<p>Avon - congrats on Miami Honors. Which Miami?</p>
<p>Two of three acceptances have pushed hard for housing deposits. I think it s/b against the ‘rules’ and should have the same May 1 date. We ignored both. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite us…</p>
<p>FlMathMom - sorry - it’s Miami (OH).</p>
<p>In their original acceptance letter they were very specific to indicate that May 1st is the national commitment/acceptance date and not to be bullied or pushed by other schools who want to try to force admits to accept prior to May 1st. I thought that was an informative comment as I am sure there are many parents and students (most likely a majority of them) who are not aware of that policy. I don’t have the Association name handy, but they cited a national college association policy in their letter.</p>
<p>It will be crazy enough if we have to revisit 2 or more schools in April without that kind of outside pressure.</p>
<p>Housing deposit and commitment to attend are viewed as two different things.</p>
<p>If any of the schools asking for a housing deposit are ones you think your child might attend, AND if housing is assigned based on when housing deposit was received, AND if you can find out if there are housing shortages or strongly prefered housing options at those schools…you might want to send in the housing deposit.</p>
<p>Yes…it can be a backhanded way for schools to get kids to make a decision before May 1…or for schools to get a small amount of additional income if a kid doesn’t attend and the deposit is non-refundable…but it can affect your child’s choices if there are housing issues at the school.</p>
<p>We have the 11pm curfew in my state as well. However, if you have a note signed by a parent with a phone number they can be reached at, you can be exempt. I would check NJ and CT- my mom uses it for things like HP openings, late rehearsals.</p>
<p>Sunday’s countdown is:</p>
<p>MIT (March 14th) - 15 days to go. Only two weeks as of tomorrow.</p>
<p>March 31st schools - 32 days to go.</p>
<p>Hopefully, March madness will help the time go by faster for all of us.</p>
<p>AvonHSDad- I just take your MIT date and add one for my d’s two last regular decisions though she does have a deferred EA which is who knows when but she wasn’t very interested in it anymore, anyway.</p>
<p>Friday, I finally got our final 2010 tax return from our accountants and sent it and the other required documentation off to IDOC, just barely in time for all of the March 1 deadlines. Yesterday, we received the following e-mail from Columbia: “Please forward any missing tax-related documentation directly to Columbia via the IDOC service. You may print a cover sheet by logging into the IDOC service at <a href=“http://idoc.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D”>http://idoc.collegeboard.com</a>. Please be sure to label each page with the applicant’s name and CU ID number.” Needless to say, if this requirement has appeared anywhere in Columbia’s financial aid requirements, which I sincerely doubt, it was hidden with the care usually reserved for information with the gravest import to national security. </p>
<p>Again, all accountants out there - consider becoming a specialist in financial aid applications, and I am certain you will be able to increase your income to the point that you will never have to look for aid for your own children!</p>
<p>avonhs: the organization is NACAC…here’s the website actually; very informative</p>
<p>[NACAC</a> Homepage](<a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org%5DNACAC”>http://www.nacacnet.org)</p>
<p>AvonHSDad - Congratulations on the Miami U Honors acceptance! It’s a very nice option, regardless what the March 30th brings.</p>
<p>Novelisto - Congrats on the merit $$$!</p>
<p>I second the 2boysima’s comment. If it’s a housing deposit and the school is one of the top contenders and you are ok with losing the deposit, sending the money might make sense. Hopefully, if another school comes with a better financial package, you will be ahead anyway, even if you had to lose the deposit.</p>
<p>Sitting on pins and needles here waiting for K-1. Supposed to be emailed to me tomorrow by investment co. Need it to finish taxes. Then I have to update FAFSA, CSS Profile and file IDOC. Nice restful day. Obviously will miss March 1 deadline. Couldn’t be helped. If son gets into first choice school, only FAFSA will be needed next year. What a blessing that would be.</p>
<p>I think kids should add that to their college criteria list - locations, majors available, size, FA forms required and their deadline.</p>
<p>Off to airport to pick up so from CW at Olin. Will report in later!!</p>
<p>FlMathMom: Can’t wait to hear about Olin. I wish our son had applied there but ultimately the tiny size was not was he was interested in. Still probably the coolest marketing information we received!</p>
<p>Congrats to AvonHSDad and Novelisto on the happy news.</p>
<p>Happy news is starting to trickle in for kids in our area that we’ve known since kindergarten. One young man, a gifted costume designer, is headed to NYU. Another young woman has merit money for Mills, her top choice. Yet another is headed to Wellesley, her top choice. I’m finding that one of the nice side benefits of reading CC is that you end up knowing an awful lot about an awful lot of schools. It’s been such a pleasure to be able to react with utter and unfeigned delight when I hear kids mention schools like these and Kenyon and FIDM and Olin, schools that we here on CC know about but which a lot of people have never heard of.</p>
