I understand the 2E thing all too well, as you know. We had similar-but-different things happening when mine was little, although I don’t think they’re related to her social sphere in high school.
But my D26 sees how her older sister found her tribe in college, and she is eager to move on from her currently stifling environment to a much bigger pond – and hopefully find the same for herself.
Yeah - C26 already had the bigger pond in middle school and then even bigger in high school, we were a little worried they’d get lost in the bigger schools and had been investigating some small privates as a back-up, but as it happened the bigger schools made it easier to find their tribe. It’s one reason I’m not so worried about them going off to a big college, although obviously there are many other factors on that front to consider. They won’t have the smaller cohort via something like an honors college that some other students here will, but they should get something of that because of the course they’re doing where most people are mostly doing the same things most of the time. I believe the entering arch classes at both UIUC and Boulder are somewhere between 100-150 people which seems to me not too small and not too big.
Today was rejection and wait list day but it hurts a lot less when you have good options! Waiting on a few more but also planning visits. Can’t believe we are on part 2!
Did anyone apply to MIT? I know they release decisions on pi day at 6:28 p.m. (tau).
They might be the only school nerdy enough to do that, LOL, but Georgia Tech posted that Facebook limited posts to 63,000 characters – and then maxed it out with almost 63,000 digits of pi. 
Rice posted short interviews of students around campus asking them to recite pi as far as they could. One student got into the hundreds while her friends just looked at her. And RIT posted an infographic correlating digits of pi to things around campus.
We might be a nerdy family because I deeply appreciated all of this. 
We had chocolate cream pie and key lime pie after dinner, and now I’m going back to listening to Project Hail Mary on audiobook.
Happy pi day!
Yes, my D was deferred from EA and then rejected today. We’re glad decision day is over and she can move on!
She was admitted to CWRU today. Personally I think it could be a great school for her, but I doubt that Cleveland’s poke bowl quality is up to her standards. Trying to convince her to visit anyway. 
Still waiting on the last 4 of the UCs.
DS was rejected!
@mebmama Congrats! I’ll have 2 at Bama next year. I’m happy to answer any questions I can. Mine are engineering, but I’m sure there is some overlap. We’re doing Bama Bound June 1-2.
@SpreadsheetMom Yay! Great decision! That is so exciting for her!
So much good news!
Michigan started requiring a personal finance class in high school. I think it started with the Class of 2028. Mine all missed it. None are big spenders now and I hope we’ve taught them all enough money lessons. We do taxes together, but I’m sure once they are fully doing themselves, I will still look them over for the first year or two.
S26 ha 26 days of school left! And we have graduation in just 2 months. It’ll fly, I am sure.
We spent our Friday/Saturday at the first robotics competition of the season. S22 is the main driver and it is so stressful for me to watch. But, it went just fantastic and we made it to finals and ended in 2nd place out of 40 teams. We won a judged award as well. After the 2nd week of the season, we’re ranked in the top 20 in the state out of 500+ teams. I think it’ll be a great season!
But, I am just exhausted. It was so much easier doing these long competitions when S22 was a freshman, 8 years ago. Lol. Also, S22 was able to fly in and make the competition, so he was very happy. He’s actually the programming mentor on the team, so he’s always happy when he can see things and work with them in person instead of virtually. D24 was home last week for spring break, so they only overlapped about 1.5 days this year. Bad timing.
Yah. Denied at MIT. Which is – you know, it’s expected and fine. Also waitlisted at CWRU which is also fine, because we visited and she didn’t really love Cleveland. so, ok. Not a fun day but… is what it is.
Where that leaves us: The two frontrunners are UNC Chapel Hill and Northeastern – which couldn’t be more different from one another, esp for her major – but both are attractive and interesting to her in totally different ways. I guess they’re both kind of fully-articulated versions of what they are? No middle ground for this one!
Still waiting on half a dozen reaches and - who knows she might get into one, she might not. But my brain is tired of thinking about this and kind of wants to move into housing and orientation and planning dorm room decor already.
Only 3000 more days of March!
S26 supposed to attend a local event for a college later today that was originally in the top 3 but has fallen into the top 5. I want him to go, as I think more info is better, but he’s pretty sure it’s not moving back up the list. They still allow one to cancel…Any thoughts??
We went to open house day. CWRU was very nice. Typical college campus and the immediate area was fine. One of our neighbor’s son goes there and he reallly likes it. I think some of the dorms arent great (common issue) and although Cleveland is underrated, the winters can be brutal.
IMO, if you’re not already excited about CWRU, you probably wont be blown away by the visit.
We’re also hoping that the smaller arch programs within a bigger school help to make friends/study partners.
I’d probably strongly encourage my kid to go, if it’s local enough. Who knows what makes a difference and top 5 is still high enough. If it’s an otherwise busy day, well maybe cancel.
So, my D26 did not apply to MIT, but was always amused by the Pi day / Tau time thing. We were chatting about it, and I noted that it wasn’t at Tau time today. She asked what time, and I said “just the next 3 digits of Pi”. Without missing a beat, she goes “Oh, 1:59. Weird.” No, it’s weird that we’re chatting about digits of Pi right now, dear daughter…
Anyway, we got apple crumb and pecan pie from a local farmers market in celebration. Delicious day!
And in full nerd-dom, this is floating around our family chat now:
Oh, funny about MIT’s changing the time!
My D26’s school has a competition every year where they give a pie to anyone who can recite more than 100 digits of pi. Friend of hers gets it every year. My kid, on the other hand, doesn’t see the point – “We can just buy a pie, so why would I spend time memorizing?” This is clearly the result of all my admonishing that her time is valuable. 
Also, I love that graphic – saving it down to send to my own people, LOL. I always send this one today –
Haha! Just stole that to add to our family chat!
Edited to add: Forgot to mention that D26 learned something like 30 or 40 digits of e because it was in a song. These kids DEFINITELY have too much time on their hands!
(Not me googling to figure out what song that is…)
S’26 has narrowed his choices to four. He declined all other admissions (without telling me, including my home institution that would have been free). We knew the home institution wasn’t a fit but the finality of that decision and the realization that we will be paying more than expected is something. Between his autism and his mental health struggles, we feel that it’s worth it to have him go with what he feels is the best fit.
he’s narrowed it down to Pitt, Delaware, Stevens, and Drexel. Last visit is the first week of April so we should know soon. What a wild ride!
I am sorry about all the MIT rejections. 
I know a kid from class of 2023 who got into all six of the eight Ivy schools he applied to – but got rejected from MIT.
(I kind of see it like UChicago – who the heck actually gets in regular decision??)
I feel you on the mental health – it’s one of the reasons I am so grateful for honors program housing and single room for my D26! I can see her dealing with all the other struggles of college if she just has a place to retreat at the end of the day.
I remember your saying that he wasn’t able to get tuition exchange at Pitt. Is that an option at the other three?
Which one are you visiting in April? Fingers crossed for you guys that he lands at the right place that also isn’t a huge financial burden.
My D22 got into Delaware for grad school, and I know a lot of people love it – we haven’t visited, though. It’s in the middle tier of her list.
ETA – I tried so hard to get my D26 to apply to Stevens, but she didn’t think the program was a fit. I was in love with the location for her though, lol!
I’m usually in the “more info is better” camp as well. Even though it might not move back into the top 3, there might be something he loves about it and then has that info to help him formulate questions about how that looks at the schools that are his top 3.
But, I also understand at this point in the year, everyone is just cooked.
