contacting financial aid/admissions counselors

missymouse
Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:07:13 +0000

My daughter applied to 10 schools and was admitted to all of them. She has good stats but did not get the award money that she might have gotten in previous years with her stats. Every school has talked about the talent of this group of Freshmen. Whether more of the really top kids are choosing to apply to their state schools as a safety and getting that money or whether this is a line they give every year is unknown. I suspect that many of the kids who normally would have aimed for the ivy league schools looked at finances and determined that they needed to cover their bases just in case they weren’t admitted or in case they didn’t get enough financial support to make it possible in light of the economy. I think schools may also be having to cut back on some of the money awarded.

You have to take into account the economy, family finances, and the fact that if you look at the stats of just the people who post here this is a very talented pool and CC posters are just a snapshot of all applicants.

If I had to do it over I would have made my daughter retake the SAT because her 1380 and 2060 aren’t good enough to get the major awards. Her GPA is fine So we take what we are offered and she has to bite the bullet and save a little more over the summers to make up for the deficits. That and keep her fingers crossed that the MD Distinguished Scholar money comes for the semifinalists also.