roguemom35 and madzmom21- tell your kids to hang in there. I have posted a few times my DD's story -not sure if you have seen it but I will provide the cliff note. She is a 2016 high school graduate. Top 1% of her class, straight A's, 11 AP's,4 year varsity soccar, captain of soccer team for two years, track, theater, high SAT/ACT and the list goes on. She did not apply to SA last year but did apply to top school. By January she was either denied or wait-listed from Georgetown, UVA, Tulane, Notre Dame, and American University. She put together plan B and applied to more schools and hated that she "had to start the whole application process all over again". By late March she had three good choices but none were where "she wanted to go". She started the fall at The George Washington University. She excelled in classes and got to know her professors. Her best friend was at USMA and she attended Army/Navy in early December. After the game she was waiting for the train to take her back to school. She called me and said, "I made a mistake last year, I am going to apply to USNA, USCGA and USAFA." Tons of things happened along the way but in the end she was accepted to all three.
I truly believe she had to go through all the rejection last year to get to where she is today. She is more mature and now ready to head off to USNA. Things do happen for a reason. I am convinced if she had applied to the SA her senior year she would have not been appointed. Let your kids be sad for a day-pick their next step and the reevaluate next year.
Best of luck to all of you.