<p>I am kinda grumpy about the college application process today. S2 applied for a small and selective program; the application required about 4 essays in the fall. Second round required another 4 extensive essays, as well as a campus interview (travel funded by First Parental Bank.) So yesterday, he gets word that he is waitlisted, to hear the final decision by May 1. Really?</p>
<p>So much going on here, I just had to stop and admire everyone’s good news, share in some of the sad, and jump into the conversations:</p>
<p>OneGirlsMom, UT84321, oregonianmom, guitarist’s mom–yay to Macalester!</p>
<p>kumitedad–big aww on UCSB. I have heard from S’s GC that students may get better results from UC upon appeal, especially if there is any new news–upward trend? new awards? explain some hardship not mentioned?-- just in case your dear D had her heart really set on one of the ones that got away. There may be recourse.</p>
<p>EmmyBet–you make me SMILE at the potential you see in my S2! LOL!!! Your matchmaking idea might seem more outrageous had not my S1, a few years ago, actually dated the daughter of a mom I had met on a CC forum for his college. She was a doll, too. But, believe me, this is territory into which we may not want to tread. LOL!!! Meantime, I’m pulling for your D and her reachiest auditioned program.</p>
<p>kidderny–rooting for your D’s senior project this afternoon.</p>
<p>cooker–yay to the acceptance w/merit. Only applying to 5 schools sounds absolutely sane. And her process of visiting and deciding sounds very practical. </p>
<p>lynjoy–sounds like your S has many great schools already in line. If he gets into many more of the ten he’s waiting on, the decision may be crazy hard.</p>
<p>Pepper03–sorry the drama continues over there. One day at a time and things tend to get better.</p>
<p>guitarist’s mom–aw shucks about the WL, but sometimes schools act weird. Good that your D is onto greener pastures.</p>
<p>dignified1–you hit the FA jackpot! Hooray! I’m so glad your D’s MIT dreams are financially possible. It’s really so hard when these kids work hard and, miraculously, do win the admissions jackpot, but then have to wait on FA. I suspect more good news may be coming, too.</p>
<p>anothermom3 & high head–don’t know if I celebrated your kids’ EAs at Chicago. Love the school. (Love the pizza thereabouts, too).</p>
<p>researching4emb–congrats on American plus merit $$!! Washington DC is such a great city and easy to get to from the West Coast, too. ;)</p>
<p>slitheytove–sitting from your perch as the mom of a happy D into her ED school (yay Jumbos!), thanks for the support through our long haul of ups & downs.</p>
<p>arisamp–sorry D is feeling lousy. What amazing drive she has, though. Gotta admire her determination, even if she saves the fallout for mom. In fact, I think the kids may be realizing mom & dad won’t be around to pick up the pieces next year and that is exactly why some may be melting down (regressing) like little kids. It’s part of the process of growth. Looking back at my S1, he made an amazing leap of maturity and self-reliance by the time he got to Christmas of Freshman year at college.</p>
<p>And thanks to all my cc friends for the kind kind words about S2’s happy news. I do remember how much whining I did around here when he was slaving over all those art portfolios, and setting up websites, and supplements and extra essays, and interviews, etc etc. It’s been a really long road, and I’m so happy to share some of the rewards, too. 
