<p>This is really a great thread, as it reminds us that we have so much to be thankful for,and and we wait with baited breath to hear the great stories from the class of 09.</p>
<p>"When the special delivery guy showed up with a fat package from Juilliard. I was shaking, and babbling in English to the poor delivery man who just wanted my signature".</p>
<p>Binx,
Isn't it the best feeling that you are so overwhelmed with excitement and happiness , that for this breif moment you really don't mind if they think you are a crazy person.</p>
<p>Thanks, Sybbie. I didn't really realize till after I wrote that, that both my sons learned of their acceptances via email from me!</p>
<p>And I'm very jealous of all these posters who get to see their kids this week for the holiday. But I see you, Sybbie, are in NYC -- maybe you'll see my kids! They're going to watch the parade, then have dinner in a restaurant.</p>
<p>Such a good thread!
I find myself reading CC just to hear where the kids I've gotten to 'know' decide to enroll</p>
<p>I do recall holding letter up to light, and waiting impatiently for S to come home from school. We took a long walk on beach. Had 20 people (closest friends and their parents) over for pizza. Since he was a junior, no worries about friends' feelings of not getting their choices.</p>
<p>I was home alone- it was late afternoon and I was home from work. I put a log in the fireplace ready to settle down with a good book, but first went to get the mail- as I went I thought to myself "How will I stand it next week ... waiting to hear." We had been told that notification would be mailed on Dec 15th- this was Dec 12th- but there was the fat envelope from NYU! I was shaking so hard..couldn't think..knew daughter wouldn't be home until very late as she was on her way to an audition after her dance class- ran out to car to find her but first ran around the house with the burning log- finally quenched it in kitchen sink. Daughter was mortified at my arrival as she'd was certain she wouldn't be accepted and hated to be embarrassed in front of dance class- but I knew what a fat envelope meant! It was an incredible kaleidoscope of emotions- so happy but scared about her going, etc.. Good luck to everyone about to begin their stories.</p>
<p>I was sitting in an all-day staff meeting at work and checked and noticed that there was a message waiting for me on my cell phone. So I surruptitiously listened to the message and then loudly whooped out loud when it turned out to be D saying she had been accepted at MIT - the first of her big reach schools to accept her. Everyone in the meeting was startled to say the least.</p>
<p>When Harvard came through with an acceptance a week or so later, we were all dazed but pleased. Harvard had just seemed so unattainable that it was rather unexpected. Plus it made me worry that D would take Harvard over Princeton, since that was MY dream school for her. A few days later Princeton wait-listed her and made that question moot. Stanford also accepted her about that same time, but for D that was a non-event, a yawn, because she already had Harvard in hand, and Harvard was higher on her list.</p>
<p>Well, for us, the thin envelopes were always early-writes. The big deal for ME was when the college president called to beg her to come, but d. was out, so the prez gave me the shpiel.</p>
<p>The bigger deal was when Williams put on the full-court press. Phone calls from the head of the department. Daily e-mails from happy grads of the department, and a couple of phonecalls. It was a well-coordinated effort, but failed.</p>
<p>H and I are going on a cruise from 12/5 to 12/12. It's possible that the ED letter will come during that time. We will have internet access on the ship so S has been instructed to e-mail immediately with the news. Even though we, the parents, may not be there when the letter comes, S's grandparents (early 80s) will be there and I wish that it will be their great great nachas to share exciting news with him.</p>
<p>My son called his high school during spring break to ask someone to check his mail box. Email comes back from his college advisor: "letter here from MIT--want me to open it?" Son calls: college advisor not available right now, but he's left message for him: "Fat envelope. Very fat envelope." We didn't dare make any assumptions, so we waited and waited--probably only three or four lifetimes, but it felt longer--for advisor to call back. Calls back: "Well, of course, they took you. Why were you worried?" </p>
<p>DS is now halfway through sophomore year and I still don't quite believe they took him. Much less kept him.</p>
<p>DD on the other hand asked me to sit with her while she checked Reed's notification web site. She clicks the link: fireworks explode on the screen, along with a soundtrack of a victory song. We sit through it, not daring to be sure, until "CONGRATULATIONS!" fills the screen.</p>
<p>Just had to share our fun story...My son was out of town at a Jazz concert but called me on my cell to see if the mail had arrived. I was leaving the docto's office, and told him I'd check as soon as I got home. About 15 minutes later, he got impatient and called my husband at work to ask him to log on to (Brown's )the website, but the password was at home. My husband had my son on the phone and called me again on the cell to get the password. By this time I was pulling into the garage...I ran into the house, got the password, my husband logged it in and read aloud, " Brown University is pleased to..." I screamed and started crying, my son was on the land line with my husband and started screaming too, so my husband had both of us in opposing ears howling! It was a great day. When we hung up, I called my sister, then laid on the rug in my living room and cried...sobbed bittersweet tears of happiness and sorrow, realizing my baby was leaving. He's now a frosh at Brown--could not be happier.</p>
