<p>The UCs are causing quite a stir at D’s school. A lot of unexpected rejections and paltry financial aid packages. Even kids who were previously considered shoo-ins are being passed over.</p>
<p>Wonderful news on our end, however. Our family has been waiting with baited breath for the MIT Finaid package since December. It was difficult getting accepted, but would we be able to afford it? Finally got the answer yesterday. Yes!!! We can afford it! I’ve never seen my D so flustered with joy. It was the first time I realized just how stressed *she *was about the financial situation. She now knows that at the very least she’ll be going to MIT. So happy!!</p>
<p>D has not said a word to me about prom. I know she’s going. But that’s it. She’ll probably follow her usual pattern of waiting until the week before to start considering what she’ll wear. :(</p>
<p>Dignified - I’m so happy to hear of the great financial aid for MIT! What a relief that must be!</p>
<p>So my daughter is waiting on 8 schools. All are reaches. Of those:</p>
<p>2 are Ivies that I don’t see as good fits for her. We haven’t visited them.
1 is a great fit, we have visited this school, and she loved it.
2 are <em>really</em> inconveniently located. We haven’t visited yet. Not sure of the fit.
3 are less inconveniently located, but we also haven’t visited yet. As for whether they’re a good fit for D, I can’t really say.</p>
<p>At this point, I am happy with her acceptances so far, and so is she. But it’s always nice to get a little more love, ya know?</p>
<p>I know…in fact, I have to leave the house for a few hours just so I can stop obsessing…don’t remember being this nuts when I was applying centuries ago…it’s so different when it’s for your child!</p>
<p>What a difference a week makes! I can read dignified1’s post about great MIT FA and be thrilled for her and her daughter–and not burst into tears. That’s just wonderful.</p>
<p>I have selected several future brides from the beautiful shutterfly pictures. We have amazing children!</p>
<p>Macelester was one of the pieces of mail that came very early that we saved because it was so cool! Son’s favorite Latin teacher is an alumna. But alas, no nuclear research reactor on campus. Great school!</p>
<p>Every day that I come to this thread now, I am so grateful that our decision is done, done, done and we know we have enough merit-based money to make us feel comfortable financially. Praying for that same contentment for all of you.</p>
<p>Move in day at the University of Missouri: August 17!</p>
<p>A moment to make you either laugh or wonder about school safety: Son texted me this morning to bring the leftover cupcakes from his nephew’s birthday party to math class for a post-test celebration. I texted back that he and his friends ate them all yesterday, but that I had lots of fruit from the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. He said, okay–bring it.</p>
<p>I drive to school and there are two extra police cars in the lot (one office is on campus all day) plus a county sheriff’s SUV. Two of the vehicles are K9 units. I walk in the front door with a brown bag stuffed to the brim. Four law enforcement officers in the foyer. None of them stops me. I walk downstairs to the IB HL Math room with my bag, make my delivery and walk back past the four officers and out the front door. A minute later, son texts me that school is in lockdown for a drug search. Not sure if it was a routine, scheduled search or a probable cause event. </p>
<p>I guess I looked innocent enough and my brown bag wasn’t suspicious. Funny or scary?</p>
<p>@anothermom3: I’m with you on the distraction. D was also accepted EA at Chicago which is a great fit, but now has two early writes from LACs and we’re back to square one. Oh, well. She has been clear that she will not decide until all results are in, and as her list includes a couple of Ivies that means middle of next week at best. Big envelope of propaganda from Chicago today, so they’ll probably go back to being the school of choice for today.</p>
<p>Congrats to all on the multiple Macalaster, St. Lawrence and Vanderbilt Blair Music School acceptances.</p>
<p>Congrats to arisamp and dignified1 on the FA good news.</p>
<p>EmmyBet - Thank for the Vassar announcement date. I will add it to the list.</p>
<p>Amadakayak - I believe that all acceptance committments have to be emailed or postmarked by or on May 1st. Some schools may require a different date but my understanding of the “universal” date is the 1st.</p>
