Oh yeah, fair warning if it’s your last kid.
Our S23 stunned us by pushing to go to boarding school when he started high school, and then getting a scholarship to make it possible.
That was the same year my daughter left for college - and so we’ve been empty nesters for the last 3.5 years. Brace yourselves: It is such a feeling of loss.
DD is applying here too.
My D23 kiddo applied to boarding school and left last year for BS so I am not really sad. She was so excited and thrilled and loves her BS so much that I was more happy than sad. Just hope she has the same experience with college.
Oh goodness, yes. I get teary-eyed thinking about my boy leaving for college. Kicking myself for not pushing harder for colleges closer to home. Oh well. If ED is a bust, then he might be closer. But that’s a lose-win situation. It’s so hard to let go.
So my spouse learned about D23’s acceptance to Colorado Denver and her scholarship offers from there and from SCAD yesterday.
Which seems only normal, right? Except that she didn’t learn about them from D23, nor even from me—she learned about them from a co-worker who reads CC and mentioned them in conversation.
So I suspect I’m in a little bit of trouble for that.
Even for law school get great grades and have a great LSAT school the undergraduate degree and name of the school won’t matter.
With s23 being the middle child, i will still have 1 at home.
That being said, i need s23 out of the house just like i needed s19 out. 
S19 is 3 hours away and thats perfect right now. He needed to go away for his own growth and mental health. S23 is the same.
My oldest has matured so much that it just makes me proud of his progess.
We encouraged my daughter (2019 HS grad) to attend accepted student days at her top 3 colleges because she was having a tough time deciding. Although we were nervous to send her solo to 2 out of state events (Chicago & New Orleans) it worked out fine (and saved us $ on extra airfare & lodging.) She fell in love with her current college (Loyola New Orleans) during the fun, informative weekend so it was worth it. She’s very outgoing and social so I can understand the hesitation with a more reserved, shy child, but I think it can be very helpful if deciding between a few good contenders. If your child has already made the decision and is 100% sure, an accepted student day or weekend probably isn’t necessary. Colleges will have a welcome/orientation week in August which is really all they need once the choice is made IMO. My son has some in-person scholarship events at a few colleges so I think he’ll get a feel for campus in that way and we can play it by ear at the end of this process if a few accepted student events make sense for other colleges. Good luck!
I can completely relate. I am already feeling an emptiness as my son’s senior year flies by. I had a tough time with my daughter going off to college in 2019 (19 hours away by car!) but it helped knowing I had 4 more years with my son. But, wow, those years flew by! Every “last” is tough (band concerts, gymnastics meets, etc.) but I’m truly trying to be strong and positive. There is still a chance he will stay close to home, so that brings some comfort and hope. But I remind myself that we raised our kids to be independent and they have both excelled on their own path and have set great goals. I have many friends who have older kids who won’t leave the house and their parents are frustrated they are so dependent on them still, so I suppose I should be grateful. No matter where our kids end up, we can always look forward to phone calls, FaceTime & especially visits home. We do have 2 awesome dogs so that will help! Lol.
Happy to report 6 acceptances now (most with decent merit making them affordable) including the most recent SUNY Albany (with potential for Honors invite) and an invitation to the Honors program at SUNY Buffalo State College. He’s still waiting on University at Buffalo (applied EA on 10/31) and especially whether he gets into their Honors College. Some of his friends have begun to hear back but none applied to Honors so maybe that’s the delay? It’s very competitive so we’ll see. He applied to a small school in Chicago (North Park University) and just had a nice video conference with them. They’ve invited him to apply for a service scholarship, band scholarship and Trustee scholarship which requires an interview weekend, but all have the potential to really make the COA attractive. We haven’t visited yet but he seemed to really enjoy his video chat and feels some of these smaller, “hidden gem” schools like this one, Barry University (Miami Shores) and Le Moyne (Syracuse) might be good fits if the cost side works out.
These are the acceptances thus far (COA is before financial aid is calculated, which we should qualify for a little)
SUNY Buffalo State College ($5K merit) $17,500 COA
North Park ($18K merit to start)$24K COA
Barry University ($19K merit w/ offer to apply for full ride STAMPS scholarship ) $26K COA
Xavier, Cincinnati ($25K merit) $33K COA
SUNY Albany, no merit offer yet
St. John Fisher, Rochester ($19K merit) $31K COA
Edited to add: forgot it’s actually 7 acceptances w/
Nova Southeastern, Ft. Lauderdale ($19K with Shark weekend scholarships available including full tuition presidential interview) $26,700 COA
We are still waiting on:
UB (EA-in the next week or so)
Le Moyne (EA-early Dec)
UMASS Boston ( EA-sometime in December)
Fordham (EA-Dec. 20)
Case Western (EA-Dec. 21)
Northeastern (EA-by Feb 1st)
Rollins (Regular Admission, in February, but some have heard as early as December?)
Pitt (just turned in so maybe December or January?)
Congrats, sounds like he has some great options with other ones to come possibly!
Great set of schools! Congrats to your son for pushing through all those apps and fingers crossed for a great buffet of choices by May!
Have you visited Rollins? It was my S21 first college tour.
Funny you should say that. It was my son’s first tour too! We visited my sister who lives in College Park/Orlando the summer before his junior year and signed up for a tour “just for the heck of it” because he was leaning towards a small to medium college and we heard great things about it. He loved our tour, the rigor of the programs and the overall vibe. Such a beautiful campus. Not sure if the price tag will work out but I heard they are pretty generous with merit so we’ll see.
Admitted student days are also good way to meet new friends and potential roommates.
Thank you that was really helpful.
I have been struggling a bit with my last kids leaving (twins). My S19 & S21 are in the same town since we live where the University of Kansas is located. We have seen them some (one a lot more than the other) and it has been a nice transition. One problem with it though is they don’t grow as much as if they were even an hour away and there is a little bit of high school hanging on if that makes sense. My daughters 23 will both go away and I think it will help them feel like everything is a new start. For myself I am anxious about how I am going to fill my time and worried about losing some of our community since we won’t be going to school or other events related to our kids anymore. You know the people you enjoy seeing at those things but don’t really get together outside of them… It will be a bit of a loss all around I am sure.
I’m sure I’ll be sad, and I’m having a lot of “last time” feelings this year knowing that everything will change next year. But she is really ready to go, I think, and I know there will be nice things to look forward once she has flown. She’s an only so we will be empty nesters and that will be weird, but this year/last year she has been so much more social/she’s out with her friends a lot anyway…it will be different but I hope it will be good! I have THINGS I want to do, also.
I am more than ready. It will be extra bittersweet precisely because I will be so ready. That’s all I’m going to say 'bout that. 
S23 is our third of four. I’m worried about what it will feel like to have only one kid home, both for us and for our youngest son. S23 would like to go to school nearby, closest would be one to two hours. I would be thrilled if that works out!