<p>Coureur - that is a terrific story!</p>
<p>I have “worlds colliding” on my facebook, as some people I know from CC know other people that I know in real life. It’s a lot of fun.</p>
<p>I have forged many friendships on this forum, including people with whom I disagreed mightily in the public forums. There have been too many ways I learned from this site to list, but I still think about the very first people I “met” on CC when I joined almost ten years ago. I came here to share how I was convinced that attending the Business Honors Program at our flagship school in Texas could not be beaten. Only to have great posters such as TheDad and Morgantruce piping in (read correcting) with advice to look at LACs --some kind of academic animals I had no idea existed. </p>
<p>Oh, of course, TheDad also had to mention that there was more culture in a jar of Yoplait than in all of the State of Texas! Suffice it to say that this prompted me to go search for way to make him eat his words. Well, the rest is history. I did drive to the West and I am still living in the land of the fruits and the nuts! </p>
<p>Over the years, I learned a lot from reading thousands of accounts that appeared to be irrelevant at that time, only to find out that they could help someone else at a later date. The collective power of this community is huge, and it is amazing how it has grown over the years. </p>
<p>So, this is to ALL of you. Hats off and … a huge thank you! </p>
<p>PS I should mention that many posters from the 2003-2004 showed amazing kindness and support when I recovered from my life-threatening incident the week before starting college. Again, too many to list individually, but you know whom you are!</p>
<p>I bet TheDad doesn’t like the new football stadium in Allen. ;)</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Oh, he probably would read it as UCLAllen and subliminally love it!</p>
<p>I am certain CC posters got my kid into med school; her school did not offer good advice, but with what we learned on CC she was very successful.</p>
<p>I should also give a shout-out to a former poster who showed ds2 and I around her ds’s college. The week we visited ended up being parents’ weekend there, so it was great to finally meet her and her ds. Because my ds was only a junior we couldn’t do the official overnight thing, but they took us to eat in his dining hall and answered lots of questions and even bought us gifts! Gosh, it was so sweet.</p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to go through this whole thread, but I wanted to add that I’ve gotten invaluable help from CC posters. One (who has posted on this very thread :)) edited my DD1’s college essay (she is amazing!), and DD1 ended up at her dream college. Another looked over my DS1’s essay as well and gave great feedback. Several other posters have given me great advice about hotels, restaurants, etc. in the college towns my kids have ended up in. Still others have given me wonderful insights about their own children’s school choices. THANK YOU to all of you!! I still have two more kids to go (DS2 who is currently a hs senior, and DD2 who is a hs sophomore), so I will be reaping the rewards of CC for years to come.</p>
<p>To elaborate on the story that intparent brought up on the first page:</p>
<p>A few years ago, I was going through a dark time in my life. I won’t get into the details, but long story short, I was broke and without regular transportation, food, or good interview attire. </p>
<p>My shoes were eyesores: Big, dull clunkers with incredibly thick, dusty soles. Despite all my attempts to clean them, they were still ratty-looking things that stuck out like sore thumbs, especially against the color palette of my suit. It all came together as one giant cluster of negative attention. Unfortunately, as I was broke as a result of trying to keep afloat during my period of unemployment, I couldn’t afford to upgrade anything.</p>
<p>Finding work was tough. It was the summer/fall of 2009 when people simply weren’t hiring. After a while, though, a firm in NYC offered to fly me out for an interview. Sadly, my laptop died of old age just a day or two before the plane departure. All I had left was a Nokia flip-phone. My student loans were due soon and I had basically sold off everything else I owned. If this job opportunity didn’t come through, I’d be completely out of options. I had never been more scared my entire life. Everything was riding on this interview, and my heart felt like it was going to explode. Everything was a nervous haze.</p>
<p>Eventually, I made it to NYC. That’s when a fellow CC member, oldfort, reached out and bought me a brand new pair of shoes for my interview. They had a shine to them that made me beam like a giddy idiot every time I admired how they played with the light and warped the surroundings. Every step was accompanied by a firm, yet subtle clack; they were orders of magnitude better than the jarring, heavy thuds of yore. I was able to walk into my interview feeling much more confident and eloquent since I wasn’t worried about looking unprofessional.</p>
