<p>It’s been a busy couple of weeks! DD received acceptances to Goucher, Guilford and Wagner, all with merit aid. Between the amazingly personal letter from Guilford, the amount of merit aid and their invitation to apply to their Honors program, this school has shot up from the bottom of her list to the top! We’re still waiting to hear from Clark and UCNW.</p>
<p>We returned this past Tuesday from visiting both Roanoke and Guilford. We were hoping that these visits could help narrow down her list. Not a chance. She (and I) loved both schools. She really loved Roanoke’s Core Curriculum and felt that it was perfect for her. She also said that she’s never seen such happy students. The next day, at Guilford, she was taken with how incredibly friendly the students were and the overall feeling of community that she got from the campus in general. She could easily see herself at either school, with Roanoke having the slight edge. I agree wholeheartedly. Now it all comes down to finances. Like everyone else, we are waiting for FA packages.</p>
<p>Ruby - I do have a story about appealing for more merit aid. DD received 15K from one of her favorite schools and we were a bit confused as to why she did not receive more, based on the info on the school’s website. Depending on whether they were using uw or w GPAs we figured that she would have received either 17.5K or 20K. I politely emailed her admissions rep and asked why she did not qualify for more money. I had suspected that it was because she did not submit her test scores, as this is a test optional school. The admissions rep was extremely nice and said that he would bring it to the committee and get back to us asap. A week later he emailed and confirmed that she received a lower amount since they didn’t have any test scores to consider. BUT he then said that since they are a test optional school, she should not be penalized for not submitting her scores and since she has “a solid GPA and is a strong writer” they would be happy to offer her 3K more per year, bringing her award up to 18K per year, somewhere in between the 17.5K and 20K. That was great! In general, we have been very impressed with how responsive and lovely this school has been. We are trying to figure out when we can visit…</p>
<p>Thanks, Slumom…it’s great to hear from people w/ actual experience w/ a school. Alfred is sounding like a real option for my son. I’m almost wondering if I should rearrange our visit plans to head in that direction…something to think about.</p>
<p>Congrats on all of the acceptances I’ve been reading about.</p>
<p>I don’t know what others think, since this thread is getting so huge. . What do people think about splitting this thread into East Coast and West Coast schools? Divide down the Mississippi or something.</p>
<p>Idahamom - thank you so much for the PM about your experiences with Den also. I really appreciate that. I cannot seem to send a reply to you, probably because I don’t have enough posts or something. I have submitted a very detailed FA appeal, with lots of documentation. We are in a situation where unusual circumstances caused high income in 2012 but 2013 and beyond will be very different. I basically told them that we have X available for the next 4 years of college and I understand that they may require high amount for freshman year but I need guarantee that future years will be inline with our budget. Good luck getting them to agree to that !! I’ll keep everyone posted.</p>
<p>Haystack - I think I posted a Montana State Visit report and I did go into detail on some thread somewhere but I cannot remember. Let’s just say that it was VERY COLD when we visited. I thought the food was terrible in the student food court (but that doesn’t matter to my daughter), Mountains and area were beautiful, North Hedges dorm was dark, low ceilings and very old. Administration is really working hard, doing all the right things. They have started new Freshman 15 program that is trying really hard to get kids to graduate in 4 years. But the kicker for this So Cal Mom was their pride during dorm tour - Gun Storage and Gun Cleaning room! I was floored that any college would let 18 year olds have guns in a dorm. Very different for us - I understand the hunting/fishing culture in Montana but I was personally freaking out :)</p>
<p>I think the bottom line for me was whether I think my daughter is going to get her butt up and out of bed, dressed in 6 layers of clothes and traipsing across the campus at 8am to go to class. She’s very good about getting herself to school, but the 17 degree blizzard outside might cause her to start having lots of excuses!!</p>
<p>Although I think all that want to should definitely continue to post here, perhaps it’s time to start additional threads for Classes of 2014 (and maybe even 2015). It seems that each year develops its own thread, with some overlap at this time of year. I’ll leave that up to you new parents … but I’ll be starting a 2016 thread in a few years!</p>
<p>I love the sense of community we have built on this thread!</p>
<p>Acceptance packet from Chapman today, where my kid was sort-of deferred! Applied EA. Some EA kids were rolled to Regular Decision, and some, like mine, were deferred until Chapman reviewed fall grades. Unlikely to attend, but I’m still proud that he got in.</p>
<p>coralbrook and reeinaz - this mail-less period is hard, isn’t it? </p>
<p>D3 applied to all early action or rolling admission schools, so all we’re waiting for is financial aid packets. She didn’t get any merit aid from Oregon State or University of Oregon (out of state), at least not in the admission letters, so they are probably both out of the picture. Her gpa (3.7) is above the range for this thread, but her test scores are low (ACT 24, SAT quite a bit lower) so I’ve been lurking on this and the Western Schools for the 3.0 - 3.3 kid threads throughout the process.</p>
<p>I don’t think we’ll hear about financial aid from the colleges on our list until the end of March/beginning of April. She’s signed up for admitted student weekends at three of the schools - one of them before we’ll know about financial aid.</p>
<p>AmicaMom, you may be correct in thinking no merit from Oregon State. Just want to let you know that DS received his merit award ($2,000 per year - but still) in his acceptance letter from OSU, and we’re OOS as well. Frankly, I was surprised he got any. But OOS is still so very high there, and even higher at UO. Better merit from Western Washington University, though.</p>
<p>Jane, I am so excited for you. Chapman is the ONLY decision my D is really waiting for!! She was deferred and we are on pins and needles. Was the acceptance for Dodge or other school?</p>
<p>PSU Erie has software engineering and computer science majors with a certificate program in game development. They also have a BFA in creative writing. Those are my son’s main interests. I wouldn’t say the schools are especially similar but they seem to share social and academic characteristics that are important to him.</p>
<p>@coralbrook: I really hope your daughter hears soon from Chapman, and I wish her the best of luck! I’m guessing now that they have this batch of applications done, they will be moving right along to the “Rolled to RDs”. Keep looking for the “Decision Reached” status change online. That happened on Feb 18, packet arrived on the 23rd. My son did not apply to Dodge.</p>
<p>Apologies for not reading this entire thread (146 pages) so I don’t know if this has been discussed, but does anyone have any suggestions for engineering programs for kids who have hs GPAs within the range of this thread? Thanks.</p>
<p>Posted too soon!! Argh! Anyway, my DS is looking at engineering, we are in MA. He has been accepted to UConn, UNH, URI, Roger Williams (merit $), Western New England Univ (merit $) and UMass Lowell (merit $) He got rejected from WPI, we are waiting to hear from RIT. Also he got accepted to UMass Amherst as an Undeclared rather than into Engineering. We have asked them to take another look at his credentials with improved SAT scores and his 1st semester senior grades.</p>
<p>We are in CA, but S wants to go OOS. We are looking at Colorado for starters (CSU, Mines, CU), but need some advice on where else to look. S does not want to go to hot weather (our summers here in NorCal are brutal enough), so that rules out pretty much the lower half of the USA. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.</p>
But there is a thread for western schools. <a href=“
</p>