<p>Novelisto, its almost 1pm here. Hows she doing? If that Anesthesia Nurse comes by again, could you please send her to my house??? :)</p>
<p>Avon and momdoc, so sorry to hear about the Vandy $$$. Hope your next news is excellent!</p>
<p>Hey, keylime, great news for your son! Not the extra essay to write of course, but that hes a finalist for the scholarship. Fingers crossed for you!</p>
<p>Bkcs, thanks for posting! Sending good wishes (and calming vibes) to your d. Glad to hear that some of our musings on this thread were helpful to both of you. Let us know how it goes as she hears from her other schools and makes her decision.</p>
<p>Owm, congrats! You did make that quote thing work! Now if you want to go REALLY advanced, you could have replaced bracketquotebracket with bracketquote=Novelistobracket and then it would have attributed the quote to Novelisto in the box. (Took me weeks and the repeated encouragement of several posters to figure that out.) :)</p>
<p>Mamom, right on with that rant. Agree 100%, and I dont want to be part of that bailout, either.</p>
<p>OWM- so glad to hear your grandson is on the mend. And I bet I am not the only mom reading getting a little shiver of excitement thinking about double rainbows and your son at MIT. I have no doubt that wherever he lands he is going to be a force to be reckoned with. And if by some miracle my D winds up across the river at BU (competitive auditioned theater program) maybe they will meet on the bridge some day. </p>
<p>BKCS, I can’t believe there is another broken mailbox out there. That, and the idea of holliesue’s mailbox being held up by a mound of snow until it melts, will be good for another round of laughs at the dinner table tonight so thank you.</p>
<p>MaryOC, I love the image of your virtual fist pump. I’m right there with you. Go Class of 2011! We can hang in there just a little longer.</p>
<p>I found this site that has been really helpful for filling out pdf files for scholarship applications. My daughter does not have the neatest handwriting, so being able to fill them out online has been so much easier. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes for our son. one of his quirks is that he only wears blue. Today all of his friends at schools will be dressed in blue. I hope someone takes a picture.</p>
<p>I found two more scholarships altho one will have to wait until next year as the deadline passed.</p>
<p>[National</a> Achievement Awards | Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic](<a href=“http://www.rfbd.org/About-RFB-D/National-Achievement-Awards/108/]National”>http://www.rfbd.org/About-RFB-D/National-Achievement-Awards/108/)
Each year, the Marion Huber Learning Through Listening (LTL) awards are presented to RFB&D members who are high school seniors with learning disabilities, in recognition of academic excellence, outstanding leadership, and service to others. The awards are given to six students who are chosen by a selection committee. RFB&D presents the three top winners $6,000 each and three special honors winners $2,000 each. </p>
<p>[Calgon</a> Take Me Away!](<a href=“http://www.takemeaway.com/]Calgon”>http://www.takemeaway.com/)
The Calgon Take Me Away to College Scholarship competition is open to females, 18-years of age or older who are legal residents of the U.S. You must be starting college full time in the fall or already be enrolled at an accredited four-year school in the U.S. You must have a minimum 3.0 GPA and complete the official entry form found on the sponsor’s web site to be eligible for this award. Deadline is February 16 so put it on your calendar for next year. Seems to be 8 $1000 awards.</p>
<p>32578233- wishing you the best for Chicago. I was in your seat last year after D’s EA deferral. It was one of the first batch to arrive for her and made the rest of the wait easier when the big envelope came in the mail (she was away on a school trip at the time)</p>
<p>Thanks, dignified1. I think the chances of our receiving enough aid from MIT to make it possible are about as good as his chances of being admitted. But the process has been great for all of us. He has enjoyed just being able to be a candidate. His goal will be to make good enough grades and do enough research at Mizzou to be considered for graduate school at MIT.</p>
<p>In the meantime, his project for TAG Literature is going up in flames, literally, in our garage. They are studying Fahrenheit 451. He has set himself on fire, but put the fire out with books, while his friend photographed it all. He researched what aerosol would evaporate the fastest so he would not be injured. Those might be the first pictures I post on the Shutterfly pages!</p>
<p>Just a typical day here: work five hours, play with recovering grandson for three hours while daughter-in-law studies, set your 17-year-old on fire intentionally for the sake of academics!</p>
<p>OWM…what do you do in your “spare time” haha!</p>
<p>As for our finaid/IDOC–the package went out priority post w/ signature confirmation. P.O says it will arrive by Thur, woman at P.O. said…maybe 3 days and arrive Fri since its not a major metro area…so hoping all is well and it is "in before the 14th as needed.
