<p>My D is flying to Boston on a red-eye from So Cal on Tues arriving in Boston at 7am spending Wed at Northeastern and flying back Wed evening... we'll have a decision then...between UCSD and Northeastern but then if Northwestern offers her a place off the waitlist it will all change again.
My cell phone will be on all day Wed!!!!!</p>
<p>Do the acceptances have to be received by the colleges by May 1 or do they simply need to be post-marked by then?</p>
<p>Depends on the University. Since May 1 is a Sunday some indicate postmarked by 5/1 and Northeastern is requesting an e-mail response and deposit paid on line by midnight on the 1st or postmarked by the 1st.</p>
<p>Sound like a Yalie to me - remember, Yale started with a group of profs and students who broke away from Harvard. Sounds to me that you are like those original Harvardites that wanted something different. You will fit right in!</p>
<p>Well! After last weeks looks, we're down to blue! Blue & gold or Blue & white is the question! UCSD - full merit vs. Yale full debt!
Seems like a no-brainer to some, but you don't know my son!</p>
<p>I thought we were the only ones! We were at a school function and everyone kept asking where he was going. My S was leaning in one direction but has yet to sign the card and send the deposit. He has it narrowed down to 2 but seems not to be able to commit. I'm not sure what he is waiting for. His reasons for leaning towards the one and not the other are very reasonable. But he couldn't go wrong with either and we as parents love both choices (although I do like one a little better). He has a full merit award to one which may be his the problem but he has a 3/4 merit award to the other so money really shouldn't make a difference.
I think it's good that he is really thinking it through (however annoying). I think this should be a decision that is carefully thought out,not blurted on a whim or because he knows we are waiting for an answer. It should be discussed and as parents we should listen to their thoughts and feelings. Then they can make a decision that they can live with for 4 years and feel good about it. I know the decision he makes will be the right one for him and he will be proud of how he got there.
I just hope it's today!</p>
<p>Down to Penn or Berkeley.
Any suggestions?</p>
<p>klc - this doesn't help I know, but LOL re "full debt" - a new financial aid category. When they send you the full debt letter, does it include a "Congratulations?"</p>
<p>Thanks for your good wishes for my son w/the broken ankle...he's doing better now...and he's two days away from a fianl decision (and I plan to start a thread w/lots of exclamation points when it happens!)...he "scotched" the idea of "drive by" campus visit (all he'd be able to manage in his current condition)...anyway...drum roll and "teaser"...he has in fact filled out an acceptance card; he just wants a couple of days to see if he feels any "buyers remorse" before we send it in...so in two days I'll get to fill a few lines w/exclamation points and thank-you's...thanks loads for caring about him...it really helps during this painful convalescence!</p>
<p>A new take on "gut reaction"</p>
<p>A friend told me this story the other night. This happened last year as her D was down to the wire (literally April 30) after agonizing over two schools she couldn't find a way to separate.</p>
<p>Since D clearly couldn't pick one and vacillated daily between the two, Mom decided drastic measures were needed. She had her D put the names of both schools on a card and then put the cards in a hat. The card drawn would be the "winner." Mom drew a card and announced the "winner" then immediately watched for a reaction and asked D how she felt about the "winner". D was pleased, excited with the choice and relieved that it was finally over. Mom then asked what if it had been the other school and her D said "I'm not sure if I would feel the same way I do now." Mom found it quite interesting that D couldn't arrive at that same place without being backed into a corner so to speak.</p>
<p>Mom told me that obviously this was a rather simplistic way to resolve things but it achieved the desired result. She said that what her D really needed was a "gut check" about the two schools and that she thought that this might be the only way to get her off center.</p>
<p>I'm happy to report that my friend says her D loves her school, has never regretted the decision and, in looking back, can't understand why she was so undecided in the first place because the "other school just wouldn't have been right for me!"</p>
<p>Ah yes, the wisdom of hindsight!</p>
<p>jmmom - LOL! Yes! Congratulations were extended! echoing like ... You, too, can join the ranks of the prudent poor. </p>
<p>what makes the decision so difficult is that when reading the program at Yale and talking to profs, we could have sworn S wrote the script. yet there are qualms about being a continent away from all you've known and loved...</p>
<p>you can see that his parents are of no help whatever in making this decision... </p>
<p>overanxious - have i told you i LOVE your name? broken ankle & all, at least he's on the starting blocks.</p>
<p>waiting - it feels like we're in the same boat! my S was taking the redeye just last week ; trust me! you'll be the one w/ the red eyes! </p>
<p>Best of Luck! to all of you on cc, students & parents alike! And thanks so much for the great advice over the past year!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mom found it quite interesting that D couldn't arrive at that same place without being backed into a corner so to speak.