No more whining!!!</p>
<p>Re: home economics–I sewed a demin wrap-skirt. For the class (7th grade) we had to buy a good pair of fabric sheers and my mom, a sewer, bought me a very expensive at the time pair and burned my initials into them to make sure they stayed mine. heh. I still have them. Aww. And btw, back then boys took “wood shop” and my brother made a lamp using a lathe, which–yep–I have in my house. :)</p>
<p>Re: lottery schools–my S2 decided not to apply to any ivies as none really fit his very specific creative pre-professional niche as well as other programs, which at this point makes sense to me. However, if some of his dear friends win their particular lotteries, will he have regrets? I really don’t think so, but will share the reactions if so. And I’m able to send full-force positive energy to all the ivy hopefuls among us here!</p>
<p>Lastly,
AvonHSDad–How sensible and cool your S is to allow you and AvonHSMom to open his mail and check his online accts! Hope you will be texting him some wonderful news that week. I have hesitated to ask you to list S2’s reachiest decision schools, but since you are the master of all lists, UC Berkeley is March 24 and USC (Film School and School of Theatre BFA) are in the mail today, but arrive to SoCal tomorrow.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone on the good news and hugs on the not so good news. </p>
<p>I could spend all day here reading and learning so much. Like a few others, D is in the lottery for 2 of the ivies and patiently waiting to hear back from 2 other schools. It is like a lightbulb went off - she is finally looking at the the bottom line of the schools that she has been accepted to. Yeehaw! This from a girl who just wants to go to college in a ‘city’ is now realizing that some of her other acceptances might be better. </p>
<p>She is showing signs of stress from all of this and I hope it gets better for her. Me, I’ll just keep on eating and using the treadmill. I can not wait until April 1. (but then she will probably take until April 30th to make her decision!)</p>
<p>Time for another walk on the treadmill…</p>
<p>oh my, I broke out in a sweat with the memory of Home Ec. I nearly flunked. Sewed the worst skirt ever made, burned everything I tried to bake. What a disaster (thank goodness we didn’t have to nurture a “baby” - I surely would’ve killed it). </p>
<p>Later in high school I audited typing because had I been graded on that class, it would’ve ruined my GPA.</p>
<p>Now, I can cook a few meals, and have managed to not poison anyone yet, and I type okay, since computers entered our lives. But H sews everything in this house that is not brought out to a tailor, and somehow D turned into a fierce baker - self taught, I assure you, and she is actually really good at it.</p>
<p>Congrats for all the great news, and condolences for the disappointments! I can’t believe we’re entering the last leg of this excruciating process.</p>
<p>I had the shock of the century this morning–the mail was delivered at 9:45 am! Normally it doesn’t arrive until 3:30 pm or later. Is today’s delivery an anomaly, or have they changed the routes and the mail will arrive early every morning from now on? If so, what a gift, the week college decisions start to come out! At least I won’t have to squirm through entire days wondering if Large Envelopes are clogging the box. The gods have definitely smiled upon me. :)</p>
<p>Need your opinion…S just got a scholarship app from one of his top 3 schools, decisions are being mailed in 3 days. Do you think that this is a <strong><em>sign</em></strong>? You can tell I’ve been on here too long trying to read into the motives of admissions. He thinks it went to every applicant; decisions have been made and I just can’t see them sending it to everyone. Have I completely lost it? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I think it is a sign that he’ll be admitted. I can see no reason that a college would send scholarship applications to students they’ve already decided to reject.</p>
<p>Btw, I remember from an earlier post that your son has been admitted to three colleges to which my D has been admitted (well, UVa. sent a likely letter). Just in case your S has other overlaps with my D, I’m going to check the mail to see whether she got a scholarship app, too!</p>
<p>My mailbox held nothing good. Congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>Schokolade - I’d like to believe you, and thanks for being positive. Are you also waiting for a decision 10am Saturday?</p>
<p>Thoughts on home ec. I think instead of getting rid of the class it should have been mandatory for both guys and girls. It’s sad how many these days just dont know how to cook. Cooking at home is the best thing for you, mentally and health wise</p>
<p>my .02</p>
<p>rom828 ~ Keeping my fingers crossed…</p>
<p>momdoc: Got a chuckle out of your post. Our mail arrives between 3 and 5 PM…never any earlier. Today, I heard the truck and looked out… it was 9:30 AM!!! I, too, thought that this would be a great time to change the mail delivery route and make our street first rather than last. Hope the postal service wasn’t just teasing me!</p>
<p>I know I will never catch up so please forgive me if I have left out your triumph or setback. I am rooting for all these great kids and wishing each of you grace as you get through this last bit.</p>
<p>owm, your stories always grip me and I feel the emotions, whether painful or humorous. Glad the mood is upbeat in your home.</p>
<p>Emmybet is not the only one scoping out these great guys as future son-in-laws. That can be our next project, match-making. 
