<p>We mastered the FAFSA twice for our older son but never had to do the Profile. I do believe that most schools require it whether the aid is merit-based or not. I know for certain it is required if you plan to use the Stafford Loan Program.</p>
<p>After reading the last few pages in this thread, I am ALMOST (but not really) wishful that our younger son gets rejected EA by his reach school. It’s the only one that requires the Profile. I am self-employed and it sounds like we are in for a future weekend of pencil-pushing. Not much fun for a journalist and an engineer! You all are making me nervous.</p>
<p>Oh well, we’ll worry about that in December if the EA decision is yes or deferred. For now, I’m going to enjoy the being DONE with applications. Don’t know how those of you whose children are applying to more than a handful of schools handle this.</p>
I hear you! My D is in love with her ED school. Too bad it’s so hard to get into. My fingers are crossed hoping for the very best: “one and done.” But she will have all her other apps ready to press submit if she receives bad news from the ED school. As for the financial implications… I’m filling out all the forms they want, but I’m prepared to pay full price (gulp).</p>
<p>My S really wants to go to his ED school too. It’s difficult, but that is why he is applying ED there - to hopefully get a slight boost in his chances of acceptance. </p>
<p>He sent his rolling admission safety app tonight, finally! The weekly e-mails from the school urging him to finish his application finally got to him - today’s said that they would be reviewing applications at the end of this week and the sooner he applies, the sooner he will hear back from them. I think he would be OK attending there if the ED school falls through.</p>
<p>All right, I have to add - I had 2 lovely unmedicated births with a midwife; the one in the hospital with the epidural was the nightmare birth. You can have your epidurals, they are not for me! But then, I like doing my taxes with a pencil and paper too.</p>
<p>Ok I had a friend who told me that the labor nurse at the delivery of her daughter said…
“Look, K., there is no ribbon or medal at the end of the labor and delivery whether you have an epidural or not…”</p>
<p>Better living through chemistry!! </p>
<p>Blue, Can we buy a case of those “home kits” ?</p>
<p>A few comments before bedtime. I had one easy delivery after being on bed rest for months. One epidural, two hour wait, three pushes and my angel was born. Would not have done it any other way.</p>
<p>FAFSA - I haven’t done it yet, but have done the FAFSAForecaster which I understand transfers the info right into the FAFSA. As long as you have all the documents available, it isn’t hard. The result is just shocking and disappointing. </p>
<p>I have done a first pass on the Profile. Putting in the 2009 #s is pretty easy. The 2010 can be a little trickier as can the 2011. They ask for a lot of info so be prepared to spend quite a while pushing your way thru. Not as much hard as tedious.</p>
<p>Blue Iguana, I’m with you. When that Anesthesiologist came in the room, I told him, “whatever you normally give to other women, make mine a double.”</p>
<p>One more funny epidural story…when I had songbird I was in my mid-30s and I had a good friend in her mid-50s. She thought I showed very good judgement in saying, as Blue Iguana so eloquently put it, “Screw the natural childbirth.”</p>
<p>My older friend said, "Your generation has had no problem trying every drug under the sun for recreational purposes, but God forbid, the one time you actually have a real, legitimate need for medication, and it’s, “Oh, no, not me…my body is a temple!”</p>
<p>I still laugh over that because in many cases, she was so right! </p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve re-thought the epidural for this weekend of finaid because I don’t really want to be numb. I want to be…very mellow. I’m sticking with the martini and big bar of chocolate fog sent me.<br>
Anyone else working on FAFSA, Profile, taxes, or just finding the stuff you meant to file neatly since last January…please post little notes of encouragement to the rest of us. It’s gonna be bleak around here.</p>
<p>I remember assuring the nurses while I was having my second and third kids “I stink at labor, but wait until delivery…just watch…I OWN delivery!!”</p>
<p>That’s how I feel about parts of this process…I stink at some parts, I know I do, but I am a goddess at other parts. :)</p>
<p>I have the same ED worries others mentioned. My daughter loves her ED school and will be crushed if she doesn’t get in. It’s a match rather than a reach, and I think she will get in, but she will be crushed if she doesn’t. I’m trying to get her to finish her rolling safety apps so she will have an acceptance in hand before she hears from the ED school, but other things keep getting in the way.</p>
<p>That is a pretty broad statement. It may be true for certain schools, but I doubt that it’s true for most. My '09 son applied to 8 schools and was admitted to all 8 with merit offers ranging from $8000 to $20,500 per year and I didn’t complete a FAFSA. If you find out that a rolling admissions or early action school notifies the student of their merit offer immediately upon admission, that is a pretty good indication that no FAFSA is required…Son had offers from 7 of his 8 schools before Christmas, so the merit aid couldn’t be tied to FAFSA completion.</p>
<p>Amen. But for medical intervention, I guess my husband would have been a childless widower. My sister had home births and I read all those books, contemplated the pros and cons of medication, etc etc. Then my firstborn grew to be 11 lbs inside me…scheduled c-section with epidural? glory be!</p>
