Well! Elizabeth decided on a school: she chose the art college within a university, rather than the only-art-college.
THE MOMENT AFTER WE PAID THE DEPOSIT, her whole mood changed from morose to perky. She started filling out the roommate-selection application, complaining perkily the whole time about the dumb questions. She started talking perkily about which things from her room she planned to bring to college, and which she planned to leave behind, and which she planned to use the transition as an opportunity to cull. Her voice stopped doing that about-to-cry thing. She went from looking unhappy to looking happy. She started shopping for Senior Prom.
I was very relieved, because up until that point, my main concern was her despondency about the choice: I wished we had tried harder to find a place she Really Wanted; I felt bad that she felt like she was choosing between two such imperfect options; also I felt a little irritable because I TRIED to help her find more appealing options but she kept being so meh about everything and rejecting my attempts!! Anyway, it was good to see her perk up.
Now we wait to hear from Edward’s first-choice/waitlisted college. They say they don’t have a ranked waitlist; instead, they reconsider the entire waitlisted pool again, for the remaining available slots, like a microcosm of how they consider the entire pool of applicants for the original available slots. I wish I had ANY IDEA how many waitlisted students there were, and/or what Edward’s chances are. Are we talking a 1 in 100 chance? a 1 in 1000 chance? a 1 in 2 chance? Is Edward a shoo-in as long as the expected number of students decline their acceptance, or is he a long-shot even if there are record-setting declinings?? We just don’t know. We also don’t know what the financial-aid situation will be, but it seems like it would be less for a waitlisted student than for a first-round choice.
What a relief!
You’re familiar with a school’s Common Data Set, right? Google ‘school name CDS’ (like ‘Georgetown CDS’). There will be information on the most recent year (2022-2023) number of kids offered a spot on the waitlist, how many kids accepted a spot, and how many kids were taken off the waitlist. The numbers won’t be the same this year but you’ll get a decent idea of what his chances are.
Congratulations to Elizabeth! So glad she has made a decision she feels good about!
I’m glad the decision has brought Elizabeth some relief. Hope you don’t have to wait too long to find out about the waitlist for Edward.
The perk-up is so heartening! I hope she has a fun summer planning. :) Also hoping for the best outcome for Edward and the waitlist… I’m sure he’ll be called up! :)
As mentioned above – look up “Common Data Set for XXX University.” Great info for comparing schools and lets you see how many got off the waitlist in years prior. Subject to change year to year, of course, as schools adjust their parameters. Also parent boards on Facebook are good for getting the scuttlebutt on whether kids are coming off the waitlists.
MAZEL TOV!!! to Elizabeth for deciding on a school and feeling perky about it! (is it the one near me? I hope it’s the one near me!)
And fingers crossed for Edward and the waitlist.
Thank you for the update and hooray for decisions made and spirits lifted!
I’m so glad Elizabeth is happy with her decision!
I’m very happy for both Elizabeth and you that The Choice is now behind you! And I think that since the whole not-being-surrounded-by-art-students-only was a big wish for her, she chose well.
YAY, Elizabeth! Such a relief I’m sure to have made the decision.
As for Edward, sending positive thoughts that he makes it off the waitlist.
Nice! Fingers crossed for Edward, the waitlist, and a discovery that they still come up with $$$ for kids who get in off the waitlist.
My youngest is going to a college I hate more the more I think about it. Like, I want to cry. I am awarding myself points for hiding this from him. We did discuss my concerns before he picked it, but while I raised the issues, I also told him repeatedly that it was his choice because he was the one going to college.
God I hate his college. I am worried that he is going to emerge a self-congratulatory techbro. I am worried that he is going to be totally depressed by the deeply depressing environment of this particular college (think careerists attending school in an office park). I hate it. Hate hate hate.
But, um, congrats again to Elizabeth and Edward!
Gosh, I really went off the rails. I’m sorry. Maybe you could delete me?
I DECLINE. I loved your comment. (I will of course delete it if you actually truly want me to. But if you are just plagued as I often am with self-conscious post-comment regret, let me tell you that I LEANED FORWARD IN MY CHAIR with earnest sympathetic feelings, and considered it a HIGHLY VALUABLE AND INTERESTING contribution to the discussion. Many of us are in the EXACT moment to FULLY APPRECIATE the situation you are in. I can EASILY IMAGINE how I’d feel if one of my kids had chosen This Particular School or That Particular School. My hope is that your kid will go there for one year and say GAH NO and switch to whatever school you thought would most suit him.)
That is very kind of you (no surprise!) and in that case, don’t delete. I worried that I was being a self-absorbed destroyer of joy, which is the last thing I want to be during what should be a time of excitement and anticipation.
I am hoping so hard that I am wrong about Youngest’s Chosen College. (Or that he jumps ship, as you imagine.)
I have to admit that there are a few schools I, perhaps unjustly, look down my nose at a bit. And I suspect the reason I haven’t progressed to actual dislike of any school is because I haven’t thought about them deeply yet. And though my son is only in Grade 9, his mediocre marks make me think he may be destined for one of them and I’ll have to get over my snobbery. (But I’m still mentally wringing my hands over his marks because he is SO SMART but SO LAZY he simply cannot be arsed to put in the just a bit of the effort he needs to to get good marks!)
If it helps, all three of mine ended up at schools that were, on technical grounds, less impressive than others they got into. The distance between the could-have-gones and the ones they picked varied, as did my enthusiasm for their choices, but the first two definitely found the places that were right for them.
I’ll bet we could all tell stories of kids who took a painful amount of time to get it together but eventually turned into hardworking, responsible adults. Courage, mon amie!
@Shawna oh hey, your kid & my younger kid sound so similar!
Oldest didn’t get into his top choice school. He most likely would not have gone there because it’s incredibly expensive, but he would have liked to have declined them vs the other way around. But I think he’s really happy with the school he chose!
Is your kid a boy in his mid-teens by any chance? My daughter is an ambitious ball of fire but her brother definitely prefers getting by with minimal effort and spending waaay too much time online with his friends.
I felt enormous angst about the state (a red one) my child chose to go to school in. I am still anxious about it but she’s just finished her sophomore year and more than anything SHE has influenced the people around her that I was concerned about. We raised her right, I have to keep holding on to that.
I imagine having that decision made lifted a HUGE weight off her mind and heart. So excited for her as she moves into this next chapter. Congrats!
Yay for Elizabeth and for decisions made and attitudes adjusted! Thanks for the update, I was thinking of you on May 1 decision day and fretting a bit for your situation. And I’m feeling relieved my kids have successfully graduated because it’s all so stressful!
I’m a little late but congratulations on decisions made! My daughter will be off to college this fall, (three states away and that’s fine, right? It will be great for her) and I’d love it if you could share some insight into necessities to pack and other lessons you’ve learned with your older children. One thing in particular I’m curious about is if you purchased renter insurance for the dorms. Thank you so much if you choose to share any information with us!