<p>I just have to share my story of yesterday. I have been following the happy, sad and stressful stories out here for about 2 years (posting a bit). I finally have a story that might bring a laugh to some. </p>
<p>My S completed his 5 apps to UChicago (EA), WashU, Harvard, UMich and McGill by Dec 10. I was uncomfortable that he hadn't applied to at least one more strong school that gives some merit money like say...Rice. We are in the upper midwest and Texas scared him a bit (he's on the liberal side), so he didn't apply there even though it is a decent fit for him in alot of ways.. Anyway, I had finally given up. </p>
<p>Sunday night at 11:30PM he comes home telling me that he had gone to see a girl from his high school (now a freshman at Rice) AND GUESS WHAT??!! She LOVES RICE! The two of them have much in common and now my S after talking a long time to her, decides he wants to apply. So, ever the helpful mom, I say, let's go online and see when the deadline is. You guessed it...MONDAY, Jan 10! </p>
<p>On to Monday..at 3:00 PM he is revising a previously written essay to use for the supplemental. AT 5PM he is asking about how to download and edit pictures from the new digital camera so that he can use a picture of his trip to Japan on the app. To make a long story short, at 5:20PM I am driving like a madwoman to the post office to get the supplemental postmarked by 5:30. I made it with 3 minutes to spare. My chest still hurts thinking about it. I walked out of the post office and saw someone smoking. I, who never has smoked almost grabbed the cigarette and took a few puffs..anything to stop my hands from shaking! <rolling eyes=""> What we do for our kids!</rolling></p>
<p>The good news...all his freshmen friends are back at school now, so I think I can safely say..no more APPS!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Kdos - Sounds like you're breathing a well-deserved sigh of relief. Wouldn't it be funny if he ends up at Rice? I see years of motherly "I told you so's" :)</p>
<p>yeah - plenty more drama in store (awaiting decisions, choosing, follow-up visits, etc) but ---- you and he are now on the downhill side of the saga!</p>
<p>LOL.......thanks for the smile kdos. Thogh, I know you weren't smiling yesterday. You'll be chain-smoking by the time he makes a decision in April:)</p>
<p>Kdos--Congratulations on getting everything done and on time! Best of luck with positive results.</p>
<p>Your story rang true for so many parents and brought back memories of four years ago when S had to submit art portfolios. Apps were in, but the portfolio supplement had yet to be submitted. Yours truly volunteered to shoot the slides. I don't recommend setting up a makeshift studio in one's bedroom, but it worked with the help of two halogen lamps placed sideways on chairs. The first roll came out totally dark! Argh. Second roll was fine but paid the rush fees to get them done in an hour. (Slides are more expensive than prints.) Then came the labeling and description-writing. Rushed them to the PO where the kind clerks recognized what was happening from the addresses and stamped priority mail all over the envelopes. They also wished us luck.</p>
<p>You'd think I would have learned, right? Uh-uh. Didn't read the fine print that D's ED1 school needed the materials to be in the office on deadline day--not postmarked. Even called the school to verify. Rushed to the local FedEx office on a Saturday morning to send the app. Fortunately, the gods smiled on her (and us).</p>
<p>I once heard a story about a woman chasing after the FedEx truck at a pick-up site!</p>
<p>art portfolios, wow. I can just picture your little studio. I imagine they see alot of frazzled people in the post office. They were funny with me as well.</p>
<p>ED1- I can definitely imagine you were not alone in doing that. It is confusing the way different schools handle it in different ways.</p>
<p>...not college related, but I did just that over Christmas break. I NEEDED to find the FedEx office in a town I knew nothing about, was just about to stop and ask directions, when a FedEx truck passed us going the other way. By the time I turned around to give chase, it had disappeared and I couldn't find it. So, I was just about to give up and ask directions when it zoomed by again, this time going in my original direction! I turned around, gave chase, but lost it again. This was like a comedy movie! Finally, I DID stop and ask directions. I didn't want to see the FedEx truck again.</p>
<p>On the portfolio, we also did a zoom to the post office to get it and some of the other supplemental info (short story as a writing example, an extra letter of recommendation they requested, a resume, and some other things) in on time. Those deadlines are strange...they seem far away, far away, still far away, and then ZAP, it's tomorrow!!!!</p>
<p>Four years ago, I ordered my S a band jacket, putting a deposit down. Rather than billing us , they tried to deliver it with UPS COD. Son happened to be home sick, but they wouldn't leave it w/o payment. He called me at work; I spent all my spare time trying to figure out how to make payment and track the package. At lunchtime, I stopped at local A&P to pick up a few things. There was a UPS truck there, and it had the package! I wrote them a check; they gave me the coat. I still can't believe the chain of coincidences that day.</p>
<p>our college counselor called Rice and they said the deadline REALLY only applied to the app itself, that it was ok if the other stuff arrived in the next few days/weeks afterwards. The Common App was sent online 1/10 and the supplemental was postmarked 1/10, so we were ok..just barely. Our counselor told us this has been the case with all Admission's offices that he has called..the deadline meant the app.</p>
<p>D would love to be chasing the mailman about now. She is waiting on her EA school and the mail has been light the last few days due to weather related problems at the postal service. Half the postal service employees live on the other side of the mudslide at La Conchita and can't get to work. And the trucks can't get up from LA in there usual route.
Compared to what those families are going through having to wait a few extra days is nothing. I don't mean to make light of a very sad event.</p>
<p>My story is soooo stresful. So, it was the last day before Stanford's app was due(December 15th) and I was finishing some essays. The post office closes at 7:00 so I thought I had given myself enough time when I left the house at 6:30. But, just as the door closed I realized that I had locked myself out and had left my car keys inside. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. for some reason I wasn't able to contact my parents because their cell phone was busy. </p>
<p>So, I decided to go to our neighbors house. They are very nice people and would drive me to the post office. No dice. They were not home either. I was running down my street knocking on the doors of the neighbors I knew. Finally, I was able to get through to my dad. By this time, I was a nervous wreck. Just in case, I had called Fedex to see when the last pickup was (9pm 2 hours away at LAX). </p>
<p>finally my parents arrived and I jumped in the car. Then what I can only describe as a scene out of racing game occurred. My dad speeded down the road (using the median lane) and going at least 70 in a 40 mph area. So finally we made it to the post office and I got my app in just as the guy was about to turn the key to close the door. Talk about a close shave!!!</p>
<p>I did learn from my mistake and got the rest of my apps in early. Whew.</p>