<p>I’m so sad to hear about the terrible car accident in Blueiguana’s community. :(</p>
<p>I was coming here to vent about something, but in light of this… it feels very irrelevant now. Let’s all hug our kids a little tighter tonight.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry Blue and bluejr. There are never enough words to express the sadness of losing young people.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the wonderful words of support… You guys are amazing. I mean that sincerely. </p>
<p>O’mom, Please vent away my friend! I think we could use a redirect.</p>
<p>Can someone post the spreadsheet that can be completed and used to compare schools? I know it’s been passed around a couple of times on this thread but I didn’t need it then. Now that we have about 20 minutes to find, evaluate, visit and select a school, I could sure use that handy tool.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve gotten some feedback from a couple of you privately but thought I’d post the Fab 4 (or what I have come to think of as DD’s list 2.0). They’re an eclectic group, ranging from small to large and include public and private. If anyone has any thoughts they’d like to share, I’d be happy to hear them. Feel free to PM me if you’d prefer,. They are: Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, University of North Texas in Denton, St. Edwards in Austin and Texas State in San Marcos. </p>
<p>Once again, thank you all for your support!</p>
<p>here proudmom - [CollegePick</a> - Define colleges](<a href=“http://www.collegepick.us/]CollegePick”>http://www.collegepick.us/)</p>
<p>Blue: Adding my thoughts and prayers to you and your community. Words are never enough when young lives are lost.</p>
<p>olderwisermom: Your school district is lucky to have you!</p>
<p>cgpm59: congrats on your son’s First Team award. He must feel great!</p>
<p>blueiguana – so, so sorry for you and your community and the poor grieving parents.</p>
<p>I drive a Honda Pilot with 85K miles on. I love it, but D hated driving it when she was learning. It was just too big for her. She drives a Subaru Outback – comfortable and easy to handle. I like the safety. She will not be taking it to school freshman year. Her brother will have his license next year anyway.
Enjoying all the new pics!</p>
<p>blueiguana - there are no words that really express the deep sadness when a young member of the community is lost. I witnessed it first hand 35 years ago and there is abolutely nothing worse for the parents and family that the loss of their bright and loving child. We do worry even though S is a good driver and always wears his seatbelt. It’s the other drivers that he has no control over that worry us.</p>
<p>blue—my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your community
this news also strikes some fear and worry into all parents as grad season approaches</p>
<p>cgpm–wow that is an honor for your soccer guy–Congrats!</p>
<p>proudmom—glad to see you asking for input about final schools…I was thinking about the same thing if D1 and/or the FA doesn’t make the choice soon. Have you looked at any of the student review places online—c o l l e g e p r o w l e r or student review or even y e l p has some (lose all spaces in all of those) Yes, you can’t put a lot of weight into them but if there is a recurrent theme, either positive or negative, it can be helpful. Also that college navigator somewhere in there in the college search part when you look up your school you can look at retention/grad rates, the data is a little old but still good to consider.</p>
<p>Darn, one of D1’s faves sure didn’t come thru with much better from our appeal, sigh, will see what everything looks like in the light of day and towards the end of the weekend when we should have ALL info and all visits finished. Feeling very dissapointed though…this was one we’d been waiting for a while and seems like they made the least adjustment :(</p>
<p>Collegemaw, I’m so sorry to hear that one of your D’s favorites didn’t come through on the appeal. My D’s BF’s financial aid appeal did not fare any better, and as of today it looks like he will not be able to attend.</p>
<p>Re Financial Aid appeals – I hear ya! We were waiting for an update from one of S2’s favorites. They had offered him a scholarship, but had promised to review the whole package again. He has received 3 letters from them in the past 3 weeks…all stating that they’re updates. But they’re all the same!! Guess they’re not offering any more $$ – so I’m not sure why they keep “updating”.</p>
<p>Good morning all…</p>
<p>Congrats on all the good news and so sorry about the loss of life…thoughts and prayers are with everyone…</p>
<p>I’ve been sitting quietly on the sidelines, been too stressed out to post anything. D still hasn’t made a decision. I believe that I will be pushing her off the ship…kicking and screaming…she told us that she is too afraid to make a decision. I gave her a deadline of next Wed. otherwise I’ll pick the school! haha We did appeal the Fin.Aid from two of the schools but I don’t think we will hear back before May 1…and I don’t think she will get any more aid. H lost his job last summer and is now working but there are special circumstances.</p>
<p>RE: Shutterfly, both D and H have requested that I not put their pictures up there…sorry…I have enjoyed looking at all of them…</p>
<p>Nice and sunny here today - but D has a huge track meet on Saturday - the weather is for chilly and rain (not looking forward to that!) </p>
<p>Have a great day everyone!</p>
<p>We bought D a little Honda Fit and chose it because of the crash test ratings, cheap to run, cute and good resale value. I personally don’t care for it as it sounds tinny and feels light but we live in Tx so it’s city driving and NO snow. I drive a Scion Xb not so cute too look at but very roomy, D had a an accident and was well protected we felt. Even new it was relatively inexpensive and is cheap to run.</p>
