Elsa is accepted at Wesleyan!

On December 11 at 3pm, Wesleyan posted admission results for ED1 applicants for the class of 2014. Of course, the email that provided us with that information ended up in Elsa's spam. How I learned this is another story.

For our family, learning Elsa's results was going to be tricky. I work at school, planning out and typing up our weekly homework sheet on Fridays with my colleagues until 6pm or so. Elsa is dismissed from school at 1:30, but often stays after school on Fridays for her Irish History class which she is taking in preparation for her trip to Ireland in March. I really wanted to be with her when she learned her admission results, but I didn't know how this could be possible. I was very worried about her disappointment, rejection and feeling awful if the news was bad or very bad. But I also wanted to share the joy with her if the news was good-after all, the college application process took over a year of hard work, worry and stress for both of us. I was worried, too, about the champagne factor: to buy or not to buy? If we bought some prior to learning Elsa's results, might the champagne have been a jinx if the results were bad or very bad? On the other hand, if we held off and the news was good, would we want to schlep out to cold, depressing, Cortelyou Road to get some at a happy moment? Neither option seemed right. Clearly this was going to take some planning.

Elsa was clear: she didn't want to get her results at school. She needed the privacy of her own home. She decided, bravely, to essentially wait, to stay after school for her Ireland class and then rush home to log on to the Wesleyan web site by 4 pm instead of 3. How mature! On Thursday, the day before, I snuck a cold bottle of champagne into the back of the fridge. I figured it this way: if Elsa didn't know it was there, it wouldn't jinx her result, but would be there, chilled, if we needed it on Friday. About work, I explained my situation to my colleagues and we wrote our homework sheet on Thursday. Doing so helped keep me busy rather than calculating the hours until the results were posted. I was able to leave school Friday at 3:30 precisely. Jonathan held me up a bit and caused me some serious stress, but that's another story as well.

All day Friday, I watched the clock. I tried to keep myself busy and refused to think about 3pm. I have no idea how Elsa got through the day. I'll have to ask her. Around 3:05 I began to feel nauseous and wondered how on earth I would comfort my baby girl if she were rejected from her dream school. As we approached our house in the car, we saw Elsa and her friend Julia running down the street behind our house. We pulled over and Elsa and Julia hopped in the car. "Hurry up!" Elsa squealed.

When we pulled into the driveway, Elsa flew out of the car and into the house. Julia followed. Elsa left the front door standing open and dropped her coat and bag in the entryway. She scrambled to her computer in the dining room and opened it. I had read the advice of other parents purposely keeping their distances and giving their children space while they logged on. So, I stood in the next room, the living room where I could clearly see Elsa, but was not standing over her. I waited as she typed. It was taking a while. She was studying the screen. I decided to hang up my coat and then return to my spot. She typed some more. I waited nervously. I decided to hang up my purse. "What's my Wes ID?" she hollered. I had no idea, even though I had memorized it. It's six digits and has an 8 in it. I rattled off something. It was wrong. Elsa typed in more numbers.

Elsa studied the screen. She read silently. She said nothing. This was torture. I decided that I would definitely vomit. I gave up waiting and went to hang up her coat when she screamed, "I got in!" Then we all screamed. Elsa leaped towards me. Julia, Elsa and I grabbed each other and just bellowed. The cats ran off. The dog barked. Elsa burst into tears. Then she began to run through the house screaming, "I can't believe it-I got in!"

Jonathan sat down at the computer to read aloud the actual acceptance letter, but no one was listening. We were screaming and Elsa was crying and hugging Julia. I went into the kitchen and dug out the chilled champagne. I opened it and struggled to find four glasses. Elsa was texting by this time, carefully telling her news and asking about others' results.

We made a toast. We printed the letter. I read it four or five times more, folded it, and put it in my pocket. Several times that evening and the next day, I read the letter over again.

Elsa had made the right decision about Wesleyan ED1 and Middlebury Posse. She followed her gut and called it right.

Thank you Wesleyan!
Good work, Elsa!

