Parents of the Class of 2019

[design_mom]

First two applications (the ones with Nov 1 deadlines) were submitted today. Whew.

 

[mjkacmom]

Looks like those last 2 tutoring sessions paid off, she bumped up her SAT 60 points, 1470. I know I’ve seen some schools give automatic scholarships for 1450+. Now it’s more in line with her ACT. As tempting as it is to want to apply to a reach school, we wouldn’t be able to pay for it.

 

[bjscheel]

Looks like those last 2 tutoring sessions paid off, she bumped up her SAT 60 points, 1470. I know I’ve seen some schools give automatic scholarships for 1450+. Now it’s more in line with her ACT. As tempting as it is to want to apply to a reach school, we wouldn’t be able to pay for it.

Have you checked? For us, the NPCs at Harvard and Princeton come out cheaper than our local public. Depends on your income and what "reach" school you are thinking of. Yay for the higher score anyway! Hope it nets her some money!

Today's college conversation was "M wants to be roommates with me at college." M is going to the college I've been trying to get DD to be excited about and she said it pretty matter of fact like she has decided to go there, so yay...but we don't know if being roommates with a friend is a good idea. I'm thinking not. For one thing, if they each have a roommate then it widens their circle and gives them two spaces to hang out in. Plus DD might choose the Living Learning Community for her major as a way to get in a nicer dorm as a freshman.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We toured the University of New England (in Maine) yesterday, and DS really liked it! It's now his front-runner, as an Animal Behavior major. I liked the campus as well, and it's not too far - about 2.5 hours, or what I'd consider the far end of the "Goldilocks Zone". We'll get the app in, and see how the financial aid shakes out.

 

[PollyannaMom]

And the FAFSA is done!!

 

[bjscheel]

DD further confirmed at church today when asked that she is "probably" going to NWMSU. So it feels good to know we "probably" have a decision. I want to put a housing deposit in 11/1 as that will get her first choice of rooms.

The thing that is currently stressing us out is the fall festival she is organizing with the Chamber. She's been volunteering there and they wanted a teen event. She has several kids "helping" but 90% of pre-planning is falling to her. And it was moved up a week in order to be before Halloween so she's scrambling to raise funds, get prizes and pumpkins donated, figure out a hay ride and other activities and food. And then worrying no one will show up. She is going to plug it at youth group tonight- there is no youth group next week, so she can hopefully get most of them on board. And as of today there is a live band booked so that should help with attendance.

Then later tonight she is taking a self defense class at the Fitness Center. Hope she never needs it!

 

[McKelly]

I feel bad for my DS. He's very quiet and if I am reading him right, he's scared/nervous to go away to school. He has four really close friends and they are all planning on going to mostly out of state, bigger name colleges. Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford and one is JUST going to a small state school. My son visited a small, private college about 20 minutes away and he really liked it. Very personalized, has a co-op with area international businesses which they put him in the second semester of school in his major, and he can live at home. Plus they were trying to entice him with a free ride scholarship. He told his friends about it, and they told him he was NUTS for wanting to go there. I know it affects him. He says it doesn't matter what they think, but I know it hurt his feelings. Gosh Darn kids! It was hard not to say something to them when they were over this past weekend. BTW, he has the ACT, grades, leadership. volunteering, etc. to get into a big name school if he wanted, it's not that. I will support him whatever he decides, but I hope he listens to his heart, not his friends. But now he is saying he needs to push himself out of his comfort zone and go to a bigger school. Wonder where that is coming from? Even if it's probably true...

To all the young parents - enjoy your babies - it doesn't get easier!

 

[bjscheel]

I feel bad for my DS. He's very quiet and if I am reading him right, he's scared/nervous to go away to school. He has four really close friends and they are all planning on going to mostly out of state, bigger name colleges. Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford and one is JUST going to a small state school. My son visited a small, private college about 20 minutes away and he really liked it. Very personalized, has a co-op with area international businesses which they put him in the second semester of school in his major, and he can live at home. Plus they were trying to entice him with a free ride scholarship. He told his friends about it, and they told him he was NUTS for wanting to go there. I know it affects him. He says it doesn't matter what they think, but I know it hurt his feelings. Gosh Darn kids! It was hard not to say something to them when they were over this past weekend. BTW, he has the ACT, grades, leadership. volunteering, etc. to get into a big name school if he wanted, it's not that. I will support him whatever he decides, but I hope he listens to his heart, not his friends. But now he is saying he needs to push himself out of his comfort zone and go to a bigger school. Wonder where that is coming from? Even if it's probably true...

To all the young parents - enjoy your babies - it doesn't get easier!

That's rough. DD went through wanting to go far away- said she would be fine, she loves travel and adventure. We took her to visit a school a plane ride away. About two weeks later she decided it was just too far. Visiting helped her feel what it was like and the travel involved. Has he visited anything big or far?

