College Visits - Leslie Shivamber

College Visits

We have now visited 6 schools in 5 days! NYU, Columbia, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, U of Penn, and Princeton. I now have a clear understanding of how this admissions process works – it’s all about the essay! And your transcript of course, and your extracurricular activities, and your recommendations! I’m so glad I’m not going through this myself! This has been an amazing trip. Not only have we visited all these schools, we’ve seen Leon’s family – 2 brothers, 3 sister-in-laws, and 5 cousins! In addition we have seen friends from my Bloomingdale’s days, friends from Abu Dhabi who now live in NY City, a family that we knew from our NYCP days – 20 years ago – who now live outside of Philly, a friend from Huntington who now lives near Princeton, and the daughter of the family we knew from Abu Dhabi, who is now attending Princeton! We have been out every night! It has been wonderful having all of these reconnections! It is actually thanks to Facebook that many of these reconnections happened! Modern technology is a wonderful thing!

NYU – Washington Square Park

Columbia

U Penn Football Stadium

U Penn campus

Bryn Mawr campus

Swarthmore Campus

Princeton campus

I have really treasured spending this time with my girls. We have had so much fun together – no fighting, no arguing, no disagreeing about where to eat or what to do! We are exhausted, but they have been fabulous!

What I have truly enjoyed as a parent has been watching Elise go through this process. Seeing her take notes, ask questions, taking it all in. The three of us have had mature conversations about each school and what they each offered. Sara had her opinions too! It was heartwarming to see them conversing about which school was better than another for Elise! They would discuss why she liked certain schools, and why she didn’t like others. She is so excited about going to college and that is very exciting for me as a parent also! Knowing that she is excited makes it all worth it!

It was a beautiful thing!

While this trip was physically exhausting for sure, it was great! I so much enjoyed the time with my girls and our family and friends. It is the beginning of another phase that I’m sure will be stressful but the end result will be fabulous!