<p>D1 applied ED last year. She was managing her expectations right: had a good list of RD schools that she was happy about, and had her RD essays completed before ED decisions came out. We the parents were going to be happy no matter what, because either she was going to get into a great school ED or she was going to get some very nice merit offers during RD. So no undue stress.</p>
<p>Then D1 made the mistake of reading the ED school admissions blog, which was live-blogging the committee meetings. :eek: It was all useful helpful information for anyone who was looking at applying RD, or for anyone applying ED the following year. It was rather disconcerting, on the other hand, for someone who was actually one of those files. Especially when the blog discussed one particular applicant who was admitted, who sounded very much like D1. Very much, but not exactly like D1. :eek: :eek: So much for no stress! Over the next two weeks before decisions were announced the entire family couldnāt help itself: We endlessly analyzed every scrap of knowledge. We tried to calculate just how many applicants with the traits listed by the adcoms might be in the ED pool. We debated if the adcoms would take two ED applicants with such similarities, or if the acceptance of one hypothetical applicant who wasnāt D1 meant that D1 wouldnāt be admitted. </p>
<p>In the end, D1 was admitted. I asked the school adcom if that student was D1, and was told that nope, it wasnāt. Yet D1 hasnāt yet met her doppleganger. At any rate, the committee live blog discussion wasnāt done this year. </p>
<p>Many morals of the story. One, sometimes there can be too much information. Two, itās a big world, and weāre not always as unique as we think we are. Three, no matter how well you think you can handle uncertainty, there can always be something that can tip you over the edge to madness. :)</p>
<p>Thanks all! S and H are done licking their wounds and have hopefully moved on from the Stanford SCEA denial. Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly) it was comforting that absolutely no one from Sās school got in. Best wishes to everyone who is still waiting for their childās ED decision. One piece of advice, I think S made a huge mistake in how he found outāhe had his girlfriend and two other friends with him when he checked the e-mail at home. GF was fine, but the other two friends made it definitely awkward to show his true feelings (horrible disappointment, he and H had in my opinion unreasonable confidence that he would get in). So, our one lesson is admission decisions should be reviewed in privateā¦
Good luck all!</p>
<p>WW - Iām so sorry to hear of the shocking disappointment. When I knew dsā first decision was posted online I actually burst into tears with anxiety, not in front of ds. I needed to cry it out before we looked so that I was ready to handle any news and be strong if it was a rejection. I didnāt realize how wound tight I was until I cried over the thought of finding out the first school. And, ds was deferred. It was like the air coming out of the balloon - not rejected, put off. </p>
<p>However, that made him really contemplate what he wanted and he turned around and changed an app to ed. Iām happy just to have that next decision answered sooner.</p>
<p>Hopefully your family is ready to move on to other choices and I know once heās moved on, heāll be fine.</p>
<p>The Neurotic Parent just did a post on the ED/EA insanity, quoting the Stanford rejection from this threadā¦
[THE</a> NEUROTIC PARENT? : Rejection Rehab for Parents](<a href=āTHE NEUROTIC PARENTā¢ā>THE NEUROTIC PARENTā¢)</p>
<p>Iāve been laid back throughout the process but now that the EA date for my DD is 4 days away Iām gettting freaked out. She convinced us to let her only get this one application done early. If this doesnāt work out, the couple of weeks will be interesting. I figure she gets 24 hours to mourn and then has to get scrambling.</p>
<p>We just changed dsā application today to ed2ā¦ is it really that unreasonable for me to want a decision as quickly as I could get a hamburger at McDonalds? lol</p>
<p>Check out the MIT Forum. MitChris has just started a thread to tell applicants to STOP going onto their site- it is about to crash because it is jammed with so many logging on!
And this is just to get he announcement about when the decisions will be releasedā¦ YIKES</p>
<p>My son seems to be extremely stressed out over his early decision letter which is probably going to come at the end of this week. Itās really stressful for him right now because all of the teachers like to load up work for their students before the holidays, and he also has his semester exams this week. Just canāt wait for this to be over with.</p>
<p>So, does anyone want to say what school theyāre waiting on? From this thread youāll know itās Vanderbilt for usā¦it almost seems like so many schools have posted their notifications, how many others are left? Can you tell my ADD is kicking in? How I wish I could be like DH and just be chill. Or have my internet go down so Iād have no choice!</p>
<p>-The last thing you want to come off to your child is tense. This may sound weird, but you need to try to distract them from all of their college stuff. Yes, it would be awesome if my son got into his ED I school, but it would not be the end of the world for him if he didnāt. My first choice was Harvard when I was trying to get into college. All of my teachers, friends, etc. expected me to get in. Well, it turns out I didnāt, and I think it was probably the greatest thing that every happened to me. I ended up going to UMich where I met my future wife. Without me being rejected from Harvard I probably would have never met my wife. I have an awesome job and family, and I would not change anything about my life.</p>
<p>Kids probably wonāt understand what Iām trying to say here. In the long run they will.</p>
<p>imbusygolfing - I totally get what youāre saying, and the thing is my son is fine - I am the tense one. I think itās that I went through all this just 8 months ago with DD. It was such an ordeal with her - waitlisted, last minute visits, picking a second choiceā¦alot of emotions.
Just hoping he doesnāt have to go through that, too. Heās preparing for finals - starting Fri - and I just say āthere are no guarantees, so keep working hardā. Iām just going through the ācanāt this be over already?!ā stage. Believe me, I am queen of āeverything happens for a reason, because God has a planā. So, Iām right there with ya, just a little crazy right now :)</p>
<p>boymom - I think that is a dad thing to be cooler and calmer. I mean look at how many more momās are on this site.</p>
<p>People in my real life have no desire to listen to my narcissism about this. And better I spaz out here than to my son, who is eager, but focused on mid-terms this week. This site is the best/worst thing to ever happen to me. I donāt know how people arenāt consumed with this stuff. Perhaps once ds actually gets into a school Iāll be able to breathe a sigh of relief. </p>
<p>DS asked me last night if his applying to more schools would make me feel better. In reality no, we picked the right schools to apply, itās just the waiting.</p>
<p>My S is waiting on Colorado Collegeā¦ should come today or tomorrow. The problem is he has already gotten 2 deferrals from what looked like pretty sure bets( one I havenāt even told him about because he took the first one hard and he has finals all this week), and one with a 75% acceptance rate. The deferrals are pretty confusing and make you second guess his application. The ED school looks like a match, but has an A LOT lower acceptance rate, so I really donāt know what to think.</p>
<p>My stomach is in knots waiting for the mailmanā¦ thinking if it doesnāt come, he is rejected. I was awake all night obsessing about every flaw in his application, and then got up to research gap year ideas in case he doesnāt get in anywhere where he will be happy. The weird thing is that his #1 emailed him a few weeks ago and and asked him if he wanted to convert his EA to ED and he didā¦ if they reject him after that I will have to kick their butts!!! I mean, wouldnāt that be unnecessarily cruel?? Why not just reject him EA? He does have 1 acceptance, but it is by far not his favorite, and he should hear from his 2 other EAās this monthā¦ I would never in a million years thought this would be SO stressful, and I know that evrything WILL work out if he doesnāt get into his first choice, but, just be OVER already!!!</p>
<p>5boys, boymom, eyemamom, jmnva06 and imbusy et al ā Hang in there! Even though I am normally on top of things, I found the whole college application process nervewracking and we tried to take some control of it by applying ED. It wound up working out for us, and Iām sending positive thoughts your way for equally good outcomes.</p>
<p>With my first D I was really wound up. With my second one, I just know its a crap shoot. You just dont know what they want, who they want, in any given year. dont obsess over the application as it varies from person to person depending on who reads it. You try to hedge your bets, do your best. I talk to my daughter about maintaining her grades and her sanity. things we can control, the other stuff is out of our hands. It is nerve wracking. I want her first decision to be a positive so she knows she is āinā somewhere. But i cant control that either. I dislike this process immensly, (sp) but āit is what it isā.
Having said that , it worked out well for D1 she is very happy, received great merit. i ended up getting sick when she started college , and we needed the money. However mama bear still has a little resentment about the ones that got away. Thats just because we love them so much and want them to happy.</p>
<p>Downtoearth, thatās such good advice. Itās a lot easier said than done, but the closer you can come to hitting āsendā and letting go, the better off you will be. From the studentās point of view, itās a lottery, and nothing you do can affect which numbers tumble out of that drum.</p>
<p>I am trying to remember that, at the end of this grueling process, D2 needs ājust one acceptance!ā</p>
<p>The problem with the early app is that there is only one to hear from, it is her favorite, it is a lottery/high reach, a rejection or a deferral will cast a bit of a pall on her ability to finish up the 6 RD apps.
On the plus side, she will be finished with school for the term when she hears, allowing her to handle a disappointment a bit more privately, we have ALWAYS told her and she knows how IMPOSSIBLE it is to get into any lottery school - meaning it is not a indictment of her or her application, she truly likes and would be very happy to attend any of the other 10 schools on her list.</p>
<p>Soo, I see this Early App period as a little bump in the road: low risk, given all the other schools she likes with a number of safeties and matches, with a high return/potential jackpot at the Early college.
I figure it would have been a huge mistake for her NOT to apply to this Early Lottery school: she is a great fit, loves the school, and a very competitive applicant, so why not?
So, we just have to get through this week, and move into the next phase of applications.
(If a miracle happens and she get a yes this week, well, then it is over, and so be it!)</p>
<p>Thanks for letting me vent here. And I do enjoy reading of your personal stories. I am the picture of calm and composure IRL lolā¦ really!</p>
Over the next two weeks before decisions were announced the entire family couldnāt help itself: We endlessly analyzed every scrap of knowledge. We tried to calculate just how many applicants with the traits listed by the adcoms might be in the ED pool. We debated if the adcoms would take two ED applicants with such similarities, or if the acceptance of one hypothetical applicant who wasnāt D1 meant that D1 wouldnāt be admitted. </p>