I was listening to the latest podcast with @lindagaf and @BKSquared and thinking back about how I found CC for the first time and also got curious about what brought others to this site.
I found CC accidentally when I was trying to search for the date U Michigan was going to send EA decisions. Since that date doesn’t actual exist, google brought me to the very long EA thread on the Michigan subform on CC.
I stayed and lurked/learned for a year before officially joining…and then obviously never left ; )
I was a defector from another college forum…as were a lot of people who joined when I did. We were looking for college info, and that other forum became a free for all…no moderation and some very contentious posts. CC was brand new then, and I was told about it by another online friend who had joined.
It was good for me as my first kid had just been accepted to college. BUT I needed suggestions for California colleges for kid number two.
So…I was active back in the day on the music majors forum with a lot of others who no longer are here (but some I still keep in touch with IRL).
I was trying to find NM cutoff scores when my oldest was in high school when I stumbled across CC. That was almost two decades ago.
At that time, I was a SAHM who had worked in financial aid prior to stepping away from the paid workforce. I was able to brush up my financial aid skills by responding to questions students and parents had, which led to me getting a job in financial aid again.
I learned a lot about schools that meet need & schools that provide good merit opportunities, which allowed me to help my highly motivated first born in her college search. The amazing parents on CC helped me keep my sanity when that child went through a lot of things in college.
CC was less “needed” when my younger child was searching for colleges, but I stuck around to give financial aid advice. I continue to hang around for the camaraderie between parents on CC. I learn so much, and I truly enjoy the community.
January 2007 when looking for info on how to complete our first FAFSA. Learned to like CC but HATED completing the FAFSA until 2022 when we did our last one.
I found CC because I was on a different forum trying to figure out a rough estimate of how much to expect college to cost for our kid and didn’t just want general college costs, but costs for colleges that might meet particular needs. Someone suggested CC, and reading various posts rekindled my love of colleges and college searches (mine started in elementary…no joke) and I’ve been here ever since.
Really funny
I just listened to that podcast (my first one) this morning eating breakfast. First off. Nice job for those participating.
I joined as a lurker to gain knowledge on colleges and engineering. Find very intelligent helpful people mostly.
After a year or so and once my kids got accepted to their schools I started answering some basic questions. That was kinda scary at first. But then started answering some not so basic information and then was hooked and really wanted to pay it forward per se. Years just fly by, don’t they?
I started lurking in 2008 when my oldest was applying to colleges. I needed some advice, had questions, etc. and had given up up the HS guidance office which seemed to have little interest in helping.
I officially joined in January 2009.
I wasn’t looking at colleges yet. A friend of mine from the AOL boards (Mom’s Online, Parent Soup) suggested checking out CC almost 20 years ago. I don’t think either kid was in high school, but it was an interesting place so I lingered and of course eventually AOL did away with the message boards so there were fewer places to hang out any more.
I must have done some search that made me come here as I was looking to see if there was some magical way to afford college for DD’19. I didn’t find that magical way here (we did accomplish it no loans), but it was definitely helpful to be here and talk to other parents during the struggle that we went through with her college selection. And then to continue to share updates with each other.
Now she’s out but I like the diversion of reading here, and I just like college discussion. I’d like to work at a college if there was just one closer to home.
After our son committed to a boarding school in 2011, I started looking for a community of people who were familiar with this path as we didn’t know anyone with a child at BS. I searched on the school name for information beyond the school’s website and found many CC links. I signed up to join the conversations on the prep school forums and have been here ever since. My 14-year-old is now 26 and married, so I’ve moved here to the main Parent Cafe almost exclusively. I’ve seen so many posters come and go over the years, mostly once their students have either chosen or graduated from a school, but I’ve found real community here and several IRL friendships. I’ve tried to leave several times, but I’ve woven too much of myself into the CC fabric, and I just can’t leave the voices here even if they don’t know who they are and how much I enjoy them. I’m looking forward to the Michigan and Maine meetups to put more faces to avatars and make some new IRL friends. CC becomes less and less virtual to me.
I keep saying it’s time to go, but then I learn about the life-changing Instant Pot, how much I need to retire (and when), which movies to watch/books to read, how to purge my house a bag at a time, and how badly dressed I am, so how can I leave this special place that enables me to get it off my chest and brag without repercussion? My kid thinks this site is full of possible serial killers and rolls his eyes every time I mention CC, but I feel pretty safe here and have no current plans to leave.
@thumper1, me too. I used my real name there as I do here, but that was causing problems in the drama over there. CC tells me that was April of 2005. I was a lawyer with a side hustle doing college and law school admissions counseling, and hoping to do this full time one day. I finally left law practice in 2008.
Wow, I love reading your stories! Great idea for a thread.
The podcast is linked in the initial post if anyone wants to listen. @BKSquared reveals a juicy nugget of insight that some might find intriguing.
If you dont have time to listen to the podcast, I came here in 2014 and posted early on. I created a thread asking for college suggestions for my eldest and got useful replies. Then I updated that first post months later and got many responses. It ended up being a lot of fun and I was hooked.
I had to look at my profile to see when I joined. It was May 2008, after D got accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill as an out of state student. I guess I wanted to read up on the school. I don’t really remember. I rarely post in the college threads anymore. I stay here in the Cafe for the most part, or make the rare foray into the politics forum.
I came here in about 2005 when my son was looking for private high schools (including some boarding schools). Whew, a long time ago!
I paused for a few years then joined back in when my youngest was looking for colleges in 2019.
I still remember some thoughtful posts and wisdom from those early years (one I cannot forget: “Joy is a worthier light post than fear” (as a navigational guide)).
I also remember some rough and tumble discussions in the “far less heavily moderated” era. Not sure if I miss that or not LOL.
There used to be a politics forum that was open to all, as in no joining a private group. I heard that was the Wild West. It was permanently closed before I got here in 2014.
I wish I had known about it as we were going through college prep, selection, application,… But it had never occurred to me that there actually could be some objectively helpful forum.
Based on the date, I must have come across is during/after the first semester at college - likely because I was looking for reassurance that “our” college experiences were within the norm, by lurking and seeing how it went for others.
I have to assume CC had been referenced (or possibly poked fun at) in some article about parents venting their school/college anxiety in online forums, that turn into support groups.
(I don’t see any practical way for user to “query” / filtering their own activity, e.g., sorting it ascending by date. Otherwise, if I knew where I had first reacted or commented, it might remind me.)
I found College Confidential in October 2006 while searching for colleges with good scholarships, as my daughter was a high school senior and constructing her list of schools to apply to. I discovered the Parents Forum after a while, and still visit daily. I learn so much here, and often share some of the information that friends and daughter recognize as being from CC.
I was on the first iteration of CC (back when we saw everyone’s email addresses!) and stayed on that version as long as possible until they forced us to switch, even though the newer version then was also up and running, so my start date is when they forced me onto the newer version and sunsetted the original version. So I think my start date says maybe Oct 2004, but in reality I was on several months before that.
I joined in 2016, I think, when I was helping D17 and S15 with their college lists and applications. The process was daunting and we were clueless. It became clear that I would have to become an expert of college admissions to manage the process.
S15 wasn’t a very competitive student and did two years at CC, but even for him I had to learn about WUE, transfer requirements, etc… He got nothing but bad advise from the counselors at his CC and probably would have dropped out if I hadn’t taken control of the situation.
D17 was competitive and I wanted to make sure she had excellent choices that wouldn’t bankrupt our family. She did better than she probably should have her cycle.
S23 was even more competitive and was the real beneficiary of my research and time spent on CC and his results showed the time and attention we put into his application process.
S26 should be a cake walk compared to his siblings.
