The day you got accepted to the college of your dreams...

[bruinaphi]

I remember getting accepted to college period, more than to individual schools. One school called me on the day they received my application and told me over the phone that I was accepted. I was ecstatic! I remember hooping and hollering and running around the house. I think that b/c I was fine with going to that school if I didn't get in elsewhere the rest was pretty anti-climatic.

Law school acceptances were a totally different story. I applied to 14 first and second tier law schools. I had ok grades, good LSATs, and tons of extra activities. My first acceptance came on a Saturday morning from my stepmom's law school. One of my sisters came running up the stairs and burst into my bedroom screaming (I think she woke up the whole second floor b/c it was only 8:00 a.m.) and handed me this little letter on executive size stationary. It was a handwritten acceptance letter from the dean. I burst into tears I was so happy!

What a feeling...

For undergrad I applied to 8 schools (U of Mich., Syracuse, Ohio State, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Cortland, U of Delaware, Seton Hall, and Fairleigh-Dickinson,) When I told my guidance counselor that i was applying to UM she asked me if thats what I really wanted to do because it was a really hard school and just wasnt sure. That kinda pissed me off cuz I was an -A/+B student (damn AP Bio) but I told her it was a dream school and I just wanted to see if I could. Wasnt expecting anything.
So im sitting at home doing HW at my desk and the phone rings. I pick it up and the woman on the other libe ask if Im home, I told her it was me speaking. All I know is that she said something about on behalf of the U of Mich, she would like to congratualte me on being accepted into the class of 2001. Right when she said the word accepted is when I screamed right into the phone. She just laughed and said she could tell I was happy and that I would be recieveing acceptance material in the mail soon. After we hung up I called anyone and everyone who was home. My mom came home later and I told her. her response was, "Good... but have you heard from Syracuse yet?" I just stopped and was like "Huh?" Here it is im happy out of my mind I just got into my dream school and you want to know about SU???. My school also puts up all the seniors acceptance letters in the front hall for everyone to see. I brought my UM one in for the counselors to put up. They were all happy but once again I got asked, "Heard from SU yet? What about them?" No darn it. Even though I got mine acceptance letter from them about 2 weeks later. As you can see where I live is nothing but SU fans. Notre Dame and UM came in next . To this day though, I have no clue whether I got into SUNY Cortland. never got an acceptance/rejection letter or phone call.

I hope my law or grad school acceptance are just as good as everyone elses. Ive picked 15 and trying to narrow it down to 4 or 5.

[Rudey]

I got deferred at Yale and then rejected. I think I've never had a more humbling experience. Soon I started getting the dreaded waitlist letters. After three of those, I got hit with acceptance after acceptance and finally settled on my school after great thought.

-Rudey
--Great is not good enough

[dzsaigirl]

I got deferred from Rice and then Rejected. My mother was also given the specific infoormation not to open my envelope. She didn't open the deferrment letter, but when the final letter came, I got home and found the already opened envelope. It looked like it had exploded or something (my mother rips into mail with a vengeance). I was more upset with her for opening the letter than I was that I didn't get in. It turned out to be okay though because they do not even have the degree that I am getting, or the one that I had planned on getting (duh).

[Rollergirl2001]

It was in November 2000 and I've got accepted in both Tennessee Tech and U of Memphis. In February 2001, I've got accepted to University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. I wanted to go to school out of town, but my mother insisted that I stay in Memphis for school for a year. She said that I can transfer after my freshman year. So I went to U of M and I love it and I never want to leave.

BTW, I've applied to 3 schools. It would have been 6 schools, but I have to choose 3 because the witchy school counselors insisted that I choose 3 schools (one local, one in-state, and one out of state). I wanted to apply to University of Alabama, but the deadline had passes. Same thing with U of Tennessee, Knoxville and U of Kentucky.