[/quote]
I think it is simply that we are so often afraid to trust our own decisions - at least when young (if we're lucky the ability to trust our own instincts and decisions comes with the wisdom of age). She probably knew what she wanted, but yet was afraid to "know" that, and could not sort out the difference between second-guessing-a-decision-she-had-really-made and not having made a decision.</p>
<p>No decision yet here, but I am glad I read this thread. I had been living in a fools paradise that all but Pomona had to be postmarked May1; seems Wash U wants to know something by May 1 and says to overnight it if one thinks the mail will be late. </p>
<p>Brown is nice, no deposit and postmark May 1. Swat says "Please return the card and deposit to us by May 1;" does that mean have it in their hands? Sounds like it to me. Rhodes clearly says Postmark by May 1.</p>
<p>"Anyone else down to the last week?"</p>
<p>Uhuh.</p>
<p>for all you folks facing the postmark & in the mail versus delivered and in the school's hands dilemma: call the school's admissions folks...we did have the tiny little detail of surgery on a broken ankle...but all four schools very quickly granted us an extension...and all gave us phone numbers & names of the person to call when the decision is made...</p>
<p>I think if you mail 4/30 and then call them to tell them it's on its way, you'll be fine w/most schools (altho there's one, now off my son's decison radar, that warned us in his acceptance letter no less that May 1 means received by May 1 and if it's late, he might lose his spot!)</p>
<p>BTW: You're all welcome to the broken ankle if you want it. It does have its disadvantages of course...but it's great for buying time from colleges! (Grin and sorry if I'm being to facetious!)</p>
<p>S did it at last! Made decision! Deposit will be sent today!</p>
<p>I just re-read the Northeastern paperwork and it says postmarked by May 2nd--or online, or via automated telephone system. They are making the process easy.....now if my daughter enjoys her turn around trip to Boston we are set!</p>
<p>Yes, we have no final decisions here either.</p>
<p>I started this post on Sunday night after arriving home from our Tulane and New Orleans visit. If my daughter is torn, so am I. I'd like to thank everyone who posted ideas and sent private messages to me. </p>
<p>Although I had only been kidding when I mentioned deciding via a coin toss, I'm amazed how many people recommended it. So, last night I asked her for a coin and explained that we would just decide this way. Although skeptical, she gave me a prized gold coin. Then she closed her eyes. As the coin was in the air, she screamed "Mom, don't look". Naturally I looked. She screamed again, "don't tell me!" I didn't tell her that the coin came up heads, for the U of Illinois. </p>
<p>I thave a sneaky feeling that our drop dead date of Thursday will change once we actually get to Thursday. We'll be at the post office with 2 packages to mail on Saturday.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone else in the same position!</p>
<p>I think my son has decided! I won't trust it for sure until the cards are mailed, of course. :-)</p>
<p>My son's method to decide was a bit different. He had been trying to decide between two schools, debating the merits of each. I gave him the deadline of Tuesday night to decide, to make sure we had time to get the cards mailed.</p>
<p>Sunday night my son said, "Mom, I've decided I'm not going to think about college anymore." My first reaction was disbelief. He was going to forget about it when he only had two days to decide? However, I held my tongue and listened. He explained that he had been thinking about the two schools so much he just was tired of it. He thought if he just let it go for a bit it might become clearer. (As Christians, part of this also included turning it over to God.) So we dropped all talk of colleges.</p>
<p>Last night he told me he is almost totally sure now. As he put it, "The more I don't think about it, the more I feel that this college is the best place for me." After the visits, he had been leaning more toward one than the other, due to the people he met there. However, the longer he was away, the more he was moving back to the other college, realizing that the particular group of students he happened to meet while there was not necessarily representative of all the students.</p>
<p>I think he made a good choice, too.</p>