<p>A few days later, after the interview, I got the final call back: I had gotten the job!</p>
<p>I’ve always gotten so much good help and advice from people on this forum. Whether it’s oldfort’s generous offer to get me a decent pair of shoes, or xiggi’s SAT tips that helped me net a 2390 and a few extra 800’s, or wis75/LongPrime/intparent’s guidance regarding health/insurance when I had no past experience with the healthcare system whatsoever, or kelsmom’s advice for how to properly handle my student loans, etc – there are just far too many to name… I owe much to the parents of these forums who’ve been there for me when others haven’t or couldn’t.</p>
<p>legendofmax–your post was really touching, brought tears to my eyes.</p>
<p>I remember your story, max. Good people abound on cc.</p>
<p>I didn’t even think to thank the numerous people who’ve offered advice on the boards, but there are lots of them!</p>
<p>What amazing stories- legend of max how nice of you to post! Oldfort you and others rock!</p>
<p>I “met” a former CC’er when she noticed that S2 was applying to the same university as her D and pm’ed me to ask questons. We pm’ed back and forth, then started emailing and exchanged phone numbers. One month after h.s. grad. S2 suffered the tragic loss of his two best friends in a car accident. S2 saw it all. It was a dark scary time for our family. I contacted my CC friend and poured my heart out.</p>
<p>My CC friend emailed and called often over the next few months. She prayed for us, consoled/encouraged me,offered ideas how to help S2 through it all and listened a lot. I can honestly say that she offered more support and concern for S2 and me than any of our family members or friends from our neighborhood and church. Four years later we’re still in touch. When we talk I always tell her she’s my best friend that I’ve never met.</p>
<p>CC saved my life–literally! I was having what I thought were really bad charlie horses in my calf and after posting about it, several wonderful posters urged me to get checked out. Turned out I had deep vein thrombosis and multiple pulmonary embolisms, and am lucky to be alive. Thank you, CC community!</p>
<p>several CC parents advise me all the time. I have gotten advice on how my D can from college to college across state lines from Mass to NYC, travel within NYC and then get to airport.</p>
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<p>A CC poster had my daughter and I over for Thanksgiving as well, twice! We don’t have any family in the state and it was great to spend a traditional family holiday with theirs and a dozen or so of their friends.</p>
<p>Back 5 years ago, I didn’t know a thing about college admissions or FA as I had never gone to college, not to mention I was broke. Sybbie and Northstarmom gave me some excellent advice and my D ended up thriving at a top LAC. Fast forward 4 years and Curm’s daughter hosted my D for her medschool interview at her school. It is now 1 year later and my D is today (literally) hosting the D of a CC’er for her medschool interview at her school.</p>
<p>CC is a wonderful community. :)</p>
<p>These are wonderful stories! I love reading this thread. I haven’t been posting as much as I used to, but I have met some wonderful people through CC. One of them referred me to a great voice teacher, and we’ve become friends, though we’ve never met. Another was there for me in a big way when I was going through a tough time emotionally. Others have given me solid advice regarding aging/ill parents . . . and oh, yes, a few have given me great advice on colleges too, LOL.</p>
<p>We recently moved, and I actually don’t really know many people IRL in our new home, so I may just be hanging out here a lot more often for awhile.</p>
<p>D was considering a college in a state we hadn’t visited. We hadn’t visited that part of the country, either, so I had my reservations. I noticed a cc’ers name included what I thought was the name of that state so I PM’d her to see if she had heard of the small school. As it turned out, she had attended that same school and studied the same major. She offered her help should D ever need it. Her small gesture and enthusiasm for the school was evident. It made it easy to share D’s excitement. It is never easy to see them go so far away but somehow I know she’ll be fine. I am so thankful!</p>
<p>Mstee…maybe there is a real life cc’er near your new home!</p>
<p>thumper1 – I imagine there must be – but how to find out? Guess I need to edit my location. That might help. Not in the Bay Area anymore. We’re in Minnesota now.</p>
<p>everyone that’s given advice and read my essays for me.</p>