<p>Congratulations, Gunnerz!</p>
<p>Congrats on the acceptances!!</p>
<p>NPRmom - my son just got his selective service card in the mail this week. He turned 18 Jan 2. But he was signed up a few months prior just so we wouldn’t forget. I think it was formally submitted 30 days before his birthday.</p>
<p>Congratulations on all the acceptances!</p>
<p>We finally got the big envelope from UMass Amherst today but it was a little bit of a let down. They didn’t admit my son to Mech Eng but as an Undeclared major. I’m thinking that meant he wasn’t quite strong enough to get into the Engineering college and he will either need to go in his freshman year and do really well and then transfer into the College of Engineering. Or they said that if do really well senior year and/or have new SAT/ACT scores to send along that they could then reconsider and admit you to your desired major. Just hate that it’s still up in the air!</p>
<p>Aww too bad for such an indecisive deision. So if he doesn’t get into engineering, will that school be off the table?</p>
<p>to NPR: I wasn’t surprised because DS13 has an older brother, so the same thing happened when we filled out FAFSA the first time for him. I was surprised then though-- I had thought that the kids went to the post office and filled out a form there.</p>
<p>ree - Well, I suggested to him that he contact Admissions and find out how close he was to getting admitted to Engineering and what he needs to do to remedy the situation. Also, to study really hard the next 10 days and do as well as possible for his 1st semester grades and we’ll submit those and see what happens.</p>
<p>If he doesn’t get into his 1st and 2nd choices (UConn and WPI) and/or they are too expensive then we will have to decide what to do. Do we take a chance on him being able to transfer into Engineering at UMass or should he just go to one of his schools where he was all ready accepted into the Engineering program? When we got the big envelope I was so relieved because I thought “now we are safe in case he doesn’t get into UConn and/or WPI” but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way :(</p>
<p>On a different topic-- DS has been very sullen lately-- not sure if it is finals coming up (they are next week at our HS), waiting on admissions decisions, or thinking about the final decision of a college in a few months. He DOES NOT want to talk about it-- so he says. </p>
<p>Any of yours like this?</p>
<p>ConfusedMom - Wow, that is a real bummer. It would be good to know though if there was a solid cutt-off or if they simply admitted max capacity to engineering. If it was too many students, maybe they will admit some from undecided as people decline their offers. But hopefully, your S will kick butt and wow them with amazing mid year grades.</p>
<p>ree - Yes, that’s what I said to my son. Call Admissions and find out as much info as you can so we know better how to deal with the situation.</p>
<p>Frankly I thought he’d get deferred anyway (when we went to a Umass Open House they said that to get into Engineering you needed a 3.5 minimum and he doesn’t have that. ) so at least he is in.</p>
<p>So far he is doing well this semester (95 in Public Speaking and Debate, 95 in Engineering Design, 90 in Statistics and 86 in Anatomy and Physiology) so we shall see.</p>
<p>idahomom - yup, mine is a little moody these days, unusual for him. Here’s my read: these kids are still living their lives, day to day and week to week, with all the interactions, frustrations and (yes) drama going on with friends, girlfriends, tests and deadlines. DS is not nearly as focused on the college admissions timeline as I am, and he tells me that life goes on in what (for him) is a high pressure course load. </p>
<p>Also, for him, especially, this is a bittersweet time - he’s leaving this area to attend a college 2000+ miles away while most of his classmates are attending much closer to home, and besides that, I’ll be selling our house and moving 150 miles away this summer, so he will lose ties to the area as well.</p>
<p>Do girls process this stuff more readily? DS is a fairly sensitive kid, and pretty verbal, but for any number of reasons he’s not saying much. He’s had a few months for losses - two older gentlemen who were like grandfathers to him, our 10 year old schnauzer, and just this past week we learned that his long-time physician must leave his practice due to cancer. </p>
<p>I wonder if it’s just a lot coming at them fast, this year. College is a big decision followed by a big change in just about everything. Maybe this is just coming into focus as they mature.</p>
