<p>Also SBMom, I will say this, I wouldn't suggest ED or EDII only to improve admission odds - there have to be other reasons. I'm not sure I believe the statistics are valid for a particular individual. However, as an athlete, there may be other reasons - what is the situation at schools #3,4 etc for your child, is there a big drop off in coaching or opportunities to play, are the academics very different at the #3 and 4.</p>
<p>It really comes down to the personality of the child, because their satisfaction with the final result is so dependent on personality and attitude. Robyrm mentioned regret - if I was making the decision for myself, I would put it off as long as possible, my child's attitude is that she will have a few minor regrets no matter when she decides, now or later, so let's move on.</p>
<p>I LOVE the idea of swapping merchandise! This makes me want to buy my son a Wesleyan shirt, even though I have strong doubts whether he'll get in. Let's have a swap-meet after...</p>
<p>Well in my D's case the #1 school is the clear favorite and the #2,3 schools very close... at least today (sigh)...</p>
<p>She has lately been feeling really sad about leaving home period, and it is dampening her enthusiasm about her favorite schools. Any school = leaving home, and the enormity of that is now hitting as ED approaches. (It's as if she doesn't want to be a "baby" who is nervous to leave home, so instead of owning up to that she's doubting her choices.) On the other hand. I hear on a weekly basis "I can't wait to get out of HS/live on my own/ get out of here/find some more mature friends." Quite a stressful, schizophrenic situation at our house.</p>
<p>I had basically said the same thing as robyrm, do ED only if you know that there is no school that would beat this school. If you have a "tie" in mind, or a doubt about where you would be happiest, don't do ED. Given that there was not a potential challenger to her #1 school, I strongly advised her to do ED to improve chances (it is a reach). I thought it would reduce the stress of waiting. Instead, surprisingly, it has front-loaded the stress of the finality of leaving home and really keyed her up. </p>
<p>Anyone else have a kid who is experiencing these mixed emotions?</p>
<p>SBmom, I am so glad you mentioned that your daughter is sad about leaving home and that it dampened her enthusiasm. My son who is typically very positive and enthusiastic has been uncharacteristically lackluster about this whole application process lately. I kept asking him if anything was bothering him and he continued to deny anything until yesterday, when he finally confessed to feeling extremely sad about leaving his friends and the activities he loves. It came as a surprise to me because my older son couldn't wait to get the heck out of here and I had assumed that my younger son would be the same. It was also causing him to start having doubts about his EA choice and the other ones, which we have done so much research on. Ironically, here I am totally agonizing about his EA decision and he is upset about leaving home. What's wrong with this picture?</p>
<p>I was like your son #1, chomping at the bit to go, and I never looked back! I was not prepared for this reaction from my D.</p>
<p>In retrospect, she's gone through doubts & hesitations about many transitions (new school, summer camp, etc; it is sort of a pattern for her) but she usually surges forth in the end and loves the new school, or whatever new thing once she's actually there.</p>
<p>It is hard for her to feel a sense of joyful anticipation while she's thinking about moving inexorably towards parting with our family and heading into an unknown situation. </p>
<p>I know she'll be fine... But she isn't convinced.</p>
<p>Also, I think a factor that will have increasing weight as senior year progresses for D is proximity to home. Junior year--no prob, let's look at East Coast, UC's, Washington State. But as her close friends slowly make their decisions, and D sees that 90% are either attending in-state (IL) or in an adjacent state, it will be an interesting dynamic to observe for sure. She loves her friends & I don't want to tell her at least at this point in time that as time moves on from her HS years, she will see those pals less & less.</p>
<p>And while I'm crossing my fingers that she picks a school at least within a short plane ride, I feel I did my duty as a parent/mentor by allowing her the opportunity to examine far-away colleges, even if the downside of D attending would be only seeing her during holidays...</p>
<p>While in general the cameraderie of these threads, as well as the information, has been most beneficial, for me (not my son, me) the access to CC during the ED wait has only served to intensify the stress. The fact that it has become habitual to check CC after I check my e-mail has made the "thinking about ED" a several times/day event- as opposed to last year with son#1 when I had not yet heard of CC and managed to forget about the ED issue for a good portion of every day. I think I must go cold turkey for the next few days at least. Good luck to everyone's children and to the students themselves!</p>
<p>Robyrm, I so agree with you. I have come to greatly value the advice of the wise parents on CC but I do think it has increased my preoccupation with it all and as such my overall stress level. I keep vowing to stop checking CC so often but I do not seem to be keeping my vows. And I invariably find some excellent piece of advice - most recently, the thread on filing a FAFSA even if you think your family won't qualify for need based aid - so it is hard to not keep coming back. </p>
<p>We are not awaiting ED and have already heard positively from one EA school. We feel pretty good about the second EA app but are preoccupied with whether the merit money will come through for either or both. So the stress level remains high in our house. Good luck to all!</p>