She also went through not feeling like the "local" school was good enough which I have posted about several times here! (It's almost 2 hours away but there are few colleges nearer to us than that so it's local.) It wasn't peer pressure, though, just self-inflicted. She felt that as possible valedictorian, people expected more of her. In her mind, it just plain didn't sound cool. But, as luck would have it, it was the only in budget school that checked most of her boxes. I don't know what happened, but this weekend, she transitioned from totally ragging on the school to telling people she's going there and picking out a dorm. I'm not questioning it, just smiling and nodding!

One thing we talked about a lot- and it applies to your son with the offer of a free ride- is that college is about 32 months of their life and getting through school debt-free means so much more freedom to live how they want afterwards. Whether it's living far away or whatever. DD has older friends and cousins and many are feeling the financial pinch of their choices and have talked to her about it.

If he has full tuition at the local school, could he live on campus as a compromise to spread his wings out of the house and get the college social experience but still be near?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD got an acceptance letter along with notice of a renewable merit scholarship from North Central College (near Chicago). This is her #3, but could get bumped up depending on what other aid she could get. Meeting with her advisor this morning.

 

[soccerdad72]

Had senior pics done yesterday - my brother has a friend who's a professional photographer and we my whole family together to do some pics for my parents for their 50th anniversary coming up. After the family pics were done, she spent an hour or so with our son, took a ton of pics at three or four different locations within the park we were at. We should get all the pics in about a week or so, but I snuck a couple shots with my phone from behind her while. This one was our favorite background - I hope the professional version comes out great:

 

[Lynne G]

McKelly, I hear ya. I have a softie DS that's 3 grades older than my DD (who's the HS senior this year) that's in his 3rd year of college, and is happy commuting to college. Would have been very unhappy far from home. DD, on the other hand, does not care where others are going, she has one college that she really, really, wants to go to, and it's a day's drive away. She toured 2 local colleges, both very good, and was not happy with either. One she will still apply to, but she sees it as a last back up.

It is hard to let the kids make their own choices. Though I'd talk to him again, a full scholarship is something to be proud of, and others there most likely will be commuters also. Maybe in his last year or so, he can have an apartment closer to the school, to give him some more freedom, even if not far from home

All financial stuff filed, 2 of 3 applications sent. Ah, the nervous kid. Here's hoping she gets a yes, from the one she is so looking forward to, sooner than later.

 

[design_mom]

I feel bad for my DS. He's very quiet and if I am reading him right, he's scared/nervous to go away to school. He has four really close friends and they are all planning on going to mostly out of state, bigger name colleges. Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford and one is JUST going to a small state school. My son visited a small, private college about 20 minutes away and he really liked it. Very personalized, has a co-op with area international businesses which they put him in the second semester of school in his major, and he can live at home. Plus they were trying to entice him with a free ride scholarship. He told his friends about it, and they told him he was NUTS for wanting to go there. I know it affects him. He says it doesn't matter what they think, but I know it hurt his feelings. Gosh Darn kids! It was hard not to say something to them when they were over this past weekend. BTW, he has the ACT, grades, leadership. volunteering, etc. to get into a big name school if he wanted, it's not that. I will support him whatever he decides, but I hope he listens to his heart, not his friends. But now he is saying he needs to push himself out of his comfort zone and go to a bigger school. Wonder where that is coming from? Even if it's probably true...

To all the young parents - enjoy your babies - it doesn't get easier!

That stinks. I feel terrible for him. I agree with Bjscheel. Graduating debt-free, especially from a school that seems like such an excellent fit for him, would be a huge coup! He'd be foolish not to at least strongly consider it.

I know what my son's top two choices are but they are VERY different schools and I don't know which way he is leaning.
School 1: Huge, sprawling university in a major city. Campus is about 20 minutes from our house and my husband drives past it every day during his commute. My son COULD commute, but I think he's planning to stay on campus (which I support). They have a very highly rated business school, but while they officially offer the major that my son is most interested in, when we toured they didn't have any info about it (even though we'd indicated his area of interest on the tour form.) They mentioned it in their powerpoint presentation but they didn't have any handouts. The presenter just said "There might be some info about it on the website." We asked our student tour guide if he knew anybody who majored in what DS is considering and he replied "I don't think we offer that." We said "it was in the powerpoint" and he replied "then I guess we do, but I don't know anybody who does that... and I thought I knew just about everyone." So, if he goes there, I think he'd be better off sticking with one of the more common business majors (finance, accounting, etc.) Although his first choice is
offered, it doesn't sound like it's supported.

School 2: Still large, but only about half the size of School #1. It's in a quaint college town, about 2.5 hours away. When we toured there and he asked about his major they were like "Yep! Let me show you this handout with what the curriculum would look like. Other people who've chosen this major have also minored in XYZ or double-majored with ABC. Let me show you how that would work."