And given Madbean’s story I don’t think its so far-fetched!</p>
<p>kinderny, your daughter reading a homemaking tome is cracking me up. Clearly she is trying to move to the head of the line in the matchmaking department. So maybe she will be the next Martha Stewart? Or keep her library very, very neat.</p>
<p>dignified- Congrats on the good FA to MIT. It must have felt great to see your daughter’s happiness.</p>
<p>Congrats on the Macalester acceptances! Great school!</p>
<p>Condolences, congratulations and good luck to those hearing from and waiting for UC schools. It really had gotten tough, tough, tough.</p>
<p>Here we continue to wait. We’ve already weathered a rejection from a much loved school relatively early in the game and I expect one more. Still waiting on 5 altogether but only one carries a great weight for her. It would be very, very nice to get into one of the auditioned BFAs, an affirmation for her. But if not I know she is preparing herself to move on. She got a lovely letter informing her of a merit award at a school she really likes and she was genuinely happy and excited about it. I can see that she is ready to move into decision-making mode. I expect there will be some more dips in this ride but overall the air is lighter and brighter up here.</p>
<p>And it sounds like many of us are ready as well. Even though waiting for the last ones to come in 4/1 we are starting to chart and pare down and make pro and con lists.</p>
<p>I definitely now see the value to schools not in the tippy-top group of admitting a bit earlier and giving merit and “showing the love”. Being wanted is powerful stuff and is definitely influencing my daughter. It will be interesting to see if one of the later acceptances can knock this current favorite out of place.</p>
<p>Thoughts to all of you still waiting. May the path between the mailtruck and your mailbox be clear and the arms of the mail carrier full of fat envelopes. Or in this day and age, will the servers not crash and your link lead to an admittance letter.</p>
<p>Hello, everyone. I had to go look up Macalester; I’d never heard of it. They have DS sport, but not a single player from Texas is on it. It’s too late in the game and it’s too far away, anyway.</p>
<p>DS’ elective this year is home ec. Well, technically, it’s called Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness. They do lots of how-to-make-a-healthy-menu, how-to-comparison-shop, etc. and at least once a week, they cook something in class, so he gets to have “Second Breakfast.” This is the DS, by the way, who is the soccer goalie and former offensive lineman on the football team . . . he said the stuff he cooks in class is better than everybody else’s! Too bad he doesn’t “practice” more at home! :)</p>
<p>We are still in a deadlock over Schools #1 and #2, with the two coaches, one of whom is being coy and the other of whom wants him bad. We are starting to get notices about signing up for dorms, etc., so this logjam has got to break soon. He’s admitted to both and we have our FA packages from both, so at least we aren’t sweating that part of it. </p>
<p>Best wishes to everyone still waiting to buy their bumper stickers and t-shirts!</p>
<p>I’ve been enjoying all of your posts, finding them so relatable with all that everyone is going through, and trying to find time to chime in with some questions of my own. I’ve been saving up my thoughts and questions, so get ready for a long note…</p>
<p>First, here’s some background.</p>
<p>I have three daughters, D1 being a member of the auspicious HS class of 2011. H and I both went to good colleges, but more by luck than by any planning on our part. Each of us, for different reasons, applied to only one college, where we were accepted and where we attended. So this whole process of searching for and applying to colleges is new for both of us, not to mention that things have really changed since our day, so while I think we’ve managed pretty well to figure things out as we’ve tried to help D1 along the way, we are also learning a lot and will be much more prepared when it is D2’s and D3’s turn.</p>
<p>D1 is an excellent student – ranked 1st in her class of 135, never earned anything less than an A, has taken the most rigorous curriculum her HS offers, has ACT scores that are right in the range of all of the most elite colleges, and has a great list of ECs that include music, varsity sports, leadership, and community service. </p>
<p>But here’s where my question comes in: The one thing that is an unknown to me is the quality of her essays as compared with those of the students she is competing with for admissions and scholarships. Obviously, it’s too late for her to change anything in that regard, but I raise the question because I know that there are some very wise and experienced parents on this forum, and I’m thinking ahead to D2’s college apps less than two years from now. I apologize if this is a discussion that you have all had already, but I would appreciate any input you have from your knowledge and/or experience. It wasn’t until after D1 submitted her applications that I heard from parents who have kids at some of the elite private high schools in our area about all that the GCs and faculty do to help those students with their essay writing, and that the GCs decide if and when the essays are good enough to be submitted. One mom told me that the high tuition they were paying for her sons school was finally paying off just in the help he was getting with his college apps, especially essays. I also began to read about the high-priced college admissions consultants who do the same thing (I did purchase Michele Hernandez’s book for D1, which is how I learned that these consultants exist). So, if D1 wrote her own essays without the benefit of that kind of guidance, doesn’t that put her at a significant disadvantage in the whole admissions process? How do adcoms know when students write their own essays and when they get substantial help from others? I’ve tried not to worry about this, but recently someone on this forum (I think it was AvonHSDad) wrote about a DIL who works in admissions, and how she said that the essay is one of the differentiating aspects of the application, when so many kids have those great GPAs and test scores. So I’m trying to get a sense of what the norm is out there – are most kids getting a lot of help on their essays, or is it expected (as I assumed it was) that they write them on their own? D1 asked for us to read them look for necessary edits, which we did, but we left the content and the format up to her. Should we have done more? Should we seek more help when it’s D2s turn?</p>
