Although I am usually a college brand snob, I am really pulling for Kalamazoo for some reason.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my college experience and whether or not I attended my "spirit school" (think spirit animal). While I loved Georgetown a lot more than I disliked it, in the back of my head I will always think what could my life have been like had I attended Hampshire College.

I see a lot of comments about this college or that college looking favorable to grad schools. Let's be realistic. All grad schools care about are undergrad GPA and your GRE/GMAT/LSAT score. Good luck to your kid choosing his school. Worry about the best price tag, job placement stats, and an environment he will enjoy.

A couple of years ago @ the CNU Info Night in NoVA, I was very surprised to see that both President and Mrs. Trible were in attendance. I think that was the only time I have seen a University President attend a general information night for any college.

His wife was very good at connecting with the people to whom she was speaking. My son was wearing a college crest belt and she pointed out that her husband had graduated from there. One thing my son and I both noticed during Trible's talk that he has taken traditions from both of his alma maters, Hampden-Sydney and W&L, and implemented them at CNU.

President Trible has definitely raised the profile of CNU during his tenure.

President Trible (aka PTrib to the students) has definitely raised the bar at CNU. He frequently walks around campus, talking to students and taking interest in their lives. Rosemary, his wife, has her own weekly bible study with students. At graduation she waits at the end of the stairs to personally hug every graduating student. They're wonderful.

I personally love that he's implemented traditions from his alma maters there. When I graduated, it was tradition to throw a penny you got at Freshman Convocation into a fountain as you walked to graduation. They have since gotten rid of the fountain and put a bell tower in its place, and now graduating seniors will ring the bell as they walk by. I'll be down this year for it, and I'm excited to watch it happen.

I have a lot of pride and love for CNU...and their crazy amazing beautiful new dorms they're building.

Rosemary Trible (UT Beta Xi) was recently profiled in The Key as a Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Achievement Award recipient for all her good work.

^^^ lol

Alum, I'm always amused when someone wears a clothing item from another school to a college night, orientation, etc. I think it's funny she spotted that!

I'm working on a W&L needlepoint crest right now, to frame for my daughter's room.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I hope Halo is happy, no matter where he decides to go. He does have two great choices. I will say that Michigan is always a great option for grad school, which K isn't, so he could do both. I think Michigan is a great choice for anyone who is a self-starter, and close to home would be great.

He is no closer to a decision. He is, ultimately, not thrilled with either choice. I had hoped these accepted student days would give him clarity, but they haven't.

Hang in there, Mom!

He has two great choices. Either choice will be a good one. He is going to have a great time at either school and get a great education, once he settles in.

This whole process is just so different than what Hypo went through. She was tense about whether she'd get into her dream school but then she did. Halo told me he will be telling me to put the deposit down for Michigan but he's not ready to commit quite yet.

He applied to Michigan because "Everybody expects me to go there." I think he's choosing Michigan for the same reason. He believes it is the "better" school, but he's more comfortable at K College. At the same time, he says he thinks he will get bored at K and is concerned that there are only a few professors for each subject. That means he doesn't get a broad perspective and if there is one he doesn't care for, he's stuck taking their classes anyway. I think what he's really acknowledging is that he won't grow as much at K- or will outgrow K- so even though Michigan is really overwhelming to him, he knows he will experience more personal growth.

That doesn't mean he's excited about it.

What about starting at K and then transferring if he doesn't like it? Or applying to transfer elsewhere next year?

Has he pursued the wait list options with any follow up?

But what would transferring do to his scholarship possibilities? He would leave behind whatever scholarship package School A provided. And unfortunately, transfers have very few (practically zero) scholarships available to them. So unless School B was willing to hold whatever scholarships they are offering Freshman-Halo in 2014 and make them available to Transfer-Halo in 2016, transferring two years from now could really hurt the pocketbook.
:(

I really think he's going to be fine at Michigan. I think he will come to love it after that first Saturday in the student section in the Big House. I also think that it will greatly increase his confidence once he gets comfortable there. He will get comfortable there. Some of this may have been happening even if it was Brown because, honestly, he's the kid who has always had a hard time dealing with change. In some ways, Michigan will help with that because he'll be close enough to come home whenever he wants.

He had joked a few weeks before those final decisions came in that if worse came to worse, he would go to Michigan, be in the RC and marry JS- last year's valedictorian and homecoming queen. We met up with her after our tours were done and she showed him around the dorm, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the theater, the gelato shop and the coffee shop. She showed us her room and he met one of her friends who will probably be in a class with him in the fall. They were really nice and talked about how much they love it there.

