<p>My son got his first acceptance letter this weekend (in a thin envelope). It stated two things: First, he was accepted to the university (good!) and second, his application for the honors program has been "accepted for review" (also a good thing). This means that he's made the first cut - that they will accept his application for honors, but it also means that the REAL waiting now begins: he will be notified in December whether he makes it to the next round (interviews in January). Final notification is in February.</p>
<p>The honors program is very important to him because his first choice for a major is ONLY available for undergrads through the honors program. But the competition is fierce. They only accept THREE honors students for this major.</p>
<p>Arghhhh! As a parent, i can't let him see my anxiety, but I'm nervous and he's calm as can be. He's still got to do his portfolio (he's producing a DVD of his work) and a few other things. I don't see how this is all going to be done and sent in by the deadline in 15 days!</p>
<p>Ah the joys (stress) of being a parent. For those who have been through it before, when does it let up? When the housing deposit is sent?</p>
<p>Congratulations!!!! What exciting news for both of you. </p>
<p>Do you have a dog? Taking the dog for a long walk helps me with this type of stress. I know it's hard not to transfer your anxiety to him, so you can come here and vent - we'll listen, sympathize, and respond. </p>
<p>The admissions stress ended for us when he finally decided which school to attend. Of course now it's a whole 'nother set of emotions as I miss him and worry about him and am excited for him. </p>
<p>The school is Ohio University in Athens Ohio. He, his Mom, and his Dad (me) all fell in love with it when we visited. It was the only school he visited that he could see himself attending (and we saw lots of them, including well-known ones).OU was really recruiting him and will gibe him a tuition scholarship. I know that while it's in USNWR's top group (top 100), it's not one of the more selective universities out there. But the program was right, the campus was great, and I never met an OU grad that didn't LOVE it! Big problem: it's a loooong way from Colorado.</p>
<p>Yo, Digi. Fingers crossed for you. But don't let the distance get to you. At some point it really doesn't matter and if things are going well, they're so darned busy that it wouldn't matter if they were two hours away. In fact, when we visited D for Parents Weekend, she said, "I love seeing you guys but I can't get all my work done."</p>
<p>Dig: in answer to your original question, you need to consider one of the well-known (Jewish mother) answers to the question of when life begins: when the kid graduates from medical school</p>
<p>Hah - I've heard about it. Sounds like something to see (and something the town of Athens would wish would go away).</p>
<p>I've also heard about OU's party school reputation. But CU in Boulder (our own state school) has the same reputation, and not everyone is a all-out party-er.</p>
<p>I'm an Ohio University grad (from the dark ages...). I LOVED it there, and would love to get my daughter to at least go and look. BUT she is not interested in the rural environment of Athens...Oh well. Good luck to your son. I'll keep my fingers crossed for him. OU has some really fine programs!</p>
<p>joev: Yes, but it was a Blue county in the midst of a vast sea of Red....</p>
<p>DadofSam: I liked that answer!!!</p>
<p>TheDad: Thanks... you're probably right.</p>
<p>Thumper: Wow, either I had forgotten that you were an OU person or I never knew that! See.... another one in the "Loved It!" column.</p>
<p>Over30: I've got several dogs and I walk every morning in the mountains (only a ten minute drive for me). One dog might be relaxing. Walking three is not. One of the areas I walk in (with my wife) just had some signs posted saying that a mountain lion has been spotted there several times over the last two weeks. Funny, but missing pet signs are also going up on the same trail. Coincidence? Hmmmm... I don't think so.....</p>
<p>Digi, Congratulations to your son!!! After "watching" your son's search over the past few years, it's great to hear. Such terrific news - now everything else is just gravy.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your son's acceptance, Digi. It sounds like OU is a great fit for him. I understand the anxiety about the honors program. Three is not very many spaces, and the wait will be difficult. Please don't get eaten by a mountain lion! We don't want you to be the first parent CC loses to the admissions process.</p>
<p>We were in a similar situation. My daughter found the ideal school in her junior year - and that was her one and only choice. So we did everything possible to get her in - she attended the summer program, every open house, etc. Made sure the acceptance committee knew who she was and that she was really, really interested. As parents, we were worried the whole time that just maybe she wouldn't be accepted, as her academics are not her strong point.</p>
