QOTD
Yes!
1 week in FL (Universal and Disney) followed by 1 week in Playa del Carmen. Also pretty much S’s grad present.
QOTD: We’re taking a WDW trip in mid-June to celebrate d17 and her older sister’s college graduation 
@socalmom007 you have been handling this whole situation very calmly. I’m impressed. I hope you guys have a definite decision soon. That $2000 deposit would have freaked me out, even being refundable. Our housing deposit was $50. Lol
Congratulations on your student’s excellent decision, @srk2017. Vanderbilt is fortunate to have another fine, upstanding student such as yours.
QOTD
I don’t think we are taking a big trip before ds starts school. We live in a vacation/beach spot so we will just enjoy our summer here and maybe take a vacation during Christmas break. Depends on school breaks for my younger child as well.
@NoVADad99 good luck with those last choices. I’m sure it will all become clear which is the right choice.
Uh-oh. Anyone else dealing with post-deposit second thoughts?
@NoVADad99 RPI & Tulane are such different schools! Is your S considering engineering or computer science? We found Tulane to be a liberal arts school with some engineering (and small programs, for Chem E anyway). RPI is a technical school with some liberal arts. Best of luck in deciding!
QOTD
Yes, D will get an entire month in Orlando before she starts Summer term in late June. Of course, since we live in Orlando it means she will be at home and working as many hours as possible 
Actually her friend’s family is planning to take her on their family trip to Cuba in early June. They go several times a year and have a family tradition of doing a mountain climb as a rite of passage. They want her to get to do that before her 18th birthday. Sounds like an interesting experience.
@BigPapiofthree I was just wondering what Penn said to the whole thing and if they didn’t offer the business major like he wanted then i was just curious why he would apply to Vandy then ED is when you are sure with prices and things like that. Hum!
Is it normal to feel like you don’t want to tell schools you will not be accepting their offer of admission? We are all done, deposit sent, registered for orientation, etc. but I still feel anxious about telling the other schools no so I haven’t made ds do it yet. It’s like this whole process has been about getting him options that worked academically and financially and now I don’t want those choices to go away. I guess we just need to bite the bullet and do it. But I still feel like these schools all became a part of us.
QOTD- my husband wants to take a big rv trip this summer before S15 and D17 move off the college. S23 and S26 think this sounds awesome, the teens are less enthusiastic. We shall see.
I have really, really tried to be calm and levelheaded through this process. Thanks for the support! The CV are a hike, D17 would rather have a hike than share a room. So, if it works for her then it works for me. College is going to be a transition for sure. She shares a bathroom with brothers and complains non stop, but she deals. I think if she has her own small room she’ll be ok. Our house is very, very tidy though. We’ll see what happens if she’s in a suite and people leave the common areas dirty. She’ll probably just clean a lot.
@Collegecue – I want to have my son respond no to some of the schools, especially where merit money was offered, but he has not yet committed so has not gotten around to it. But he should because having this info might help the college and maybe they would award the merit $$ to someone else.
@Collegecue I know exactly what you mean. It hurt a little to notify UA that D17 wouldn’t be accepting their offer. I love both of the schools she has left, and I do feel invested in them after all these months. She really needs a Timeturner so she can attend both!
@Collegecue - My S declined all of the offers except for the two U’s he was deciding between. He finally declined the second choice when he informed the honors college coordinator at school 1 that he would attend. Then he contacted the honors college at school 2 and told them. I was glad he did that because they thanked us and told him that his spot at the honors college would be giving to another student who was waiting. That made me feel good that he formally declined instead of waiting it out.
QOTD - For a family trip, we are spending a week in our RV. Hiking, kayaking, paddle-boarding, horseback riding, and white water rafting. We do this kind of thing most years, so it’s not a special send-off trip. But I’m very aware that it might be our last one. There’s no guarantee that D will be nearby and available next summer. I am struggling a bit with the fact that my mom wants to tag along with us (and bring my dad, who has Alzheimer’s). I really feel for my parents and understand that mom wants to be involved. But it changes the whole dynamic, and I will end up taking care of my parents while my kids go off on their own. I feel like I will miss out on my special time with the kids. But it would be mean to say “no” to mom.
D’s graduation trip will be to go on the First Year Experience - Outdoor Adventure with the honors college at her school. She will spend a week backpacking in the wilderness with some of her new classmates. They will either love or hate each other after that!
We will also spend a few days camping at the beach.
I am very happy with my son’ decision to apply ED to Rice University. He found all his majors that he was interested in. We visited. he did an interview. We did the net price calculator. He look at school size in his pick of schools. He did have Vandy on his list, but after he went to visit. He just thought it wasn’t the right fit between the size and the area. If he did not get into Rice he was not applying to any others ED2 because there was a chance he could still get into Rice. He would want his options open. He did not want to be torn between two schools and regretting his decision especially since the first one was always his favorite. He is down at owl days and it is coming to a close at 3:00. He seems to of had a good time. Hopefully he has made some friends. The people definately seem friendly so if he would of made some this would be the place to do it.
QOTD: Since D is going overseas, I think we will just keep it local - maybe head down the shore for a week. She has some cousins she wants to visit before going away, so she might do that on her own. We were informed by the college to stick around due to the last minute nature of getting a student VISA. You have to apply no more than 90 days in advance and then be able to show up for an interview on short notice (or something like that - I don’t really have all the details yet). Also, D might accept a job offer over the summer which will give her more spending money for her big adventure!
**Housing: **Our housing deposit was $1,000.
@Collegecue I think it’s normal. We were stressed about it, but I think it’s courteous to let them know. We actually had a couple of schools that emailed us and said they appreciated us letting them know and others who likely didn’t care. It’s good karma to do the right thing!
@Mommertons That sounds like fun!!
D ended up picking the one college that started during our planned graduation trip. Hefty deposit lost (note to self: always get the cancel for any reason insurance). So we aren’t going anywhere. I still owe her the trip so we will take a trip when she comes back for winter break. We’re thinking Thailand based on Groupon options.
@mtrosemom --thank you for that post. I will redouble efforts to have him decline some offers, as a couple included honors college.
@Fishnlines29 --yikes! Tight timeframe on that visa. Hope that all works out!
@itsgettingreal17 —bummer! I had not realized you lost a trip deposit. I did not know there was ‘cancel for any reason insurance’. Will have to remember that…if I ever manage to get organized enough to plan a trip early.
@fun1234 --so happy that your son is happy with his choice and enjoying Owl Days.