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February 14, 2022

cards stacked, a Mini oops, petition this, and acceptances

I failed to explain that given my family-of-origin's obsession with Notre Dame, our family kinda/mostly hates Notre Dame. Both Coach and I grew up cheering for their sports and believing them to be THE SCHOOL. Having family members who can't see clearly because Notre Dame clouds their vision is irritating. 

*Adding:  we DO know some people that went to ND, like Curly's Irish dancing BFF's parents, who see things perfectly clearly, don't think too much of themselves, etc. and we are crazy about them. 

This is Lad. At Notre Dame
 when my brother
 Mike got married there in 2000.

My sister, Marie, has two daughters (a senior and a freshman) at ND. When her freshman daughter was accepted to Notre Dame, she wasn't sure she wanted to go there. It rocked Marie's world. So, she took daughter, my  parents, and my sister, Ann, to visit ND. She told my folks they weren't to try to sway daughter. Um, what? Their presence spoke volumes: HEY GUESS WHAT WE ALL WANT YOU TO DO? Of course, daughter came around. 

Marie is the same sister who took Middle daughter (Lad's age) to physically visit probably 20 campuses. In the end, she limited Middle to two schools. My mom supported this, JUST TELL MIDDLE SHE CAN ONLY GO HERE OR THERE. I've mentioned Kool-Aid, here it is, overflowing. 

Lad played football in college even though we weren't in favor. By October, he realized that he should be playing water polo. As a transfer student out east, he lost money he'd have gotten as a freshman. Anyway, when he was looking at schools my mom had told me to just tell him he couldn't do football. 

Neither school that Marie offered to Middle were schools she wanted to attend. Marie was incredibly distraught that Middle went away to college and refused to speak to she and her husband for A LONG TIME. The school Middle ended up at? Saint Mary's, across the street from ND. 

The "FIND A HUSBAND" comment by my dad:  he'd never have said that to Marie, because she was brilliant/attended ND. He reserves those kinds of remarks for the not-so-bright kids, which is why he'd never say it to Opal. 

Also, ND applicants who have a parent who went to ND are considered legacy, and have an advantage. Mini - not legacy.

Notre Dame allowed applicants to apply without sharing test scores. Mini did NOT share her scores. We assumed that this gave her even less of a chance. They SAID they didn't care about scores, but wouldn't they only accept people with impressive scores?  Didn't choosing not to submit look like you were hiding something?

In a nutshell, the cards were stacked against Mini. 

*****

MY SCHOOL & COACH'S SCHOOL  IN THE RUNNING:  WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

Both Creighton and Saint Mary's accepted Mini and both gave her great scholarship money. SMC costs a bit more than Creighton, so tuition would end up about the same at either school. Creighton identified her as a candidate for a full ride called the Scotts Scholarship. She applied to the Scotts as well as some business thing for $5000.

She had to do a case study for the business scholarship and present it via zoom. When she came out of her zoom call, she had us eye-rolling.

Mini:  THAT WAS WEIRD. WHEN I WAS WAITING TO DO THE BUSINESS PRESENTATION, THEY REMINDED PEOPLE IN THE WAITING ROOM TO STICK AROUND IF WE WERE ALSO INTERVIEWING FOR THE SCOTTS. I WAS LIKE, WHOA -I HOPE THAT ISN'T ME, BECAUSE I'M NOT PREPARED, BUT IT WAS ME. SO I ALSO JUST HAD AN INTERVIEW FOR THE SCOTTS SCHOLARSHIP. OOPS. I THINK IT WENT WELL THOUGH. 

She hears about the Scotts mid February. 

I think it'd be fun for Mini to go to the same school as Tank. Tank disagrees. I believe he'd rather have a WHAT HAPPENS AT COLLEGE STAYS AT COLLEGE approach to school, and not have Mini around to keep an eye on him. She's not the 'report back to mom and dad' type, but try convincing him of that. 

PANIC OVER NOTHING:

Ed loves Indiana University, but Mini isn't sure the size is the right fit for her. Great business school, which is her intended major. December 17th, she got word that she was accepted to IU. It said the business school would let her know in 6 weeks. 

