<p>I saw my favorite foreign film, The Lives of Others, for the 4th (blush) time over the weekend. I highly recommend this film, which won the oscar in 2007 for best foreign film - especially if you have an interest in Germany or life in East Berlin just before the wall came down.</p>
<p>Anyway, there is a scene in the movie where the Stasi are steaming open envelopes of East German citizens. I know from hearing an interview with the director that the equipment used in the film are real Stasi tools that were actually used for that purpose.</p>
<p>But it got me to wondering… Can I successfully steam open the highly anticipated fat envelopes that we hope arrive later this month? Would anyone admit to having done this?</p>
<p>lol…as tempted as I was to try that one…embarrased to say I learned it from I Love Lucy, lol. I held back and let the kids be the first ones to see their letters. They were so excited to share the good news, I was glad I didn’t spoil it.</p>
<p>I’ve also read (probably on CC!) that freezing will loosen the glue. Anyone try that? jk!</p>
<p>One of D’s acceptances came in a giant envelope with “Congratulations!” scrawled on the outside. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice it and left it on the kitchen table so D would see it first.</p>
<p>Five years ago when D1 applied about 3/4ths of the results still came in snail mail letters. And I never steamed anything open, but I do admit to holding several envelopes up to a bright light to see if I could read any of the enclosed text.</p>
<p>Today for D2, I think pretty much all results will come first on-line. Since I’m a lousy hacker I doubt I’ll see any results before she does.</p>
<p>Thanks for the film recommendation. I wanted to see that when it first came out but never got around to it.
…and, yes, i am guilty of holding letter up to the light. Yikes! That was awful to type!</p>
<p>Glad to hear others enjoyed the movie. I lived in Berlin while the wall was still there, so it particularly resonates with me.</p>
<p>I’m surprised to hear that kids hear via e-mail - what, no more fat envelopes that I’ve been hearing about?! And, darn, she adamantly guards those passwords, so I guess I’ll be stuck learning the news when she decides to tell me.</p>
<p>For those with experience, when should we be expecting notification? The last week of March? Do acceptances and rejections go out on the same date?</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen on CC, most of the kids who applied to top colleges – places like HPYS – opt to get their acceptances by e-mail. They literally will be counting down the minutes on CC until the hour that acceptances are released, so if your kid applied to such a school, check the board here on CC to find out when acceptances will be released. </p>
<p>When it comes to other schools, it’s almost always easy to tell if a student has been accepted: fat envelope. No need to steam. It’s a nice gesture on the parent’s part to leave the envelope in the mailbox so the kid gets to discover it themselves. If the kid will get home late, act like you forgot to get the mail, and ask the kid to go get it. </p>
<p>My S thoroughly enjoyed finding his fat envelope. I delighted in seeing that because one of my happiest memories was opening the mailbox to find my own college acceptances. </p>
<p>Some schools send acceptances Fedex, while sending rejections regular mail. That’s how I knew older S had been rejected by Columbia: Students on boards like CC were bragging about their acceptances. This was in the days in which all acceptances were mailed.</p>
<p>My daughter’s college doesn’t do email or fat envelopes. Also, the letter can take extra days to arrive if you’re across the country from the college. </p>
<p>So my daughter was pretty antsy, and I got text messages from her at school each day asking if the mail had arrived yet. When the thin envelope finally did arrive, she asked if I would bring it to school so she wouldn’t have to wait until she got home from after-school activities. Her teacher for the last class of the day was indulgent and let her come out to get it. It would have been tough if it had been a rejection, but luckily it wasn’t.</p>
<p>Modern technology does change the “fat envelope” experience.</p>
<p>My daughter was waiting for email confirmation that she would be receiving a likely letter from her first choice HYP. </p>
<p>She gave me permission to check her email throughout the day, since she would have to move on other offers if the likely was not to be.</p>
<p>The morning the confirming email came, I printed it, jumped in the car, went to her school, pulled her out of class, and handed her the printout. We cried, hugged, composed ourselves, and she went back to class.</p>
<p>Weird, I know, but circumstances drove the event. I’ll always remember standing together in the hall of her high school with her, enjoying the news.</p>
<p>Even non-Ivy boards have a lot of info. If you dig back a year, you’ll see when and how notifications went out last year. I found those to be pretty accurate indicators for this year. Also, as schools send info or post it on their web sites, kids will be discussing it.</p>
<p>I remember reading on CC years ago an account form a parent who similarly took an acceptance letter down to the high school for the daughter to open. It was from MIT - her dream school. She opened it right at class change and screamed for joy. Then all her friends rushed over to join the celebration, and they hoisted her up on their shoulders like a football hero and paraded her across the school quad chanting “M.I.T. M.I.T!” And all the other students applauded and cheered as they marched past. </p>
<p>No email option from D’s school. When her ED letter came last December (in a fat envelope with “Congratulations” printed on it), I took it right over to school. She met me in the office, we hugged and cried, and then went to tell her GC. He happened to be in a meeting with all the GCs from grades 6 through HS, so we were able to share this sweet moment with people who had counseled D (and me) through many ups and downs. I will never forget that day.</p>
<p>I seem to remember someone on CC saying that putting the envelope over a bowl of water in the microwave works…However, I wouldn’t recommend it. I know some kids whose decisions come by snail mail have given their parents permission to open the letter so they can call from school to find out. The agreement in our house was that anything that might be an acceptance/rejection letter would not be opened by anyone except our S. His EA acceptance for his top choice school came online, so it wasn’t really an issue.</p>
<p>ChiSquare–It seems like a great option and the price is right, but it’s hard to tell as she hasn’t visited it yet. This has been a source of some, hmmm, shall we say, friction between us? She is a busy kid, but somehow college visits became impossible! We were supposed to visit last month, but that fell through. I think I read on the St. Mary’s board that you’ll be visiting in April. We’ll probably be go rushing down on the morning of May 1st!</p>