D26 spent a day a few weeks ago disassembling her LEGO from years ago, boxing them up and sending them back for their pilot buyback program. 18 pounds of LEGO!
She earned $45 in store credit. She had me order her a new set this morning. She’s gearing up for holidays, and de-stressing with LEGO. Anyone else have a kid who’s super into LEGO?
I’m in the exact same situation. D26 applying ED1 to the highly rejective school her brother is a sophomore. It wasn’t even on her radar until he was accepted—or ours, honestly. It’s not close by at all. We thought they’d both end up at a sweet SLAC within driving distance, and then our third would be at a sciency school. D26 still may be at a SLAC in the end, we shall see. I can’t quite believe that we are nearing the end of our last go-round with the Common App! No doubt the next 48 hours are going to be a lot. Wishing all who are applying ED1 good luck and calm.
I had a S24 abandon his RD apps too!!! 2 years on, mine is regretting that just FYI. (I have twins + a third).
Same here. We visited UC San Diego and UC Irvine. They were Ok but when D26 saw the app, she said, Nope.
We are a crazy Lego household.
I think at this point- most of our home decorations are actual Lego sets 
(Only slightly exaggerating!)
All of D26’s EA applications are in, but she still needs to submit her ED application (due 11/15 and ready to go). However, she still has FIVE regular decision applications to do (three of which have supplemental essays), including her #2 school. She’s waiting to see what happens first with her ED and EA schools. It would be super is she could eliminate some or all of the RD applications.
We’re instate but got out of the UC app kind of by default as the only UC offering freshman entry for architecture is Cal, which ain’t gonna happen. The CSU apps are a bit of a Hail Mary for architecture (2 offer it, both 5 year programs and both highly impacted) but C26 feels they should apply “just in case” - there are no essays or letters of rec there, just transcripts and activities basically. So other than that, unless something pops up late on their radar that they want to apply RD for, we are basically done.
Having slept on it, thinking of adding UA-Huntsville to the list…researching. Call me a glutton for punishment. LOL.
Since we are in CA, neither of my kids would have thought to apply to Pitt, if I hadn’t read about it on CC. We haven’t visited, but it sounds like a great school… and the early admission certainly makes the fall semester much happier for a stressed out high school senior.
D told me last night that when she was at school during the day and everyone was freaking about about college apps, she cheered herself up by looking at maps of Pittsburgh and pictures from the Pitt campus, feeling thankful that she has already been admitted, and knowing she would be perfectly happy if she ended up there. 
Exactly the same here.
That’s what my son did - toured three state publics - picked one, applied, got in a week later –and we were done before school started in August! He had much different college goals than my D26! And you know -his public is working out really well for him so it was a good choice! This time - we have 20 applications and a lot of hurry up and wait! I can’t wait to get to the waiting part though!
D26 had this on her list, until she decided she probably wouldn’t choose it over other schools that she had a very good shot of getting in.
Another member here – @Luanne – has a daughter at UAH. I’ve picked her brain about it before. Her kid is thriving there! The honors dorms are great – single rooms within suites.
She loves it! And not just honors dorms - all rooms on campus are singles in a suite or an apartment style.
Glad she’s okay!
Love Pitt! Several of S23’s closest friends are there; he loves going to the football games. (In fact, he’s going to Pitt/Notre Dame in a couple weeks.) D26 thought about applying as a reach, but their film major isn’t really what she’s looking for.
D26 has district championships for volleyball tonight so she might get her after-school time back. Of course we hope they win, but I won’t lie, it will be nice for her to be able to come home right after school and get some stuff done!!
They did a short film for their media production class; hopefully it’s good enough to include in her portfolio. She did most of the production work (dialogue, camera shots, storyboards, editing) and she starred in it so it will be a good thing to include if it turns out well.
Trying to decide if she should do a virtual interview with admissions for one of her top choices before the EA deadline or only if she’s deferred/waitlisted. Sometimes when she gets nervous she freezes so I’m nervous that she might actually hurt her admissions chances. We’ll try some role playing and see how it goes.
And we’re done!!! My daughter hit submit on her final application early this morning!!! It was touch and go there last night finishing up those essays, and while they may not be her best work, they were “good enough” and it’s a relief to be done - 11 schools (all EA but one), something like 20 supplementals, one personal statement, lots of coffee, some wine and vodka (for me and my husband), a few tears, a little yelling and some comic relief provided by her little brother. She has two early acceptances from the bunch (UMN and Pitt) but now we start the long wait for the rest. Luckily, my daughter is patient and very busy (HS cheer competitions this weekend and all star competitions starting early next month along with preparing for a voice recital next month) so hopefully it passes quick.
Best of luck to all those whose kiddos are about to cross the ED/EA finish line in the next couple days. Such a stressful, yet exciting time.
I could imagine this exact conversation with my husband and daughter.
Congrats!
We did a similar ranking with D24. We started with red/green/yellow on various characteristics. Weather, city, classes, etc. Once she was down to fewer choices, we did a weighting system. But really, it came down to vibe a lot. She knocked colleges off for being too bricky or rectangular, lol. And our admitted student visit to UAH just hit all the right spots and she loved it.
HA! My daughter talks about how she doesn’t like the “aesthetic” of some of the schools enough. She likes bricky, but it has to be the right kind of bricky…
I’ve got friends that live in Huntsville and absolutely love it. I hear great things about the city.
Oh yeah. The right kind of bricky was totally fine! ha. I never quite figured it out. But she had to live there and if it bugged her that much, I knew she wouldn’t be happy!
If I can help answer anything, just let me know.