<p>Sorry for those whose appeals and choices are not what they had hoped. </p>
<p>As for us, the clouds parted, the trumpets blared and the angels sang. My girlchild has chosen Hampshire College! (Actually that sounds much more momentous than it was. At dinner I looked at her and said, “May 1st is a Sunday, so you need to make a decision sometime next week.” She said, “As long as you promise to help me get home every 3-4 weeks, I want Hampshire.” So done and done.) I am pretty sure it was the farm on campus, the proliferation of single dorm rooms, and the lack of core curriculum/pre-req’s that sold her.</p>
<p>So regretfully I bid adieu to my fellow passengers. AvonHSDad’s good example aside, ain’t no way I am staying on d*** boat one more minute than necessary. “Barkeep- a round of drinks for my friends still on board!” I am off to have a Smith and Kearns to celebrate. What? It is coffee…sort of. ;)</p>
<p>Morning All</p>
<p>Our kiddo counted the school days–given the 2 weeks of APs…</p>
<p>Kiddo has 7 days of school left…as far as daily classroom hrs…
6 AP exams to conquer, and then will only have to attend perhaps first period daily for a week…til Sr exams…</p>
<p>The grad. announcements arrived. They look nice and I will address them over the next few days…
I have a dress for graduation. Found something cute and appropriate for the occassion and weather … Whew.</p>
<p>kinderny: Congratulations!! Sure you don’t want to hang out just a wee bit longer with us on board? There’s still good music and the drinks are flowing.</p>
<p>**The SS Indecision left port on April 1st.</p>
<p>The ship will stop in a few additional ports this month with the last port of call scheduled in 10 days when all final commitments to schools are due. </p>
<p>Just a note that while many schools are stating that acceptances need to be postmarked by May 1st, that date is a Sunday and the post offices are closed. The last day for postmarks is SATURDAY, APRIL 30th. (Unless your chosen port/school will accept an email or will extend to Monday, May 2nd - many will not so be careful!)**</p>
<p>blue - I am so sorry for your loss and for your community. Every year the local police place a smashed up car on the front lawn of the high school to remind all the students about seat belts and drinking and driving. I think they also need to add a giant cell phone to remind them about texting and driving…my thoughs and payers are with you.</p>
<p>It is the end of April and it is still freaking cold here. When is this winter ever going to end? Ugh.</p>
<p>Congratulations to Kinderny for getting off the boat…and to everyone else receiving good news.</p>
<p>blue - my thoughts are with you all. Something like that happened the day before I left for college, and I will never forget it.</p>
<p>Congrats to those who are moving forward, and sour lemons to schools that won’t budge on FA. It breaks my heart.</p>
<p>Last night D made the final commitment: She filled out and sealed all of the response envelopes. She was calm and happy, so I know she’s making the right decision. Then we ordered sweatshirts and t-shirts online. That was very fun! I wish they’d come tomorrow, can’t wait to see her wearing them around. </p>
<p>I’ll admit Avon’s countdown is a bit less stressful to see, since I’m getting the stuff in the mail TODAY. </p>
<p>I’m going to send e-mails myself to a couple of people at the school with whom we’ve been in a lot of contact, thanking them. I don’t intend to have a “relationship” with them - which as an empty-nester I’ll have to get used to - but I do want them to know how kind and welcoming they have been, and how comfortable I am putting her in their hands.</p>
<p>Also, while I rarely met anyone at D1’s college, we probably will take a trip out to D2’s once or twice a year to see theatre productions (another perk of her scholarship $$), so I will actually see these people sometimes. </p>
<p>I’m working on my new mantra, though: SHE is the one going to school, not me. That was easy with D1, since I loathe taking classes in her major (Chem? Biostats? You’ve got to be kidding me). D2’s sounds like SO much fun!</p>
<p>Speaking of D1, she wrote to say she has advanced to the next set of interviews for a great summer internship. Just having this chance open up should brighten her week and help her get through these last few weeks of college. Her goal for the next year is to do several long-term research internships in lots of locations, for lots of projects, and begin to hone down her personal interests in her field. Hopefully this will be one of many opportunities for her.</p>
<p>Still cold, but the sun is shining … before more rain rolls in. But this dark, endless month is almost over!</p>
<p><splash> I’m almost sad to leave, but I believe there are drinks waiting for me on land? DS#2 had been silent despite the fact that I was pretty sure he decided after a visit in mid-March. We were e-mailing about something totally unrelated this week when I got this message from him: “deposit at miami of brohio”. Just like that.</splash></p>
<p>For some reason this does not feel as definite as DS#1’s decision three years ago. DS#2 is still on a few waitlists that he’s interested in, but we deposited last night and are working on our Go RedHawks cheer. (And on a weird note–I let one friend know immediately because she’d been asking so regularly. She was at our local Salvation Army later that day–we live three states away–and there right in front of her was a “Miami of Ohio Parent” T-shirt, which she bought for me. How serendipitous is that??)</p>
<p>Now if someone could remind me why they have to leave? I told DS this morning that if he skips college I’ll make him grilled cheese sandwiches every day.</p>