Applications undone -Regrets?

<p>My son sort of elected not to complete two last applications. He just decided to sleep and miss doing a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Georgia Tech application. </p>

<p>My wife says if he was interested he would have done them, I know she is right but I want to think he will not regret not doign an application.</p>

<p>I think he is being practical he just can't see himself there. He has been accepted to Univ OfTexas-Austin and Texas A&M and has applied to Rice and Stanford-Regular Decision. </p>

<p>Comments, do you all think he will regret not doing the last applications?</p>

<p>I would gather you are in Texas, perhaps he got cold feet about going further away?</p>

<p>possibly. He has very good metrics top 10%/ 35act/2330sat/ bu he knows Rice and Stanford are difficult ....brother is at West Point so he has seen that (commented since yo show being in NYC) ... and I get the 'cold feet'</p>

<p>and yes in Texas</p>

<p>It doesn't matter whether he will regret it. It's done now. I think kids don't do the regret thing as much as we do because they don't know as much as we do. It's probably just as well. :-)</p>

<p>Agree with mathmom. We found with S2 that when passive resistance kicked in he just was not comfortable with what he was facing. Of all ours he was the least adventurous and nothing but pain followed if we tried to move him out of that comfort zone before he was ready. . If he has been accepted at schools already that he is satisfied with and freinds and comfort area are TX, then let it be. He will not regret it, he will be happier within those choices. As parents it is sometimes hard for us to separate what we see as the possibilities from what they see as their goals.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I think he is being practical he just can't see himself there.

[/quote]

If that's true, then I don't think he'll regret not applying. There's no point in applying to schools you don't want to go to.</p>

<p>We'll be facing the same thing. S1 already has said he doesn't want to go "too far" from home. What I don't know is what "too far" means. Will he even consider a bordering state? Is he just saying not the coasts? No idea. My plan is to start slow with Tulane, Oklahoma, etc. and go from there. His first choice is Rice, so if he gets in there it's a done deal (provided the money is there).</p>

<p>Imo it will be OK if he regrets his choice.</p>

<p>He already has good opportunities, so the downside of not applying to those two schools seems quite manageable.</p>

<p>If he has regrets, he'll have the opportunity to learn from those regrets.</p>

<p>And, if course, if he really has regrets, he can transfer.</p>

<p>With two fine college acceptances, I would not be concerned in the least with his decision.</p>

<p>I was mostly venting ... The real deal was he just wanted to go to sleep and I wanted to make sure that he wasn't blowing off something he wanted -- just to take a nap ... I think you all are correct he didnt really want to do them.. he has two good choices in the bad -- he has stretched out and applied to a couple of high strectch schools and we will see what happens.
I think he has been more mature than I have about the process... I know in 6 months it won't matter :)</p>

<p>Since we are venting, I am going participate here too. </p>

<p>DD promised that she will complete some scholarship applications by the winter break. This is for one of the school she really wants to get in. Comes two days before the package must be received, she did not get it done. </p>

<p>I told her that she is not going if she did not get a scholarship. So she harried up and did not get any teacher to review her essay. We FedEx the package the next day. </p>

<p>At the end of day, it is their choice. If they rather watch Monk for two days in a row rather than doing their applications, there is nothing I could do. I am officially tired of reminding her what deadlines are coming.</p>

<p>Just personally, I don't think RPI is special enough to be worth the inconvenience of traveling from Texas. Georgia Tech, maybe. But if I had two good schools in the bag, like your son, I would probably have taken a nap, too.</p>

<p>DS1 decided not to apply to three schools after he got his EA decisions (one of them his top choice). At one point we thought (privately) he should "play out the string" and see what happened with the other apps, but DS is happy with the way things are. No worries. He is still waiting on a couple of schools (merit $$, etc.) but for now the major stress is over. </p>

<p>Sounds like your S is owning his decision. He has two great choices already, and possibly more forthcoming.</p>

