<p>^ all good points :D</p>
<p>I too appreciate the lack of “snarkiness” on this thread. A great group of CC sr parents!</p>
<p>I forgot to add this link</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to CollegeMeasures.org](<a href=“Education Data Initiative: College Costs & Student Loan Research”>http://collegemeasures.org/)</p>
<p>Pepper–that article and corresponding table is interesting…</p>
<p>EmmyBet - You summed it up pretty nicely. There is no one right answer to this question. And no matter how sure we might be of the decision we make, most of us would have moments when we would question it. </p>
<p>Agree that this group is very supportive and not judgmental. I guess, chocolate and margaritas help. This round is on me.</p>
<p>On another subject: at our house today we are so looking forward to the ACT being over tomorrow. D said “I wish I hadn’t signed up for it!” I know she knows she did (it was completely her idea) because she wanted one more opportunity to show what she can do, and of course she’s not looking forward to the actual hours spent taking it. She’ll think it was worth it in a couple of weeks when she gets her scores (she’s prepped enough that I’d be shocked if she doesn’t pick up a point or two).</p>
<p>In 30 hours we’ll be past one more picket in this long, long fence. Yay!</p>
<p>Emmybet: Good luck to your daughter tomorrow!</p>
<p>You summed up the financial issues very well. I think each family has to make their own choices on this one, based on their values and financial situation. I sometimes wonder whether my daughter should have waited for all her acceptances rather than applying ED to an expensive private. However, this school has excited her since she first discoved it in the Fiske Guide. My children know that they are fortunate that we have been able to give them this choice.</p>
<p>I am very glad that I discovered this thread. Thanks to all of your for sharing the ups and downs of this stressful experience.</p>
<p>Very interesting discussion. Like several others here, our list of schools was based at least in part on the possibility of good merit aid. D really wanted a small LAC and did not want a larger, reachy school, even though she potentially had the stats for it, so that factored into the list as well. A change in job has made affordability a little less of an issue for me, and I suggested to D that she may want to revisit the list to add one or more small LAC’s that were of interest to her - maybe more “prestigious” - but couldn’t make the initial list before because of no merit aid. Her response was “why”? Although she is an incredibly driven (and rather competitive, academically; she was not happy when our school stopped ranking even though that was a big relief to me) she is very happy with her choices which are all very good schools, but not ones that will elicit universal “wows”. I was a little surprised, but also a little relieved. More money for grad school!</p>
<p>Thanks, momjr! And best wishes to your D. My D1 was very much the same way, and that was the decision we did - and could - make for her, too. </p>
<p>Nice to have you all around this morning - I’m at home with our Japanese D who managed to pick up pinkeye and now has some stomach bug, too. And tonight she was leaving for a vacation weekend with an AFS friend, so I’m so worried we’ll have to say no! The pinkeye is doing well, and hopefully she’ll perk up this afternoon so I can send her with a good conscience. She’s been so healthy and happy all these weeks that maybe something like this was bound to happen sometime. But of all weekends!</p>
<p>I went from an utterly booked couple of days to having everything cancelled. But I won’t let myself just stew on the senior/college subject (although I may take the opportunity to make a few more lists). </p>
<p>I’m grateful people here have good humor and kindness. I don’t really have other “peers” through this process. No friends or family have kids applying in the same way - mostly “one and done” state school types - and around my D’s HS people keep pretty quiet, and also mostly go the instate route. This has been good for her mental health, frankly. She knows one or two kids who are doing the Ivy-or-bust routine, and she feels kind of sorry for them. She also knows kids who are clueless about this process and is grateful we’re on top of it (remember, kids who aren’t done with essays now are only behind in a CC mindset!). </p>
<p>When D1 was applying my best friend had a kid her age, so I had daily company in the process (and hadn’t discovered CC). This time all of my friends are beyond or behind, and while those with 9th, 10th, 11th graders are fascinated with and learning from what I’m going through, I don’t get to hear stories in return. That’s where I appreciate CC so much. I know I’ll be feeling all of the ups and downs for all of these kids. That’s way better than being alone and feeling like I’m boring everyone around me with the “same old” subject.</p>
<p>cooker: we cross-posted. Wow, what a mature attitude in your D! How wonderful that she’s so comfortable and happy.</p>
<p>I forgot to add to my last post how much I appreciate this group. I feel like we are all in this together and are connected through our shared wishes and hopes for the best for our wonderful kids!</p>
<p>Emmybet-so true that those who haven’t done essays yet are behind only from a CC vantage point. I am amazed that most of my d’s friends haven’t begun the application process…still looking at schools, making lists, barely looked at the CA much less the essay! I am so glad that I started reading CC when she was a sophomore and got a head start on things. D is SO relaxed…apps are all in and just one more supplement to do, which she said she will do this weekend. One of the schools she applied to sent her info on their honors program, so she has to write an essay for that too. D actually admitted to me that I was right to pressure her to get her essay done this summer, as she is having a very relaxed fall while her friends are stressed to the max. I guess my neurotic type A scheduling actually was a good thing for once!! Ha Ha!!</p>