<p>Our story is a bit different. My daughter wanted so badly to attend the University of Chicago, but we could not afford it without a merit scholarship and we knew the competition would be stiff. She was accepted to the school EA, but we had to wait and hope until March when scholarships were awarded. As luck would have it, she was attending a weekend at Emory when the U Chicago scholarship arrived. I cried for two reasons when I saw the amount of her scholarship: First, because I knew her dream had just come true, and second, because I knew those dreams would take her to a cold, cold place far from home. </p>
<p>Although she had asked me to call her in Atlanta with any news, I decided against it. I knew if I called, she would not give Emory fair consideration. When we picked her up at the airport, the packet was awaiting her on the back seat of the car. She let out a whoop and we sent the deposit to Chicago the next day.</p>
<p>Wow....these stories are second only to the "I started feeling the labor pains at about 4am and decided to wait before waking my husband".....except these get to the good part much faster...lol. Funny how life's greatest moments revolve around the coming and going of our children. </p>
<p>Lovemt, good thing you didin't quench the letter in the sink amidst the excitement!! :)</p>
<p>MIT's letters were delayed by a snowstorm, and I guess the middle of the country is not high on the "get this letter there in a hurry" list. So, all the kids on CC had heard, and after a couple of days two people at his school had heard (one rejected, one waitlisted), and still no letter. Finally MIT said you could call. Son wanted to do it the old-fashioned way. He said if they won't post it online then they want me to get it in the mail. (Don't ask me, I would have been on the phone immediately.) Day after day and no letter. Friday he said he'd call on Monday if it hadn't come. Well, I'm on my way home from a doctor's appointment when he calls on my cell. He wanted to know if the mail had already come (no), and whether he should wait till I got home to call. I told him to call NOW. </p>
<p>When he called back he told me to pull over. I did. Then he yelled "I did it!" Good thing I'd pulled over because I started crying and had to sit for a few minutes.</p>
<p>After that he told me I could open any envelopes that came for RD, but they were all pretty obvious. Especially the ones that said "Congratulations" or "You're now a whatever" on the envelope. I did hold one outside scholarship letter up to the light. It was bad news, so I fed him cookies & milk before he opened it. </p>
<p>Almost as exciting as the MIT admission was an admission to a summer program he really wanted. He actually screamed and danced around the room while his brother and I laughed and cheered. I hope he doesn't read this!</p>
<p>Dmd77, I know what you mean. He said until he got to campus and they had his orientation packet with his name on it, he kept thinking they might change their minds. And he's doing better in class than he thought he would. When we spoke yesterday he said "You know how MIT kept saying they don't make admissions mistake? Well, I sort of believe them now."</p>
<p>As a parent who is waiting for results for my S, this thread is making me cry. We are like SillyString and we need merit aid, so getting in EA next month is step 1 but we have to wait for step 2 a few months later. It's funny how time can go fast and slow at the same time!
Thanks for sharing...</p>
<p>As you read these stories, kdos, just be aware that some of these very same parents went through a time of trial when the EA results DID NOT come out so positively. So for all of you CC parents out there who do not get good results from the EA round, have heart! Life goes on and ofttimes comes out smelling like roses. </p>
<p>As for my D, I was aware (because of CC, natch) that the admit results from MIT were being mailed out and that the East Coast kids were starting to hear. My D had no clue when the letters were supposed to come out. The CC kids described the acceptance package and its envelope in detail.</p>
<p>So I checked the mail all week, looking for the envelope. It came, it was the fat happy envelope. I put the envelope back into the mailbox and made my D pick up the mail. Of course, she complained all the way to the mailbox! She was so excited with her happy news that she had to call her dad on his cell phone (see story above).</p>
<p>What beautiful stories!! Hoping to share one like this some day soon!</p>
<p>LOL, Sgiovinc-- if I ever "streaked" at my D's school she'd never forgive me!</p>
<p>My story from the other end:</p>
<p>I remember my Dad, a high powered atty who typically worked from pre-dawn till well after dinner actually <em>came home from work</em> (from SF all the way to our far suburb) at noon to get the mail. His coming home was a big deal in itself. When I came back from school he was sitting at the dining room table with all the mail, just waiting for me to open it.</p>
<p>What elation! Nobody could stop jumping up and down and we called everyone in the extended family and I think we all went out for dinner to celebrate.</p>
<p>But the most touching part was months later, the night before I left for college. I was finalizing my packing and it was late at night. I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and heard this weird sawing noise from my parents' room. I went in and discovered my Dad, sobbing over the photo album of my baby pictures. He had never revealed to me his distress at my confident plan to be 2000 miles away, in fact he had aided and encouraged me for all those months... I hadn't even realized he had any mixed emotions till that moment.</p>
<p>It is one of the sweetest memories I have of my Dad.</p>