<p>Just wanted to pop in to give {{HUGS}} and Congrats to all.</p>
<p>Folks we made it to the other side of the fire ;)</p>
<p>S2 received his happy news on Wednesday —> Duke said yes with a generous scholarship.
Yesterday, his #2 choice sent some love his way with another generous offer.</p>
<p>We are humbled and pleased for him…This is my second year in a row on the carrousel and I am it is over.</p>
<p>I have read some amazing posts, mantra, reflections over the past few weeks and want to thank this wonderful community me for carrying through ;)</p>
<p>I woke up this morning trying to figure out how to get my friend’s 8th grade, caucasian, suburban public school son into the college of his dreams. Seriously. He is so smart and self motivated. He’s asked to go a a pretty distant, exlusive private school and I think that would really help his chances, but that’s a lot of strain on a family. I’m thinking about what everyone said about how their kid got in.</p>
<p>Snoozn: Congratulations on the Hampshire acceptance! I loved the way your described how it fits her - “the place that feels like home.”</p>
<p>Education2: Congrats on the Duke acceptance! It’s so nice to hear about a kid getting into his dream school.</p>
<p>Dandemom: I’m glad that your D is feeling better and focusing on her two great choices. My husband sees a lot of Georgetown students as patients, and he says they all love the school. The location is wonderful also.</p>
<p>My daughter’s English teacher had the kids go around the room and say where they had been accepted yesterday. She said that everyone seemed happy with their choices, even though there were plenty of rejections at the lottery schools. The ivy that accepted the most kids from our school was Cornell. </p>
<p>Mamom: Thanks for the offer of support for Boston students. I’ll be in touch. My daughter is fiercely independent, but I would love to have someone to call in case of an emergency.</p>
<p>I’m available for any kids in the Baltimore-Washington area.</p>
<p>Snoozn: Congratulations on the Hampshire acceptance! On careers, I changed mine several years ago. Being a military spouse meant quitting my lovely jobs everytime we moved. I jumped off the train and became a scuba instructor! I figured if I couldn’t have the job I went to school for, I’d pick something I loved (and no it doesn’t pay anything much but it makes up for it in fun!)</p>
<p>Education2: Congrats on the Duke acceptance! Duke was really hard this year, so that’s great news!</p>
<p>Missypie: I’m not sure how to put a finger on “the magic”. My DS HS as I’ve said previously doesn’t get kids to Ivys. Last year only acceptance (1) was at Cornell. My DS came home yesterday and told me 4 got into Princeton this year with one of those getting into HYPB. What’s up with that?? According to DS no one from this HS has gotten into HYPS in 8 years. What changed this year when things were so tough? Are the Ivy’s looking for more well rounded, public school kids? The buzz on other CC threads is that many privates had much lower outcomes this year. Don’t know the truth of this, but it makes me wonder. I was not joking when I said I didn’t think DS had a shot based on the HS history (none in 8 years!!!).</p>
<p>We have other big decisions to make here. AS many of you know, we have been waiting for orders to move in June. We have been waiting and waiting and waiting. So last week two new wrinkles came in. The first is that a new place wanted him and it happens to be the place I would really like to retire. It also would be very good if d choose one of two possible choices left that she likes if we do move there since those schools are at most two hours away from that location. The second news is that his former boss has offered him a very good job at a state university out West. Not my preferred retirement spot but I can deal with it for a stretch (hopefully moving within 10 years). So we wait. H will figure out things about the job while he waits for orders. That boss knows that if good orders come through, he is going with the military. IF not, he is retiring and taking the job. THe bad thing, he has to retire by May 1. We can’t move that fast so that is partially what he will be discussing about starting to work but then coming back for graduation and the move. THe one thing that won’t be happening= we won’t be living here.</p>
<p>NOw how will it change things- why if he goes to the state school to work, all tuition is very cheap (we pay 25% of in state and that is low in that state). We also don’t have to have them go to that state u, they can go to any of the state u’s and still pay this low rate.</p>
<p>Our kiddo has no clue where most of the friends landed…in fact no one beyond the EA/ED decisions who got into a first choice school is saying much—so…</p>
<p>One friend insists that if H wants him, they have to communicate by paper. ? Huh? Whats with that. The friend told our student he sent his app by paper/snail mail. Maybe to stand out? I asked our student if the kid had heard–and he thought not… I am not so sure. I gotta believe even a paper app would get a login and have the ability to know like the rest of them. Whatev…</p>
<p>Another had gotten into a super reachy school in Dec, and not into another super reachy one this round…The Dec school is such a great great match so the kid is not at all affected by the no from this one.</p>
