Received AO emails from a few schools, remind to create portal to learn the decision. Are these emails general to all candidates who have applied to their school?
4 Likes
Yep! Standard emails that make your heart stop at this point right? 
One yesterday said âDecisionâ in the subject line!
2 Likes
Absolutely.
The schools will let every applicant know of some kind of decision. It may be a âcongratulationsâ but it could equally be a âthe standard of applications this year was exceptional and we arenât able to take all qualified studentsâ.
Some schools use portals. Some use emails.
When my kid was applying (2021), it turns out that we had the decision from every BS before kid departed our driveway for a regular day of school. We are on East Coast time (and only applied to East Coast schools.)
I remember some posts two years ago about how to handle M10 decision reveals. One family decided to not look at any decisions at all until AFTER the regular school day, and this year with M10 being a Friday, that might be a good plan (if you can handle the suspense).
2 Likes
I like your suggestion about deciding ahead of time on how to handle M10 - my son was clear that he did not wanted to be distracted during his school day - he also wanted me to be the one who told him all of the decisions all at once (wanted to hear it from me all at once, not read each one himself - this was just his preference.) I honored his request - he gave me all of his portal info etc. I gathered the info for him through the day. His last decision came at 4:00 pm. He stayed true to his request of me - when he got home from school, he asked if all decisions were in and I told him ânot yetâ. He waited until we had them all and then we sat together where he wanted any âbad newsâ first followed by any âgood newsâ. There is no right way to do this but I do think it helped my son to have a âplanâ and stick to it. For him I guess he felt more comfortable hearing from me and being able to talk it through vs. reading on his own.
6 Likes
We will be smack in the middle of our family vacation when the decisions come in!
2 Likes
We are on the west coast and DS wants to wake up at 5 am to see the results and skip school regardless of the outcome! We will see if that happensâŠ
8 Likes
Yes
Our child leaves that day on an international school trip, so our plan is to not tell her anything until she returns 8 days later. Forwarding her emails to limit the temptation and not take away from her trip. Not sure how that is going to go. The best laid scheme oâ mine anâ men âŠ
2 Likes
Youâre forwarding emails from the account she would normally access them from to keep her from seeing them while on the trip? Are you certain that will work (or am I misunderstanding)? Whenever I forward my email, it still lands in the original box as well as to the forwarded. If thatâs the case, forwarding isnât going to insulate her.
No, but thanking you for the watch out - She knows and we are âmoving themâ it was just easier to text that way. She does not want the temptation and she wants to enjoy her trip. But as I said many a plan âŠlol
Hi, Iâve been lurking for a few months, and now that weâre getting close, I had one question. I love the idea of having a plan for M10, and possibly waiting until after school and opening all at once to buffer emotions.
My question is, will that work? All of our schools are using the Ravenna portal, but reading here and elsewhere, it seems some schools also send emails? and that even the subject of those emails might indicate the status? I canât imagine how disruptive-distracting-difficult it would be if my son gets an email in the middle of the school dayâŠ
Yes, for some schools my son received emails indicating status. We also received emails indicating status. Those emails came before the portal opened.
Thatâs tough if they have access to their email. My son had set up a gmail account just for this (and didnât use his school email) so it was easy for him not to look⊠I guess it depends on if they can avoid looking a their emailâŠ
2 Likes
Come on! Allow your son/daughter have one day excitment, anxious and suprise! It is okay
1 Like
No parents are worrying about the Financial Aids? What if the kids got a dream school offer, but you figured out that you cannot afford it because the school would not offer FA you hoped for. What will be the discussion between kids and parents?
I applied during the 20-21 cycle, and although my school was fully in person, they had an online option, and kids could even go online for a day if needed. I started first period, and during that 40 minute class, I knew some of my decisions came out. After class, I eagerly checked, and was so excited and nervous for the rest of the day. Because of this, I couldnât really focus in class, so my mom told me I could take the day off after that first period. Iâm thankful I did that, because me and my mom were able to spend a day together and go to brunch to ease some of the nerves. For me, I think that was the right decision.
If your child doesnât want to go to class that day, if youâre available, consider doing an activity with them instead of going to school (providing there are no tests that day) Do something they like and go out to keep busy. You can check decisions throughout the day even, as I did. Keeping busy meant that if I didnât get a decision I was happy with, I still had fun things to do that day. That definitely calmed me down and cheered me up.
If you arenât available to do this with your child, sending them to school is probably a good idea, since they should keep busy. If they donât have a test that day, maybe itâs not such a bad idea for them to check decisions if they want to. If they do have a test, I would advise they check after.
These are just suggestions based off what works for me and what I heard works for others. At the end of the day, just make sure your kid is supported.
-note, this is replying to many comments made in this thread, but perhaps would be better in the freak out thread, so moderators, feel free to move this if thatâs where this belongs.
2 Likes
We had transparent discussions with our son prior to him sending in applications so he knew what was needed and was prepared that it would be part of the M10 stresses. It all worked out for the best (hindsight is very helpful) but it is certainly part of the emotional roller coaster
yes, of course, but if heâs at his current school and the news is disappointing, it could be hard to manage on his own without support. Heâs currently at one of the day schools frequently mentioned on these boards and is very unhappy, so transferring is a very emotional issue.
Talk to him about it before M10. Do expectation management now rather later do emotional damage management.
4 Likes
If she doesnât need email at all during her trip, maybe she can hide the app button on her phone if thatâs how sheâd access it. Then there is no temptation every time you open your phone 
Iâd say delete the app but thatâs such a pain with email, hiding it makes it âoutta sight outta mindâ.
Our family friends, the daughter went on a service trip to Thailand these past 2 weeks with her school during February Break. She barely had time to do much but a quick message or call home. Itâs nice to see schools picking them up again slowly around here after so many stayed away because so many got caught in the Covid outbreak lockdowns. We had so many friends here with kids trapped abroad for a bit. Full term and year study abroad programs are in full swing, but the break trips have still been very scarce though picking back up (yeah!). Hopefully your daughter will be too busy to even remember it is M10 
1 Like