<p>Onesonmom, first off I’m so sorry for you and S. that’s a lot to process for you both. However I think you’re right on with your thoughts. Some of the kids may be further along in realizing it than others. I think my D has some of it going on. I’m blessed that we are close and she is a good, easy to manage if not easy going, kid. She has been hesitant to commit to her #1 school and I think it’s because once she does she is admitting the change is coming- leaving home, leaving her BF, etc. they’ll all be fine, for some it will be easier than others etc but as we are hating all the ‘lasts’ the changes that face them are greater than for us, I think.</p>
<p>To Confused–not sure how things work these days or at UMass specifically, but is it possible for him to do what he wants in five years? I was a little different–wasn’t sure what I wanted to study so started out in Arts & Sciences. Decided to transfer into the engineering school after my first year and graduated from there but it did take an additional year (that was when a semester’s tuition was, like, $700). Anyway–just a thought.</p>
<p>Re: brooding kids, yes they have a lot to think about this year, but also with one of mine, I know his silence is him trying to be a big boy and handle things on his own. Not fun from the parent’s standpoint, but not a bad thing.</p>
<p>Now who else is getting bad weather today? I’d be more excited about it if it weren’t supposed to start as cold rain and ice before turning to snow.</p>
<p>This may have no bearing on your UMASS situation, but my niece applied to UMASS a few years ago as a history major (very early in the fall) and decided by Christmas that she really wanted to do film studies. They told her it would be no problem for her to transfer into film studies once she got there as long as she took the required entry-level film courses and did well in them. So this was her plan, until she got there and found out the film studies courses were essentially closed to non-majors (not sure if due to class size limits or policy…) and she couldn’t get in to them since she wasn’t a film major. All worked out, she’s happy at UMASS doing history, but she did turn down other film studies schools on the assumption that she could switch at UMASS, and that wasn’t the case for her. So if he has his heart set on engineering, would he be happy there if turned out that he couldn’t get into the program?</p>
<p>Re The Sullen Senior Syndrome:</p>
<p>MyLB perfectly described a rough patch we had with our son about 6 weeks ago. He was so sullen and angry, seemingly out of the blue! I was bewildered! He couldn’t keep it up for too long, though, and he eventually told me it was about his desire to do everything on his own, and felt like he needed to push me away and shut down to accomplish that. We had a great talk finally about better ways to communicate this. Much smoother road since then. </p>
<p>(Interestingly, it was the arrival of an acceptance letter that broke the ice. He realized he wanted very much to tell me about it, but it was kinda awkward since he had refused to talk to me for days…) </p>
<p>These kids have a lot to deal with this year. Losing loved ones would certainly compound the roller coaster of emotions in a big way.</p>
<p>Mdnhmass - yes, that is something we will have to decide. Probably it will better for him to go to a school where he is already accepted into the Engineering program rather than go to UMass and try and transfer in to the Engineering program.</p>
<p>Great news HeavyLidded!!</p>
<p>Woohoo HeavyLidded! So happy for the good news!</p>
<p>My S has also been suffering, intermittently, from SSS (Sullen Sr. Syndrome). In fact, the other night I took a photo of him as he spends much of his time these days – lounging on the couch in the basement, covered in an afghan with his computer perched in his lap, chip bag next to him. He gave me a scowl when I said I wanted to take the photo so this time next year I could remember his senior self.</p>
<p>Tonight, however he was in a good mood & actually said goodbye and gave me a quick hug as he went off to hockey practice. Why? He received the coveted large envelope from Marquette today, exciting!</p>
<p>Congrats to HeavyLidded!</p>
<p>Thanks HeavyLidded!!</p>
<p>ELY, I definitely “lulled” as my older kid calls laughing out loud (no, not lolled. definitely “lulled”) at your description of the basement, the couch, the afghan, the chips! So many senior boys are spending time horizontal like that right now, I’d wager! Retreat to the Man Cave is what many of them do. Happy the acceptance perked him up, woohoo!</p>
<p>HeavyLidded, such great news!</p>