The girl who lives across the street from his dad is also in the same program. Even though he "married" her when he was 4 and she was 5, in her backyard, under a tree, he doesn't care for her now. He did mention that he wished she wasn't there. It's not like he has to hang out with her.

Ironically, he really liked the girl he knows at K a lot at one point too, but then she dated one of his best friends so she became off limits...lol. She looks a lot like Hypo and people actually used to get them confused because they were in the same band section.

In another funny twist, my best friend since kindergarten had a baby girl two week after I had Hypo. When I called her to tell her I was pregnant with Halo, she laughed and said she was pregnant too. Our boys are a few weeks apart in age also. Her son is going to Michigan too.

Michigan is also our most economical option and is cheap enough that I can afford his football tickets and also fraternity dues. At the point when Hypo graduates, I probably won't qualify for financial aid anymore and at Michigan, his housing costs could really drop because he'll move out of the dorms and into an apartment or house. OR, he could apply to be an RA. Overall, this could be a very affordable education for him, leaving him with very little debt on graduation and in a good position for grad school. If we had some sort of financial disaster, he could commute to Michigan- another real bonus. It wouldn't be fun, but it could be done.

He has accepted his spot on the waitlists although he's not sure he'd go to Oberlin at this point. I think they hurt his feelings. He would definitely go to Brown and he has written the admissions counselor, updated some of his activities, let him know he would definitely attend if accepted off the wait list and finished the letter with a note that if he can't get off the wait list, Brown will be #1 on his list for grad school. But realistically, they haven't used their wait list in 2 years.

Awww, even if he's going to be a slightly reluctant Wolverine at first, I'm happy we're (...probably...) getting such a great kid and wonderful student. Tell him I said Go Blue!

One thing I was a little bit surprised to discover was how many kids who went to high school in Michigan **didn't** want to hang out with people they already knew. I was the only kid from my high school class who chose UM, and so I didn't know a soul when I stepped on campus. I had no choice but to start from scratch, and I was kind of expecting a lot of the kids from Michigan high schools to arrive with many classmates and acquaintances in the same class, and their peer groups pretty much set from high school, and thus I'd have a bit of extra work to do to make friends. To my pleasant surprise, most people were looking to have a different experience than they'd had in high school, with different people. To quote a friend of mine from Rochester Hills, "Whatever, I spent 4 years with them. I know them. I'm ready to move on."

There will be plenty of other people for him to meet. He might not like that one girl, but there will be 6,998 other freshmen who aren't her.

Right- and she'll be a sophomore! So it's 6999 :)

He did note that the male to female ratio in the RC is 1:2. The odds are definitely in his favor.

^^^ Well, then, I hope he goes to Michigan and we get to have a fraternity recruitment story come fall! At the Meet Michigan event a couple years ago, Generallygreek asked the woman who was tabling for the RC if there were very many people in the RC who went Greek, and she was told there wasn't a lot of interest in rushing on the part of RC students. Actually, she seemed surprised Generallygreek was asking.

I will say that you can't escape the school spirit and pride at Michigan...if you don't have it coming in, I don't know how you wouldn't catch it once you're there.

Drumroll please.....





























Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan The leaders and best!

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan, The champions of the West!

Yay! Decision made with a couple of days to spare!

Congrats!

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...aREmGXdL1d-WmK

Good decision. Now Halo can join in the fun when knight_shadow and I take on cheerfulgreek come fall....

To really do it right, you have to yell "GO BLUE!" at the end with a double fist-pump.

Congratulations!

It just hit me today that he's leaving. He's not going far, but these are the last 3 weeks of high school for him. Oh crap, I'm not ready for this.

:D I'm going to be the biggest wreck when my kids go to college.

When my oldest was less than 3 days old, my husband left me home alone with him and ran to the store. He returned to find me sitting on the floor, holding the baby and sobbing. DH wanted to know what was wrong.

I choked out "Someday he's going to go away to college!" and then I cried for another 20 minutes. DH brought me some ice cream and said nothing. (He's a smart man.)

LOL. Oh, those post partum hormones are the worst! For the first two or three weeks of my daughter's life, I would go into my bedroom for about 30 minutes every afternoon and cry my heart out. Then I'd be fine...until the next day. There was no reason, just needed a big fat cry.