<p>One friend got into UVA, and other friend added JHU to the options…</p>
<p>So having not heard very much, my guess is the lottery results where thin. I will be seeing some parents this weekend so will be interesting to see if anyone discusses the sorting out/SS Indecision in their home or if they say nothing.</p>
<p>The best point that has been made is they end up where they should be and can attend only one school…So its nice really to see, for the most part, the wealth spread around</p>
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<p>^ Perhaps one of God’s perfecting delays Sending you best wishes for a great outcome.</p>
<p>fogfog - Harvard had a box to check on their supplement that indicated that the student did not want to be informed by e-mail (only snail mail). So maybe friend checked that box. D had a friend who checked it, not realizing that this would leave snail mail as the only alternative. She isn’t holding out much hope for the mailbox - indeed, is really wishing it were all over, I think!</p>
<p>Hurray snoozn for the Hampshire admit. I admit I have been watching for your news after my D got her letter. After this weekend’s accepted student days at two different SUNYs we’ll know better if we are going to Hampshire’s accepted student day (Apr 16th). Is there any chance you and you D will go? A meetup would be great if we all end up there.</p>
<p>The SS Indecision is moving away from shore for us. But D does NOT want to talk about it. That’s fine with me although I have to keep on biting my tongue to honor her request. Fingers crossed she likes at least one of the SUNYs but if not, on to the next plan- I think were are at plan G by now.</p>
<p>MM – sorry you are still in limbo regarding your H’s next assignment.</p>
<p>Fogfog – H doesn’t release their decisions online; they send an e-mail. But on the H supplement you could opt-out of the e-mail notification and would have to wait for the thick or thin envelope. Why would one want to do that, I don’t know…</p>
<p>Results at our schools were also shattering on Wednesday. We are still on the spring break so most of the news are coming from FB postings; and most of them are not what these kids were hoping for. S (ever an optimist) assumes that kids who didn’t post (like him) have good news and are trying to be sensitive.</p>
<p>Off topic: Why does this thread has ‘midget porn’ as a tag?</p>
<p>MilitaryMom–I can totally relate! We spent 26 years in the Army so I know the stress/excitement/craziness of waiting on orders and trying to plan a move when you don’t know where you are headed! Hopefully it shakes out by May 1 so that your child can make an informed decision on college with all the new possibilites thrown in. </p>
<p>Hope all the puzzle pieces land in the right place for you. So just when you thought you’d exited Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, you have been thrown right back on for another go-round. And the SS Indesision has entered a whirlpool. Hang on tight. Good luck I know it will work out!</p>
<p>MMom - what you have to deal with always humbles me. Best wishes to you and your family.</p>
<p>About the Georgetown/UChicago choice: I’ll throw in a story about my friend’s D. She visited Georgetown, and it seemed so “her,” but when it came time to apply, she didn’t because one of their deficits is being strong in some areas but quite limited in others (for example, at the time there was no environmental studies/ecology major at all). She liked Chicago but wasn’t sure, got in EA but visited again and just didn’t feel comfortable. </p>
<p>Fast forward: she didn’t get any acceptances she really loved, so spent 1st year at state flagship, unhappily. Fast forward: she decided to transfer. Where? Georgetown! </p>
<p>She is graduating this spring and has found it to be an amazing experience (she never wanted to major in environmental studies anyway). She’s a total social sciences kid and it’s been perfect for her.</p>
<p>The ship is scheduled to dock in 30 days when all final committments to schools are due.</p>
<p>Sounds like some of you are fortunate and the kids have decided. The rest of us will be reviewing FA packages, debating pros and cons with the kids, helping review courses and possible majors, and scheduling visits. And then there is the waiting for the waitlist decisions that will start in May and based on everything I have read about this year’s stats, I think there will be a fair bit of movement on many of the waitlists.</p>
<p>We have scheduled student visits to Northwestern and Georgetown over the next two weeks so this will be a busy travel month. They are both 6 - 7 hour oneway drives so we are currently debating flying or driving.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt Waitlist update - Based on LAST YEAR’S admissions blog, Vandy started calling (yes, real phone calls) waitlisted applicants in early May. They also send an email and the FA offer within 24 hours. Last year you had 7 days to respond either yes with a deposit or no. The process sounds quite reasonable and organized and I would expect they will follow a similar program this year but we will have to wait and see what they announce on their Admissions blog.**</p>
<p>Happy for the students who are going to their “dream schools”. We have several! All the others will be going to great schools, too – in fact, I think these are rapidly becoming the “dream schools” as they are chosen.</p>