<p>So much to catch up on, I have been enjoying catching up on all your happenings. </p>
<p>So sorry to hear about some of the letters back from colleges, but I think if the school doesn’t realize the wonderfulness that is your S or D, they don’t deserve them.</p>
<p>And as far keeping options open, I can relate…my S got an interview with Indiana U for the music school and we still debated on flying out there to do it, knowing that the chances of him going there are smaller than minuscule - he’d need a full ride to beat out his first choice school. He did give them plenty of time to maybe schedule another student, but I can’t believe how hard it was for me to let it go.</p>
<p>A few other posts resonated with me…
We are getting so much mail at this point…my D’13 is already starting her journey into college land since she watched her brother spend so much time doing stuff.</p>
<p>My S’11 has vowed to call his sister from college and get her to work on specific college applications earlier than he did.</p>
<p>
I’m trying hard not to be this mom…my S is going from SoCal to Ill. I have friends that I have already enlisted to help us shop when we get there. I realized I couldn’t even find a coat warm enough here unless I went into the ski resorts to buy it. Then we went shopping for my S for his trip to NY and found that we’ll be layering a bunch, and we found the nicest pea coat (I hope that’s the name, I’m not a fashionista by a long shot). They had a long style one, but it aged him so much I couldn’t recommend it, so he bought the shorter, more traditional one. Anyway, I’m finding we were able to get more than I thought, but am still figuring on buying warmer stuff when we get there. We are also looking at flying everyone out on Southwest with extra suitcases. My H and D’13 want to see his college and my H can’t make it back to school on time if we drive. I think this will be our summer vacation.</p>
<p>I am trying to savor the last months with my S at home. He was gone this week in NY and Philly on a school trip and it’s like a taste of what it will be when he actually leaves. I know he’s fine (and will be), but I still missed him.</p>
<p>And this thread is moving so fast, I am having a hard time staying up with it. But I am trying because I do love keeping up with you all.</p>
<p>H driving D2 to interview today for housing option at state university (H’s alma mater) D2 probably won’t even attend, but we’re encouraging her to keep options open.</p>
<p>When D1 was making her college choice in '08, we had her put deposit down on dorm room just in case while she waited to hear from another housing option. Eventually she turned down a dorm room. That happened to be the year more freshmen enrolled than the university had dorm space to accommodate. The university really ended up scrambling to find housing for everyone that fall. There were a number of students with real uncertainty about where they would live because they waited so long to make the dorm deposit. </p>
<p>West Point is still at the top of D2’s list, and she informed us that she would report four months from today if she goes. Sigh.</p>
<p>Congrats on West Point phbmom!!</p>
<p>That’s exciting about West Point. Another (girl?) on another thread was posting about the Naval Academy and people not knowing about it/that it is college, not just enlisting. At least with West Point that is not as much of a problem (I hope anyway).</p>
<p>Went prom dress shopping with my D and a friend yesterday. To my surprise, D found a dress that she absolutely loved in the very first place we visited. Didn’t buy it immediately (it was pretty pricey). Came home and found the same designer dress online way cheaper. All the sites that have the dress have it for the same lower price, offer free shipping. But it looks like the dress is not in stock, will be a special order. They need her “wear date” and once the order is placed, will send us an email confirming when the dress will ship. If dress cannot be shipped in time, order will be canceled.</p>
<p>Is this typical for those of you who have done this before? Dresses cannot be returned/exchanged or canceled. Fortunately, I think we are early enough on this that she can order online and have the dress arrive in May. But I wanted to check with some others before I went ahead…appreciate any input…</p>
<p>
Same here.
I’ve been skimming through and see that there is so much to celebrate, with a few disappointments mixed in…much like life.
I am starting to realize that my son’s departure is no longer an event on the distant horizon. I am trying to refocus on the joys of senior year, prom, graduation, etc., but there is a wistfulness in the back of my mind that causes me to tear up a little from time to time.</p>
<p>phbmom: huge kudos to your daughter for choosing a path that is challenging in more ways than we can possibly imagine.</p>
<p>S had a great time at Olin. Totally committed. Bonded with several other prospies. Now…we…wait…!!</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>On the way to a school event today…I realized kiddo is a hs grad in 3 months!</p>
<p>Where did the year GO!!!</p>