<p>About this time last year, she went for a portfolio review and passed with flying colors. It was just a matter of getting the official notification in the mail, and hoping the low GPA wouldn't be a problem. A few weeks later, she got a call from the school congratulating her on getting in. She was thrilled! But I was afraid to announce it to the world until the official letter came. Two weeks went by, and no letter. And she couldn't remember the name of the person who called her, I thought that one of her friends may have been playing a cruel joke on her. I was a nervous wreck, and finally called the school. Turned out it was all real - they were just slow in getting the mailings out. </p>
<p>I guess the moral of the story is that no matter how much positive feedback you get, the only sure way to relieve the anxiety is to have the official letter in hand. In the meantime, all you can do is keep busy and have a back up plan.</p>
<p>BTW, my best friend attended OU and I had a great time partying there. Beautiful campus. Ohio has some of the best-kept secrets in colleges. Good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>Congrats, Digmedia! Hope he gets into the program he wants! Some are lucky and it the nail on the head with one app and one letter. I had one that dragged the frigging process out to the end of August and even then he had an option to transfer midyear. We put an end to that situation. I have a friend whose son wanted a special program at GW more than anything, and it really was perfect for the kid but all the pieces, the finances, acceptance to the program, ROTC etc had to work and it took all year. I don't think the mom had any nails left at the end of the process. Then when they went there to move him in, they found out that though he had "priority housing" due to acceptance during ED2, he was stuck in a room with 5 other boys. It was an unacceptable situation to the mom who then spent the next 3 weeks getting him into other housing. She hardly had that taken care of when the card came for parent's weekend. </p>
<p>My best friend from many years has a son who graduated from OU. It was a match I made for the kid, and it was a good one. The only complaint about the school they had is its accessibility. Yeah, he had some good times there, but he also got a great education, and is doing well now as well.</p>
<p>I agree, until that letter is in hand, I keep saying "IF you get into XXXX early decision..." Then, so S doesn't feel that I doubt it, I say "Of course, you'll get in, I'm just waiting for the letter before I buy the sweatshirt." Anything can happen, just ask the Yankees. In S's case, his ED school is not an Ivy or uber selective college. His entire application package is great and above the norm for the school. Does anyone else follow the ED school athletic teams?</p>
<p>The second acceptance letter (thick envelope this time) arrived today (thank goodness for rolling admission policies). This was from the state university - the ultimate backup safety - and I expected S to give it a ho-hum reception. But he was really quite excited by it. Much more so than I expected. </p>
<p>And the portfolio DVD is done! It looks almost TOO professional. I hope that the department people will realize that he did it. I remember a contest he entered once for a car design. He was 12 years old. He knew what he wanted, drew up the plans on the computer, built patterns to guide the wood carving, painted it and added the final touches. It was the crowd's favorite and everyone was sure that it would easily win. The judges did not give it a prize. The reason? They said it was too good, and my that my son obviously had not done the work himself. It was a lesson, but my son was OK with it because that actually told him that his design WAS better than the winner.</p>
<p>digmedia, the same thing happened with a science fair project my son did in elementary school. The judges didn't believe he could even understand the project. They were judged without the students being present, so no chance to talk to him about it. </p>
<p>And congratulations to your son! I'm glad he is excited.</p>
<p>I am a judge for the regional science fair every year and it's a fine line. At least we get to talk to the kids and figure out how deep their knowledge is. However we do make mistakes. But there are one of two brilliant projects a year (and some brilliant kids to go with them). Last year, there was a student who had done some spectral analyses on various concentrations of compounds and what attracted my attention was that I had never seen her particular (and clever) way of presenting the spectra. I got another judge who was a chemistry professor to come over and she had never seen spectra presented that way either, and was impressed. Bottom line, she got one of the prizes - not particularly for the experiments she did, but for the innovative way she presented the results.</p>