Just went back to your first post and looked at the schools he’s applied to. Love St. Mike’s! Several kids from our HS attend and all of them are very happy there. If they had the education program my S was looking for, it would have been on his list to investigate for sure. Fingers crossed for your family that his first choice comes through! And how convenient it would be to have both kids in the same area 
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College of Charleston was an interesting admit for S21 as he was admitted to a bridge program which would have had him in the UK for first semester and then on campus after that. My belief is that was GPA related (he was on the lower end of their applicants) but there was nothing in the program language that said that. And if we weren’t in COVID times and if he hadn’t already committed to Roanoke, this would have been something he looked more closely at. Something to poke around a bit online about if you’re curious.
I also second Econpop’s note about deferrals being just that for our kids and that the story is often positive in the end (looking at you, IU). For my son, it was Xavier. Deferred two weeks after applying EA and then accepted with great merit in Jan or early Feb. Sometimes our kids just need to add another chapter to their story.
So excited to hear what happens for your DS!
That makes me so happy to hear re: St. Mike’s! It was honestly a chore to get him to look at it, but we wove it into parent’s weekend at UVM and scheduled an interview as well. He ended up falling in love after touring/interviewing, staying in the dorms and attending some sporting events.
I have several dear friends who went there back in the late 80s/early 90s when it was mostly known to be a big party school. I think it still is to some degree, but it seems fairly well-contained. Our family friend who goes there now is a sophomore—extremely shy kid who has totally blossomed and come out of his shell, joined a bazillion clubs, and couldn’t be happier with his choice. Ds is particularly excited about the EMT/Fire Squad they run for the surrounding towns, as he has been a summer lifeguard for years and loves the training and camaraderie. He applied for business, but I won’t be surprised if that changes as he gets to explore his interests.
Interesting re: Charleston as well. We never visited for ds20 because our April 2020 trip was cancelled due to Covid. He was accepted to the honors program and excited to go see it, but just could not pull the trigger without setting foot on campus. So we’ve never been, but I’m willing to make the trip if this guy gets in, and fall in the UK actually sounds kind of amazing and life-changing!
Is your kiddo continuing with education, or has his 1st semester led him down any new paths? I’m in my 23rd year of teaching right now, and I so admire kids who want to teach!
He is! Took an Ed theory class this semester and it’s the one he’s doing the best in. It’s reinforcing his interest. Right now he’s thinking Environmental Science Ed. While school was/is tough for him, he can name specifically the teachers who made it better and he wants to be one of them.
That’s amazing—good for him!
Thanks for posting and congrats to your son. My kids do not fit the classic CC mold either.
They are both bright, but my oldest (HS 2019) hated school since preschool and never really liked it. Throw in an anxiety disorder, depression, hormones and angst in high school and it was truly a struggle to make it to graduation. I really did push on that, but they got over the finish line and then we all breathed a sigh of relief. College was roundly refused (no pressure, but just spontaneous choruses of “I’m never going to school again!”). Fast forward to 2021 and they are working at Starbucks and enrolled in Community College all on their own with absolutely no pushing from us.
My 2022 kid doesn’t hate school as much as her sibling, but she probably does hate math that much. The class of 2022 has had it pretty rough and her school is expanding and building a new school building on top of that and it has not been completed so this fall instead of going back to normal it’s been more of the same old cluster**** that spring of 2021 and 2020 was. She had one normal year of high school in 9th grade and everything has been screwed up since. I really feel for all of these 2022 kids. She decided early on that she was not interested in keeping up with the Joneses in high school and she just wanted to do her own thing. She is happy to get a B. She is capable of getting As in most classes (except maybe Math where a B would be a good grade for her), but she is just really not into the competitive nature of it all. She does fine. She has the occasional C (in math, usually) and the occasional A+, but she was one and done on the ACT and just not going to buy into the rat race of trying to get into a Top 20 or Top 50 school. She is looking at LACs and some directional state schools. And that’s fine by me.
There are so many colleges out there! There really is one for everyone, if only they can afford it.
Congrats again to your son! Hope he has a fantastic time in college wherever he ends up.
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Your kids sound like they are figuring out their own path and moving in a positive direction.
Totally agree re: these poor class of 2022s. The classes of 20 &21 certainly got the brunt of it, so I think there’s an assumption that current seniors should be bouncing back by now. I don’t think it’s that simple or realistic, tbh.
You are correct about that. Class of '21 shut down in mid March of 11th, but they had already had 5.5/8 semesters of normal high school, in-person. They’d had a chance to establish an academic and an EC record. I feel as if it was tougher for '22.
@Sweetgum , your daughter sounds exactly like mine with the keeping up with the Joneses.
She even pulled herself out of all of her honors classes after 9th grade and broke away from the friend group that only cared about grades. She’s a really capable kid but just had no interest in classes that she couldn’t relate to or impressing anyone other than herself(and frankly, a lot of it had to do with if she liked the teacher or not). At first, I was really worried but she was insistent that she wanted to enroll in the early childhood career pathway our district offered which led to her getting an after-school job at a local preschool so she knows exactly what she wants to do when she graduates. We were also lucky that our high school starts in 8th grade so at least she was well established when school shut down.