AGDee,

I feel your pain. My oldest went to PITT and never moved home again. She now lives in Boston. My "baby" is my special needs kid who transferred to a 4 year university at the other end of the state and will be graduating 2 weeks from tomorrow. I keep telling everyone, I NEVER GAVE EITHER ONE OF THEM PERMISSION TO GROW UP. They both belong at home, in their cribs.

DaffyKD

Congrats! You did an awesome job. That's super-exciting.

My oldest and his class are taking their "first look" tour of the middle school today. I sort of wanted to follow the bus this morning, but I didn't.

Same here. I about lost it when the calendar hit May 1st. Today is prom, AP exams start next week, and in 21 days my baby will be a HS grad. Middle son graduates from college TOMORROW :eek: and eldest graduates college in just over a month. Eldest isn't moving home after he graduates but thankfully will be about six hours closer. How has this happened? They are my babies, I tell you, my babies.

Yet, in some ways, I love that they are grown. I go back and forth on the empty nest thing. Sometimes, I get kind of excited at the thought of doing whatever I want without worrying about anybody else. And every single thing in the house will be exactly where I put it last. I love that idea.

Then other days it seems like it will just be way too quiet and lonely.

Our house is on the market now. When Generallygreek is at school, I love how her room is neat and tidy and there's one less bathroom to keep ultra-clean for any house showings. But I really miss her.

Dee, tell me how this "without worrying about anybody else" works. ;) I don't think I'll ever master this, even when the "kids" are 45.

"Without worrying about anybody else" does not work. My daughter is in Boston living with her BF. Bringing him into the mix was one more person to worry about. He was in the hospital for a week in fall and I was pacing like a caged animal in a state of worry over him. My folks live 10 minutes from me and I am the only one of my siblings by them. They are 88 and just shy of 90-- more worry. Son graduates 2 weeks from today and then has to have major knee surgery on the 28th-- more worry, daughter walks to and from the train all the time-- more worry. Dog is 14 1/2-- more worry.

DaffyKD

Well, I mean on a daily basis. Like, if I feel like picking up something for dinner, I don't have to consider whether anybody likes it. And when I make plans for a Saturday night, I don't have to worry about whether it interferes with someone else's expectations for me. When you think about it, when you're a parent, every single thing you do- from when you vacuum the house to what to have for dinner to when you're going to do the laundry is, in some way, dependent on the kids. Oh wait. Can't start a load of laundry because Halo has to shower before he goes to... Can't vacuum during an insomnia spell at 3 am if that's what you feel like doing because you'll wake people up.

Of course you'll still have worries and cares about the kids (and their significant others too), but it's at a different level.

So Brown has posted that they will be using their wait list to fill "a small number" of spots in the Class of 2018.

Hmmm...interesting!! Does he have to do anything more to follow up with Brown?

I was going to contact you about an AGD rec for my professor colleagues' daughter, but I found out today that she is going to MIT after all. They put down a deposit at Michigan, and lost it, because she changed her mind. She went to accepted students day at both schools and she talked to people at the Panhel tables...she is definitely going to go through recruitment at MIT. She also talked to someone at MIT from the engineering sorority. Her mom and I had a big talk today about getting recommendations, wardrobe, etc.

Please, please, please ask her to post an MIT recruitment story after it's all over. I'd love to know what that is like.

As of tonight there are some things he can update with Brown. It was Senior Honors Night for the Class of 2014. Halo was recognized for being in the top 20. Other awards he received tonight included: Phi Beta Kappa Award, Downriver League All Academic Team (varsity athlete with a GPA over 3.75), and (this was the big surprise) the Highest Achievement Award from the English Department (each department gives an award to one student). Hypo received the same award and I was kind of surprised to see Halo get it too because their skill sets are really very different! Nonetheless, I'm very proud of him :)

I know Michigan is a great school and I'm sure he'd do well there...but am I absolutely nuts that I'm super pulling for him to be one of the few pulled from Brown's waitlist in to the incoming class? I really love a dark horse/surprise twist ending.

Halo has graduated. And he seems to be embracing Michigan now :)

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...83981139_n.jpg

Congratulations to Mr. Halo and his family.

And AGDee, see if he might be interested in submitting a post-recruitment story if he goes through this fall or spring.

I will not say "Squeeeeee!"

Except for the part where I will.

Mazel tov and Go Blue!