Additional Colleges

I am hoping to be able to post observations and photos from my friend Heather's latest college visits to St. Lawrence College as well as to Juniata College in PA. In the interim, Elsa has done overnights at Wesleyan and at Haverford. She has enjoyed the experiences immensely.



Recently, Wesleyan hosted an all day open house which our family attended. It was great. There were financial aid workshops, admissions workshops, tours of dorms, of the athletic center, of the campus, of the sciences, etc. Students spoke, the president spoke, Elsa attended a class in her area of interest and we got to eat on the campus and experience real college food.



While were were in town, we stayed with family and were lucky enough to tour Trinity College on a cold Sunday afternoon. The college is beautiful, if not just a bit deserted, but located in an area of town that must make some families from pristine suburbs more than a bit nervous. Coming from NYC, we are consistently un-phased by such "less than stellar" neighborhoods, but I can just imagine the CC posts about Hartford, CT!

Connecticut College

Our college search continues, now with much more focus on finding "target" and "likely" schools. Having learned about FAFSA and something called the CSS profile, we are now looking for schools which offer merit aid for qualified students. We have learned so, so much since those early days and tours of February and April.

We learned, for example, that the athletic conference, NESCAC, in which many CT and MA schools, such as Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, etc, participate, does not allow any kind of financial consideration for academically accomplished athletes.

Other schools, in other conferences, can offer strong students merit aid, so these are the schools we are now seeking out. However, CT College, for its location, reputation and beauty seemed worth a visit. So, Elsa scheduled an interview while I toured and attended an information session.


What stands out about this school? It's co-ed, for one thing. It has a reputation for being "preppy" but we didn't necessarily see evidence of that. I toured with a Brooklyn girl from Berkeley Carroll who had seen Wesleyan in the morning and didn't care for it but loved CT, so maybe there is something in the air that smacks of a little more conservatism than at Wesleyan. CT has an honor code, as does Haverford. It's a nice sized school, about 2,000 students. They do not offer African American studies, but they do have Africana studies, at least. Our tour guide Brianne, is a cheerful and enthusiastic sophomore who got full time work at the school for the summer. Elsa interviewed with a senior named Carly who is just as nice and friendly as she could be. We had a lovely visit on a beautiful day and really enjoyed seeing the school. We were not able to meet the women's soccer coach, but we know that her team has not been successful. I'm not sure they won any games last year, which would be depressing, I think. We did see the athletic center, which is under renovation. CT has both an ice rink and a pool.

Wesleyan

Elsa and I dashed out of New Paltz and drove 110 miles east to Wesleyan in 1 hour and 50 minutes. We arrived at Wesleyan's admissions office almost in time, but then were told to walk across campus to the science center, which made us officially late. We met and walked with a family from Kensington, Brooklyn, which was fun. Elsa and Emma have friends in common. The Wesleyn information session took place in a lecture type classroom with rising seats. It was led by two students, a sophmore and a senior, who spoke informatively and eloquently about the school. I was pleased and I thought the school sounded intriguing, but it was the tour that did it for us.


This is the drorm we saw. The room we saw was untidy, but had potential.

The Wesleyan tour guides suggested that we separate and go on different tours. Elsa went with a soccer player, Ingrid, and I went with a lovely young woman from California whom I adored. She was humorous, friendly, knowledegable and clear.


I had heard from others that Wesleyan was not a very attractive campus. However, I thought it was beautiful. I loved the little frame senior houses that we passed on the way to the athletic center. I almost fell over in the athletic center when I saw the hockey rink-I had no idea! I liked the variety of architechtural styles and I loved the feeling and then energy present at the school.



"I'm in love. This is it! We can stop looking at other schools now," were Elsa's words to me after the tours ended. I was happy to hear this from her because I was feeling the same way about the school during my tour. I can't believe I'm going to write this, but I felt the $40K difference. Elsa gave her player profile and video to Ingrid to give to the Wesleyan soccer coach, who had left for Enland at 12 noon on the day we visited. We were sorry to miss her, but just couldn't get there any earlier. Too bad, because we don't have a complete sense of what Elsa's experience would be like at Wesleyan having not met the coach.



But, as Heather says, we'll just have to go back. And we will. Elsa's rating: 10. My rating: 10.