’t done with the process.
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I am feeling impatient as well. My son will be waiting for 3 RD reach decisions in March. My pessimistic/realistic self expects rejections. I do not trust this process. He is fortunate to have 4 acceptances although 1 is our state school that is not a contender and his first choice out of the acceptances seems like a financial reach. I suspect he will go to one of these and will be happy and get a great education. I would love for this process to be over, but at the same time I am realizing that these months are really formative, at least for my kid. He pretty decisive and confident in who he is, but he is also growing and changing this year. ED wasn’t an option for us financially, but I am now glad because I don’t think that making a decision on a school so early would have been wise for him. I look forward to admitted students days and for him to see where he feels most at home.
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Haha, thanks! She’s a great kid and she will be a great adult too! And she’ll do well at any of these schools. When she gets like this, she seems to do better if she can verbalize her worst case - sometimes when an anxiety-provoking idea is exposed to the light of day, it doesn’t seem so bad. But sometimes she just needs to talk through that worst case. So last night we did that. I explained to her that I would have asked her to remove any schools I thought were “bad schools”, or schools where I didn’t think she could be successful. We vetted the heck out of this list, it’s a great list for her!
We talked about how much more flexibility she will have in college with regards to schedule rigor. We talked about minimum and maximum credit loads, and about how to drop classes (and how to know when you should or shouldn’t drop classes). I hope she feels better about it all today, and I do think she’ll find her way to a better mental spot by the end of January.
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