Amazing school. My mother went there and my sister transferred out of Sarah Lawrence to Barnard after freshman year and absolutely LOVED it!
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If this forum has taught me anything, itās that there are a vast amount of amazing choices for college that I never even knew existed, and that there are many wonderful pathways to greatness that have nothing have to do with the T20. In fact, there are so many universities I wish I could attend now, decades later, with a whole new perspective. Thereās a balance between providing extra tutoring, coaching, courses, advisors, and āracing to nowhere,ā which is easier said than done of course, and I will be approaching things for S29 with a different perspective next time around.
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Ok, Iāll bite. The knockout successes at DDās school have been the kids with unique passions who maybe had the luck (donāt bite my head off) that day of having their essay read by the right people.
I donāt want to say what the passion was, but it was not academic, and the kids were not athletic recruits. Sometimes, the AO just like to see that a kid is very, very interested in something and knows all the literature written about it, and has thought about it.
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This made me laugh out loud!
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I think the key is to develop your āadmissions vitaeā over many years, and quite deliberately. Try to engage teachers intellectually, but in a genuine, organic, and natural fashion. It takes time to cultivate relationships, but they will pay dividends!
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S22 committed! UC Berkeley! Heās super happy with his choice. I feel like he was very thoughtful in comparing his choices.
It came down to Temple University Japan, which is in Tokyo and would have allowed him to immediately immerse himself in Japanese culture (his selected major), UW-Seattle because it has an excellent Japanese program and it also offered access to wilderness and fly-fishing, one of his passions, and UC Berkeley, which was a totally unexpected outlier.
In the end, he said that Tokyo seemed a little far away from Wyoming 
once he really thought about moving there for 4 years, and while he really liked UW, he thought the vibe felt a little too familiar to home (even though itās in a major city and heās from a podunk townāmaybe it was the outdoorsyness?) and he really wants to stretch himself soā¦itās Berkeley! Honestly, never ever in a million years thought weād be here when we started on this journey. We are thrilled!
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So happy for your son and your family! Berkeley will be an opportunity for him to grow outside his comfort zone at a spectacular university. I love hearing about how and what kids choose! It must be an incredible feeling when your kids finally makes a decision (waiting on mine!!! lol). Congratulations!
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So wonderful! Congratulations!
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He can alway do a study abroad to Japan while at Berkeley and still get some of the experience. All the best to him.
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Congrats! Super choice - an exciting journey lies ahead!
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Canāt go wrong with his choice. Itās my Dās fav college but too close to home. She wants to go miles away from home for undergrad. Good luck to your son and feel free to drop a word if you want to learn something about the general living. Are you planning to be here for Cal day?
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What ended up being your Dās decision? I remember you were going to reveal lol
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It will mostly be the one in Cambridge, MA. Sheās there right now attending campus preview weekend, fully immersed.
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How wonderful!!! 
Hi - for the freshmen students , what kind financial to-dos do they need to take care of 1) set up checking account ( joint with parent or solo?) 2) get a credit card ( joint with parent?) 3) get google Pay/Apple Pay etc - any checklist for these type of things to take care of? Thanks in advance
Thank you all for your kind words and congratulations! Feels like weāve all been on a long, hard yet wonderful journey together. 
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congrats! Great decision making process!
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It is always good to set up an account for your student with at least one parent on the account. That way if there is a problem they can talk to a parent about the issue. I have an ATM card for my sonās account so I can deposit money, if need be. I didnāt send him with a credit card, didnāt want him charging Uber eats and getting over his head. I think the ATM card is plenty, but we may look into it to start building credit if he thinks itās a good idea. I thought it was important to look for free ATMs near his school, but that really hasnāt been an issue. He uses his debit card everywhere, doesnāt have a need for cash and his school direct deposits his paycheck for his on campus job.
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Excellent question. Weāll do a medical power of attorney. I know there are companies that do this.
D has worked for years so has checking account and debit card. She has one of our credit cards in her name ā that will help her credit. Probably next year Iāll have her get her own.
Edit: Her checking and savings accounts are like subaccounts of ours. I can check her balance, transfer money through online banking. Super easy. I imagine it will be like this until she graduates.
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D did have a credit card and checking account -it was set up as a college student account at the bank and included an ATM, credit card and checks (with parents as co-owner) We used Venmo to get $ to her if she needed cash She rarely used the ATM or checking account until she went off campus.
Knowing how to use Uber/Lyft would be worthwhile - review protocol for verifying driver, etcā¦
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