All across the country high school seniors are anxiously awaiting their acceptance notices from colleges and universities. My daughter is one of those seniors. She has spent four years in high school studying hard to keep her GPA high, playing sports, joining clubs and taking part in all aspects of high school life to build her resume in hopes that a college or university will accept her into their program.
This is my fourth child to go through the college admission process so I feel as if I am well versed in the process but it still amazes me how intense it is. I will never forget when my first child started applying to colleges and she told me that she had to create a resume. I found myself thinking about what a short resume that would be…
Work Experience:
Making my bed – Internship 1997 -1999– from the age of 3-5 yrs. I helped my mom make the bed until I gained the basic skills to one day do it on my own.
1999- present – Make the bed on a weekly basis (Saturday and Sundays off). Expert at not pulling the sheet up and leaving it tucked down at the bottom of the bed and pulling the comforter over it in such a way that you do not notice the lump where the crumpled sheet remains.
Dishwasher– 2000- present– 3 nights a week I tackle the task of rinsing the dishes in the sink prior to putting them into the dishwasher. I am well versed at scrubbing the hard to clean pots and pans and have accomplished my duties in record time according to my boss (mom).
You get the idea. I quickly learned from her that it is not like a “grown up” resume but one that consists of clubs, organizations and elected positions that you were involved in during your four years in high school. Now I am a pro at writing these high school resumes and by the time child number four came along hers was outstanding!
So now that the resume and applications have been submitted, we have been waiting for acceptance day. It is not quite like when I was a senior and would anxiously wait outside for the mailman to come by the house. My heart pounding as I stood by the mailbox hoping that he would hand me a thick envelope from the university and not a thin envelope. Everybody knew that thick ones meant you were accepted- the thin ones rejected. Then I would run inside and share the good news or bad news with my family over dinner.
Today is the big day that we find out if my daughter gets in to her first choice school. In exactly 4 hours and thirty six minutes to be exact we will know. Not because of that thick or thin envelope that the mailman will hand her but because it will be posted on the university’s website at exactly 3 pm. So we are all anxiously awaiting to receive the text in our group family text from my daughter as to whether or not she gets in. This morning on the way to school she explained to me how she plans to find out.
“This afternoon I am just going to keep checking twitter and when I see some of my friends tweeting that they know if there are in or not, then I will go check,” she said.
“Once I know if I have been accepted or not then I will text you all in our group chat and then I am going to take a photo to put on Instagram of me holding something with the school logo on it and post it on my Instagram and share it on Snapchat,” she continued. “After I do that then you can go ahead and post it on your Facebook page and share it with your friends and we can email the university to let them know I accept!”
Huh? I am exhausted just listening to her explain how she will share the news. Oh my how things have changed- I think I miss the days of the mailman handing us the letter!
Blythe Newsome is a single mom whose days are filled with the chaos, joy and laughter that comes with having six children. When not at home being a chef, taxi driver, coach, cheerleader, nurse, peacemaker and maid- she is fulfilling her other passion of working for Covenant Care Hospice.
