I’ll start. Very nervous. No one in my family or my husband’s family has ever attended or attempted this BS route. Even our town doesn’t historically do well in this process; last year’s admit cycle was coined “a blood bath.” So while I think we navigated it pretty well (started early, saw a lot of schools, focused on fit), I’m still learning things that maybe we should have done differently. Most of all, I wish we had applied to more schools, considered more hidden gems, and tapped unused connections – especially since we are applying for FA. We have two friends awaiting M10 also, and while my DD has stellar academics they are FP with hooks (an elite athlete and a HH name). It will be impossible not to compare outcomes. Anyway, we’ve invested a lot in this journey and have gone from feeling intimidated to overconfident to wildly uncertain. I wish I could shake this feeling that if we don’t have a good outcome tomorrow, my DD will be crushed. She has had a couple/few big disappointments recently, and I fear we’ve elected to travel down a road of high expectations and setbacks instead of finding joy in the status quo. Let us all remind our children today that tomorrow’s outcome is not a reflection of their worth but indeed the result of innumerable moving parts outside of our control. Net net, everything will work out in the end, and if things aren’t working out then it’s not the end. Good luck everyone!! :x
I wish I could remember the poster but, a few cycles back, one family decided to have a celebratory dinner on M9 congratulating their child on all of his hard work and effort to complete and submit all of those applications and to remind everyone in the family that it was about a job well done and not about tomorrow’s results. If there were no acceptances, oh well, nothing happens. Life just goes back to normal and they were celebrating just how good their normal life was.
That stuck with me as a great way to think about this whole thing. Life is a journey, a great adventure, BS or not.
Oh that is an EXCELLENT idea. Thank you so much, @ChoatieMom. We are doing that tonight!
Love that @ChoatieMom.
I lurk on these BS threads because I find them fascinating!.
Best of luck to everyone waiting to hear!
I nervous for you guys (and a little nervous waiting for our FA pack for next year.) Good Luck to all!
I’ll come to this thread when I’m in the calm mode. Currently, I’m swinging on the frantic side so I’m heading back to the freak out thread (AAAHHH!)
Good luck everyone! @ChoatieMom, hope you’ll be around to keep us in line today - we need adult supervision!
Fighting off a migraine…
I’ve never claimed to be an adult. That’s what Kalashnikov Kitty is for. 
Must remove myself from these boards…hahahahahaha, like that will happen!
Waiting is the hardest part.
I am just trying to get basic things done at the work. Replying emails, etc. nothing major. Wife is living for 8 days yoga retreat as an assistant instructor, so I will start pick up / drop my daughter starting 3pm today. At 5pm (PST), I will check if Miss Porters accepted her. I think there are some schools that will post as early as 9pm (PST) tonight, so I will continue to be agitated. But dd has physics midterm tomorrow and need some help reviewing, which will occupy some of my evening…
A majority of these applicants are already wound pretty tight and this will be their first taste of being judged by a third party outside their parent’s control. It’s shocking how even the highest-achieving kids can cue off a parent’s disappointed, tight-lipped expression or poorly chosen words and come away thinking that they have disappointed the people most important to them. But as CMom rightly points out, any kid willing to work this hard just to get to bat is going to be successful in life, with or without boarding school. That’s the reality. And that’s the best spirit to take into March 10.
I would also say that feverishly checking Fed-Ex does not send a good signal to your kids either. If any of you are doing that, please don’t let your kids see you. You’re sending the message that this is way too important to wait until the date you were told to wait. If that package doesn’t come, no words or facial restraint on M10 will override the message sent beforehand.
BTW @gusmom2000 I love your picture. I think you are the parent expert for one of the schools we applied to, so hopefully I will be bugging you with questions come tomorrow! Vacakid cool as a cucumber, VacaHusband is vaca’ing in Las Vegas, so obiviously he is not even thinking of M10.
We decided to plan a trip to celebrate the process and leave tomorrow am. DS is super excited about the trip and we hope it will be a fun trip, regardless of BS outcomes. Good luck to everyone tomorrow!
I agree with above posters - celebrate today! It’s the effort that counts - tackling those apps takes a lot of grit and self-reflection, especially for young teens. A rejection may be the first big disappointment they will have to face. Even if they’re not offered admission, the process of putting their best foot forward academically and presenting themselves to an admission committee is to be applauded. When one door closes, another opens. This may sound trite, but we all know it is true.
Having completed this application process will serve them well down the road when they embark on the college search process. You’ll all look back and realize the stress you feel now was all just a walk in the park compared to the craziness of college admissions 
I’ll tell you what I’m feeling today: this is the first M10 since 2012 that hasn’t made me cry! Best of luck to everyone! As mentioned above, this whole prep school thing is a journey–and one which taught me many lessons–regardless of the outcome.
FYI, some perspective from 2 years ago: