<p>Great quote, NJSue.</p>
<p>What school are you trying to get off the waitlist for, athena?</p>
<p>Maybe it would be good to start a new thread, but…we always get sidetracked on every single thread, so what are you trying to do?</p>
<p>D1 admitted to dream school (I know, I know… but it happens) with decent merit and FA, just not enough. Will attend choice #2/3 due to finances. She is a good sport about it, but there is something sort of sad about that “settling” feeling. I hope it goes away soon enough.</p>
<p>It is stressful in our household but for a slighty different reason. DD accepted at BU - which she would LOVE LOVE LOVE to attend and it is a great fit - but we can’t afford it (she knew that when she applied - we just threw the dart to see if she would get enough aid to make it happen… didn’t happen). DD did not get in to any other schools of her choice - is waitlisted at two. So we are down to 2 schools (safety) that her heart is not in to at all. Visited one on Friday, she cried she disliked it so much. We are visiting the other next week - I am sooooo hoping she falls in love… or at least like…</p>
<p>Son is 5/5 for acceptances and has been internally processing for weeks. Says he is going to share his decision with us tonight. This has been torture for me, but I have to respect the time and consideration he has given it. I just wish I understood what he is considering as he makes his decision. But with 5 great choices thAt re all good fits, he can’t really go wrong. At least I keep telling myself that!</p>
<p>TKSmom - you’re lucky - tonight the waiting will end :)</p>
<p>hanaliy - we are in a similar position, though in our case just substitute Bard for BU… D1 knew going into this that chances were good we would not be able to afford it, but it’s still disappointing. The FA package they offered would have been more than enough to make most schools manageable, but at well over $60,000 per year we just can’t reasonably swing the difference, and the prospect of her graduating swamped with loans is out of the question. It actually would have been easier to take if they had offered less than they did, because then the decision would have been black and white. </p>
<p>I think what makes it worse is that her older brothers both attended their first choices - very good schools that also ended up being more affordable. Wish it could have worked out that way this time around. </p>
<p>Here’s hoping your daughter falls in love with her remaining school – plus, there’s always the chance she could get off a waitlist!</p>
<p>Thanks lspf72. How does your DD feel about her 2nd choice school?</p>
<p>Her second choice, SUNY New Paltz, is quite different than gem-like little Bard, but I think she realizes it still has a lot - and in some ways maybe more - to offer, and we can afford it without debt. </p>
<p>One of the hardest things to pass up at Bard is their freshman year Language and Thinking program, which sounds like a wonderful way to immerse yourself in college academics. When her brother visited Bard a few years back he had a definite “turn the car around” moment, and she had a similar reaction to his very urban school (GW). Different tastes! </p>
<p>Her other choices were Geneseo (too far) and UMass (scholarship GPA requirement might discourage her from sciences), so New Paltz it is.</p>
<p>I think (hope!) that once they set foot on campus freshman year, that all these doubts will be things of the past-- Good luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>I can’t bring myself to recycle the acceptance letters/packets from the schools S turned down. It was easy to see him fitting in perfectly at most of them, and each school had something special that the others didn’t have. Wish I could pluck this aspect from this school, that aspect from that school, etc. and combine them into one truly PERFECT school. Mostly H and I have tried to let S drive the decision, not disclosing which schools each of us liked most. My only qualm about his choice is that for years and years, up to last fall, he insisted he wanted to go to a HUGE school with D-1 sports, and despite being accepted into several that fit that description exactly, he chose a school with 5K undergrads and D-3 sports. Academically, his choice is a perfect match; the program he’ll be in is exactly right for his field of study. And, instead of only being a spectator, he’ll have a good shot at continuing to participate in his sport. But I’m still going to keep the other acceptance packages in a file “just in case.”</p>
<p>@sjrcalderone - I too had trouble getting rid of the other acceptance packages, but I felt I had to so I could move on. D is perfectly happy right now with her choice so I have to support her and I do. But boy oh boy, was it ever hard throwing them out. It felt like we were throwing out years of hard work. One of the schools she turned down sent her a letter saying how sorry they were she would not be attending and that if she ever needed their help with anything to contact them. I thought that was very nice and unusual, but good to know she always has an option there if need be.</p>
<p>@westie22 </p>
<p>Absolutely. We just got back from “preview week,” and our D made her decision Sunday night. She was 8/9 with one WL on her schools and had narrowed her choices to Columbia and Dartmouth. Talk about your polar opposites . . . we had day-visited each school last year but “preview week,” allowed us a deeper look. Both institutions impressed with Columbia getting the “first impression,” and Dartmouth having the “last say.” Although everyone was extra warm and the facilities top notch at Dartmouth our D chose Columbia. She’s willing to brave the Core and doesn’t care for the big “family atmosphere,” at Dartmouth( she just wants a small, sacred group of friends). In the end it came down to location. While Dartmouth has done a great job providing their campus with everything their students need, our D felt that Columbia allowed her more opportunity to grow and explore( i.e. venture out into NYC seeking culture). </p>
<p>The choice has been made, the deposit paid and housing application signed. We’re happy for her but there’s alway going to be a “what-if?” game playing in my mind until she settles in and appears to be happy. Heck, I liked all the schools she was accepted to and thought her 3rd choice, Carnegie Mellon was a good fit too.</p>
<p>We’re happy for her atm though and I feel a bit at ease as I was raised in Manhattan and we have taken our D to the city at least once a year since she was born. She’s just familiar enough with the city to not be intimidated but unfamiliar enough to be excited by the possibilities.</p>
<p>Our S, a strong math/science type, got into Caltech early action and Amherst, Cornell, Reed and William & Mary regular decision. Caltech was his early favorite and we badly wanted him to go there. But he started having second thoughts, fearing it might be a bit too nerdy for him, given his fairly newly acquired extracurricular interests in A Capella singing, acting and following sports. He started learning toward Amherst, which is a great school that we also loved when we visited, and fills all his extracurricular bills, but is not particularly strong in science and math. He took it upon himself to delve more deeply into what each school had to offer, discovered that he would probably exhaust Amherst’s math offerings by the end of his sophomore year, and after going to pre-frosh weekend at Caltech, decided there were enough like-minded people there that, given its stellar offerings in math and science, it really was the best place for him.</p>
<p>So jealous of everybody whose kids have made final plans that they’re really excited about! We’re still waiting for the final word from S - he’s so confused, and so are we. There’s no clear winner for him.</p>
<p>^^I’m with you there, megan. And I’m getting annoyed. He doesn’t want to discuss it, I don’t think he’s researching it. I’m not sure if he’s waiting for a bolt of lightning to come down and tattoo the name of the right school on his jacket.</p>
<p>busdriver, have you given him a date to announce his decision? I would tell him it has to be a couple days before May 1 in case something happens when you go to make a deposit electronically. That happened to a friend last year, luckily they were able to get through at about 11:30 p.m. on April 30.</p>
<p>You know, westie, I think I’ll do that. I am not a last minute sort of person at all, can’t stand it. Maybe Saturday at the latest. Seeing as May 1st is on Tuesday. I thought they’d needed the deposit on May 1st, is it by May 1st?</p>
<p>It could be on May 1st, I’m not sure. I just know that my friend sent it at the last possible minute. Apparently there were an onslaught of people trying to make a deposit on the last day and their system crashed (this was a large university). Anyway, anything can happen (power outage, computer problems, etc.) so it is better to be safe than sorry.</p>
<p>seems like a smart idea. We’ll make sure it gets done, one way or another, this weekend. I guess I can always threaten, hey if you don’t tell me soon enough, I’m picking and making the decision for you.</p>
<p>thanks for the warning, westie. we had visions of S pressing the button at 11:59 on 4/30!</p>
<p>One thing I hate though - Haverford doesn’t require a deposit (if he decides to go that way), but they won’t allow you to remain on any waitlists, and S is on Tuft’s. I’d rather pay a deposit - just in case Tufts comes through and he falls in love.</p>
<p>lspf, amusingly my youngest looked at and hated both Bard (it’s in the middle of nowhere!) and GW (it’s just like NYU! no campus!). Luckily he found other choices that felt just right. I feel for those waiting, both my kids waited until April 30th to make their choices.</p>