<p>I cannot handle it any more. We need an acceptance ASAP. This waiting is too long! I cannot understand how those who applied earlier manage. OK, in January and February our mind was on remaining apps, then interviews, than FAFSA and related disasters. But now it's just w-a-i-t-i-n-g and w-a-i-t-i-n-g and w-a-i-t-i-n-g.
The anly acceptance came from a safest safety and a month ago. I guess they only looked at stats. It was nice to see the first acceptance letter, but it could not feed our enthusiasm long enough. Since then - nothing. And actually no confirmation that DDs app was actually good. Initially we assumed that her essays were great. But who knows what essays are good in the eyes of ad.coms. And she hasn't seen her recs. Initially I was certain that she will get everywhere on her initial list. Then we added three more safeties. Now I start thinking, what if she gets nowhere, not even into the honors college at her safest safety (without HC this school would be hard to get happy about).
To those who went through this: Do we really have a terrible month ahead? Will the pressure only go up? When do you start hearing? Most schools DD applied to say "by April 1", but do most start sending letters in batches sometime in March, or we are really looking into getting absolutely nothing till April 1? One letter this week would be enough to cheer me up for another week or so .....</p>
<p>"It could not feed our enthusiasm long enough."</p>
<p>Woah, calm down. These are your daughter's admissions decisions, not yours. While it's normal to have some anxiety, I hope you are not creating anxiety for her from your own lack of patience.</p>
<p>This is not about cheering YOU up. Go take a long walk or a long soak in the tub. Most acceptances come near the end of March. </p>
<p>Be enthusiastic that she already has an acceptance in hand. The likelihood is that there are more to come.</p>
<p>She's in at the safety. I assume she chose a safety that 1) she could enjoy and learn at; and 2) you can afford. If that's the case, what are you worried about?</p>
<p>Give thanks.</p>
<p>Take heart. This too shall pass.</p>
<p>As I've written before, March was a pretty grim month last year. Very tough on the kids, and thus on the parents, too.</p>
<p>My impression was that most schools other than the elites, and even some of the elite LACs, managed to get their decisions out by the third or fourth week in March. Unfortunately, my kid didn't have any applications live at any of those schools. He got all of his decisions on (I think) the last Friday evening in March, except for a couple where he had forgotten the password and he had to wait until Saturday (in one case) or Tuesday (in another) for the letter to arrive. He didn't hear from Berkeley until that day, either, but I don't know whether other UCs are more timely. (Berkeley didn't even promise a decision by April 1; its official date was April 15.)</p>
<p>It is hard to wait for both the students and their parents. I was checking CC frequently when we were waiting to hear from my D's EA apps.
I checked the mail in hopes of getting news, while she checked her emails.
Even though she has decided on her college, I still look forward to hear and see what else comes.
They put SOOO much into the entire process, and parents often help out along the way. The anticipation is enough to drive you nuts, but imagine how much harder it is for your child than you. I think it must be very stressful to hear about what schools your peers are going to when you haven't heard anything yet..
Our household was walking on eggshells before any word came thru..D was stressed out and grumpy. All I can say is, once you do get some news that you want, it will be a big relief.
For most of the EA applicants, they have had to wait for months to hear what aid their schools offer too.</p>
<p>Our GC wants the kids to be all set to apply in September because a lot of the SUNY (our instate) schools are on rolling admission and it makes the kids feel good to at least get in somewhere early on; you can apply to a whole bunch of SUNYs; competitive and less competitive on the same application.</p>
<p>I remember I applied only to schools that mailed out in April! The angst!!!!</p>
<p>I am on my third bottle of Crown Royal since early Feb. can't wait until April 1st.</p>
<p>Crown Royal? Good idea, I'll drink a nip or two while watching "That 70s Show" reruns and then start applying for rehab</p>
<p>Citymom,
I hate to tell you this, but it will probably get worse before it gets better. Our S was fortunate to get into his early action school. The absolute worst time was the week before, just waiting and waiting. The day decisions were released seemed to drag on forever. There was one acceptance (a safety) before the EA acceptance, so we were in a similar situation to you. The EA school was a dream school though, so the safety acceptance did not seem to mean as much to S. Unfortunately, there's nothing to do but wait. Some schools have decisions online at a specific day/time, so make sure your D has usernames/passwords, etc. to access her decisions. Good luck!</p>
<p>Well, take solace in the fact you have a safety acceptance in the bag.</p>
<p>citymom, hang in there for just a few more weeks. This is why I decided to take a class to take my mind of the college admissions. I have my midterm exam next week and I should be studying but I keep checking this board. DD/I made a mistake of not applying EA to this top LAC, we did not understand this option very well and now we're regretting it. It's one of my daughter top choice right now. So I'm back to waiting and waiting, hoping acceptances would come sooner.</p>
<p>This was an incredibly stressful time for me last year, though I knew I was being silly. My son was into his 2 great safety schools and one "A" list school by this point. I should have settled down, but I felt like I was holding my breath the entire month (you could pass out doing that!). I tried to come here with my stress so my son didn't need to hear about my anxiety. He did start getting more responses during the last week of March, but there were definitely some that didn't show up until April first. Then--your kid has to figure out where to go. And I think the schools are probably dealing with increased numbers of apps this year, so early responses may not happen. Here in VT, it takes longer to get mail, so I'd read on CC that kids were getting their acceptances and it took a day or two longer for my son.</p>