<p>Schools definitely vary in their requirements for merit aid. I’ve been working my way through D1’s list. For schools that offer merit aid, I’m checking on their websites and then calling the admissions office to confirm if they require FAFSA or Profile for merit aid. So far, no school on her list wants us to submit need-based forms. </p>
<p>Essay writing anecdote number 1: D1 decided to blow off some steam last night, and wrote a sarcastic CA essay skewering every one of her academic interests. Excellent stress relief, but now there’s the new worry about making sure it isn’t accidentally pasted into the real app. ;)</p>
<p>Essay writing anecdote number 2: D1 and a friend were working on essays that talk about their backgrounds. Oddly enough, both ended up choosing to write about an obscure religious practice, coming to two totally different conclusions. Maybe not as obscure a topic as I’d thought! They’re applying to different schools, so there’s no issue of the regional rep thinking “hey, I’ve seen this before…” Maybe there’s no such thing as a totally original topic, just less usual ones?</p>
<p>Exactly! So many people spend so much time wondering or worrying about things…do they require the FAFSA? do they superscore SATs? do they award merit aid with the acceptance letter or afterwards? etc etc etc Just call or email and find out the actual answer!</p>
<p>Loving the epidural stories. I always said I would get one. Didn’t get a chance with D - had precipitous labor - she was born way earlier than anyone expected. Was more cautious with S thanks to this experience - ended up in the hospital at the slightest hint of pain and found that I was 8cm dilated! No epidural again, had the baby in less than 2 hrs. My OB/GYN thinks I should bottle what I have and make millions :-)</p>
<p>Missypie - good idea about the schools and merit aid offers. I have assumed (perhaps incorrectly!) that I didn’t need to fill out the FAFSA or the PROFILE since we will not qualify for need based aid. I should check the websites for each school that offers merit aid or give them a call to verify if FAFSA is needed.</p>
<p>On another note - D had her senior pictures taken last week. She had her hair cut and straightened - she loved the straight look. We only have a run of the mill Conair straightener at home - is there a specific one that folks would recommend? Thinking of buying her one for the holidays…I suspect she will use it more next year at college…</p>
<p>Don’t buy a Chi. I used to think they were the ultimate. (They come in such cute colors, too.) At one time we were a three Chi family. Then all three broke almost at the same time…just a few days after the one year warranty period. Call me cheap, but if I pay $100+ for a flat iron, I want it to last more than 367 days.</p>
<p>I complained about the Chis at Ulta (where I bought them all.) They admitted that Chi’s don’t last. They recommended the Sedu. We’ve been happy with it so far. D has VERY long, thick, curly hair and it works well for her.</p>
<p>arisamp - I don’t know what type of hair your daughter has, but I straightened my hair consistently for well over a year with a salon quality iron. In short, my hair was totally fried. I only color it about 4x a year so while it’s chemically treated, I wouldn’t consider it over-processed. There is a product that you can spray on your hair, by section, when you straighten it, that makes it go faster and protects your hair. Not inexpensive but it lasts forever. Try Aquage: Beyond Body Thermal Styler 7oz.</p>
<p>I use the Sedu every day and my hair is soft and silky. Of couse, that may be due to the large quantities of Barlean’s flax seed oil I take every day per the recommendations from another thread on CC. (Which, by the way, does nothing to help my dry eyes, but it does wonders for my hair.</p>
<p>There. Are we far enough off topic? My D did press the Submit button on her second and final application last night, and put down a housing deposit on the one acceptance she has. There. Back to colllege apps.</p>
<p>Add me to the no epidurals and midwives list. Also had a doula present for D2’s birth. Don’t get me wrong- I ASKED for epidurals in both, its just that by the time I asked, it was time to push them out, so it was too late :D</p>
<p>As for hair straighteners, my D’s have thick wavy hair (a by product of being biracial) and use a $30 straightener on the highest heat setting. Straightener has lasted several years so far. Hair dresser friend told us that as long as hair that is not chemically processed, it can withstand high heat. They also alternate between wash and drip dry some days and fully straightened hair on other days as a means to avoid frying their hair. So far so good.</p>
<p>Ahh, so nice to not be posting about D’s college apps & essays for once!</p>
<p>Belatedly on ED - It is tough. Mine is applying ED to a school that is really ideal and a reach. I think chances are good, but certainly not 100%. We are making sure that all the other applications will be in or ready to go on Dec. 15. There are a couple of semi-safety schools which might send a decision before Dec. 15 - I think that will be soothing to the nerves. I’m hoping that there will just be enough else going on to distract from thoughts of the ED school until Dec. 15.</p>
<p>One rolling admissions here, which was done early. Only one other school on his list offers ED and it is his close second so he will apply RD. If his first choice offered ED I don’t know what he would have done. Too many students change their mind at the 11th hour. His first and second choice have very different approaches to the same degree. He could not go wrong with either (if he has the choice between the two). I’m glad he didn’t have to make the decision to commit now to his first choice for a better shot in admissions.</p>