I haven’t posted on this thread probably since wayback in the beginning. I have reading this thread all along and so happy to read all the good news being shared. I haven’t posted recently as I worried about “jinxing” myself by posting about my own son and where he was planning to apply.
This is my third go-round with college apps, but my older two were completely different experiences - D17 was above average student, with decent test scores and a well-rounded application. S19 was a recruited athlete which is a whole other stressful ball of wax. But S21 has been my biggest worry when it comes to college. A little background, he has an LD, has taken mainly college prep courses and a couple of honors courses. He’s done well for him (3.4GPA) but he’s also been in a special program at his private high school for kids with LDs, so he’s had a lot of support from the program. I’m more than a little nervous that he will be surprised at the rigor of college.
He’s been fortunate that his h.s. transitioned to remote learning pretty seamlessly last spring, and this year, his school has been hybrid, so two days/week in school. His counselor at school said the one positive for kids like S21 is that COVID/remote learning forced the kids to learn how to work more independently and figure out how to structure their time, which is a skill they obviously need for college.
He is a terrible standardized test taker so we had planned from the beginning to focus on test optional schools, so the schools he applied to were already test optional in years past, so the ACT/SAT problems did not really affect him. While he would love a big rah rah SEC type school, both dh and I were worried he would slip through the cracks and be overwhelmed at a large university so we had him focus on mid-size schools, most of which happen to be Catholic. We were also fortunate to have visited several of the schools on his list last fall/winter. With two older siblings in college, he had a reasonable idea what kind of campus he was looking for already.
I think he’s applied to 6-7 schools so far. One rolling admission, the rest EA. He has a couple more EA apps due 12/1 that he has not submitted yet. I have been really nervous about his app b/c 1) he’s not a good writer so his essay is just ok 2) his extracurriculars are so-so, mainly sports, no leadership and 3) no awards or honors. I also have no idea what kind of recommendations his teachers wrote though both knew him fairly well. I had no expectation he would get any sort of merit anywhere, so made him apply to a state school here as a financial safety, tho he does not want to stay in state at all.
So yesterday, I asked if he had been checking his portals, b/c I figured he might be hearing from the rolling admissions school, which also happens to be one of his top choices (Xavier University in Cincinnati). He said in his typically “Mom, you’re annoying me” voice, “Yeeeeesssss, Mom!”
Then, about 30 minutes later, he came running downstairs, yelling he got admitted and awarded a $20K/year scholarship, which definitely brings it down into our more affordable range. He got the notification two days prior, and was fibbing to me when he said he had been checking his portals, the idiot! Glad I nudged him!
Tomorrow he has one of those “in school decision” events for the state school he applied to. He has to go in to school just for to learn if he got in or not. In normal times, they are test optional only for kids who have a 3.5 or greater. They are test optional for everyone this year, but it will be interesting if they defer kids with less than a 3.5 to regular decision.
It has been a stressful week, as D17, who we haven’t seen since January as she has stayed in her college location due to COVID, found out a coworker whom she had worked with last Thursday, tested positive. D17 got tested Monday and was waiting on her results. She is in the middle of finals this week so waiting for her results was adding super stress. Not 10 minutes after S21 got his first acceptance, D17 texted to say her results came back negative. Phew! She will still quarantine but she has had no symptoms yet, and since they follow strict COVID guidelines at work, we are hopeful she will remain fine!
Sorry for writing a book!
