<p>I don't know what is wrong with me! I have been helping some other students with essay edits, which I am happy to do -- but maybe it is because the last 15 months have been all about college application and recruiting and now that it is finish, I keep going automatically -- like stepping off treadmill but legs are still moving.</p>
<p>I really need to pull it together? Is anyone else having a hard time shutting down the college admissions machine??</p>
<p>Can’t shut down because after S1 gets launched off to college, then have to segue to launching S2 a couple of years later.</p>
<p>I feel like I have had a 2nd job for the last 4 years. Both kids also ran the gauntlet for admissions into selective boarding schools. That process was just as onerous (tests, recs, essays, interviews, ECs) as the college admissions one.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 Yes, we did the boarding school route as well – and then switched mid way. Maybe that is part of my issue, we have been in some part of the admission process for the past 5 years.</p>
<p>I only have one child – which is a relief but sad at the same time!</p>
<p>Dunno what I’m going to do w all my free time when S2 finally gets admitted to college. </p>
<p>You come over to the parent cafe! Give advice and support to those still going through this. </p>
<p>There are a ton of us who no longer have kids even in college. ;). It’s like hotel California. Once you get in, you can’t get out. </p>
<p>Then there is grad school, or first job, then engagements, weddings, buying houses. Eventually, you can stay around to discuss grandchildren. </p>
<p>I thought I’d be done once D2 gets through the process this year, but now D1 wants to transfer. Never ends…</p>
<p>Now that D1 is in, I think of CC as a pleasant place to converse with people that are in a similar life stage as DH and I. D2 is still coming up in a few years, but I’ll probably be on for long after that, just to discuss the topics of the day.</p>
<p>I have been in and out of this site for the past 10 years, as each child reaches the application stage. Since D is my last one, I am thinking about this as well. I think I will still go to the Parent Cafe once she is done. I like the people who post on this site, so I think I will continue to like to talk to them about non-college issues.</p>
<p>I started here as a sophomore in high school.
I’m now waiting to hear back about PhD applications. </p>
<p>It’s hard to quit, unfortunately. 
</p>
<p>I think it is like the Hotal Royale in one of the episode from Star Trek Next Generation. It has a revolving door that once you get in you can’t get out.
Upcoming issues : Looking for apartment to live/ which dorm to live next year & Grad school etc</p>
<p>I started here after both of my kids were already in college! In truth, though, I started posting on the Princeton Review discussion board a few years earlier. (PR mercifully pulled the plug about the time that CC started up.)</p>
<p>I don’t think CC is exactly addictive to me but it’s definitely interesting. I rationalize this interest as a sense that as a college professor I might have useful information to share about college preparation and programs, commiseration to offer to other parents, and ideas based on watching my own children progress from high school, to college, to careers (and in one case back to grad school).</p>
<p>Having now rationalized the hell out of my engagement here, let me just say that I enjoy it and I hope it’s helpful to others.</p>
<p>Addicted… </p>
<p>My oldest child is out of college and my youngest is a freshman and now I’ve started helping other kids with their college essays. And I still come to this site! Once you have the expertise, it’s good to help others.</p>
<p>Thanks! I really worry about kids without resources or people to help/guide them. I have absolutely cringed at some of the advice I had read here – it is just wrong! We have every resource in the world (relatives in IVY admissions and administration, boarding school college advising, lots of friends that are college coaches, etc…) but this process has still been incredibly stressful for us. The playing field is not level…and I wish I could make help others navigate this process. And thus am way more invested than I should be!!</p>
<p>CC is crack. My younger D graduated from college over a year ago, and my S won’t be in HS till next year, yet here I am…</p>
<p>Yup, me too.</p>