“Hugs to everyone during this waiting period. I actually made an appointment to meet with a counselor next week so I can feel free to just vent and overthink in a safe place where my own anxiety won’t impact the kids!”
This is such a great idea! I want to overthink and voice the heck out of it too!
My son is the same way. I think this process brings about different reactions in different people. It must be overwhelming for adults to continually ask where they want to spend the next 4 years of their life after being at home for 18 years. I hope my son has several options but he has not really voiced interest in one place over another as it isn’t real to him until he gets in. Good luck to all in this very stressful time. We are waiting on 5 decisions before the holidays. Two of them are lottery tickets but he worked so hard he wanted to take his shot rather than wonder what if.
This. I think my D24 might do serious harm if I tried to film her! I think it’s awesome that some kids don’t mind.
I feel daily like I’m going to be sick - this anticipation is awful. My D24 didn’t apply to any large universities so the first news she’ll hear back is from her ED1 - I don’t think that her 3 EA will be until later in December.
My latest method of coping is to rationalize - if she doesn’t get into ED1, it’ll be fine, because maybe it wasn’t the best fit to begin with…?!
Could he be having worries about leaving for college? Mine has told me he wants to go to college but is also scared about leaving everything he knows behind and starting over. He has two top picks and was accepted to both, but really won’t talk about it much because it causes him anxiety. I had to tell my family coming for Thanksgiving not to ask him about schools. He tells me he may “flip a coin” to pick his school because he likes both. He seemed more excited before he actually got accepted, now I think the reality has set in. It’s hard.
‘Could he be having worries about leaving for college? Mine has told me he wants to go to college but is also scared about leaving everything he knows behind and starting over”
Yes, I suspect this is a lot of it. He definitely wants to go to college, but it will be a huge change. He has has a really phenomenal high school experience and, while he is ready to move on, I think it is really hard to feel like he will be a tiny fish in a big ocean next year. He also wants to leave home, but still be in driving distance (D24’s ED choice is thousands of miles away!). It is a lot.[quote=“coastal2024, post:6568, topic:2101201, full:true”]
Could he be having worries about leaving for college? Mine has told me he wants to go to college but is also scared about leaving everything he knows behind and starting over. He has two top picks and was accepted to both, but really won’t talk about it much because it causes him anxiety. I had to tell my family coming for Thanksgiving not to ask him about schools. He tells me he may “flip a coin” to pick his school because he likes both. He seemed more excited before he actually got accepted, now I think the reality has set in. It’s hard.
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Honestly, that’s a great mindset so long as they’re applying to places they could love. People get so crushed when not admitted to their dream school(s). The over-investment can be a real issue.
Yup, mine too. Just finished his high school football career which was huge for him in terms of finding something he loved and was passionate about. Has great groups of friends, and generally has been lucky in terms of enjoying high school (the non academic part anyway 
). But I also know he will find great friends in college and he just doesn’t know what to expect. I was the same and I try to reassure by telling him that the unknown is hard to imagine but to trust it will be OK.
I am insanely torn about what is going to happen in a few weeks. I would be thrilled for S24 if he gets into his ED school because he does think that is what he wants. But in some ways I am so much more invested in the rest of the process, having him see his choices, esp since he is applying to some music performance programs and this one is not. It would basically mean much more limited exposure to the activity that has centered all of us for the past 10 years. My favorite expression in general is "It will be what it will be"and am trying to channel that now!
Mine too!
I sure miss the days of getting the big packet acceptance in the mail. My oldest is 28 and her USC acceptance was the big red folder. It made for an exciting evening after school.
D23 never had strong feelings about which college she wanted to go to. I kept waiting for some kind of enthusiasm for any of the 13 (!) schools she applied to. Ultimately she chose Trinity U I think mostly because she likes San Antonio.
She didn’t start to get excited to go until last summer either. I was so worried that she was completely apathetic about college.
She loves college! When we said what we were thankful for at thanksgiving, first on her list was “my school.” I think she’s just a kid who lives in the now and can’t wrap her head around the future that easily.
We too are on pins and needles waiting to hear. In S24’s mind, he’s already in and can start to take it a little easy. He got a positive nod from his recruiting coach a couple days before Thanksgiving. While it’s not a confirmed yes, it’s looking very good. Our problem is keeping him motivated for the rest of the school year. This is a school that will not accept any backsliding. I’d almost like him to be deferred to keep him on his toes for a few more months without being the bad guy. At least, we’ll have his college and academic advisor in our court as well. He’s a good hard working kid but it’s such a temptation to kick back, especially when he has friends attending less academically driven schools that are already kicking back. Plus, he finally has a girlfriend. 
This is my S24 as well! I’ve been trying to plan a graduation party and he strikes it down every time saying he doesn’t want a party if he’s not going to a good college. I told him this party is for me as much as him! He’s my first kid and I feel like it’s a graduation for me too! We did it, we raised a decent human to adulthood.
We will only have one EA before the holidays and too many to count in spring. I think I’ll go watch those reaction videos also to tie me over.
My anxieties aren’t about the actual decisions from the colleges! Having the rolling admissions acceptances made that part fine. My two great worries are these: 1) she will pick a school for prestige rather than fit, and it will make her unhappy; and 2) I won’t keep my job for the next four years. (This isn’t a disaster thought–we’d be okay in the long run–but it would make things very difficult if she picks a school at the top of our budget). Hoping for the best here! Wouldn’t mind if certain schools said no, since she’s not fixated on them. 
We have some super confident seniors at our high school.
Im not sure if this is just our school or some overall trend. 25 seniors at our school have applied to Yale. My daughter who is 2nd in her class is not applying to Yale.
According to Naviance, we havent sent a kid to Yale in 15 years. Our school is really good and will send a few kids to Ivies every year but for some reason, we dont get into Yale and yet 25 have applied this year.
Im not sure what’s going on.
C24 doesn’t want a graduation party, either, but that isn’t dependent on where they go. They just don’t like parties.
Honestly, I’m kind of thinking of throwing a party in late June or July for all of the parents of seniors I know. Kind of a “we did it!” celebration to acknowledge having gotten through this whole wild ride (raising the kids, not just the college process).
Does she have a large class? 25 is a lot! Makes me curious where else they applied?
If no kids are invited (so you can freely share fun stories about them), this would sound awesome to me.
No. Senior class is 200+ Over 10% of the kids have applied to Yale! An almost equal amount have applied to Brown and a few less have applied to Harvard. Last year, we had 7 kids apply to Yale.
Is this some national trend where everyone is shooting for the moon? Makes Vanderbilt look like ITT Technical college.
I love this idea!