Fat and Thin Envelopes

When I was a senior in high school, my January & February were spent going to the mailbox and looking for college admissions letters. Back then, you didn't even need to open the envelope – a fat envelope was an acceptance, a thin one was a rejection.

My daughter Kelsey has already heard from 4 of the 11 schools to which she's applied. These days they have what is called “rolling admissions” -- the earlier you apply, the earlier you get notified, so she may hear from all of them prior to February. All of her notifications have come via e-mail. Days later the fat envelope shows up. The good news is she has been accepted at all 4 – she's batting 1.000! For me it was 7 hand written applications, lots of waiting, then 4 fat envelopes and 3 thin ones. Today it's e-apps (so why not do 11!), rolling admissions and e-mail notifications that appear on your PDA.

It has been amazing to watch her stress level drop as the notifications have come in. The first one she received came from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) They even offered her an $8,000 annual scholarship! Unfortunately, she applied to this school by mistake. She meant to apply to Indiana University -- Bloomington campus, but using the electronic application, she failed to select the correct campus and did not notice it until she got back a confirmation e-mail. Instead of going through the protracted process of canceling the Purdue application and transferring it to Bloomington, she just put in a new application. In the age of electronic apps, it is simply a few keystrokes and an additional $40 (what the hell, it's my money not hers). Even though it was not a school she wanted to attend, the acceptance notification had an enormous calming effect on her. There was at least one school out there that wanted her!!

The next school she heard from was the University of New Hampshire, her favorite school during our preliminary visits. Since then, she's been walking on air. Everything from now on is gravy. She next got accepted at Penn State and IU – Bloomington. IU has offered her a $9,000 annual scholarship – that's gotten her attention. Obviously, her mother and I are very proud of her, but more important, she's proud of herself. The spring decision-making process should prove interesting.