Long story, but she started to panic that she wouldn't get into the business school. She had until midnight the next night to petition. Why would a kid have to petition BEFORE she knew if she was in or not? Petitioning involved ANOTHER essay. Ed was home from college. He said it looked like she met the qualifications for direct admit, but the wording WAS weird. She couldn't access her account. What? My kid was unraveling before my eyes. 

I was ready for bed. Instead I sat in the study updating addresses for my Christmas cards while she prepared a petition to let her in the business school. We stayed up until almost 1 am. She wrote another essay. I edited it until it was the EXACT word count. I may be wordy here, but in a pinch I'm a pro, it turns out, at eliminating excess. 

Mini doesn't like to hug. I know, I know. I'm asking her to work on that. I made her hug me. She was shaking and worked up. 

Me:  OK, you've said this isn't likely going to be the school for you. It will ALL WORK OUT. If you don't get into the business school, so what. You have lots of good options. Breathe. *Mini pointed out that if she got the Evan's this might be her first choice, but that's a big IF.

Friday the 18th, she was still confused. IU portal closed, and without access she couldn't submit a petition. I told her to email and explain, copy her counselor. She called me by 10 am with a happy voice. IU responded. She WAS admitted to the business school, which is why her account wouldn't allow her to petition. They  hadn't let people know yet if they were in or not. Strange. 

AND THEN: 

That night she had the chills and that's when she got covid, and I HAD JUST HUGGED HER (but I didn't get sick). 

Saturday, Curly's birthday, we went to church at 5:30 pm. Minus the covid kid. I was leaving church and put the volume back up on my phone. Mini's BFF's mom had texted me during church: 

CONGRATS TO MINI ON GETTING INTO NOTRE DAME.

Wait, WHAT? Reg was standing at my elbow. He was like WAIT, WHAT DOES THAT SAY? I held my finger to my mouth:  SHHH. 

For the 1 minute drive home, I pretended I hadn't seen the text. I thought a letter would come in the mail, so this couldn't be right. Could it? We hadn't gotten a letter. I started pulling stuff out for dinner, my mind racing. A masked Mini entered the kitchen in her robe, holding her laptop: 

The grotto at Notre Dame. Mini and I
 posed here for a selfie
when we toured SMC. 

UM, I JUST GOT INTO NOTRE DAME. 

Mini:  SO I GUESS THE EMAILS CAME OUT YESTERDAY AFTERNOON. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY WERE EMAILING ACCEPTANCES. I JUST CHECKED MY EMAIL AND SAW THIS. 

Typical Mini. 

It's very surreal. She's excited, but unsure where she'll go. She hasn't heard from Wake Forest yet. 

WILL OPAL GO THERE?

Opal and Mini FREAKSIHLY ran into one another at Denny's when out with friends (houses not in the same town). Opal asked if Mini had any college decisions. Mini told her she got into ND. Opal congratulated her but said nothing aside from suggesting that Mini not tell my dad or he'd be all over her. Mini was like - yeah, not worried about that. 

We've got him right where we want him. "HEY, DAD, NOT SURE SHE'LL GO THERE. AWFULLY PRICEY." The plot thickens. 

Thoughts on if Opal got into ND? Ever forget about an interview, and it still went really well? Ever learn of big news that someone assumed you knew, via text? 

22 comments:

Nicole MacPherson said...

Wow, congratulations to Mini! She can cheer for Rudy now :)

Ernie said...

Nicole - Thanks, and he - yes she can.

Kari said...

Congratulations to Mini! Is she excited?

Jenny in WV said...

Congrats to Mini! The process of choosing which one to attend may be difficult, but I'm sure she'll pick the perfect one for her!

Pat Birnie said...

Congratulations to Mini- phew that’s quite a process. I certainly don’t get the obsession with ND; and to not speak to one’s daughter & there spouse because they made their own decision. Wow. So silly. You will miss her not being in the house. It’s hard when our kids grow up.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Mini!! What an exciting time for her, no matter where she decides is the best fit for her. She’s got good options to choose from! Fingers crossed for her on the Scott’s and Evan’s!
-AM

me said...

Great job, Mini! To get into schools like those means she put in a lot of hard work. She has some excellent choices available. Congratulations to Ernie for all the editing of essays! (That is something I'll never do for my kids - you deserve a gold star.)
It sounds like Opal has her grandfather pegged - she'll be fine even if she doesn't go to ND.