To me, it seems like a no brainer, but I think he might be worried about the distance. I am somewhat concerned that he is not very cut-out for "dorm life." He likes a quiet and orderly study area. When he wants to go to bed, he wants to go to bed, etc. At School #1, if he hated dorm life, he could come home. At School #2, he could not. It might be a good learning experience for him, but... I don't know. He claims that he's worried that there "won't be enough to do" in the college town -- and it's true that there's more access to stuff in the city (concerts, non-school sporting events, etc.) However, he doesn't do a lot with his high-school friends aside from get together in someone's basement to watch movies or play video games or go for a run (most of his friends run cross country too)... which are independent of the city. So I'm not sure if that's the real reason or not. The other possibility for his reluctance could be that my sister is an alumna of School #2 and is VERY EXCITED about the possibility of him going there. He is the sort who will not want to do it if he thinks someone is pressuring him (he might get that from me), so I hope he'll look past that when making his decision. (As an aside, I'm an alumna of School #1... but I don't have a lot of school spirit. I got my degree there, but that's about as far as it goes.)

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

We completed our weekend visiting trip. She hit both Vanderbilt and Emory, and liked them both. She got to meet with her admissions Officer for Vanderbilt and gave him her academic resume, they talked about it for about 40 minutes or so, and then we went to Atlanta and hit Emory, where she met with a Senior who is pre-med and is doing some cool research with one of the biology professors there. They ended up talking for 45 minutes about the research she's doing in high school along with the research programs and the school life in general around Emory. We have somewhat narrowed it down because she's decided that Washington University may be a bit too small for her, she doesn't want to do high school 2.0 but also doesn't want a student body of 60K either.

We got her senior pictures in, they ended up looking amazing! And she had an interview yesterday for a lifeguarding position at our rec centers, so she may have some spending money coming in as well!

 

[mjkacmom]

Some good news, she was elected president of her NHS, she was running against a guy in her friend group, so I’m sure it was close, some students asked the advisors if they could be co-presidents. She’s also president of the Spanish NHS, and Vice President of HOSA and CORE. On the unfortunate side, the top 2nd and 3rd xc runners for their top 4 varsity for sectionals can’t run next week, so she’s a little disappointed about that.

Plans for the senior fashion show are starting, she’s walking formal with a guy friend, and performing an Irish dance number with her BFF. They’ve been dancing together for over 10 years, and always planned on dancing at the fashion show, it always seemed so far away, and now it’s three months away.

 

[tink1970]

First acceptance letter with scholarships received yesterday in the mail. It's just a relief to know that she is accepted somewhere, even if it's not the top of her list. FWIW, I think it would actually be a great place for her, but suspect the 6 hour drive isn't far enough away for DD.

 

[PollyannaMom]

First acceptance letter with scholarships received yesterday in the mail. It's just a relief to know that she is accepted somewhere, even if it's not the top of her list. FWIW, I think it would actually be a great place for her, but suspect the 6 hour drive isn't far enough away for DD.

Congrats to your DD on the first one!

 

[bigbabyblues]

DS received a letter with a scholarship offer from the school he has been accepted to. I think that will be where he ends up going, and I think it is a good fit for him. He also applied to another school today, and I'm much less thrilled about that one. He said he applied because it was free and he wants to see what they say.

His soccer season officially ended last night. It was a really good game, ended in a tie, and he scored 2 goals, which brings him to a total of 11 goals scored this year. I'm proud of him and happy for him, and sort of sad at the same time. I love to watch him play.

 

[tink1970]

DS received a letter with a scholarship offer from the school he has been accepted to. I think that will be where he ends up going, and I think it is a good fit for him.

Congrats!

I've had to tell DD a couple of times "just because the application is free, the rest isn't...the crazy tuition is underwriting the free applications."

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD got an acceptance letter along with notice of a renewable merit scholarship from North Central College (near Chicago). This is her #3, but could get bumped up depending on what other aid she could get. Meeting with her advisor this morning.

Update: barring additional scholarship money, North Central College is probably out. Just not feeling that strongly about it.

 

[DontRushMe]

Hello all! I have never posted here before I just come and read and get my information and you all have been so helpful. But now I have questions and you haven't discussed it yet so I'm hoping those that are not first timers can help me.

MY DD was accepted to both her top two schools. We have completed and submitted the FAFSA. My question is when does she have make her decision by? Both admission letters said save your spot by a deposit, but neither gave a deadline date.

Can she wait and see what the financial aid/scholarship offers are? I'm sure that will be a big decision factor. When should that happen? I just don't want to hold off on accepting and lose her spot.

I know this is the best scenario but we are still struggling to decide or to wait and see. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!