As Juniors Zig, Parents Zag

How will parents feel as their children face one of the most critical moments in life? One such moment is the fate of being accepted into world’s most selective college such as Harvard.

As Elaine and I went through the emotional roller coaster today while waiting for Tiffany’s Early Action decision from Harvard University, I tried to record some of our feelings, but I don’t know where to start. No adjective or collection of adjectives can reflect how we feel.

So when I read about this recent post from the College Confidential “Official Harvard SCEA Class of 2017” forum, I felt it’s a perfect example of what some of the parents are going through mentally and psychologically these days.

Can I just say congratulations to all, but…

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As a Mom of a senior applying to colleges this fall, I just wanted to see what was happening on this thread. First, congratulations to all who were accepted.To those who were deferred or rejected, you are all exceptional students, too. Harvard would love to take more students and increase the size of their freshman class, but they are limited by space. I’ve heard alums ask time and again if the administration would consider increasing the size. Harvard can’t due to lack of space.

I also wanted to say that in my travels with my senior across the United States, I have been so impressed with every university and LAC we have visited. Many of these schools have come a long way from 35 years ago and offer just as superior an education as the Ivy League. Everyone, please investigate these schools, too! There is always the Ivy League for graduate school when students are clearer about their interests.

I guess you would also call my family a “legacy” since my sibling and I went to Harvard, as well as my brother-in-law. Did that help? NO. So it really dismays me when I hear people say that Harvard legacies get the benefit of the doubt. Not at all. My sibling’s child just got deferred from Harvard three hours ago via email. He had top scores, top grades, APs galore, all the “credentials” one would be looking for and that didn’t even help. So its really tough to get accepted. He’s taking it all in stride and knows there are other wonderful schools out there for him. Don’t lose hope. On first blush it feels devastating after all this hard work, but everything will work out in the long run.

-An adult with many years of hindsight.

Thanks for sharing the hindsight, MominBoston!

Category: Blog, College-bound, Elaine, Frank, Tiffany