<p>The MIT thread did have way more rejections than I expected. S’s only good friend that applied to MIT was waitlisted - and she had already been accepted to Yale SCEA.</p>
<p>I am really sorry OWM, Scoutsmom and Phbmom! My bro went to MIT and if it helps any, he’s the only one of us kids that still rents, and his basement floods all the time, and there are bats (real ones) living in his attic. Just saying.</p>
<p>Aww sorry about the pi day news for “our” kids. I remember how sad D was in December when she did not get into her long time first choice EA. In fact that was one of the things that spurred me to spend more time on CC finding safeties/matches etc and learning from all of you. So I hope some good comes from all of the less than good news. These past few months have seen twists and turns for us- what was always her strong second school- she has not even checked on line to see if she got in. Her choice has migrated to a less expensive, state school with a really good program for her goals. Last evening we finally got the full FA package from a sweet, private downstate school. They practically gave her the world ( a little bit loans but the rest gift aid) which would work out less than a SUNY. But she is pretty committed right now to UAlbany so most likely it will go unused. As others have said I would live to be able to redirect this to a deserving CCer who would appreciate it. Ah well. Hugs to all.</p>
<p>Wow! A few days away and I can hardly catch up! We’ve really picked up the pace in the past week.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about rejections and wait list replies. Sometimes it’s so hard to see why colleges have chosen one student over another. I repeating my new mantra “he can only go to ONE college”, but I know that he would prefer to reject a school rather than have them reject him. </p>
<p>And congrats to those who have gotten good news recently – either in the acceptance or financial aid arenas. I love to hear the good news!!</p>
<p>My son is off to a scholarship competition for the next few days. I’d love it if they threw some money his way, but more importantly, I hope he gets a good feel for the school. </p>
<p>MOSB – Loved the story of your parents’ generosity. We have been similarly blessed by my husband’s parents. They have always lived very frugally, and yet, when our oldest son graduated from high school, they presented him with a very generous gift to support his college education. We were very touched by their generosity, as I’m sure they had no help at all when the put their four children through college. I’m sure that they scrimped and saved to educate their own and then scrimped and saved to set some money aside for the grandchildren. They have already told us (but not S2) that they plan to give him a similar gift. We’re lucky.</p>
<p>Thanks for that, amandak. Love starting my day with a laugh.</p>
<p>Does he also have bats in the belfry, so to speak??? ;)</p>
<p>Morning all. So sorry that 3 of “our” kids got unwelcome news last night. UGH. I sure hope these adcoms realize that a lot of these top kids have 10-20 apps out. They should let in some more kids! I look at the stats of the rejected/deferred EA kids at Yale, Stanford, and Columbia and now the RD kids at MIT and am absolutely stunned. I think all these schools are going to let in the same 1500ish kids and then be underenrolled. This year is utter madness and I am now very worried about March 30. D continues to be unaware of likely letters and the bloodbath documented here. Trying to be positive and remindng myself that kids will have the right option and this will pass. A lesson in resilience if nothing else. Moving on to cinnamon rolls and wishing I had not given up wine for Lent.</p>
<p>I’m so touched by my parents’ gift for sb that I’ve thought of a neat (I think) way to pay it forward. </p>
<p>I’m starting, today, a little fund for son(s)-or-daughter(s)-of-songbird. </p>
<p>I can’t do much right now because (as we all know), I can barely afford to get her off and on her way. But surely I can find some spare change each day, right? Give up a little-nothing purchase once a week? Cancel the subscription to a magazine I love, but can easily read at the library?</p>
<p>I’m not even doing the math yet (and I would probably need one of you to help me…I don’t compound very well), but I think I have many years to work on this. I’m starting low-end: the fund currently exists as a five-dollar-bill in an empty applesauce jar in my pantry. When I get the first $100, I’ll open a separate savings account.</p>
<p>And the kicker is this is our little secret. I’m not telling my parents or sb or anybody else. Just you guys. The next people to hear about this will be sb and her child…probably 30 years from now! </p>
<p>Yikes…I hope I’m still around.</p>
<p>Double-yikes…I hope I remember where I’ve put the $! 
