If you've seen a bunch of people, both adults and teenagers, walking around in a daze this week, looking tired and confused, it is not because they are dazzled by the giant effigy of Andy Warhol shimmering in Union Square, but because this was the week that the colleges sent out their acceptance, rejection and waitlist answers. It's a terrifying and confusing time weighing the options, feeling alternately elated and rejected, and overall wondering what will happen during this next chapter of our children's lives.
The most awful part of the equation is weighing the cost vs. prestige aspect. Middle income people who don't qualify for financial aid have to choose between $240,000 to send their kiddies to the prestige school they worked so hard to get into, half that for state school, or little to practically nothing for city college, and save it all for grad school. I guess it's a good problem to have, but still a tough decision that confounds logic.
Without exception the letters all spoke to this being a banner year for applications, thus making the percentage of acceptances more selective than in any other year. The system is so random, as NPR revealed when they got inside the admissions office at Amherst and reported on it.
At the end of the day, Max wound up with 5 wins, 3 losses and 2 maybes. May the letter writing to get off the waitlist begin.
Photos: Atlas (Cornell); Andy Warhol (NY), taken by Steven A.
1 comment:
funny, we are deciding between high schools for Ben right now. So wanting to have a crystal ball, know what he will discover and connect with in each place. So hard, and without finances even factoring in at all. It just all feels so momentous.
-eve-
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