<p>On the topic of this year’s public/private admits… D’s class at private school seems to have historically high admits to the really selective schools and Ivies. For sure, this is a really stellar class of bright kids, standing out from the years before and after, so it may be an anomaly, or her school’s rep may be on the rise.</p>
<p>OregonianMom–OK, thanks. I thought you were looking at the source code for the meta tags. Somehow I’ve managed to totally ignore it and really didn’t see it until you explained. Shows how clueless I am sometimes! ;)</p>
<p>Well d is much, much happier after hearing what some others have gone through in the admission process- local kids, not your kids which she doesn’t know anything about. One is a girl in her quilting class who got perfect scores, is a URM, and has attended that institute in the summer for highly gifted kids-she got only 3 admits from her 11. No at her favorite school. That family is convinced the financials will fall in place because they did for the first two. I hope they do but since they are also in the process of buying a large piece of property to move to, I don’t know how that will work in future years. She only applied to Profile schools. Hopefully the financials will fall in place but airline tickets can be expensive. </p>
<p>Then there is the even worse case of a kid who applied to one Ivy, got in, and family can’t afford the 37K price tag they are left with as he is the oldest of many, many kids and Mom and Dad aren’t that young anymore. I think this was the case of Profile counting housing value as an available resource. D couldn’t understand why he was so blind. He is a kid we meet at tournaments and just at the last tournament I was hailing the schools that offer full tuition scholarships for grades and tests. One in particular that I visited I mentioned how nice the dorms were, how nice the area was, and how the kids there seemed really nice. I want these bright, hard working kids to realize there are good options and the big name schools are not the be all, end all.</p>
<p>Unfortnately, that is what the next wave of CC posts will be…“got into my dream school parents can’t afford it” or the alternate, “how do I tell my kid I can’t afford their dream school?”</p>
<p>Have been away from this thread for a week - a well needed catharsis. Congratulations to all those out there who heard good news on Judgement Day and hugs to those who didn’t. D didn’t win in the lottery either - but for her, the worst was last week. After grieving and crying over it for a while, she felt way better. She realized that she had applied to the lottery schools “just because” and she didn’t really care what the results were - she is in at the one school she badly wanted. Peer pressure, pressure from the teachers/GC and of course, us (the parents!) led to all this. She was disappointed and a bit upset at the results on the 30th, but she spent more time consoling and helping other kids in school that were also turned down. </p>
<p>It was horrific at our school this year. The best results came in during EA/ED times - the RD results were just brutal. Kids were so disappointed. This is a public school that typically seems to send at least one student to each of the top schools - that didn’t happen this year. I’ve no clue why - I hope the GC’s have a clue :)</p>
<p>missypie - liked the idea that folks chime in on why their kid got in to the tippy top schools. I would love to know why D didn’t - unfortunately, we will never hear and all we can do is guess.</p>
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<p>This. I think this is what cost D. She is an amazing kid (if I can say so myself!). Top 10 in class, three sport varsity athlete, plays three different music instruments, community service chair for NHS, has participated and organized several fundraisers for charity. She does all these things and does them really well - but she hasn’t received any national recognition for any one of them specifically. Her volunteering tied in with her interest in her major - her essay was about this as well. But I guess it didn’t resonate well enough with the adcoms at the tippy top universities. I was comparing her results to those of friend’s kids who graduated over the last two years - those kids were intensely focused on one EC while having similar academic credentials.</p>
<p>D is on the SS Indecision right now. She has three schools, all with good merit scholarships that she’s considering. She’s leaning strongly towards school #1 - the least merit:( But she attended a reception for school #2 and came home very positive. She’s going to visit school #3 next weekend and a revisit to school #2 the weekend after. Hopefully, she will have her decision around the 20th. We’ve asked her to keep an open mind and consider schools 2 and 3 and we’ll be fine if she ends up still wanting to go to school #1.</p>
<p>On another note - her birthday last weekend was awesome. We had several surprises (18 +1 for good luck!) planned for her and she truly loved the gifts. Close friends of ours surprised her (and us!) by stopping by and spending the afternoon with us. She ended the evening by accepting the local scholarship at an awards ceremony. Lovely lovely day - hopefully, one she remembers, despite the week surrounding it! But I sure am glad that S’s birthday is not in March :)</p>
it is over.</p>
Sending you best wishes for a great outcome.</p>