A College Mom Looks Back at a "No" from Perfect U.

This coming week, there will be thousands of yeses, nos and maybes from colleges around the country. There will be joy, tears, happiness, disappointment, maybe regret, maybe anger, and eventually decisions that need to be made. This mother wrote movingly about her son's "No" in the mail from several years ago, in the New York Times a few days ago. I think it's a valuable piece - with a happy ending. Here's the beginning. I encourage you to read the rest of it here.

"The envelope came on a Friday in March — the last day of the last week of a college acceptance season that had been dragging on since early admissions began in October.

"It figured that my child picked as his top school one of the few universities to still send out acceptances — and rejections — via snail mail. From any other institution, an ordinary No. 9 business envelope would look like an automatic “no.” But I’d done my homework, so I knew Perfect U.’s acceptance letters are a mere two sheets of paper. Rejections are one.

"This envelope was so flat, it seemed to contain nothing at all, like some last, cruel joke from an admissions department that had been indifferent from the start. I texted my firstborn, who was stuck on a bus in traffic, coming home from a school trip. “It’s here. Not gonna lie, looks thin. Should I open?”

"He texted back. “No. I will. Home soon.” READ MORE