<p>Take a deep breath---hang in there. Bring your stress here instead of to your student. And haha again, my son chose to go to the school that gave him an early acceptance--I <em>wasted</em> so much anxiety!</p>
<p>Dad II</p>
<p>I am with you. It is hard. I hope you'll also bring your stress here because--I was trying to remember the words to this old folk song--"If somehow you could pack up your sorrows and give them all to me--you would lose them, I know how to use them, give them all to me." Maybe not all of them, but I think we can absorb a lot of stress here.</p>
<p>Patience.</p>
<p>As a mom of 5 kiddos with 4 already through this college process I have a "little" experience!</p>
<p>OP, this is her senior year of high school. Her "last times" should have started by now. Savor each and every moment. This time will never happen again.</p>
<p>You are there with her now while she is W-A-I-T-I-N-G. There will be many other times when you will NOT be there. This is a process. A great adventure and journey that for a little while you get to be a part of. You are actually physically present to witness. Albeit somewhat of a bystander and yet in many instances an active participant.</p>
<p>Relish each and every moment. It will not last long and will not happen again. At least at this stage when they still look to you for guidance and support. </p>
<p>Cherish this quickly fleeting time and don't wish it away so quickly. Be careful what you ask for......</p>
<p>I didn't see it as waiting then, too soon for them to go.</p>
<p>I DO see it as waiting now, waiting for them to come home, to call, to share a small part of their day, their classes, their new friends, their new dreams</p>
<p>Dreams and friends and hopes and goals that they will soon decide WITHOUT you, you might get lucky and they will share....but as an afterthought, not maliciously but because they are further into the journey where you will not be a fellow traveler.</p>
<p>Again, patience.</p>
<p>It will be over so very quickly.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Thanks for you replies everyone! Feel better already.
The school DD got in is a safety-safety, which was added to the list at the last moment. We can afford it (it's in-state), but there is no love so far.
DD had anoher safety, which she loves. We used to see it as a good local school. It's still under top 20, but it became very competitive during the last several years, and applications soared this year. So on one hand everyone including GC says that DD should get in; on the other hand they may have a 25% acceptance rate this year, which makes it "unsafe".
Sure, I am trying to be calm at home and not to drive them crazy. But it's tough. The admissions landscape is less predictable than it used to be, and I forsee more disappointments than a year before.
What bothers me the most - we still do not have an independent confirmation (from a college), that her app is as strong as we thought it was. Maybe this is the CC effect. But I am afraid I'll not stop comming here in the nearest future.
As for my daughter - she seems calm and happy. But she is really engaged in two ECs simultaneously right now. Both will be over by mid-March.</p>
<p>Also don't forget that we get to move the clocks ahead this weekend. At least we get a free hour from waiting. As one of the adcoms in my S' list stated, "tell your son to relax and enjoy, we have everything we need".</p>
<p>OP: Try not to think of it as waiting since we already know when they will be announcing. Waiting only happens when someone is late or the time is unknown.</p>
<p>But atg4ever, since it was a leap year we've netted a 23 hour gain. ;)</p>
<p>I've been so thankful my son has heard early from some of his schools. There's a lot of wisdom to the CC advice to apply to a rolling admissions school. My son has been too busy with life to get tense about admissions, but my stress level has sure gone down now that I know he will be going to college next year even if I'm not sure of exactly where yet. Still, I'm getting a bit impatient for final results.</p>
<p>citymom, your daughter sounds like my son. It's a good place for them to be. </p>
<p>Kat, thank you for those wonderful words of wisdom!</p>
<p>Went through this twice. It didn't get easier, but now a year later, there are no scars from the anxiety.</p>
<p>I think it's a combination of anxiety and intense excitement/curiosity.</p>
<p>My S was into two great schools, (one top 10) EA, and he was excited at the prospect of going there, but we were still holding our breaths waiting to see how it would all turn out.</p>
<p>When I was waiting for D to be born, she was a week late in July after a string of 10 days over 95 degrees. I was positive she was a watermelon. This waiting is like that, but it does pass.</p>
<p>Props to you for being able to be so open about these feelings.</p>
<p>Kat- good food for thought, brought tears to my eye. ... 'savor the moment' is really good advice. </p>
<p>D is a only a sophomore, and I have been enjoying all the performances, tournaments, etc. I know she'll be out of the house in a blink of the eye.</p>
<p>Came to post on the parents' board to say I have just _____ had it with this waiting, enough already. And voila, found CityMom had beat me to it. One would think that since one of my twins applied early action to several schools and got in that I'd be pretty well off. But no, I am still finding it absolutely unbearable waiting for him to hear from the rest of his schools and waiting for the other twin to hear from somewhere.</p>
<p>And I've been through this before even, we have an older one at Wash U St Louis. It's worse this time, last time I was in grad school and didn't have as much time on my hands to stew :)</p>
<p>Arghhh.</p>
<p>This too shall pass. A month from now you'll have all the acceptances (or the bad news). There's absolutely nothing you can do about it anyway, so take a deep breath and enjoy this last time with your child before their eyes are gazing over the horizon toward their new "home." </p>
<p>I remember rushing to the mailbox every day after work last year. Even after we had heard from all the schools, I'd still get excited going to the mailbox - and then realize there was no reason for it, and be slightly disappointed!</p>