<p>LuvMom: Yes, my daughter will be a sophmore in the fall, class of 2015. She has very unrealistic college dreams and assumptions and isn’t really listening when I try to introduce some reality. So I’m trying to educate myself (and then her) by giving her some realistic choices. </p>
<p>Actually, the latest possibility I’ve noticed is Elon. But unless they give need-based aid, it won’t be realistic.</p>
<p>Thumbs up on need-based aid at Elon. Do the net price calculator to get an idea - our actual award was very much in line with the estimate calculated by the npc.</p>
<p>rockvillemom: Oh good! I have to find my last tax returns (who me, organized?) and get going on the calculators.</p>
<p>@champs- actually a lot of public universities don’t use the common app. Some have rolling admissions and it is best to apply early for best chance of admissions/merit scholarships. They may also have differing EA/Priority dates and different notification dates. For instance, Delaware didn’t notify until mid-March, much later than the others on our list. I found that it helps to keep this info side-by-side as well as having it all in one place.</p>
<p>Other factors you may want to consider and include on your handy dandy spreadsheet include:
graduation rates, student to faculty ratio and % of freshmen vs all undergrad receiving need & merit financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support all. It’s greatly appreciated. For the record, my cousin is great and does not brag (her mother does! - but grandmothers are known to do that, I suppose).</p>
<p>Linymom - congrats on the ACT!!! That’s my boys score as well and we are just pleased as punch, too.</p>
<p>As for the spread sheet, the only other thing I looked at was what % of MALES graduate. Sometimes that number appears to be much different than for women.</p>
<p>I was going to try and get S to start working on his essays this week. But, then the new Spiderman game arrived today. So much for that idea. :o)</p>
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</p>
<p>from [Business</a> - Jordan Weissmann - More Student Debt, Please: Why College Students Don’t Borrow Enough - The Atlantic](<a href=“More Student Debt, Please: Why College Students Don't Borrow Enough - The Atlantic”>More Student Debt, Please: Why College Students Don't Borrow Enough - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I haven’t posted in a long time. My younger daughter just finished Jr. year of high school and took the ACT for the last time. She has a 3.9 GPA and did way better on the ACT than she ever imagined-31! She is thrilled. This spring she visited a bunch of schools and in particular loved Northwestern and really liked Emory and Wisconsin. We will be going to see Wash U and Michigan soon. A year ago we were looking at test optional schools so as you can imagine this all comes as a nice surprise. She wants a highly academic school that has balance. She has great extracurriculars including leadership and amazing recommendations. Recommendations? Thanks. so much.</p>
<p>Wow! Gotta love that ACT! You have a nice list of match/reach schools - how about some safeties? I would suggest using some of the schools discussed on this thread as “B” student options as safety schools for your D.</p>
<p>If she likes large universities like Wisconsin and Michigan - how about Indiana, Delaware or Kansas? Medium-sized options might include Miami of Ohio, University of Miami, Elon or College of Charleston?</p>
<p>Thanks. Delaware, Miami and UMass are on her list. Tulare also.</p>
<p>LINYMOM, a 32 along with 3.5 gpa gets full tuition scholarship to the honors college at Alabama. He can join my son, who starts there this fall. Place is amazing.</p>
<p>Alabama is in my son’s top 3 right now, too. It would easily be my number one for him. Driving distance to family in Nashville and Atlanta and with the extra $2500 you get if you apply to Engineering, it would be the most inexpensive option. I hope your son has a great time Chardo. The Bama board under the colleges forum is a wealth of information.</p>
<p>Pretty excited here. Again, not something I would share with anyone outside of family (for fear of jinxing, of course), although hubby will probably post on FB. :o)</p>
<p>My S was invited to audition for the role of Puck’s younger brother on Glee. Since we can’t make it to California tomorrow, he’ll have to send in a video with singing and guitar playing. He’s neither the greatest singer or actor, but he’s pretty darn good at both and guitar playing (and dancing) and he’s really cute - looks like he could be Puck’s younger brother.</p>
<p>Not expecting to hear back for the next step - an acting audition, but excited that he was selected to audition out of, what I assume, were thousands of applicants.</p>
<p>Chardo-what do you need in terms of SAT scores for the Bama deal?</p>
<p>We are trying to plan a visit to Bama in late August and hopefully it will stay on DS top 3.</p>
<p>Vitrac - This is the scholarship info and the GPA can be weighted as long as it is listed on the transcript.
Capstone Scholar</p>
<p>An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 27 ACT or 1210-1240 SAT score [critical reading and math scores only] and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Capstone Scholar and will receive $1,500 per year ($6,000 over four years).
Collegiate Scholar</p>
<p>An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 28-29 ACT or 1250-1320 SAT score [critical reading and math scores only] and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Collegiate Scholar and will receive $3,500 per year ($14,000 over four years).
UA Scholar</p>
<p>An out-of-state first time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT score [critical reading and math scores only] and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a UA Scholar and will receive 2/3 tuition for four years.
Presidential Scholar</p>
<p>An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score [critical reading and math scores only] and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years.</p>
<p>Momom2- will your mailbox fill up with PM’s from teenage girls now? I love Glee. How exciting and hoping he gets it!</p>
<p>Mom24boys-Thanks!
LINYMOM-ROADTRIP, Y’ALL!!!</p>
<p>momof2, congratulations to you and your son. He must be quite talented.</p>
<p>Momom2, what fun and how exciting. If it goes further, please let us know. If not, still a great story!</p>
<p>Momof2- That is so fun and exciting… and UNIQUE! I love that! Keep us posted, please.</p>