<p>Soccer game is over… Having a fourth grader in the house is a welcome relief from the stress of the college admissions thing!</p>
<p>This whole thing is about perspective. Everybody has a story.</p>
<p>Irish, your story is that you applied EA to ND as a hs senior because you loved the place and it was your dream, and you were crushed to be rejected. You want to prevent others from going through the anguish you did, by bracing them with reality. Thing is, though, that no matter how braced someone is for disappointment, when the moment comes, it still hurts. It’s the nature of the beast. You can’t prevent the fact that there will be kids on this board that will go through the same thing you did; cannot brace them for the inevitable disappointment some will get.</p>
<p>You can, though, serve as an inspiration, because yours is a story not only of happy ending but of character. You never did give up on your dream, as so many would. Instead, you stuck with it, studied hard, and transferred in. That’s an inspiring story. The best stuff you write is when you talk about how much you love the place; the greatest aspects of student life. Your love of the place is palpable–believe me, I understand that, because I share it, both as an alumna and a parent. Your enthusiasm for the place is contagious!</p>
<p>The next stories are those of the high school kids on these boards, who dream of attending ND as you did at their age. If they didn’t care immensely about it, they wouldn’t be on these boards. Look at chillin–he’s a junior! A million emotions are going through their heads and hearts as they wait, hope and dream. Many already have apps in the coffers, and more than a few doubts not only if they will in, but if they did the right thing applying EA. Probably a few second thoughts about what they wanted to say, but didn’t, or did say, and wished they hadn’t. At this point, though, there is nothing they can do but wait. It’s a little late for discouraging news. I think you nailed this one, Irish, when you noted that the SAT stuff was best stated in October, before the deadline. </p>
<p>Then, there are the parents, the vast majority of us moms. We’ve been watching vigilantly over our kids since those days when they were infants in their cribs, and we’d tiptoe in their rooms in the middle of the night, just to make sure they are still breathing. We want nothing more than for their dreams to come true. If it were possible, we would spare them from all disappointment. Thing is, though, it isn’t. Any more than it was for our own mothers. Doesn’t stop us from wanting it, anyway. That’s not vicarious living, that is instinct–the same one that will cause a mother tiger to risk her life battling any predator who might harm a single one of her cubs. Ask any mom. If someone kicks me in the shin, it might sting a bit, but I’ve been through enough hard knocks in 44 years of living–as has anybody who has reached my age–that I can shake it off and keep going. Ah, but if someone kicks my son or daughter in the shin, it is as if I myself feel the pain a thousand-fold.</p>
<p>You students reading this, whether you are high school kids or Domers, may know that this is true, but I don’t think it’s anything you can fully understand until you are actually in the situation. It’s an amazing bond, the parent thing. Moms–and dads–you know exactly what I’m talking about. </p>
<p>As such, we are programmed to worry, particularly when our kids’ dreams are basically sitting in a pile on some committee’s table, waiting to be decided upon. The threat of rejection, of the pain of crushed dreams, to our kids, is very real. Unlike the mama tiger, though, we can’t go out their and claw and fight a predator to keep them safe from the threat of disappointment. So we do the next best thing. We worry. Like crazy. To the point that if they, being adolescents prone to think we’re all a bit off anyway, knew the extent of our anxiety over this on their behalf, they would think we were just goofy neurotic. So we come here, on to this board, because here we know there are other people who know exactly what it is we are going through. We seek support. Our anxiety level is on high alert. Every time we hear of a negative possibility, it opens a whole new realm of things to worry about.</p>
<p>Bottom line, though, is that it is all about love. We are all here because of our love–of Notre Dame, of a dream, and of our children. Having been there, as a student and now as a parent, I can tell you unequivocally that is what sets Notre Dame apart from every super selective school on this board. The love. The place is full of it.</p>
<p>God bless you all… Now, I have to write a newspaper column on deadline!</p>