And in keeping with my hyper-organized persona--not to mention my "Must! Chronicle! Every! Last! Milestone!" mission--I promptly began numbering them in the order in which they were received, and piling them neatly in a box. They ranged from the "local--but no, thank you" (Campbell University, I'm looking at you. And seriously, you can STOP SENDING STUFF NOW, for crying out loud!) to the "schools of potential interest" (Your broader contingent-of-the-Carolinas) to the "improbable but we appreciate you asking" (University of Chicago? Um...uh-uh...) to the "Are you kidding me? How did you even get my name? Please lose my info, immediately!" (Lynchburg College...just say ix-nay to middle-of-the-wilderness Virginia...)
When I finally stopped counting--and some of them had begun to repeat themselves, with what seemed to me like increasing desperation--the total had far surpassed 100 assorted colorful postcards, glossy brochures, and (much more boring) letters. But by that time, Derek had actually already heard back from all the schools to which he'd applied, and had in fact narrowed it down to his original top two choices, University of South Carolina and James Madison University.
Then the Southern Carolina tipped the balance strongly in their favor by coming through with a scholarship offer that suddenly made their out-of-state rates muuuuuch more affordable and appealing...and there was abundant rejoicing amongst Team WestEnders. So all that remained at that point was for us to wait until J-Mad spoke up. What ensued was a whole lotta crickets...radio silence...continued twiddling of thumbs...until I finally emailed their Financial Aid department, and was enlightened with some very useful--albeit surprising and disappointing--information. It seems that at this particular institution, LESS THAN 5% of incoming Freshmen are awarded scholarships. Huh. Alrighty, then...file that under "good to know"...aaannnnd, moving on...
This obviously crystallized Derek's choice for him, and he was quite content to declare himself a future Gamecock...at least to his family. He held off on making a public announcement, however, due to the fact that USC had invited him to be a Capstone Scholar, and he felt that he wanted more details before committing to the program. Well, this sounded entirely reasonable to me--heck, to be honest, I was thrilled (and more than a little astonished) that he'd even consider it. So we attended the Capstone presentation at Admitted Students Day, and everything sounded absolutely GREAT...to me, that is. Derek was still a bit unsure about the demands on his time, and the requirements he'd have to satisfy, and therefore needed a couple of questions answered, to firm up his decision.
So naturally, he implemented the High School Senior Procrastination Plan, and held off until ONE WEEK before the deadline to pay his deposit and secure his spot for the Fall, to contact a Capstone representative and make his inquiries. Luckily they're totally on the ball, and responded to him almost immediately...PLUS alleviated his concerns...so he agreed that it would be beneficial to participate in the program. (One second.....yaaaayyyyyy! Ecstatic Nerd Mom cheer!)
After that, we could get down to taking care of some administrative business...most of which involved shelling out loads of moolah. (Ahhhh, post-secondary education...) There was the aforementioned "Yes, I'm really coming!" fee. Then the "please save me a room on campus" charge. And finally, the cost of the 2-day Orientation..for him and his accompanying parental unit. Holy credit card workout, Batman, can you say: CHA-CHING?
But once the piles of virtual cash had been transmitted, we were all set for a late-July session, for the kid and....well, ME, of course. I mean, Husband tried to be like, "I have all these vacation days, and I never use them, so don't worry, I can do the Orientation so you don't have to arrange for time off." And I went, "Aww, that's adorable. But let's be real, here: I've shown up for every Back to School Night, Parent Information Meeting, and Open House since Derek was in preschool (and you've been to...wait, let me think....oh, right, that would be ZERO). So I'm curious...in what universe do you imagine me NOT accompanying him to this event?" Yeah, glad we got that settled...
Besides, he sheepishly admitted that he'd probably just sit in the library with his laptop and log into work anyway. While I, of course, will be at every seminar, with a notebook and pen, paying close attention to presentations and diligently jotting down important...stuff. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: both Derek and I get to stay on campus for the in-between night--yippee! So you can totally see why this has "my kinda trip" written all over it, can't you?
And there you have it: we've checked off the early items on the Pre-College To Do List...my next task is to seriously focus on coming to grips with the fact that my beloved child will be spending the next 4 years of his life at a university represented by...a fighting chicken. No, really--I must be at peace with this concept before the next time we visit, so I can plunder the bookstore for USC swag! However, trust me when I assure you my new t-shirt will NOT display any variation of the very popular shortened nickname....you can guess what that is...that's right: "Cocks". (Yep, the possibilities for obnoxious sayings are practically endless...siiighhhh...) Perhaps I'll select one with a tasteful, understated logo, without any mention of the mascot whatsoever. That's the ticket: Go, GARNET!
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