<p>Villanova was my son's blow off. When we toured PA schools last April, I threw Villanova in just to show him how a Catholic school might compare to the others we were visiting. To my surprise, he fell in love with the school. Then, in December he just couldn't muster the effort to do their supplemental essay. The prompt didn't speak to him. I still worry that he blew it off out of laziness because, after all, he was the one who added it to the list. I also happen to think it would have been a good fit for him because of all the reasons he gave me as to why he wanted to go there and because his grades, test scores, and EC's fit their profile exactly. But, it is not to be. He is left with only one private school match and one private school safety. He may yet end up at a UC which wouldn't be the end of the world, although I happen to think they are overcrowded and inflexible.</p>

<p>Echoing what others have said: my DS chose to abandon applications to schools A and B late in the process. He had an EA admittance to one of his top school’s, a rolling admissions admittance to a financial safety, and a couple more applications pending. We had invested time and effort in visiting and evaluating A and B and each had a couple of unique and positive features missing from the other schools on his list. But, A and B were not financial safeties and there was no reason to think they would float up to the top of his list by April. I think my DS made the right choice. They belonged on his list at the beginning, but by late December, were no longer needed. I know he had no regrets about A and B. But, yes, I still remember that momentary feeling of doors closing that I had when I knew those applications were dead. The OP may be feeling the same, which I think is normal as we watch our kids make decisions that profoundly impact their futures. Good luck to the OP and his DS.</p>

<p>Thanks all. I dont post often and I think this thread is my first to start. Greta captured so much of what I was thinking. Basically at 900pm on a Tuesday evening, my S ended his college quest unceromoniousy (sp). I have gotten to saying 'life doesnt' have a sound track' .. The biggest moments in life often dont have a musical score to alert us. Not saying this was a big moment, but it was an imprtant one.</p>

<p>Marian also touched on an issue I had RPI seemed to be a minor flirtation -as noted possibly should be on the list at the beginning but not the end. Ga Tech, could go either way. S actually said that he more or less couldnt see himself actually being at either of these schools, just interested in applying. </p>

<p>He definitely owns this process--sometimes to a fault. He wont let me help much, but that is as it should be I think</p>

<p>That it for tonight</p>

<p>I am glad to see my s is in good company here. He too, failed to finish one application (CMC)-- decided that he was tired of writing essays and didnt want to have to write 3 more. Everything else was done and submitted-- EVERYTHING. While I am thrilled that he already has one acceptance in his pocket, and that is probably why he decided not to finish the CMC application (and yes, CMC is across country for us, but he really liked it when we were there) I kinda wish he'd finished all his apps before he heard from his first school. Oh well, I guess it is a nice problem to have.</p>

<p>We also faced the "push the scholarship applications right up to the deadline" issue here too. They finally got done, but you could cut the tension with a knife around here for a few days. Sigh...</p>

<p>Greta,
I hear ya! DS had a couple of schools on his list that were there for totally legit reasons (he'd done his homework on them, talked to profs, sat in on classes and had said to us he'd be happy at them), but once EA decisions came in, it was clear that the schools he ultimately dropped were not going to rise in preference above where he had already been accepted. He dropped a safety, a target, and a super-reach.</p>

<p>jym,
We are going through the scholarship essay push now. The three big merit ones (through the specific schools) were part of the app itself/or no add'l essays, etc. needed. He's working on the external scholarship stuff now, and that's mostly due in March. He has the next five days off from school, though, so it would be really nice if he could get the essays out of the way, line up more rec letters, and then have everything in place once the mid-year transcripts are issued...his second semester is going to be more challenging academically. It would be nice... ;)</p>

<p>In retrospect, my son probably applied to one school where he shouldn't have bothered. The time spent completing the app may have nudged a couple of mid-year grades into the B category - which I suspect resulted in waitlisting at one of his top choices and I know resulted in more stress. The last app was also a waitlist ... so it works both ways.</p>

<p>(To complete the story, he was accepted as his top choice school, and declined both waitlists, so it worked out ok in the end).</p>

<p>ohio_mom, I too worried about the amount of time spent on applications, and the effects on senior grades. However, in applying to 13 schools, my son was forced to articulate his interests and goals clearly and concisely enough for both applications and interviews. Also, in the process, each school became that much more clear to him. The silver lining, I suppose. </p>

<p>Would I recommend 13 schools? Absolutely not -- 6 seems reasonable. Regrets, none. He did what he had to do.</p>