[Glitter650]

My college path has been rather umm.. convoluted... so here's a summary
Senior year I applied to UCLA, UC Davis, Loyola Marymount and CSU Northridge. My DREAM school since like 5th grade was UCLA, REJECTED... Davis... ACCEPTED ... I was excited I was now going to school... LMU... accepted... excited... but now had a decision.. ( wasn't SUPER excited about either one truthfully I had REALLY wanted UCLA) I decided that Davis was too much of a cow town and too close to home.. so I chose Loyola.. which I ended up HATING !! so I came home and went to JC for a year, and applied to Northern Arizona... GOT IN.... SOOOOOO EXCITED (although pretty much, I knew I would with my scores and such) I was SUPER Happy though. I had gone to visit a friend (an A D PI) over spring break and I had LOOOOVVVED it in Flagstaff and was soo happy to get in... alas... too much money for poor me who is VERY much a resident of Cali... (born and raised) and not enough Financial Aid... and my year at LMU had cost a pretty penny... so now my little piece of paper says San Francisco State University.... I am currently awaiting law school letters please send positive thoughts my way so I have a great exciting moment as you all have described !!

[TigerLilly]

I applied to three schools: U. of KY, Duke, and U. of Rochester in New York. I only really applied to Rochester because I got this science award and it was free to apply, but I wasn't ever really wanting to go there. (It's COLD there!!!) I had wanted to go to Duke for forever, it was my dream school, yada yada.
Well I got in, and I was super-excited about that, but then my parents started to get all anti-Duke. I got some decent scholarships there, too, but still would have had to pay something like $13,000 a year. My parents adamently refused to let me go there, and basically blackmailed me into going to UK instead. They refused to help me pay for Duke, very very strongly discouraged me from getting student loans, guilt-tripped me about being so far away from home, etc.
They wanted me to go to UK. They went to UK, as did my grandparents, and I think they were all about keeping the tradition or some nonsense. I had been accepted there months before, but that wasn't really a surprise since I knew I'd get in there. I got a full-ride scholarship to UK, so I accepted that and ended up going to UK. I'm pretty sure I cried when I sent that in, and not tears of joy either.
I ended up being really happy at UK though!
It's kinda funny because one of Duke's many appealing factors was the good biology department, but then I ended up switching majors to geography, and UK has a good geography department. So I guess it all worked out in the end.

[CarolinaCutie]

I applied early decision to Carolina (UNC Chapel Hill, although NO ONE around here calls it that), but then I also applied to UVA and UGA just to see what would happen.

I was on the yearbook staff during 4th period, and one of our tasks was to go around to area businesses and sell ads in the yearbook. So of course, we did about 30 minutes of selling and an hour of driving around, doing nothing, eating, napping, etc. One of the girls in my class had also applied early decision to Carolina, so we were just WAITING. We would go to her house and check the mailbox to see if her letter had come yet.

The funny part is, I don't even remember WHEN I got the letter now. I have a feeling I didn't find it on one of our mailbox trips. Anyway, I got the letter, it was thick, and I was super excited.

Later, I got into UVA & UGA, but obviously I wasn't going there.

Unfortunately, I ended up going to Carolina and hating it. Last time I checked though, my yearbook friend was president of ZTA at Carolina So I transferred to UNCG. Getting accepted here didn't seem like a big deal at the time- but now, I am so thankful!

[preciousjeni]

When I was seventeen, I had a horrible brain injury that left me with not-so-temporary learning disabilities, behavioral problems and the like. But, based on my scholastic achievements, I was recruited by some schools even so. I was also recruited for full-soccer scholarships to other schools.

By the time I got to "going off to college" I didn't want to do it. It was a combination of discouragement because of my learning problems, as well as a bad attitude (behavioral stuff).

So I applied to one school hoping I wouldn't get in. It was a small private school in Atlanta called Oglethorpe University. Well, fortunately I did get in - I say fortunately because I attribute most of my current success to the fact that I did, in fact, go to college and force my brain to work.

I was absolutely miserable and so I transferred to a 2 year public college and then to a two year private college. At this point, I felt more able (brain-wise) to cope with a university. I applied to UGA under a provisionary/probationary status.

The first letter I got said I wasn't accepted. We appealed.

Then, I remember getting another letter in the mail as my family was sitting down to recuperate from a long day. When I opened it and it said that I got in, I was in total shock and very excited. So UGA's where I got my degree!

