A Final Update

By Rick Ropelewski

First of all a huge thank you for everyone’s words of encouragement and support during our daughter Molly’s senior year of high school and her college search.  I realize there are countless people with far more significant challenges than applying to college, but in our insular world this was quite a year!

It seems like yesterday that we were sitting at the kitchen table over Labor Day of last year.  The SATs were finished, college visits completed, and multiple versions of college essays drafted.  We sat down with Molly to outline a strategy for how to approach the next few months (and rest assured there was more than one or two spreadsheets prepared by yours truly).  We were facing the conversation with a little trepidation as we knew Molly was already more than a little stressed.  “Should we review the list of schools you visited and make a list of where you want to apply?” we asked. “Already done,” was Molly’s reply.  “What is the application deadline for the schools and do you have a schedule of which applications should be completed first?” was our next question.  “Finished that,” was her response.  … You get a sense for the rest of the conversation.

Over the course of the next seven months Molly displayed the perseverance, focus and work ethic all of your college students have exhibited as well.  So although there were a lot of stressful times there was also some wonderful moments of levity.  One highlight was Halloween when two freshman in school dressed as Molly and her crew co-captain.  So while dinner conversation would sometimes only involve grunts from the under 50 crowd, life was not only tests and college essays.

So now we are figuring out the logistics for how to get Molly to Washington D.C. for her Fall semester at Georgetown.  Please keep the suggestions and kind words coming; it takes a village.