Any nervous parents out there?
Yes. We received one admission right before Xmas so that relieved some of the anxiousness. I know how you feel. Try to relax, enjoy the holiday season and keep the pressure away from your student…
In California the vast majority of students apply to UCs and Cal States that release in bulk in a couple of months. So it is perfectly normal here to still be waiting.
It is a long time to wait until the middle/end of March for RD admissions. Everyone says it all works out as it should in the end, but it is hard to live through it. Last year we were in your same boat. My daughter was deferred from her SCEA school and applied to 9 other schools RD. She did not want to apply to the flagship state U with rolling admissions that would have been a lay up. After she got back to school from the holidays, many of her friends were already in their ED schools and done with the process. She was in nowhere yet, and all of us were nervous. She got accepted with merit to her safety around Valentine’s Day which really took the pressure off. At least she knew she was going to college somewhere. The rest of the acceptances started to come in around her spring break with the last arriving around the end of March. The last one was to one of her top schools and she happily enrolled. In retrospect, it was worth the wait. Hang in there.
S18 has heard from 3 safeties, but won’t hear from top choices until late January and even late March for some!
Still watching that mailbox every day.
My barely-B average daughter has acceptances from her safeties-- both Community Colleges upstate with dorms, as well as one state college. But she’s desperately hoping to get into a particular SUNY school that’s a little bit of a reach.
If she gets in there, we’re done; she’ll attend.
If not, she’ll shed a few tears, but she does have at least one real strong option.
It’s rough! Son got into his safety but too close to home for all of us. He won’t hear from other safeties (further away) and all others till Mar/Apr. It’s going to be a LONG winter.
I agree its a long wait and its going to be a long school year. My D is waiting for her top choice.
Very normal for kids who applied RD. But the wait seems endless!
It’s normal to have to wait until the end of March or even early April. You are hearing about the kids who applied ED. Depending on where you are located, a LOT of kids apply RD and have to wait. And for kids applying RD to very selective schools, that often means waiting right until the end of March. Yes, nerve wracking, but don’t dwell on it. Instead, look forward to the news with anticipation. Better use of energy!
My daughter applied EA to her top choice. I’m starting to think it was a mistake, since some of the RD kids have already heard and her app was in by mid October.
Ah well, it is what it is. She’ll hear when they’re good and ready to let her know-- by Mid January according to the website.
same situation with me
Kid one…applied early to three places and had those acceptances before Christmas with merit aid. BUT his two top choices…he heard from end of March. But he knew he was going someplace…and his early acceptances would have been fine.
Kid 2 applies rolling to on school and EA to two others…and had all of those accotqnces before Christmas. Really…those were the only colleges she was interested in. She had the EA financial aid In Jañuary…and got a huge merit award to the rolling school in February.
Both had nice senior years as the applications were all submitted by October 15.
^^ That’s how it worked with my son-- he applied by mid October, and had all his results by Christmas.
My daughter, on the other hand, is waiting to hear from 4 schools-- out of the 5 non-community colleges she applied to. Her Common App was submitted on October 15.
My D applied EA at her top choice in mid Oct. All her friends have heard back. Which makes me nervous. I really need for her to get accepted at this college because the other schools she applied to are too far from home. It’s like my sanity depends on it.
Unfortunately, if I read what you are saying right, you probably do have something to worry about. If your daughter’s EA application is really sort of a rolling-admissions application, and lots of other kids have heard back already from the same college on early applications, that’s not good news for your daughter. Things may still work out, but you should be prepared to help her get through some disappointment here. Giving her the idea that her failure will cost you your sanity is probably not the best way to do that. (Of course, it’s OK to vent anonymously on College Confidential, as long as you can tolerate the occasional anonymous meddler who will criticize you for it.)
On the general topic: My kids weren’t in the position of having heard nothing by now, because both of them got at least one very good early acceptance (which one of them wound up taking, but not until April). That didn’t mean that they were carefree through the winter, though. Quite the opposite. And I remember some of their friends who were waiting for some positive answer well into March. That was so hard on them! And there was really nothing anyone could do to make it better. All the adults in their lives tried as best they could, but they were at a point when they needed validation from someone other than their parents and other adults who had known them since they were little.
It was a lot worse for one of my kids than for the other. He just got more and more tense as late March approached – you could practically see his body clenching with anxiety and anticipatory embarrassment. (He was a very good student, and – like many other very good students on CC – feared losing his classmates’ respect if he wasn’t accepted by a college commensurate with his standing at school.) I had really hoped that once all the applications were in and all the grades that mattered were posted, he could relax and enjoy his life a little. Never happened. Maybe a little after all the dust cleared at the end of the year, but the next few months were a real low point in his life.
It happened again towards the end of college, by the way, with graduate school applications and belated scrambling to find a Plan B. Things aren’t all great all the time.
Everything worked out, though. He had a great college experience, he has had a fine post-college career, he’s recently married, things are great right now. When winter comes, usually spring is not far behind, as Shelley said (but more elegantly). Those of you going through pain now, and over the next few months, should know that it’s temporary.
I wish they would all have applications due by 12/31 and send out acceptances in March and finaid in April. Or everyone applies by end of October and acceptances are done in December, finaid in February. Sigh. The year long process is wearing and I feel for everyone each year going through it.
We’ve had a few acceptances, however two are not financially feasible with the low merit offered. The third is a school that I’m excited about, but my daughter is not. So yes, we are nervously awaiting news from the rest of the schools which don’t release for another couple of months.
The hardest part for my two kids was the college purgatory part of it…that is, not accepted, not rejected…just “deferred.” It makes it hard to look ahead…and hard to shake the “maybe it’ll work out.” To make it worse, it really does work out for some kids (one of my mine, yes. the other, no) so it’s hard to know what to do with all of the emotions.
I remember gifted kid had to wait for regular decisions to come out in March his senior year. He finally applied to our top tier flagship in January (Feb 1st deadline, rolling admissions) and got a quick yes. His type of applicant is why they have to defer students. Big problem senior year was his slacking, something he had dissed previously. He needed to go to college.
In many ways the college application and acceptance period seems rushed. It is understandable why students need to get materials in so soon but there is a lot of developing/maturing that still goes on in the last months of HS. It may be better to get applications in then all wait until spring. But- then the domino effect as students accept one school, reject another leading to an open spot where another student…
I wonder how many kids slack off as they worked so hard for so long to have good grades and just want to enjoy themselves for a change. Or are bored and there is no good reason to go through motions. Or…