I hear you @CAClover ! We looked at 12 schools and applied to 9, and of course I’m second-guessing every school on the list vs. off the list at this point. I’m also stressing that he didn’t write a 1st choice letter, didn’t do a good enough job of communicating with AOs/coaches, and that I basically left him to his own devices. I had lunch with a friend the other day, and her son is also applying to BS, but from a K-8 (we are at a K-12). After hearing how perfectly planned out & strategized their process is (and largely driven by the parents & the school), I began to feel really discouraged about the whole thing. My son put a lot of work into this, on his own, and I worry that he will feel that it didn’t pay off when the decisions come out. We have talked about hoping for two acceptances (just to have a choice) and that any more than that is just gravy, but now I’m worried about even having two! Ugh.
^^ Exact same feelings here @CAClover and @GMC2918 . DS did most of it on his own too. The process was tiring. He doesn’t want LPS so I’m worried about not getting into a school we can afford. 11th applicant here, so hoping for the best.
Looks like Andover revisits will be March 24, 27, 31 and April 3.
Hey. My son would prefer to be the one in the family to learn his results first. Will the email have an obvious subject heading? I could ask the schools to use his email instead of mine but I don’t want to bug them. Suggestions?
@CAClover, @GMC2918, @sunnyschool It’s nice to see that I’m not alone. Patience is not a virtue I have ever been accused of having.
You know, this may sound bad, but aside from the very important first push with the boarding school idea, which came from my daughter, once I researched what was involved in applying, I took the steering wheel in the process. I didn’t, of course, write any parts of the application that were the applicant’s responsibility, but she did print out first drafts, and I pointed out jargon like “cool” and stringing sentences together with several "and"s. I also remember on the first application saying that she should illustrate what she meant with some specific examples. And I remember she misused the word “admit” when she meant “submit.” I’ve thought about my editing feedback, and I’m okay with it. I think I’m a resource that she can use, and that is part of the writing process. What I mean by taking the steering wheel is nudging her frequently in the summer to work through the SSAT books. Also, I frequently pointed to the calendar and said, “We’re running out of time here. You need to start on the applications.” I scheduled the tours and interviews, too, along with the SSAT testing, and I’m okay with that. I also told my daughter to talk to her English and math teacher about recommendations, and I talked with the personal recommendations people because I know them so well. All in all, I did more than it sounds like a lot of parents do, and I certainly urged my daughter to keep working, to keep the deadlines in mind, to set mini-goals, all of that. She manages school fine without my involvement at all, but with boarding school apps, I was very involved in keeping the process going. I don’t think my daughter not taking charge reflects a lack of interest; I think she is used to putting her school work first and wanting free time. The BS application process was new, and she probably thought she could squeeze everything in at the winter break, which I admit we mostly did. I think my overall point is that when I look back, I was certainly the driving force with my insistence that we make progress and not scramble at the last minute. I also planned out when to visit and test. Choosing schools was a back-and-forth process that we both contributed to, though once she began to clarify what exactly she wanted from a school, I got more involved and suggested taking some off the list and adding others. If she doesn’t get accepted at a school or we don’t get enough financial aid and she ends up wanting to go through this process again, (please, no!!), I think I would take a radically different approach and let her run the whole show and I would just do the parent essays and financial aid forms. But this time, I did a lot of it.
A few of the schools my D applied to sent the decisions to my email, and then followed up with emails directly to her. Often the initial emails contain a link for FA info, which may be why they tend to send them to the parent(s). One or two had portal decisions that she had to log in and check. We also got several decisions via USPS/FedEx.
The email headings were rather telling (i.e.; “Welcome to Emma Willard School!!”). One AO called late in the day on M10. I guess they didn’t get their packets to the post office in time for M10 delivery.
Some schools ( not in the Big 10 ) will call families M9 to deliver good news, too. When that happened to us, I would always let the calls go to VM…
1 ) Our M10s happened during JBS spring break. My kids were either sleeping late, or barely able to form sentences, or they were out of the house. I wanted them to hear the news from the school and not from me… so, after I secretly replayed the message over and over …
Hey- I’m not proud.
2 ) I was afraid ( no, make that convinced ) that if I did pick up the phone, I would say something incredibly stupid. Or, better yet - wouldn’t sound excited enough… which has actually been a lifelong struggle, thank you. 
You cannot tell me I am alone.
Almost there- hang in there and good luck!! For cocktail suggestions, please check the Misc. Thread as we get closer to M10. I’m sure @ChoatieMom will suggest some god awful thing made with ice cream. No really- it’s great.
:-& .
@PhotographerMom that’s an awesome post!
So @PhotographerMom - they will leave the “Congrats” on the voice mail then?
@sunnyschool - Yes. 
Just went back to track down the M10 emails/notifications. Here’s what we got last year (2016); we did not apply for FA.
NMH (accepted): We received an email on March 1 which said “Decisions will be available online at 7 AM on March 8.”
Peddie (accepted): Email at 12:06am on 3/10, subject: Your Peddie School Decision
Exeter (accepted): Email at 6:00am on 3/10, subject: Your Phillips Exeter Academy Decision
Deerfield (waitlist): Email 3/10 at 6:54am, subject: Admission News From Deerfield Academy
Suffield (accepted): Email 3/10 at 10:30am, subject: Suffield Academy Admissions Decision For [ xxx ]
Hotchkiss (accepted): decision available online on 3/10 (I can’t remember the time they gave us, or when we checked)
Andover (accepted): received FedEx package late morning on 3/10
Also, Hotchkiss revisit dates are posted on their website: 3/30, 4/1, 4/4, 4/10
Nothing made with ice cream is god awful.
LOL. :-&
@photomom I’m right there with you, in the mumbo-jumbo camp. I got a call on March 5 at 3:35 pm CT as I was driving my daughter from school. I didn’t check who was calling, just answered the phone. When the lady on the phone said, “I’m so and so, your daughter is invited to interview for such and such scholarship, here is the date, time, and place,” I was so disoriented I ran a stop sign. I could neither pay attention to the road nor form a coherent sentence. I asked her to repeat what school was that?? (Jeez, like I’ve never heard my kid has applied!..) Eventually I remembered to ask if that meant she’s been accepted. Never felt so dumb in my life.
I also worry that I dominated the conversation in the student-led tours. I’m trying to remember, but I think I out-talked my daughter by quite a bit. :-S I read that some parents let their kids do all the talking, and I read that before going on the tours, but as a newbie, I think I did more talking than my daughter. Sigh. We have to hope for the best. I think if we were to do this again (NO!), I would be SO much more sanguine and cool.
So @GoatMama - so you’re saying one school called you on 3/5 and GoatKid was in, since it was invite to apply for a scholarship??
@MA2012 I had started a spreadsheet for revisit days, but I could only find them on three schools’ websites. I’ll check again in a week or so. Maybe I missed some. Maybe some will get added.
@CAClover: We are just the opposite. I told my son that if he wanted to go to boarding school, he needed to do the work. He scheduled all his interviews. I didn’t read his essays. (He preferred that anyway). He was responsible for all his teacher recs. Now I am second-guessing that. Maybe I should have… It can drive you crazy to rethink the process. If we end up repeating this process next year (shudder), I may insert myself into the process more.
@PossiblePrepMom If we redo the process next year (I’ve had a lifetime of this experience so far and don’t want to do it again), I can imagine myself refusing to do anything aside from what I need to do, such as drive the car and pull out my credit card and write my part. The rest would be up to her!