Now to correct Profile/FAFSA, which I will tackle tom.</p>
<p>Was talking with another CCer today and we were saying that the thing people forget is the cost of living in different parts of the country etc. And depending onyour career, circumstances etc…things can get rough. If you haven’t had a hit, you’re exceedingly blessed/lucky/fortunate…
Back when I was a kid, my parents property taxes were 5 digits! It was an average commuting community outside of NYC, and the taxes were exhorbant. People live where their careers/family takes them and there are tons of places in the US that are far cheaper than where our family is now…so these finaid committees miss the point that 50k, 100k, 150k goes further in some areas than others…Everywhere and gas, food etc varies. </p>
<p>Gosh, I drive an 11 yr old car with 120k miles on it and my husband’s car is the same age with 170k miles…The economy is tight and everyone is being hit. So while we are hoping for some aid, I am not bashing people for driving newer model cars instead of saving for college. </p>
<p>I guess my point is it can be unfair and ungracious to assume anything about others finances…And some of these schools really “sell” that the make their U affordable…The question is where do they come up with those crazy numbers and how do they do it w a straight face?!</p>
<p>sooo anyway…
Worked a half day–with kindergarteners…some high functioning, some low, and some with english as their second language…and have been up since 5:30am-ish </p>
<p>Now if we can find a way to combine the technology of the potato cannon from a number of pages back with OWM S’s self-fire techniques, we’ll really have something!</p>
<p>On another topic, anyone waiting on a lot of RD decisions started thinking about that ambiguous yet evil word - waitlist? I ask because I noticed on a blog from one of D’s very favorite schools that, because of problems estimating yield in recent years, they will be relying heavily on the waitlist to manage admissions this year.</p>
<p>If this march madness of waiting is limbo, having one or more waitlist decisions from favorite schools could be purgatory! Just wanted to share my stressed-out musings.</p>
<p>Congrats to all who have been receiving good news recently, and hugs to those with disappointments … and continued patience for the rest of us!</p>
<p>OneGirlsMom- we are waiting for some RD, but have enough options right now that S will not consider going on a waitlist. I hope your D does not land on her favorites waitlist. I assume she will put a deposit down on one of her other schools in the meantime?</p>
<p>mamom - We’re waiting on 15 (count 'em) RD decisions. The only thing in hand now is the flagship honors that she really doesn’t want to do. When we get some decisions in, I’m sure there will be good options … but in the meantime, I have a mind that floats to all the eventualities that I can’t control!</p>
<p>OWM - Thanks for that image! I personally have antiqued history projects (you know, make my piece on the Declaration of Independence look really “old”) over the kitchen stove, running quickly to the sink when the entire paper lit up. Lots of fun!
Concert tonight, goody gumdrops. This is the 8th grade “keep in the band program” concert where dd(8th gr) gets to sit next to ds on the stage. Should be fun.</p>
<p>OGM - wow, your D will be busy later this month opening those big envelopes! It is going to be an exciting time. </p>
<p>Just got an email from the school where S recently won a scholarship competition. The school had told him they were looking for additional money to offer him in addition to the scholarship competition money and the previous merit award they gave him. Well they came through with more. (I am doing my happy dance) And, S is still waiting to hear back on two additional scholarships he applied for there. This school now has a lower coa than our state public and is offering more merit than any other school has so far. In my mind this is the school he will attend next fall. I am really trying to not vocalize that thought and not pressure S’s decision, although he knows that cost has to be a factor.</p>
<p>AK- Hope you and your D enjoy the concert. Is this S’s last concert?</p>
<p>^so this is kinda funny. The letter that was snail mailed to S regarding the scholarship competition mis-spelled his last name. The dean sent an email apologizing for the mistake and sent out a corrected letter electronically. The emailed letter S got today addressed him by his middle name and completely left off his first. I could be insulted but they can call my son Mary if they keep throwing money at him.</p>
<p>mamom - GREAT news! And great attitude about the mistakes - I agree that they could call my child most any name as long as there was $$ involved - HA! Congrats!</p>
Hope your next news is excellent!</p>