My dd was a one and done. She applied to a nearby state school with a great early childhood program. I really wanted her to look at a few other places but she shot them all down and wouldn’t even look. After visiting her choice I walked away really impressed with their program and thrilled to be paying 1/3 the price of the places I was pushing. Now with all the pressure of the college search off and being in classes she loves, she had 5 A+s this term. I think she’s really going to blossom in college she picked.
Great update! Love hearing about these amazing kids with different paths. My S22 has a 3.3, his GPA buoyed significantly by electives. He just didn’t care and put in only enough effort to stay in his extracurriculars. FF it looks like he is going to have all As this semester so we’ve been holding off on applications in order for the 7th semester is considered. People here and elsewhere said he would grow up at some point and they were right. He still struggles some with reading and writing, college is not going to be easy for him, but at least he is now showing work ethic. Good luck to your S and I hope he has more acceptances to come!
We’ve had people tell us the growing up was coming eventually, too, lol. When I look back on freshman year as compared to now, I see it for sure. Having those 7th semester grades is a great idea. In our case, ds went into the process knowing that some of his early action apps might get deferred for this reason, and he was fine with that. Post back and let us know where your kiddo ends up!
On the plus side, at least he’s not burned out from “the grind” from the last 3 years. Hahaha. This kid doesn’t get worried about much of anything, sometimes I wish I had a little more of that “it’ll all work out” in me. But yes, the transformation over the last six months has been incredible.
Continuing with some more details about the schools on ds22’s list, today I thought I would touch upon his top 2 choices other than St. Michael’s, which I’ve already covered a bit.
UVM
This is a reach for him for sure. On the upside, his first choice major is less competitive and somewhat obscure. (Music Business & Production). His brother is also there, which I’m not sure is helpful but probably doesn’t hurt. They are a little more holistic in admissions than some other state flagships from what I understand. If you ignore his freshman grades entirely, it would likely be a match GPA-wise, and his SATs aren’t completely out of range, though they fall on the low end of the range listed on his Naviance page. His “Why UVM?” Essay was really strong, and he’s shown lots of demonstrated interest. On the downside, his freshman grades will likely come into play to some degree, no matter how holistic they lean.
At the end of the day, he loves the Burlington area, and my sense is that he has no expectation of getting in and will be thrilled if he ends up nearby at St. Mike’s. If he is accepted, we will be weighing the pros and cons of a larger school with fewer supports very seriously with him. I expect him to be deferred to RD and then maybe waitlisted, realistically.
Salve Regina
Salve is in some ways neck and neck with St. Mike’s for him. The size would be good for him, they have a solid Business program, he loves the location and campus (hard not to love Newport), he had a really strong interview, and it’s a high match for him on Naviance. Since it skews female, being male is helpful for him. He can see himself living in Newport for 4 years, and we are happy with the distance from home. He applied EA here as well, and my gut says they will either defer in favor of seeing 1st semester senior grades or accept him. He loved it, and we’d all be happy if he ended up here for sure.
You may also have noticed that depending upon the school, he has applied for a few different majors. He knows he wants business, and where the school has either sports mgmt or music business as an option, that’s what he’s applied for. Otherwise he’s chosen to go business undeclared.
GC sent ds’s 1st quarter grades to St. Mike’s on Monday at their request. Hoping he will hear something soon. He’s struggled a bit this 1st quarter (a C in an elective and a C+ in an AP he took to stretch himself), but feels confident he will have all As and B’s by the end of the semester.
None of his other schools has requested 1st quarter grades, so I don’t know what to expect. We’ve prepared him emotionally to not take a deferral as a rejection if that’s what happens. Fingers crossed 
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Saint Mike’s decision is in—DS was accepted 
. He is so thrilled. Right now it remains his top choice, but he does not want to deposit until he hears from the rest of his schools.
We talked so much about wanting him to have choices, so it’s so rewarding to see him feeling like he’s got agency over his future. Couldn’t be happier for him.
That’s so great! Congratulations! It is such an amazing feeling having an acceptance to one of your top-of-your-list schools. Yippee! What a great success story. Please keep us posted because my S23’s list and situation lines up a lot with your son’s.
Eeeekk! So happy for him and you to have St. Mike’s in hand. That’s not just an “well, at least I’m going to college” acceptance, that’s a “I can go to a college I really love” acceptance.
Fantastic!
I will for sure. Has your ds23 dipped his toes in the water yet in terms of the whole search?
Thank you so much! I think I’ve underestimated how much he has felt like his freshman year was something that would be insurmountable to overcome. His heart seems lighter today.
Of all the schools he’s still waiting to hear from, I think only Salve and UVM are under serious consideration. So happy we can head into the holidays without a cloud of uncertainty.
We visited Alfred U on a November break. It wasn’t a match. But it woke him up a little bit that he needs to put more thought into it; we are tentatively planning a trip over winter break (his lasts a little longer than most) to some possible NE schools.
Lots of luck 
!