<p>lynjoy ~ That’s a beautiful story…</p>
<p>Last decision for S: Harvard said Yes. So now he is 9 for 9 and we can board the SS Indecision. </p>
<p>For the record he has no hooks – white male, no legacy, not an athlete, middle class family, good public school (but not Thomas Jefferson). But he has one very significant national award, which I think tipped the admission scales in his favor. And of course, he is a straight A student with near perfect SATs, but so are most of the applicants that we rejected/wait listed yesterday. Everything else is pretty average. He has just few ECs, but he cares about them; didn’t run for an officer position in every club in his school, but has couple leadership positions (in and outside of school); has community service on his resume, but nothing spectacular. I liked his essays, but I might be biased. So I am not sure if any of these elements helped his application or he was admitted despite them.</p>
<p>Now if he would never signed up for that competition (it took some legwork on his part, our school doesn’t participate in it) and didn’t win it, he would still be as smart, as unique and as worthy as he is today, but maybe with a different admission outcome. Is it fair? I don’t think so. We were getting news from his friends yesterday and it was not pretty. Students with straight As, perfect SAT scores, tons of ECs, 10+ AP classes were getting bad news after bad news. It is really puzzling. </p>
<p>Now back to my house. So yesterday ended on a high note for my S, but today at 1:00 AM he woke me up. Poor guy is sick as a dog and neither he nor I slept since. At around 6:00 AM it was clear that we had to cancel our Stanford visit. Ugh. OTOH, I can catch up on my sleep. </p>
<p>Congratulations to all who are holding winning tickets, your kids deserved them.</p>
<p>Condolences to all who didn’t win yesterday, your kids didn’t deserve rejections and wait lists.</p>
<p>keylimepie ~ Congrats on Harvard and the 9/9! Awesome! Didn’t sleep last night either, lol. Hope your son feels better, it’s probably too much excitement at once.</p>
<p>@keylimepie: maybe if we all give you a dollar, you can buy some lotto tickets? Many congratulations to your S. What a thrilling result.
@fogfog: thank you for your insightful post.
@lynjoy:you should feel very proud indeed.</p>
<p>Also…
@ckofpng: Your post was not too long! And we are hugging you here in cyberspace.
Welcome surfahdad. Congratulations!</p>
<p>No one’s story is too long… :)</p>
<p>It’s great to read of all the successes and tough to read about the disappointments. But what is amazing to me is to appreciate the stories behind all of these “checks into the portals” and “trips to the mailboxes.” So thank you all for your time (and narrative skill!) in posting on this thread.</p>
<p>If you’ll pardon a really strained metaphor 
I was thinking about the SS Indecision someone was mentioning as well as all of the “I’m in the same boat” comments and started looking at this thread as a giant flotilla. At the moment, I feel like I’m in the “same boat” as ckofpng, guitarist’s mom, OregonianMom, MnMom, and others, but I know there are other boats nearby for support as we go through the journey. When the discussion shifts, I move to other boats (ckofpng, I don’t think I’ll be in the same prom boat as you - D doesn’t have 3 young men clammoring to be her date at this point!) but there is always company in the boat and in the larger flotilla. So as we journey through these sometimes rough waters … wait, now this metaphor is definitely getting out of hand … but I’m sure you all know what I mean.</p>
<p>I’m also happy to see matriculation threads started. Hopefully they will soon be merged into one, and I’m quite sure I’ll be posting on it soon.</p>
<p>lynjoy, what a great son you have. Thanks for sharing your sweet story.</p>
<p>Wow. I am just awed by this group of kids and their parents. What incredible results, and what grace, strength, resilience and support in all the variations of circumstances here. It seems like there is really good news to balance out the not-so-great news for almost everyone, though I know that the disappointments must really sting for the kids who have worked so hard for a goal that just didn’t pan out, for reasons that will never be totally clear. But I am seeing such great opportunities for everyone. It will be so interesting to touch base a year from now; I am guessing that we’ll be hearing a lot of “blooming where they’re planted” stories.</p>
<p>Still on the SS Indecision here - hoping to land soon.</p>
<p>I like the idea of the SS Indecision. That’s exactly what it is like here. D did NOT expect to be 8 1/2 for 9 (she has a verbal likely from that NPR school but won’t know for sure until tomorrow) so now all bets are off. She came down this morning and said: everything I have done since seventh grade has been for this week. Now I’m just going to enjoy it for a few days before making any decisions.</p>
<p>**Thursday’s Countdown for the few remaining unannounced schools </p>
<p>This is the LAST WEEK for the acceptance decision countdown. 1 day of countdown left and this phase of the process is over.</p>
<p>Amherst and other April 1st schools - 1 day to go. For all the schools that haven’t announced earlier dates!</p>
<p>This is the end of the countdown for this phase of the process. </p>
<p>The SS Indecision/Decision (or whatever you want to call it) countdown will launch tomorrow.</p>
<p>Once you have made your decision, please post it on holliesues thread. It will be great to see the final results of this years efforts by an amazing group of talented kids who wouldnt be where they are without their very supportive, loving, and caring parents.**</p>
<p>Does anyone know why the April 1st schools wait until then? Do they think there is a value to being last? I know that in my son’s case, he was over the last school to notify him before he even got the admit.</p>
<p>^^^ Maybe that’s why, missypie. They catch the kids who have been dreaming of them only since the beginning. All the ones who would have been just as happy elsewhere have already gotten past that point. </p>
<p>I think Highhead’s D and Keylime’s S are destined for one another. If they wind up at the same school, we’ll know Cupid is working on something there!</p>
<p>OneGirlsMom - Not to prolong the metaphor but as I read your post, I had the image of many boats, some luxury yachts, some dingy’s, some rafts made of whatever they were able to piece together sailing away from Cuba or something and what is that on the horizon? my dear ds using the wrong end of the paddle, going off into the bermuda triangle…and it is only Thursday.</p>
<p>OGM - I love your metaphor and am happy to be sharing the boat with you, ckofpng, guitarist’s mom, OregonianMom. I think we will grow to love our boat. It’s not what D had hoped for and there are some crumpled tissues by her feet, but we will have fun exploring our ocean and the kids will find their port. I now need to get D to determine where she would like the boat to take her for accepted students visits! We are out of town next week with no wifi, so I need to get her booked in the next two days. Looking forward to putting a deposit down, putting a Proud Parent of ??? Student sticker on the car, and having her peruse a course catalog!</p>
<p>Ak - you just made me burst out laughing. thank you!</p>
<p>Just catching up on all the news from yesterday and early this AM.</p>
<p>Wow we had some awesome success in here-congratulations to all of you who did so well yesterday. Some of the choices your kids have to make now are just spectacular and well deserved!</p>
<p>For those of you (and this includes moi) who had tough days yesterday-well the sun came out and we live to fight another day. I so appreciate the kind words directed towards me and my son-they mean so much from my friends here. I am sure as each day passes our children will be able to put into perspective what the whole admissions season has meant, not just what happened yesterday.</p>
<p>Thanks you so much for that link on rejection! I have visited it and did send the link to my son-I hope he checks it out-lots of good stuff on there that can apply to everyone-</p>
<p>He headed off to school today in a bad place. I hope the day has gone better for him than he anticipated. We’ll see. It’s tough being a big fish in a little pond when a shark comes by and swallows you whole. ;)</p>
<p>@ ckofpng - Perhaps your DD’s friends could set up a ‘dating game’ for the three prospective dates and she could pick the bachelor who strikes her the most. What a nice distraction!</p>
<p>OK so I’m emotional today. I’m not the teary type, but I’ve been crying for the good news and sobbing over the sad news. It’s the hardest thing in the world to see your child hurting and not having a way to “fix” it. If only they had bandaids that big. Hugs to everyone and know that all your kids are rockstars and are shining brightly even if they don’t realize it today.</p>
<p>On to the SS Indesision–for those of you that like to see the glass as 1/2 full–jump off the boat with me and dive into the ocean of opportunity. I’ll bring the scuba gear and you all can enjoy going under the waves to see the beauty below. There is so much under that boat, that you don’t have to decide which boat to jump on–dive off and explore! </p>
<p>AmandaKayak–you crack me up. He paddles to the beat of a different drummer and those are the amazing ones!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>AmandaK…a kayak paddle for sure!</p>
<p>Thank you all for sharing your stories! It’s been a amazing couple of days, living through this all with everyone else’s kids besides my own! I hope everyone bounces quickly back from disappointments and finds the perfect fit in the choices they have. Our school didn’t fare terribly well with the top schools this year–so many waitlists (of which my own son has 4!). He’ll probably stay on one or two of them, but is lucky to have two great options, Notre Dame and Cornell, to choose between. He’s been in love with ND (my alma mater) for years, but there’s always the lure of that Ivy brass ring…Don’t know how we’re going to decide. Well, FA might do it for us (we haven’t received either school’s package yet), and he hasn’t visited Cornell yet, so who knows what he will think after he actually sets foot on the place. I think we’re going to be sailing the SS Indecision up until the very last day…</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your lives with us, and best of luck to all our kids wherever they end up! It’s just the beginning, not the end, of the journey for them.</p>