:)</p>
<p>amandakayak - LOL - you hit the nail on the head. I am a regular guest lecturer at MIT and it never ceases to amaze me how intelligent these kids are…the world needs these brilliant minds to solve the big problems. However, and this is a big however, many of these kids (not all) have a difficult time outside the academic community because they have few life skills and are really not all that interested in gaining life skills. </p>
<p>So, it all depends on your personal definition of success.</p>
<p>Congratulations to those that have been accepted and hugs to those that received disappointing news - the world works in mysterious ways.</p>
<p>MOSB- that is so sweet. And what a fitting tribute to your parents it will be someday when you give the gift to SB. I hope I can do something like that too- but will probably wait until after D graduates. Your parents are an inspiration to (almost 
) strangers.</p>
<p>MIT March madness - DS had a friend rejected - top of the class, ranked in a sport nationally, and female. Who knows what they are thinking? </p>
<p>I am more a lurker here but wish you all the best of luck with the decisions yet to come, and to be made… DS was EA, with two lottery schools yet to notify him. Yesterday, and ironically, he received a full-tuition plus offer at a safety school he withdrew from after acceptance and after the EA notices were out. The frugal parent in me could not help but say ‘what if’ you take that ride? DS would hear none of it. I know the school is not a great fit, but damn, with the offer it was near the cost of a CC around here…</p>
<p>I can barely function this morning and this is the only place I can think to write what I am feeling. I am praying that our son actually went to school this morning. It was the last place he wanted to go when he pulled out of the driveway. Being the smartest student in a school that has sent exactly one student to HYPSM in the last decade means everyone expected him to get into MIT. Why wouldn’t he be accepted? He’s the smartest kid they know. No one understands the competitive nature of this process. He just did not want to face anyone. If not for a test in AP Govt, I might have let him skip. But delaying the reality would not help.</p>
<p>All night, I played what if. What if we had seriously considered sending him to the Math & Science Academy 60 miles away where he would have lived in the dorm for the last two years of high school? What if we had “forced” him to visit and apply to other schools (with or without nuclear reactors) than the three he chose for their reactors? What if we lived in a town where he could have been mentored by researchers or been offered a more rigorous curriculum? What if he were a girl? (Sorry, dignified1. I’m sure your daughter earned every bit of her MIT acceptance but it is easier for girls because the pool of female applicants is smaller.)</p>
<p>Our conversation last night through the tears ran the gamut of those emotions. Plus, consideration of late applications to places that would still want a NM Finalist at this late date. Apparently, an “airhead” girl at school said something incredibly rude to him yesterday and he now considers her the benchmark for students going to our state flagship. (You know, Mizzou, the one with the largest nuclear research reactor in the country?) He doesn’t want to go to school with the party kids who snubbed him for four years. He is certain everyone on campus will be like her and that he won’t find any like-minded friends.</p>
<p>I can barely breathe today. The tears come uncontrollably. My heart is racing in the way that it does when a mother just KNOWS that something is wrong with one of her children. It’s the same feeling I had in the summer of 2009 when I KNEW our older son was hiding something from us.</p>
<p>Back in 1973, I was rejected from Yale, waitlisted at Northwestern and accepted at Penn and Smith. I paid my enrollment deposit at Penn, signed up for classes and had a roommate. Then my dad lost his business and had a heart attack. And I was suddenly headed to Mizzou. I couldn’t imagine how that would work out well but it did. I am confident that our son’s opportunities there will be even greater than mine nearly 40 years ago. But right now, he is crushed andI hurt for him.</p>
<p>And tonight, we will practice our waltz. He will be the most handsome and most intelligent young man in the room. And I will be incredibly proud as I fight back the tears.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear MIT had no room for scout, phb, and owm’s kids. Daughter’s boyfriend was rejected as well. She took that much harder than her own waitlist decision, as MIT was far and away his number 1 choice. She did hear good news from one friend who was accepted to the school that waitlisted her (his top choice). </p>
<p>Good timing for beautiful grandparent story from mosb. And the funny snippet from amandak!</p>
<p>One of my good friends was accepted to MIT back in the distant past, but chose to go to Rice instead, where she had a wonderful experience and no regrets.</p>
<p>OWM: Sharing your tears.</p>
<p>olderwisermom —I hurt for you reading your post. Having been there with one DS, I can only tell you that the process is so RANDOM that it is truly not evaluative of these kids !!!</p>
<p>Nothing worse than your kiddo’s heart being broken. OWM, I agree that it is hard when your sphere does not appreciate the level of competition. But we all do. If he is half the kid that he sounds like ( and this goes for ALL of your kids) then his opportunities are endless.</p>
<p>OWM- my heart aches for you. It is so tough when we see our kids’ dreams dashed. A few weeks back I was exactly where you are to a degree, second guessing what I had done for D which would have helped her get in to her #1 or the guidance I had given for applying to other schools (I still think I dropped the ball on the latter in terms of finding good matches). Just forgive yourself- you did the best you could with limited resources and not knowing how one action would have ripple effects. You love him, and he will learn an awful, but necessary life lesson. (It still sucks though.)</p>
<p>OWM, I feel so badly for you and your son. Reading your post brought tears to my eyes as I recalled the pain I felt at my son’s rejection seven years ago. I remember the absolute panic I felt, certain he would never find his place at his one and only acceptance. I cried on and off for days and my emotions swung from sheer terror to optimism on a near hourly basis. My heart aches for you, your son and all the others facing rejection this morning. But know, this too shall pass.</p>
<p>I am so sorry about the unfortunate MIT news here.</p>
<p>I am tearing up at work between my heart aching for owm and her wonderful son and being touched by mosb’s story. Owm - I know this doesn’t help, but haven’t we all at some point thought we could have done more for our kids than we have? But we do the best we can under the the circumstances we’re dealt and you know what - all of our kids will go out into the world knowing they are loved unconditionallly. Not all kids will have that. And with that, they can accomplish anything. And they will all, in their own way, do awesome things. What better gift can we give them?</p>
<p>Owm - you know he is going to be ok, wherever he goes, whatever he does, this point will be just one tiny moment of disappointment and not define the path, just twist it a bit. I believe in fate and you know his future will not be a credit to a building or the particular college listed on that diploma, but a credit to him - his brain and his heart, and that waltz with his mom will be more important in the span of his life than any arbitrary decision by an adcom. Give him a big hug from me!</p>
<p>OWM: I’m so sorry for your pain. There is nothing worse than seeing a child’s disappointment and unhappiness. Your son is an amazing young man, and this decision doesn’t change that. This process is so unpredictable that it’s really hard to know if anything would have changed the outcome.</p>
<p>I think that one of the hardest things for kids is to have to face their classmates after a defeat like this. It can be especially hard when the other kids don’t really understand how competitive schools like MIT are. I hope that your son gets some support from friends today.</p>
<p>I’ve known a lot of kids who had to “settle” for the state flagship for various reasons. Things usually work out just fine. I’m sure that your son will find students he can relate to in the honors program and his classes. I hope you both feel better soon.</p>