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���For us it was our first real college admission process,��� says A.J.���s father, David Galainena. Galainena���s two older daughters had been recruited early as athletes. ���You shouldn���t assume that your child will be accepted to a super selective school. But they had expressed enough of an interest that we were surprised when it didn���t happen.��� On December 18th the Galainenas gathered in Liz Pleshette���s office to regroup. With Pleshette���s help, A.J. rebuilt his college list. This time he included Princeton University ��� a school he had initially not considered because he was uncertain that he would be ���A.J. always said ���I just don���t want to have any regrets.��� By being forced to go through the entire process very thoughtfully, we know he doesn���t.��� ��� Parent, David Galainena able to play for the extremely competitive, then No. 3ranked, water polo team. ���Liz (Plesette) was very good at talking us off the ledge,��� says Galainena. She was a straight shooter and seemed to have a handle on what colleges were thinking and looking for. When she said that she would support A.J. at any school that he applied to, I felt confident that she really would be his advocate through the process.��� A.J. spent his winter break working on essays. Even though he got word early in the spring that he was accepted at M.I.T after all, his college process was not complete until April 1. Looking back, Galainena sees the bumps in the road as a positive learning experience for his son. ���Any time you struggle, you learn something about yourself,��� he said. ���A.J. always said ���I just don���t want to have any regrets.��� By being forced to go through the entire process very thoughtfully, we know he doesn���t.��� This fall A.J. started at Princeton and has been playing on the water polo team as a walk-on. He is thrilled with his teammates, roommates, the academic climate and college life in general. Most telling of all: As of early October, three months into the semester, A.J. had given his parents a grand total of maybe 20 minutes of phone time. n David Galainena ��� Evelyne Girardet Graduates of the Class of 2010 were accepted to the following schools. Schools in red have at least one student attending. University of Richmond | University of Rochester | University of Southern California (2) | The University of Tampa | University of Vermont | University of Washington | University of Wisconsin | Vanderbilt University | Vassar College | Villanova University | Wake Forest University | Washington University (3) | Wellesley College | Wesleyan University | Wheaton College | Whittier College | Williams College | Wittenberg University | Wofford College | Worcester Polytechnic Inst. | Xavier University | Yale University n 36 Latin Magazine