<p>EB-oh…good luck to your d on the ACT tomorrow!!</p>
<p>cooker, your D sounds a lot like mine. A high-power achiever with a half-dozen very carefully chosen small LACs, and a girl very happy with her list at the moment.</p>
<p>She knows her tough decision in the spring will probably boil down to best fit vs. best music program (unfortunately, they aren’t the same school, nor are the number-twos in each category)…but she feels she’ll be ready to make the decision, especially when we have scholarship info in front of us.</p>
<p>She’s always been a good decision maker, knows herself well, and I’m confident that, between us, we’ll make the right choice (though I’m sure glad we don’t have to make it today).</p>
<p>Emmy, BEST OF LUCK to your D tomorrow!!!</p>
<p>^^^and same best wishes to ALL the ACT takers and re-takers tomorrow!</p>
<p>Happy dance…happy dance. By the end of this weekend, 3 of 5 CAs should be submitted AND the Profile will be done. The stamps are on the envelopes with the transcripts, LORs, etc to be sent to the 3 schools. FAFSAForcaster finished last week. </p>
<p>Still on the list - Remaining 2 CA essays, one of which is on hold until after visit to the school on Nov 1. One more school specific fin aid package will be available to do on Nov 1. </p>
<p>Only downside - Having dinner with extended family who disapprove of my S’s selection of schools. They feel that if he goes to a big RAH-RAH football school he would be drawn into the enthusiasm and be more outgoing and sociable. They can’t (won’t) understand why he is interested in small, engineering schools which limit the number of people he will meet and limit the number of majors he can choose from. I guess those martinis will come in handy!! Maybe I’ll start before we leave the house.</p>
<p>EB - good luck to your D tomorrow. MOSB - thanks for your support.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Smile and nod. “You may have a point there.” “I appreciate your thoughts.” “Do you think Christine O’Donnell has a chance in Delware?”</p>
<p>missypie - Love your come-back espec about O’Donnell!!</p>
<p>I also want to express my heartfelt thanks to the fellow parents here. Despite what people may assume, we come from all walks of life, have students with very different needs and goals, and yet we have found this beautiful place to share joy, frustration, and general silliness. I’ve found it unbelievable therapeutic. I don’t talk with many of my friends about the process. They are open and understanding, but I always worry I’m going to come off as a wingnut. Here I feel that’s overlooked and I’m very, very grateful. </p>
<p>So I’m passing a tray of raspberry scones! For the five o’clock crowd this will change to bang-bang shrimp and Bonefish martini’s!! :)</p>
<p>It’s hard to believe that I used to make homemade scones on Saturday mornings on a regular basis. Hope my kids have a memory of that (instead of the more current, “you know where the cereal is.”)</p>
<p>shawbridge, your post, #5396 , was excellent. </p>
<p>I have a question I’d like to ask you:</p>
<p>I read in a Williams brochure that the cost of educating a student is double the full price of tuition. Do you think that is true, and do you think that would be true only in the caliber of schools you were talking about? If so, that would be another justification for being willing to pay full price in some schools more than in others.</p>
<p>That’s okay missypie, mine know when I’ve been up all night because that’s the only time they have breakfast on the table at 5:30am before school. When they ask ‘what’s for dinner?’ half the time I say ‘I dont know. What are you making?’. :)</p>
<p>Agree that the CC 2011/2015 parents are a wonderfully supportive and non-snarky group. So thankful to have found this board last year :)</p>
<p>Like many of you, I don’t really have any close friends/confidants whose kids are going through the college application/admissions process right now. Also, some of the parents of D’s friends are overly competitive about grades, scores, college acceptances - and I have decided it is better to avoid much conversation on this subject with most of them. </p>
<p>Plus, D is the oldest grandchild in our family, therefore, she’s the first to be going through this process. Full disclosure: cousin’s son is college freshman, but like many in Wisconsin, he did the “one & done” app to UW Madison- sound familiar, Emmybet? So we are really in unchartered territories with D’s decision to apply to several top 20 schools and the hoping for merit aid. For D, our state Flagship is her backup-not her first choice.
As I learn, I impart my wisdom to my sibs and friends w/ younger kids. In effect, they will be the indirect beneficiaries of CC 
A legacy of sorts, right?</p>
<p>I guess what I like best about this board is that even though we come from many different places, have different perspectives and unique situations, we can rely on the collective wisdom and experiences of each other as we navigate the process. </p>
<p>Good luck to Emmybet’s D and all others taking ACT tomorrow. Hopes for increased scores and decreased stress!</p>
<p>Pepper03- don’t know for sure about original signed vs copy of LOR- but I would call admissions office of college and ask. I assume that they accept copies b/c so many send same LOR to multiple schools. BTW: Congrats to S on NHS induction! </p>
<p>Kajon: Couldn’t agree with you more about how insulted the kids get when a word or two of their essay is critiqued. I’m wondering where the newfound confidence in their writing ability has come from? But it’s a good thing, right?</p>
<p>MOSB: great idea about pampering as a means to an essay! May have to try that this weekend.</p>
<p>FlMathMom: congrats on your ability to do happy dance! Enjoy the family dinner w/ Missypie’s retorts. Would love to be a fly on the wall for that -LOL</p>
<p>Missypie-homemade scones? All I can say is WOW!</p>
<p>blueiguana, I don’t want to be greedy, but would it be possible for me to have a raspberry scone now AND the shrimp and martini at 5?</p>
<p>I’m housecleaning today. Need I say more?</p>