OK let me preface this entry by saying that Nathanael spent all of about 10 seconds upset about this, and it happened yesterday and he even forgot to tell me until today. You all and I are probably more upset. He went back to working on fonts and reading and joking around. I am going to try not to obsess over was it fair? was it right? who was responsible? did we do something wrong (no)? When I asked how he felt, he was his usual very non-upset self and said, "Eh, I take rejection easily." The rejection was Carleton. I thought he must be more upset than he let on, but I know him and I know he just isn't so upset. Even if Grinnell and Kenyon say no, he is still in MU's Honors program. He was actually given a space on the waiting list if he wanted it, so that's not an out-and-out NO NEVER, but he doesn't want to be on the waiting list. If he's named a merit scholar (he's still a finalist) he will have had to make a decision by earlier than he'd find out about Carleton were he on the waiting list. Let's just say his grades for jr. and sr. years were/are 3.8 and 4.0, and freshman and sophomore a little under those. Despite his near perfect and perfect SAT scores (perfect 800 on 2 different sections, once for each time he took it) and near perfect ACT (34), he doesn't have the perfect 4.0 GPA. Freshman year was the worst because he just wasn't mature like he is now.
So anyway there we are and God will get Nathanael where God wants him, where he will thrive. Hey he sure as heck has done a lot better than either his dad or I did. And he's not even upset.

PS This is an hour later. Just got the mail which had been sitting in the mailbox, forgotten. Kenyon also said, waiting list only. Oh boy, what is it? Now I'm beginning to wonder if they got his test scores. Nathanael says, "It's my freshman and sophomore years. My grades were just not good enough." This is so disappointing- thought rejection for him was an anomaly- this is crazy.

The good thing is the sizeable scholarship MU has offered. A lot of people get rejected from MU. MU is the best undergraduate school in the state. If Nathanael still wants one of these schools, maybe he can apply again for a transfer after he's shown them his good grades he will get at MU.

He would have fit in so well at Kenyon or Carleton and I just hate to see those dreams, at least those possibilities, go up just like that, for him. To be exact, I'd rather HE reject them than they reject him. I'd rather he or we reject THEM on any other premise- money, distance, anything. But at least have HIM reject THEM. Kenyon was so keen. Now only Grinnell is left and I just don't have a lot of hope at this point.

Carleton and Kenyon only take a few hundred each year. It's hard to imagine, though, anyone actually being smarter than Nathanael, who routinely slams whole teams to pieces in academic competitions without even a sideways glance, but always with a smile.

He is not too emotional, my son, either high or low, and this disappointment would floor most people. I think it is a little bothersome now that it's happened twice.

Miami has option after option and a new writing program after a generous donation by one of its benefactors. Nathanael may be one of its first graduates.

Shaking my head, I tell you.