<p>Okay, well, no PIN yet, but from what your experiences have been, it may be coming when they've got all the application stuff. We'll just wait a bit. DS did apply online: Common App that included a St. Olaf supplement that could also be submitted through the same site.</p>
<p>Bebooks you have my support. I recall those days made calendar time feel like those slow-motion movie pictures where the people taaaaaalk sloooooow and waaaaalk sloooooow.</p>
<p>Both of my kids got their acceptance notifications online.</p>
<p>I think the "fat envelope" is going the way of "the rabbit died," "counterclockwise," "dialing the telephone," and other expressions based on outdated ways of doing things.</p>
<p>My mother 'opened' (she'll claim it wasn't sealed) my sister's FAT envenlope from Berkeley some years ago...was so thrilled at the acceptance that she went out bought a cake and put a CAL bear on it with blue and gold ribbons. We surprised my sister (who had no clue what we were up to) when we asked her to close her eyes during dessert and placed the cake in front of her asking her what she wished for most in the world...she said some stupid, insignificant things, we kept saying "NO, that's not it" and we finally revealed the cake...she still didn't GET IT....until we screamed that she GOT IN!!! It was such a happy memory...any other parents out there violate postal regulations like my mom???</p>
<p>Marian: LOL!!</p>
<p>Given the costs of postage, paper, ink, etc. many schools are sending acceptances in thin envelopes, and the rest of the forms, etc. once the student has decided to attend. Otherwise, they're wasting lots of money.</p>
<p>At 7 out of the 8 schools my d applied to, she could view her application status on line. But there was only one of those that posted the decision on line. The 7 others were snail mail only. One acceptance was thin; the rest were fat.</p>
<p>
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any other parents out there violate postal regulations like my mom???
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</p>
<p>Oh yeah, Oakmom, my mother did that. She steamed the letter open, read it, then resealed it. But I could read her like a book and knew she couldn't have waited until 3 p.m. so I examined the envelope and saw the messy glue.</p>
<p>It was such a famous story in our household that my own kids gave me "permission to steam" if they were at school on the big day.</p>
<p>I violated postal regulations repeatedly. Albeit with ZG's permission. The first acceptance was to a state school and since it came much earlier than expected AND in a small envelope, we thought it was a request for more information. I had permission to open all the envelopes except the one to the number one choice. She had all of her answers long before that one and we knew what date it would come out, so she told me to bring it to her at her job when I got home from work. When I saw the big envelope, I knew of course, but when I brought it to her at the ice cream parlor, we both cried and the customers clapped. Lovely memory.</p>
<p>Three of my S's acceptances came in thick envelopes, one, the one that he really wanted came in a thin envelope, just a regular envelope. We waited untill he got home. He had rehearsals that night so he got home late. My husband and I just sat at the kitchen table with the envelope on the table between us. Occasionally one of us would hold it up to the light, trying to decern some shred of a hint. He finally got home somewhere around 8 or 9 full of wind, water and information, when we could get a word in edgewise, we handed him the letter. He ran off in the other room, and we waited, he must of read it over a couple of times, because there was a definite delay before the shouting started!</p>
<p>I didn't open letters, but did try to come home during day to check mailbox. CMU sent big envelope with "congrats" or something like that on the outside. I do believe I was more apprehensive than S.</p>
<p>I do not have permission to open any envelopes from the first choice, but I will be allowed to drive the envelope to school. DD doesn't get home until after 5 due to sports practice, so we agreed neither of us should have to endure torture. </p>
<p>Is it a curse to have ordered a sweatshirt and hidden it away for opening day? I have the return instructions if necessary, but couldn't resist.</p>
<p>zoosermom, don't worry - if you had zg's permission, you violated no postal regulations!</p>
<p>One of d's schools sent a big envelope with "Welcome to College X!" written up the side. It came in mid-March, before we expected to hear. She saw it and tossed it aside. She thought it was just another catalog!</p>
<p>My sister gave my mom blanket permission to find out decisions before she did. I did not give the same permission. I applied two years after her, though, and only one school didn't inform me online or by email. As JHS said, they have since changed their practice. Email is often the "official" form of communication at colleges. Students at my college must check their university email accounts very often because that's how professors and others at the university will contact students. It makes sense that these colleges who do everything by email would release decisions in the same way.</p>
<p>My experience has been that early acceptances tend to come in smaller envelopes for some schools--they send the big packet later, when they have everything more sorted out. For my school, early-decision letters were standard-size, single-sheet letters--those of us getting financial aid had a few more sheets of paper in there. </p>
<p>It's a running joke in our family, because acceptance letters are so thin, that someone would receive an acceptance telegram:</p>
<p>Accepted [stop] More to follow [stop]</p>
<p>corranged, while your logic about on-line notification does make sense, it didn't work in my d's case. As noted, it was all snail mail except one, and she's Class of 2011.</p>
<p>riverruner said, "Is it a curse to have ordered a sweatshirt and hidden it away for opening day? I have the return instructions if necessary, but couldn't resist."</p>
<p>I did the same thing! :)</p>
<p>I didn't OPEN any of my son's acceptances, but one of the EA ones came with a hole cut in the envelope to reveal the word's "You're In" or something like that and I did use that window to peak at the rest of the letter. All of his acceptances came in big fat envelopes, even the EA ones. The only exception was the "early write" from Grinnell, that came in a small envelope, but it said congratulations on the outside. I had just learned about early writes here on CC and was so excited when the letter came that I wanted to wake my son up, but I restrained myself.</p>
<p>"A rejection will never come in a fat envelope"</p>
<p>This is true virtually all of the time, which makes the rare exceptions especially cruel. I got a huge package from Columbia when I applied as a junior transfer. My mom was very excited, literally dancing as she handed it to me. It turned out to be a rejection/determination that I was ineligible for admission and...the catalog for their night school.</p>
<p>Yes, I was pretty PO'd. There's just no reason to get a family's hopes up that way.</p>
<p>EA and ED acceptances are more common in skinny envelopes than RD acceptances. I think the school doesn't necessarily have all their paraphenalia ready yet. </p>
<p>I did not open anything unless explicitly asked on the day.</p>
<p>DS got his acceptance to UChicago (EA) on line. He asked me to print a paper from his e-mail when he was late at school and I saw that three days ago as the subject of an e-mail was : Your Chicago Admissions Decision. Since it had been opened and was three days old I figured he'd been rejected and was too bummed to tell us. I opened it and read it anyway. It was one of the most beautiful letters I have ever read, and he was accepted!</p>
<p>When I spoke to him later he sheepishly said, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you." </p>
<p>The beauty of the letter made it somewhat sad DS decided not to go. Maybe that's why he didn't tell us, didn't want to go. However, he swore he was happy and excited.</p>
<p>He loved the Williams folder that came in a fat envelope. Shiny purple saying, The chance this folder means exactly what you hope it means 100%.</p>
<p>Well, I never intended to open S1's college mail, but did so accidentally. Around February of his senior year, he had a skinny envelope from one of his colleges. I assumed it was either an acknowledgement of some kind or a request for more info. Lo and behold, it was a "likely" letter. Actually, I was happy for him, but it suddenly occurred to me that he'd probably want to go to this need-based FA school, and we weren't going to qualify for much aid!</p>