<p>I am not sure I know. My D went through her stressful application, audition and acceptance process last year. She is now in college as a freshman.</p>
<p>Now that the experience is past, I spend more time on college confidential. I have noticed there seem to be a lot of other parents also in the same situation. I would appreciate any explanation you can offer for this bizarre behavior.</p>
<p>I have thought of a few possibilities. It might be that I just finally have some spare time. It might be my way of letting go and accepting the empty nester status. I think I was never closer to my D and to my wife than when we went through the application process, especially the discussions, trips, auditions and the shared anxiety. Perhaps I think I have some useful advice to share. Perhaps I wish I were the one starting life over and going to college. Perhaps I am still trying to decide if we did the right things and made the right decisions.</p>
<p>Are there any other parents with kids already in college who understand why they are still interested?</p>
<p>I too am an "empty nester" CC Poster.
I didn't discover CC until March (2004) of my youngest S's senior year of HS. And that was only because he was using my PC to check the CC forum postings on his First Choice school.</p>
<p>I started lurking on CC because, I was interested in learning more about this process he had just gone thru.</p>
<p>Wondered why there is such a frenzy for the "Top Schools" and wanted to find out more about how decisions are made. </p>
<p>I like to search the college web pages looking for info, and post link's that I think might be useful to others.</p>
<p>There are such thoughtful and helpful people posting here, and funny and entertaining posts, that it's just too easy to click on the CC bookmark and spend some time here reading them.</p>
<p>I have wondered this myself, but I really have no conclusion. Maybe I was so emotionally invested in the process that it's hard to let it go. I didn't have much choice when I was 18 and my son didn't seem to care a whole lot, beyond his first choice college that we had to pass on due to a stingy financial aid package. (I am more bitter about that than he is.) Going to college is such a wonderful gateway in life that it deserves more effort than I was able to give as a teen and more joy than my son was able to muster after his sad financial disappointment. Maybe if we EVER get it right, I'll be able to let it go.</p>
<p>Or, maybe it's just the really nice people and good conversation on this board!</p>
<p>Thank goodness folks with some experience in the college application process DO post here!! DS is now a college junior (also music performance). I would like to hope (as least) that some of our experiences and opinions might help another parent who is going through that application/audition process right now. I can comment intelligently about HIS college search. All I have about my DD's is QUESTIONS that I hope someone with experience can answer. Thank you to the parents of students who are already in college. Folks like ME need you here!!!</p>
<p>My youngest is also a freshman this year. I no longer visit the forums related to college admissions on this board, but I do still check in at financial aid, as he is planning to apply for more scholarships. I check in at College Life, as questions come up there that relate to my son. And there are always such interesting discussions going on here in the Parents' Forum and Cafe, that I just have to take a look. Besides, many of the the things discussed here DO relate to kids already in college. So I don't feel TOO guilty for hanging around. Besides, it makes me feel good when I can occasionally offer some insight into someone going through what we went through last year (applications, etc.) I'm not an expert at many things, so it's nice to feel useful in one area. :-)</p>
<p>I find it hard to leave here also!
My son is a second year music major, happy and thrinving.</p>
<p>I think some of us 'music parents' might stick around because the music major application process is so grueling......the auditions are draining.
Kind of hard to to let go after such an intense family experience!
Maybe I do hope to help some others coming up a bit. We found CC pretty late in the process and STILL we learned soooo much.</p>
<p>My situation is a bit different in that our experience last year was only the first of six, and my next child upcoming is already a junior. Though I am certain that my daughter's whole process will be the polar opposite of my son's and will likely not require all of the expertise available on this site, I am still here also because of the following reasons:</p>
<p>1.) I have made deep connections and forged what I consider to be worthwhile and very REAL friendships with some people on this site.</p>
<p>2.) I no longer have a need to seek out and look for interesting news about higher education...there is always someone to do it for me and then provide the link! :)</p>
<p>3.) I have been able to "meet" and gain the unique persepectives and considerable expertise of a wider variety of people than is available to me in my own little corner of the world.</p>
<p>4.) The people here are typically more around my age and share more common experiences with me than some of the parents in my younger kids' classes, given that I had my last child at age 39 and some of them had theirs at 20! <em>lol</em></p>
<p>5.) Reading here can provide a pleasant distraction and be fun, though occasionally it can be TOO distracting and not-so-fun....;)</p>
<p>6.) I have become very intrigued with the whole college admissions process and find it interesting in its own right and not just as it applies to my family.</p>
<p>Well, I guess that about sums it up for me! ~berurah</p>
<p>I didn't find college confidential till after my daughter was in college- but I enjoy talking to students and especially other parents in similar stage of life
I have been a college advisor and am currently helping high school students transition to life after high school and I really appreciate the extra info I can pass along to them.
So many of them have their impressions of colleges formed by casual statements by others. * thats a party school... that school is full of preps....full of hippies * that are often erroneous and the schools are much more complex than they appear to a casual viewer.
I love giving them additional viewpoints and encouraging them to look at avenues they wouldn't normally consider.
and then since I still have a D who will be graduating in 2008- I need all the help I can get!</p>
<p>I spent so much time with 2 daughter going through each girl's completely different search process that I can't imagine stopping. We really had an awful lot of fun - ok, not all the time, but pretty often. I have just stopped following on a regular basis the different schools that each included on their final lists.</p>
<p>One daughter is at West Point and the parents who posted on the 5 individual service academy boards requested our own parents' forum. As you can imagine, these kids have some tremendous challenges. CC gave it to us so we have an opportunity to keep up with each other while we help out the applicants and their parents. It's a grueling admissions process, most often begun during junior year of high school. It's also a place where I can <em>talk</em> to parents going through many of the same challenges that the parents of a cadet/plebe/mid will experience. That's why I check in there at least once a day. (By the way, if any of you have children who are curious about any of the service academies, please join us.)</p>
<p>My other daughter is at the U of I and parents never seem to post on that board. So, I come here to keep everything equal for the 2 girls. (I'd feel terrible if I only talked to service academy parents and it looked like I wasn't bothering to keep up with civilian college parents. It's a twin parenting thing that parents of multiples will probably be able to identify with.) The really fun part of this is that last year I began chatting with a parent from the Pacific Northwest who had a daughter looking at the same kinds of programs. We shared a lot of information as we did our research. Well, we met for dinner last week as it turned out we were both visiting during the same weekend. What an absolute pleasure. The girls met and we all had a fabulous evening. Wouldn't it be interesting if they became good friends just because I <em>talked</em> to a parent on cc?</p>
<p>I didn't even find CC till my now college freshman had made her choice. (On the day before most colleges wanted to know if you were going to accept their offer of admission, I might add) I wish I had found site this sooner, because it would have been such an asset during the application process. Oh well, at least I know about it before my 7th grader begins his search. It is nice to see how people you have so much in common are handling the same things that I am going through.</p>