Question about the parents… Am I the only one getting so nervous?
We are expecting two tomorrow, while I expect one of them to accept (an engineering college with ~50% acceptance rate, and my kid is well above the average stats, although anything can happen), the other one has become a reach for many over the last few years, and we are more interested in it. I keep telling myself that we already have UIUC Engineering and Purdue College of Science Biochemistry to choose from, but it doesn’t help! The one he’ll likely get accepted to is closer to home, but it’s a full ~$70K pay. We are not doing it if there is no merit - which we (if I’m not mistaken) won’t know for a couple more weeks, so we won’t know tomorrow if it’s a choice. I’ve read threads about May 1st being a long night for many, is tonight one of those for you? In any case, thank you for all the previous advice and letting me vent now!
I look at this time (mind you this is my 4th to college) as a calm window and don’t let the pending decisions define my day. Believe me, they use to with my older kids. For now, it is this window where we don’t know where she is going and it isn’t all about her going to a certain school, or the fact that she is leaving in a few months. It’s actually sort of peaceful. We went to a concert together in SF on Tuesday night (a school night!) - doing things together now that aren’t college related and where we don’t talk college is a nice diversion. If your kid doesn’t have a solid #1 (in all aspects), I found the time after all decisions are in, and making the final choice, the really stressful period. This time is more like waiting for Santa Claus and wondering what he will bring. There could be wonderful surprises or some real stinkers, what will be will be at this point. So for now, I find peace in the ambiguity that is now.
You should be able to survive knowing your son has applied wisely and has two very good options already – just think of anything else as a bonus.
next year you will barely be able to remember this…it will pass.
Any of his choices will work out fine!
I’ve enjoyed peace until about a couple days ago. Thank you for the support! I think one of the tomorrow’s decisions would be his clear choice #2 (his clear choice #1 is a super reach). Maybe that’s why. Happy1, you are right, we got a couple bonuses already, after UIUC that came out on Feb 3 :).
I do hope I won’t still be thinking about it next year 
@CADREAMIN - love the thought of like waiting for Santa. Trying- this is my 1st and only child. 7 decisions in all yes’ 7 more coming most on the same day or by 4/1. Some days I think we are happy with her 1st choice of the ones we have heard from (in state and COA covered by scholarship). Then something comes up and she changes her mind. Trying to think of it like a journey, many ways to get there and a few roadblocks. I must admit I’m sometimes jealous of the ones who already know.
I was always the kid peaking at the presents under the tree- patience has never been a virtue of mine- I am learning as I go.
Oh, changing mind sounds familiar. When he received UIUC acceptance, he said he wouldn’t even apply for the last remaining on the list - no chance he would pick it vs. UIUC. The next day he did .
Admitting to being jealous, too, of the ones who had a reachable clear first choice.
I’m so nervous for my nephew. I deal with by compulsively reading cc and checking prospective student portals for the schools to which he applied. Most of his decisions aren’t until the end of the month so we have a way to go.
The thread title says it all.
On my second time around. I’ve enjoyed both experiences immensely as I found the whole process fascinating. My applicants handled the process very well for the most part. Our only bump was with the first we took an EA flyer on a high reach (generous aid) figuring what’s the harm the worst that would happen is defer-then reject. Well she got a straight reject and that cast a major pall over her for awhile. Never even considered that possibility. No EA for the second and things have gone well.
In summary, embrace the ride and as stated earlier…this is all forgotten very very quickly.
I am so over this process.
Unfortunately I’m going to go thru all this again in 2 years X(
Distraction helps whether waiting for college admissions answers or some major medical test : ) Netflix, walks, whatever helps.
I would think about the use of the word “we” in your post, because soon it will be “he” not “we.”
compmom, you are so right. He is expecting decisions. I am expecting decisions, too, but in a different way - for me it’s mostly how far from home it’ll be in the end, after he makes a choice. That’s completely separate, no “we”.
You are very much not the only one. I had dinner with some friends last night in the same situation and you and me and we all just want to know what the options are (waiting until April 1 as well!) and where the kid will go. hang in there!
What bugged me the most was that these decisions took months to be made. What takes months any more? Surely they know most of the acceptances & most of the rejections way before the release date…Don’t know if it’s true, but it seemed like they were spending a lot of time deciding on a small % of the applications. (This would not apply to those tip-top colleges that get way more applications from great students than they can accept.)
Xanex and wine, interchangeably. The waiting is atrocious!
I think this was the best thing about rolling admission - we had no idea when to expect the letters so they just arrived and the suspense was for the two minutes it took to get the letter from the mailbox and open it. By this time in the year, my kids knew where they were going. Many of their friends didn’t know because they hadn’t applied until very late. One of daughter’s best friends found out in May that she was accepted but for the summer session - she started about a week after high school graduation!
I suggest chocolate.
Our younger one insisted that we not touch any envelope that arrived – that we just leave it for her. And so the envelopes would sit until she came home from school, and we would be in agony over the suspense. Until one of them arrived in a large colorful envelope, with the following words written on the outside: “THIS IS YOUR BIG ENVELOPE.” No suspense there!
This is the easy part. The hard part is in April, after all rejections/waitlists/admissions come in, and you realize you have no great options. You expected some aid from school A and you got none; you hoped for admission to school B and you are rejected; school C waitlisted you; you didn’t expect much from school D you never visited but they surprise you with good merit aid.
You may have other options and you only have 4 weeks to visit potentially multiple schools while studying for AP exams and the kid does not want to miss school bc of that.
But once the school starts, your kid will make friends, join clubs, study hard, and be happy. Soon the whole stress is forgotten, no matter where your kid ends up. Until the next one…