Kara said...

You've got a smart kid there, she'll make the decision that is correct for her!

Recently, my Mom sent me a picture with "Your Cousin had her baby!" my response was "No one told me she was pregnant."

Beth Cotell said...

Congratulations to Mini!!!!!!

Ernie said...

Kari- she is excited but she is still interested in who is going to give her the most money. It is hard to wait for colleges to give that info.

Ernie said...

Jenny- It will be interesting to see where she chooses, but I don't think she can go wrong. Fortunately.

Ernie said...

Pat- The ND obsession is annoying. There is a joke that goes: how can You tell if someone went to ND? They will tell you. Ha.

I will miss her when she goes to school. Goodness, it's hard to even think about.

Ernie said...

AM- I agree. All good options. This waiting to see about scholarships and packages from colleges (ND sends out financial aid info in March. March!) is really hard.

Ernie said...

Me- She is a hard worker. She is also self motivated. She cares a lot more about grades than we do. I agree, all good choices. I also have no doubt that Opal will go somewhere impressive. It's ashame the cousins can't even have a conversation about colleges, because my dad is such a nut that people feel like they have to be secretive.

Ernie said...

Kara- She is smart, so long as you aren't asking her to measure out cumin - it shows.

Laughing at the informative text you got. My in laws have done something similar. Oops.

Ernie said...

Beth- Thanks. How is Sarah's college decision going?

Colleen said...

She got in!!!!!!!!! Woot woot!!!!!!!!!! Getting into ND is a HUGE deal where we live, maybe one of our seniors gets in per year, on average. Wow! It's always the money that is the deciding factor for our kids, so I hope it all works out for Mini :)

Maddie said...

Congrats to Mini!!! So awesome all that hard work paid off and now she has some fabulous choices! Woo! :-) Fingers crossed for the scholarships!

Ernie said...

Colleen - It still is SO surreal. Hard to believe. I've always been in the NOT ND MATERIAL category, but having a kid who gets in moves me out of that category - says me.

At Enlightened High (the high school in our split district where the typically very wealthy students attend vs our very diverse school) there were 70 kids who applied to ND. Three of them got in, or maybe 2 and one is deferred? It's a staggering number.

She heard from Creighton today. She got the $5,000 business scholarship that she had to do a case study for. AND she is an alternate for the Scotts scholarship, which is the full ride. Someone who got that full ride would have to decline it in order for her to get it. MORE WAITING. Regardless though, the extra $5,000 is amazing.

Ernie said...

Maddie - Thanks, it is a very exciting time. She really cannot go wrong with her decision. I think it is going to be tough to decide. I want her to get all of the full rides (of course), so that it is an even playing field and she can just choose her favorite school.

She is an alternate for the Scotts scholar, so there is still a chance of getting a full ride to Creighton. She DID get the extra $5,000 business scholarship. Ed told her she should fire the CEO in the case study she had to do, so she thinks going with that bold of a choice made her presentation stand out. We haven't heard about the Evans yet.

Busy Bee Suz said...

I am SO EFFING HAPPY FOR HER!
I want to run to your parent's house and say BOOYA-IN YOUR FACE!!
Wait, Suz, that's not nice. 😳

I also get the fact that with your family so over-the-moon-drinking-all-the-kool-aid that you're turned off a bit by ND.

I can't wait to see where and what she decides. She has choices. She's wearing smartie pants.

I got a text wedding invitation a few years ago from my BIL. Me thinking: Do people not send actual invitations any longer or when it comes to your third visit to the alter, you just don't want evidence?

Ernie said...

Suz- It really was/is so exciting. It's exciting on its own but then being discounted by my folks . . . HELLO, CHECK THIS OUT.

All her options are good. She can't go wrong. Maybe she can stay closer to home vs farther away? I mean there might be a day when Curly and I just wanna take a drive and have lunch with her. Something to consider.

As much as I feel over it with the Notre Dame fixation, it is HARD not to want her to go there. That dang kool aid is poured and on the table. I told Coach that if she went there we could be the type that don't wear it like a feather in our cap. Like YEAH, NO BIGGIE. That would be new and different in our fam.

Laughing at your wedding invite text.