[IvySpice]

I knew that there was no hope for my dream school. None. I was wasting my time and money; even my guidance counselor said so. So when I got into one of my safeties quite early in the process, I was psyched and made all kinds of plans about everything I was going to do there.

Two weeks later, I went through the mail and found the huge envelope with that Harvard-Radcliffe shield in the corner. I thought it had to be a mistake; it must have been for one of my neighbors; they had put my address label on the wrong letter...but then inside, it actually said: "Dear Ms. Spice...please accept my warmest congratulations on your outstanding achievements." So they really meant me! Me! All my years of work got me to the exact spot on the planet I wanted to be! I felt like I had knocked over skyscrapers and torn down mountains. Then I called my parents and cried. I didn't know, then, how happy I was going to be at college, but I did know that I was going to be happier than I'd ever been before.

That was almost ten years ago, and the truth is, it still hasn't sunk in. I still can't believe it really happened.

[XOMichelle]

I had decided to apply early decision, and no one at my school thought I would get in (one of the "really smart guys" was applying too so if they were going to pick one, it would have been him). Anyway, I was interested in doing Crew, and had made it a point to talk to the Crew coach when I visited. She told me that she'd put me on their "list", and call me when they heard a decision. Well, in mid December she called, saying she hadn't heard anything back. I flipped out thinking that they had lost my application or something equally awful. So I called the school, just to see if they were indeed going to mail me something that week. Well, said the receptionist (it was Armanda-- I later worked at the Admissions office and got to know her), I can tell you your decision over the phone. Oh my! Well I was really nervous. It took like 5 min to verify all my information, and make sure I was me. There was a puase, and she said Congrautaions! I was so excited, I started screaming. My Dad was home, and he cried. I don't think I had ever seen him cry before.

And IvySpice- I know what you mean. I still can't believe they took me. Not the "really smart guy" that everyone thought would get in, but me. And it has made a huge difference in my life!

[GeekyPenguin]

I found out I got into my dream school (not either of the ones I'd attended) when I got home from one of my then-boyfriends swim meets. It was the last school I had to hear from, and when I took my doggie to get the mail I saw the big envelope and started screaming and ran into tell my dad, then I called my mom at the hair salon, then called three of my best friends on the way BACK to the pool to tell my boyfriend.

Then they dicked me over on financial aid.

I remember when I got into Platteville (like 3 days after I submitted my application) I wasn't even excited because it was a complete safety. I wasn't excited when I got into Marquette either because they made it so obvious that I was a legacy admit "Congrats on continuing your family's Marquette tradition..."

When I got my Rolla letter I was kind of excited because they gave me a full ride, which just boggled me. I was like "ME? I'm smart enough?" I had interviewed with their Dean of Engineering and I guess he loved me.

As for the other school, well, I don't want to talk about it.

[ISUKappa]

I only applied to one school. My guidance counselor pushed me to apply to schools like Northwestern and Notre Dame (yeah, right!) but I knew where I wanted to go and knew that it wouldn't be an issue for me to get in. I don't even remember when I got my acceptance letter, I applied fairly early, and I think it's with my HS scrapbook. Because of financial reasons, I didn't feel I could go to a private school or out-of-state so I stuck to where I knew my heart was.

And I don't regret it one bit.

I recall getting in to just about everywhere but one college.

I applied and got into U of Arkansas, Oklahoma St Univ, UNC Chapel Hill, and Cal Poly Pomona.

I didnt get into UCLA

[erica812]

Getting in as an undergrad wasn't half as exciting as my most recent journey!

I applied to Ph.D. programs over Christmas break. By the time I left to go home for Spring Break, I still hadn't heard anything at all. I was getting really really anxious!! Driving back (8 hours), I was a wreck. When I opened the door, I saw a big fat envelope in the "mail basket." I jumped. I screamed. I cried. Later that week, I got a phone call from MY FIRST CHOICE, and the crying, jumping, screaming started all over again. Last Friday, my husband got a call from his first choice (the same as mine) saying that he was accepted too!

Hooray! I'll be Dr. Erica812