Anonymous
12/29/2025 15:25
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
Well done and so true. As a parent with one in college and another in the on deck circle this tracks. I would just add emphasis to two aspects. First, I don't think over estimate their DC' stats they just completely underestimate how many others have the same stats- it is literally 10's of thousands.
In addition the ED buyer's remorse much more of an issue than parents and your college counseling office acknowledge. . .
My oldest is a junior in college and I didn't see much if any ED regret her year. Lots of kids have transferred but most are not transferring from their ED school. I will say that my dd's school is a "B" fit, but she was a regular decision admit. It was one of her top choices, I just think she didn't chose the right criteria. None of her other options would have necessarily been better.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 15:08
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
Well done and so true. As a parent with one in college and another in the on deck circle this tracks. I would just add emphasis to two aspects. First, I don't think over estimate their DC' stats they just completely underestimate how many others have the same stats- it is literally 10's of thousands.
In addition the ED buyer's remorse much more of an issue than parents and your college counseling office acknowledge. . .
Anonymous
12/29/2025 15:03
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:Dork rumspringa! I’m stealing that.
Me too!
Anonymous
12/29/2025 15:03
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
PP here: I laughed at the OP post so thanks for this.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 15:01
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Once DC didn't get in at ED school, its taken some pressure off honestly. We have the money saved for four years full pay but it was weird getting my head around how expensive some schools are and DC’s ED was the most expensive school they applied to.
Got in at a reach the same week of ED news so now it’s just watch the rest come in knowing DC has the reach in pocket.
Got in at a reach the same week of ED news so now it’s just watch the rest come in knowing DC has the reach in pocket.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:57
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
This is my fourth (and final) cycle and couldn’t agree more. Definitely lots of delusional parents in the summer/early fall.
I also think a lot of parents who don’t think the 25-50 schools aren’t good enough for their kid feel a lot differently in spring when their kid didn’t get into those either.
I also think a lot of parents who don’t think the 25-50 schools aren’t good enough for their kid feel a lot differently in spring when their kid didn’t get into those either.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:55
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
Thank you for posting this. I have two kids who are seniors - one was rejected early and the other was deferred early, so we are going nowhere during winter break so they can write a bunch of supplemental essays while our friends whose kids got into their ED schools are laying out at a beach in Mexico or Hawaii (and posting Facebook pics). Happy for them, feeling a pity-party for us. I doubt the ED kids (most of whom got into schools where they are double legacy - no bitterness, but that's just the truth) will be regretting anything in the spring but this is my first rodeo.
No bitterness? This post reeks of bitterness.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:26
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:Dork rumspringa! I’m stealing that.
Love it!
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:25
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
This is really good, OP.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:20
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
It never really ends, so don’t worry about it. The next step is obsessing over internships and job outcomes, then income and wealth, then who people marry and whether they have good-looking kids, and even what kind of house they buy. It’s all just keeping up with the Joneses nonsense. If anything, social media has only made people more desperate for validation.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:16
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
Thank you for posting this. I have two kids who are seniors - one was rejected early and the other was deferred early, so we are going nowhere during winter break so they can write a bunch of supplemental essays while our friends whose kids got into their ED schools are laying out at a beach in Mexico or Hawaii (and posting Facebook pics). Happy for them, feeling a pity-party for us. I doubt the ED kids (most of whom got into schools where they are double legacy - no bitterness, but that's just the truth) will be regretting anything in the spring but this is my first rodeo.
Agree. They won’t be regretting it (most of them). It’s a long haul for the ED no’s.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 13:03
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
Thank you for posting this. I have two kids who are seniors - one was rejected early and the other was deferred early, so we are going nowhere during winter break so they can write a bunch of supplemental essays while our friends whose kids got into their ED schools are laying out at a beach in Mexico or Hawaii (and posting Facebook pics). Happy for them, feeling a pity-party for us. I doubt the ED kids (most of whom got into schools where they are double legacy - no bitterness, but that's just the truth) will be regretting anything in the spring but this is my first rodeo.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 09:01
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
You know what’s missing this year, though? The annual December (post-ED) thread about whether Sidwell is losing its touch and the kids would have had better admissions from Jackson-Reed.
I would guess that’s one part the end of affirmative action, one part the revival of test-mandatory, and one part younger parents who are more comfortable with the line that you don’t choose private school for the college results.
I would guess that’s one part the end of affirmative action, one part the revival of test-mandatory, and one part younger parents who are more comfortable with the line that you don’t choose private school for the college results.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 08:47
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
Dork rumspringa! I’m stealing that.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 08:46
Subject: The ebb and flow of admissions hostility
I am a parent of a college sophomore and a high school senior, so I've been on this site a lot over the past few years.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.
I've recognized a sort of cadence to the threads:
August-November - optimism. Families asking for school suggestions for their "high stats" student. Everyone underestimates the importance of safety schools. Everyone is high on life and possibilities.
November 15 - December 15
venom or bragging
Depending on how your ED decision lands, you are either estatic and bragging about being a "good parent" or you are lashing out about "hooks." (See the recent thread about legacy preference for reference)
The world is "unfair" for the first time in your precious snowflake's life...
December - everyone is refreshing the IG decision page every 10 minutes, you are looking up schools you've never heard of before and rabbit holing into some random kid from California. Your "high stats" kids scramble to look for safety schools that don't hurt their pride too much.
Panic at the disco
January- April
The honeymoon phase for ED admits. They are happily goofing off in class and gloating.
Dork rumspringa
April -
The honeymoon ends for ED admits as all of their peers receive news from colleges. Most feel some buyers remorse "X got into XYZ?! Why did I ED?! I could have gotten in too!"
Everyone is so exhausted and desensitized by this point that the yeses and nos just collect in a bucket to be analyzed and thought about at the last possible moment. You probably don't even check the IG "decisions" pages anymore. It's just exhausting.
May
No one cares anymore. because it all, mostly, worked out for most kids. Sure, there is a striver or two who got screwed because they didn't have any real safeties, but they usually get off a waitlist at Michigan or somewhere equivalent by August.
Travel safely my fellow parents. You will survive this.