Awesome raise, Nicole. I'm glad you're being properly appreciated.

Yay job, Meara. It is hard to set up a new social network, but at least you've got friends there.

HS was hell and my only ambition was to get the hell out of the miserable town we lived in and away from my family.

Toddson is me. My dad's job moved us to a very small town in South Georgia when I was 13. I was the only new person in classes with people who had all gone to school together since first grade. I was also, as I am now, overly intellectual and socially inept. My dad was, well, my dad, which was never pleasant. I applied to every school I could find that had early admissions (admission after the junior year), was accepted by two, picked the one farthest from home and got the hell out of there. I wasted a lot of opportunities in college too, but I had the student newspaper, and on the paper I had some of the best times of my life. It also taught me the skills I've made a living with ever since, which is a good thing since I was an English major.

You can't apply to both? That sucks. What's the difference between them perceived to be? Do they have different reputations?

You don't want to, honestly. I did the lazy Oxford route and went in for three days of interviews and just got lucky with my offer (ABB, I think). The non-lazy way involves extra exams. We were an exam-shop, but those STEP (I don't remember properly) kids were one level deeper into hell.

You can't apply to both? That sucks. What's the difference between them perceived to be? Do they have different reputations?

Just on reputation, Cambridge is the slightly lesss snooty, cooler option. Plenty of people like snooty though.

I did the lazy Oxford route and went in for three days of interviews and just got lucky with my offer (ABB, I think)

What is ABB?

Just on reputation, Cambridge is the slightly lesss snooty, cooler option. Plenty of people like snooty though

Interesting. We had some Cambridge theater kids come through every year doing a Shakespeare tour, and had great fun hosting them. Especially my senior year, I have a great picture of a bunch of us at the end of a midnight monument ramble, after it started pouring. Then we went to IHOP, and they stole the coffee cups. Good times.

Oh well Cambridge can still be pretty snooty. My old flatmate was from Leeds, and she got quite a few comments during her time at Cambridge about Northerners.

For 1st - 8th grade I had brought a 1/2 peanut butter on whole wheat sandwich for lunch every day

Heh. I don't think I've ever eaten just half a sandwich in my entire life.

Jr. and Sr. years of HS sucked because all my friends had graduated and I never did get any better at my various sports. And I wanted to be out of that little town so badly it was killing me.

First college was great until the theater department fell apart. NYU was heaven even though I had to work 20-30 hours a week on top of classes and rehearsals. (gave up on sleep long ago)

My theory has always been that if you're not desperate to get out of school by your final year, there's something very wrong with you.

Parental hivemind advice requested:

Annabel occasionally rejects clothes she doesn't like by saying, "That's too pretty for me." Should I interpret that as 3-year-old speak for, "That print is too busy and/or that outfit has too many ruffles and frills for my taste," or should I be concerned that some mean kid at daycare has told her she isn't pretty and shouldn't wear pretty things?

I really, really think it's the former. She's definitely a budding tomboy. For awhile it was no pink, no flowers, no dresses, period, but lately she's showing a preference for things that are girly, but more girl jock than princess. Pink sneakers and baseball cap, denim skirts, etc. I think she just doesn't like the styles she calls "too pretty." But OTOH, if someone *has* been telling my daughter she's not pretty, I want to find them and go all Mama Bear on their ass, you know? Because I know Annabel will eventually have to deal with her own version of a self-image monster, but 3 is too young for that! And besides, my daughter is beautiful, dammit.

Colour me broke. I had 6 courses left to take in my previously-scheduled last semester and decided hell no. So I graduated in 3.5 years instead of 3, with a 4 course penultimate semester, and a 2 course final one. And not even summer.

I still helped run at least one campus group for a year+ after graduation, and took martial arts in the gym for an extra semester.

Meara, I took 4 A levels. An ABB offer meant that if I got one A and two Bs among the 4, I was in. It was a total surprise, because it was achievable. I think I was the only student in my school who didn't test, and I didn't even want to go.

Annabel occasionally rejects clothes she doesn't like by saying, "That's too pretty for me." Should I interpret that as 3-year-old speak for, "That print is too busy and/or that outfit has too many ruffles and frills for my taste," or should I be concerned that some mean kid at daycare has told her she isn't pretty and shouldn't wear pretty things.

That sounds like it's coming from Annabel, not other kids. She has already expressed a strong preference for non-girly colors and patterns, so I think that's how she's using the word "pretty."

Why settle for pretty when she's already beautiful and has a distinct sense of style?