Hi Parents, we are in the dead-zone after applications have been submitted but before DS finds out his admissions results. I became very informed about the admissions process, but now I am not sure what happen’s next. Can you all provide some thoughts about this post-notification period and what needs to get done when.
I have questions like:
If DS is accepted multiple places how should he go about selecting? Revisiting? Best classes? Aid?
After DS decides what else needs to be considered? Registering for classes? Credit card/bank accounts? Dorms? Doctors? Barbers?
I particularly would love to hear about things that came up that you didn’t anticipate.
I had two kids going to college at the same time, two schools. One school was a breeze, only hiccup was they needed her vaccination records and we were away from home. Turns out they were attached to her hs transcripts and no big deal after all.
The other school was put on my speed dial. I swear I spoke to someone almost every day. Had her name wrong so didn’t match up with transcripts, so they claimed they didn’t get the transcripts. Wrong meal plan. Wrong scholarship. Didn’t have Bright Futures on her account (maybe the name issue?). Almost every time they returned a call, it was at 5 pm so had to wait to the next day to call them back. Roommate mix up, NCAA issues. What I learned was that every person at the school has the ability to do one thing and one thing only, and I was never talking to the person who could actually make a change, which I usually learned after waiting 2 days for a call back.
Both my daughters got into several schools. This was not unexpected, but it did result in them having to choose, and that was emotionally challenging. Each had a really hard time picking between two schools. Physically challenging were the school visits (admitted students’ days) in March and April, especially April.
Definitely unexpected were that my husband was fired in May of D1’s senior year of high school and D1 had a few issues at school that spring and two years later, when D2 was a senior. All these things had big effects on the family. My point is that life keeps on happening amid the getting ready for college months.
I think that the decision about where to go when there are multiple admissions will vary with each family. Some put prestige over everything else, others want “rank”, others go with the best financial offer, etc. At this point, my D has been admitted to 6 schools, and has a “likely to be admitted” email from two more. Her plan is to graduate as close to debt-free as possible, so she says she’ll go with the best offer (we have some scholarships in hand and are waiting on 3 honors college apps). But of course, she does have some favorites, so we’ll have to see what happens. She’s always known what our budget is and what we can and can’t afford.
I can tell you that what twoinanddone experienced has been true for us as well. Some colleges are very communicative and let you know right away if a piece of the application package is missing. Others will not let you know-you will need to call them, and yes, it’s not unusual to take days to reach the person who can solve the problem. Don’t assume that since all apps have been submitted that all your DC’s schools have all the pieces of the puzzle.
There’s a thread at the top of this forum about what kids need before they leave for college in the fall. Some of the suggestions are about physical items, others are about things they need to know.With my older D, she’d lived on her own before starting college, so she knew a lot of the daily living things some younger kids wouldn’t know. It will depend on the kid. My D does her own hair, for example, but we use a local credit union so we’ll need to figure out the best option for banking.
We did some visits after all apps were in. One was to a school she hadn’t been accepted to yet but we hadn’t visited before she applied. She did a couple of revisits after acceptance too. For her it really came down to 3 schools that she loved and that were financially good, and she did have a really hard time deciding. I think she committed to one around April 25th.
In most cases financial aid came in with or just after acceptance but in one case I had to make numerous phone calls and send numerous emails to find out that they couldn’t do it because one form was missing. it was harder than it should have been to get that information,and by the time we got it the optimal time to visit had passed. So that school wasn’t seriously considered in the end, which is a shame because it might have been a good fit.
Mostly my kids took a deep breath and enjoyed their senior year in this window of time. Did their sports, music, enjoyed not having app deadlines hanging over their heads.
There is something to be said about getting into just a few schools. D unexpectedly was admitted to all 7 of her schools. One we immediately knocked out of contention because of cost (she knew upfront it may be unaffordable, so that was an easy decision). Then she immediately discarded Mom’s choices (rats). It came down to three, maybe four schools. She visited two schools previously unseen. I wish we had visited a third school but she just didn’t have the time. Weather (snow!) wreaked havoc on travel plans twice. Despite getting all acceptances by February, she committed on the last possible day in April.
One reason why she chose her current school was they were 1) extremely helpful and friendly; and 2) they communicated with her, not me. She did the vast majority of paperwork, gaining a lot of confidence in the process. I know people say the admission rep is just there during the admissions process, but her rep was always available for any help whatsoever. In August, the rep emailed her saying she was moving onto a new job but she would keep in touch and gave D the new contact person’s information.
The school gave a detailed list of what to bring, and more importantly, what not to bring. Since Target and Walmart are throughout the country and Amazon delivers everywhere, we went with the minimalist approach.
Like @OHMomof2 - my child just enjoyed her senior year with her friends. She really liked being finished with applications and stopped stressing after getting two acceptances.
I am a big fan of admitted student days. After my daughter got her acceptances we did these at 3 of the schools she was interested in. Made a big difference in how she viewed the schools and basically changed her mind.