The college admission packets have started arriving five or six at a time now. Every day I pull a nice colorful stack out of the mailbox and they are all addressed to me oldest daughter. Colleges I’ve never heard of from every town and state one can imagine. I’ve suggested we put up a map with pins and mark all the various places from where these glossy, snazzy marketing packets are coming from. What I don’t know is how all these schools are getting her name and mailing information—she explained it has something to do with testing and some online surveys she’s been required to do with her academic counselor.
I’ve written before about my own wrestling with what exactly my role is in all this college research, but now that I’m settling in to the inevitable changes and the fact that she really is growing up and getting ready to move on to the next phase of her life, I’m not so worried about that. Now, I’m just glad to be included in the process on whatever level. I’ve encouraged her to enjoy this next year of “considering” even if she’s pretty sure she knows which college she’s planning to attend. After all, when will she get this opportunity to be so “courted” by all these schools and colleges again?!
Last night as she was sitting on her bed opening envelopes and spreading out brochures, she suggested that she might do a collage of all the packets she’s been receiving. She’s a little crafty, that one! She thought it might be fun to have snippets and pieces from each and every admission and marketing letter she receives from all these schools. I swallowed hard and tried not to think about the mess and all the cut up pieces of shiny paper and agreed that might be a fine way to commemorate the “getting ready for college” months.
See Also: Financing Your Child’s College Education and Ending Early College Admissions