<p>For the record, D1 cast a wide net in her selection of schools to apply to – 15 in all with a good balance of safeties, matches, and reaches. The news has been mostly positive in admissions, a little disappointing in scholarships. She’s still waiting to hear from 7 schools, at least 5 of which are the lottery type. .She has been admitted to the state flagship, two highly ranked regional universities, Macalester (received a letter in an early batch, the first week of March), American, Case Western, and Pepperdine. She’s received merit aid from all but one so far (we have yet to hear anything financially from that one), just not the big scholarships she competed for. She’s waitlisted at U of Chicago. </p>
<p>And that leads me to my next question: If she pursues the WL with vigor, which she wants to do as it is her top choice, is it reasonable to expect any substantial financial aid? She would need it in order to attend, so we can’t say that yes she’ll definitely attend there if she gets off the waitlist until we see what FA she gets. We can say yes, she’ll attend there if we can afford it. Any other suggestions that any of you have or any resources you can direct us to regarding waitlists would be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far. I wish I’d have found you all sooner, but am so glad to know that CC is here for our 2nd and 3rd rounds of this (those poor first-borns who get to be raised with on-the-job training, and trial and error parenting, good thing D1 has as much going for her as she does )</p>
<p>ohiomom24: What a coincidence! Let’s hope that it’s a permanent change for both of us! Good luck!</p>
<p>This is a great thread which I have become addicted to as I obsess and wait. The kind and supportive words that everyone writes is so encouraging. My son is away this week with 70+ other seniors in his school (we live in NYC). They are in Paradise Island (he saved his summer money for this trip and I’m so glad he went as a reward for all his hard work). My son applied to Penn ED and together we sat at the computer on December 10 and looked and he was so disappointed when the letter did not begin Congradulations. He was Deferred. But more recently when he heard from Wash U (accepted) and got a likely letter from Cornell, I was the one who read the emails/went on the site before he did (with his permission). My son gave me his pw to his school email account and I compulsively check it 20 times an hour. I have the login info for all 14 schools he applied to (if they have one), and he wants me to check (and even open his mail) and text him with any good news. He’s superstitious and because the result was better when I checked first, I’ll be doing the same on the 30th when the big reach-y schools post their decisions. I find this thread comforting. I like knowing that I am not the only mom who is so nervous…counting down the days…good luck to everyone. I can’t believe that after all the SAT’s, SAT 2’s, AP’s, college tours, interviews, applications, essays, and meeting with advisors…the results will finally be in. It’s both scary and exciting, and I’m grateful for this thread. it makes me feel connected to others going through the same thing, as I try not to let my friends who have seniors feel my anxiety…if they don’t have it, I don’t want to give it to them, just in case it’s contagious!</p>
<p>ckofpng:</p>
<p>Dont know about others, but the way we did it for both kids is that the essays were theirs. I proofed them, and offered some suggestions, but everything was essential theirs. I wanted their true feelings and self on the paper. That way if accepted, it was for who they were, if not accepted, well they probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway</p>
<p>Excellent point, kumitedad, and one that we should remember and reiterate to our kids as the decision notifications come in. In fact, as I think about it that way it actually eases some of the general admissions anxiety. Thanks.</p>
<p>Maybe momdoc and ohiomom are on the same mail route!! Lots of good news - CONGRATS. I work with some Macalester grads - they all loved it; a very nice and bright bunch that I would have been happy to have as peers in college. Macalester is very well respected in the Midwest in particular. Hooray for reachy FA and all the other good news. I am pulling for all the kids, not just my own!<br>
Welcome ckopfng. I hear you. When my D got deferred SCEA, I immediately questioned the essays (only unknown quantity of the app as a scholarship committee reader told me great things about the recommendations). But, like kumite, we let D own her essays. Aside from some initial brainstorming and a proofread, we had no input (no professional readers either). She liked them and felt they were “her.” I have subsequently heard (from an adcom) that adcoms can smell an overworked, professionally read essay a mile away. I wholeheartedly agree with kumite - if they don’t like the essay, she won’t fit. Good luck.
Waitlist - definitely better than a rejection, but just thinking about it makes me anxious! Thank goodness I gave up wine for lent; I might be drinking too much while we all wait…</p>