<p>Congrats to madbean for the CCS program acceptance at UCSB.</p>
<p>Sorry to Kumitedad on the negative UCSB news.</p>
<p>Congrats to guitaristsmom for their good news.</p>
<p>Like many of you, we are waiting for 8 decisions that should be released over the next week or so. Two are ivy lotteries and the other six are all high matches or reaches. The two safety state schools are on hold for now. We will most likely have two or three visits/revisits for accepted student days. I just hope we can avoid the waitlist situation.</p>
<p>S is getting somewhat anxious about the impending news but is not showing it very much. He seems more concerned with keeping an A in AP calc and his spring baseball schedule than with these upcoming decisions. He will be on a senior class trip to Washington from the 30th through the 2nd so we have been given instructions and all user ID’s and passcodes for all applicant sites at his schools. He wants to be texted with any and all news. At least he should have info on a couple of schools before he leaves on his trip. DW and I will be very happy when this is over. Then we have to get him to decide where he will call home next fall. Another very busy month at the end of senior year. And then there is D, HS class of 2014…</p>
<p>The news is really starting to roll in now and will continue for the next ten days or so. It will be hard to keep up with everything.</p>
<p>So if D is one of the potential daughter-in-laws being considered I have to warn you. She has told me 1) she definitely wants to get married 2) she definitely wants to have babies 3) being a stay at home mom is fine with her but she also wants to keep up with her profession as she really loves libraries. So be warned. ;)</p>
<p>And wow- what a difference a generation makes. When I was coming of age in the 70s 1 and 2 were not important/questioned by me as to whether they would suit me. And I never ever considered being a SAHM (not that there is anything wrong with it, but with a disabled H it was never an option. Not sure I would have chosen it anyway because of my perception that it could lead to loss of control over my financial situation in case of catastrophic events like death or divorce.)</p>
<p>D got a weighty tome (literally) on the science of housekeeping that she is making her way through. On Friday she mentioned something about why “they” don’t teach these kinds of things in schools. I mentioned Home Economics and she asked what that was. Then she was outraged that we had failed to mention that this kind of study/major existed when she had been interested for years in this kind of thing- teaching herself to restore table linens, researching old recipes and remedies, and teaching herself to make piecrust from scratch including creating her own recipes. Ooops. We must have forgotten. ;)</p>
<p>Ha ha, Kinderny, that’s pretty funny. Your D may end up a new Pioneer Woman!</p>
<p>D’s school is all abuzz with UC stuff, too. They did better at UCLA this year but worse at UCSB and UCSD. A few girls are anxiously awaiting Berkeley but know that it promises to be really tough this year.</p>
<p>I don’t think our house can handle waiting until April 30th. I’m going to make the case to my D that the sooner she decides, the sooner she can let it all go and enjoy the rest of senior year, plus get a better shot at good housing. She will want both of those things, but still, this decision is so hard. Two weeks ago it seemed like it had come down to Clark vs. Dickinson. Then along comes one acceptance with unexpected merit aid, plus a very appealing bunch of literature, and suddenly it’s Clark vs. American. She started thinking that she’s a city girl who might have a harder time than she thought in a small town, and I think she’s right.</p>
<p>So more Pro & Con lists, but hopefully only for a week or two. She’s waiting on a 3/31 school even though she’s moved it to the bottom of the list-- but can’t decide until all the ducks are in a row.</p>
<p>“Home Economics”.
Wow! That brings back memories… wasn’t that the class where we (all girls of course) were required to carry around an egg for a couple of weeks and pretend that it was a baby? Things (and expectations) certainly have changed.</p>
<p>“…Son texted me this morning to bring the leftover cupcakes from his nephew’s birthday party to math class for a post-test celebration. I texted back that he and his friends ate them all yesterday, but that I had lots of fruit from the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. He said, okay–bring it.”
Love that, olderwisermom… :)</p>
<p>Huge congrats on the Macalester acceptances. I just love that school–quirky, smart, in a cool city (literally and figuratively!), with a great sense of humor (that president’s day video!) and great personal attention to the applicants. D1 went to one of their roadshow events, asked the adcom a question which he couldn’t answer, and was stunned to get a snail-mail answer a mere two days later. </p>
<p>kumitedad, hoping there is other happy UC news on the way.</p>
<p>researchingforemb, yay for the AU merit money offer! Does your D know that the AU students get to go trick-or-treating on Embassy Row? I think that alone is a good enough reason to go there. :)</p>
<p>EmmyBet, huzzah on the Japanese D getting a flight back home!</p>
<p>dignified, congrats on the happy MIT FA news, the final piece in the puzzle.</p>
<p>And a super-huge congrats to madbean’s S2 on the CCS acceptance. Truly, his cup runneth over. :)</p>
<p>Now they carry around a computerized baby doll in a car seat. It is programmed to cry, sleep, not sleep, need changing etc. Home economics is now FCCLA–Family, Career and Community Leaders of Tomorrow. We still have the cooking class at our high school, but I believe it is called Food Science. Big room with five ovens–very useful when hosting speech and debate tournaments and you need to feed judges and bus drivers!</p>
<p>Congratulations on the FA award from MIT - dignified. It’s great that your D’s dream can be realized!</p>
<p>madbean - congratulations on the CCS! Might need your advice while preparing for S a few years from now!</p>
<p>researching - congratulations on the AU offer. Clark is still on her list, then? It seems to be dropping off my D’s list - although she hasn’t made any decisions yet.</p>
<p>OWM - haven’t been to the shutterfly site yet - but will try and do so tonight. Am eager to see the pictures. Which Missouri campus is your son headed to?</p>
<p>Nothing specific to report from our end. Waiting for the lottery as someone else put it. D is sick - very unusual for her. She makes a lousy patient - she needs mom around, needs to be babied. But she will not miss a day of school - despite my asking her several times! She headed off to school this morning claiming all she had now was a headache. Am sure she will come home in the evening after tryouts and crash on the couch and become a mom’s baby again! How is this kid going to manage next year in college??</p>
<p>On the home ec topic … If you haven’t read it, check out “The Irresistible Henry House” by Lisa Grunwald. A novel about a “practice house baby” who started out life in a house devoted to education of college women about the challenges of motherhood. Yes, they really had them!</p>
<p>kinderny – There are actually jobs where she can use those skills. Like Museum curator, costumer, independent restorer, author, lots of stuff. But it is true most of us never hear about the ‘cool jobs’ until later on. And, of course, if the economy ever crashes for good and all, she’ll be a survivor. I’m doomed…no microwave? I won’t live like an <em>animal!</em></p>
<p>Yay for the acceptances, MIT $$$, scholarships, etc! </p>
<p>I’m awfully glad my D got all her responses ahead of time…they didn’t seem to have any particular date, they trickled in one at a time. One was a phone call. But waiting around day after day to this point and <em>still</em> not knowing would have driven me into a nice room with rubberized wallpaper. </p>
<p>You all do realize that once your kid accepts a placement, you get a whole new batch of paperwork, right? This is in addition to all the stuff for graduation (we have to go to it 1500 miles from here!), summer activities, foreign travel, etc. Make sure your kid’s immunization records are up to date and that they’ve got their meningitis, chicken pox booster (they want 2 now), and tetanus shots. Take 'em in ASAP before the back to school rush begins. </p>
<p>This is in addition to figuring out dorm placement, meal plans, classes, and transportation. And I thought our troubles were over! </p>
<p>Anyway, start gathering together all the same kind of papers you needed when they went to camp or started at a new grade school 'cause here we go again!</p>
<p>There is a mom on the '13 thread who is starting an MFA program. The school asked for *her *immunization records. I wonder how many parents could easily come up with their own immunization records!</p>