<p>drmom, maybe you can take in a Zumba class?</p>
<p>Darn one of those days! DD13 missed a deadline for a Scholarship application. The Easter break threw her off. It should have been put in the mail Saturday. It wasn’t a huge one but we’ve drilled the “every penny counts” into her.
In other thoughts, what’s everyone doing about graduation parties? My Mom wants to throw DD one. I was all set to do one as well. DD said she wasn’t sure because she didn’t have a ton of friends. (My husband and I don’t have many either). I shelved the idea, then the invites started coming from her classmates advertising chocolate fountains, sushi, bounce houses etc. now she says she might want one. grrrrr</p>
<p>oooh, forgot to mention a big part of the “why” i’m clamoring onto SS Indecision, D13 was asked/told by her dance studio director that she has a job for however long she needs one in school if she stays in MN. sigh Dance school teachers make really good money for being teenagers, young adults.</p>
<p>YDS - LOL! Zumba! </p>
<p>FlyMe - I am def. going to need a drink at move in or at Pitt Start or both. Please enlighten me with any knowledge you already have. :)</p>
<p>Amanda - One vote for Pitt here (if your D is taking votes from strangers! lol) I must admit, It would be neat to have a big meet-up with some Pitt peeps while we sweat in 100 degree heat moving people in. :p</p>
<p>Bigdoglover - Actual conversation in 1991 between me and a member of the ‘Fab Five.’</p>
<p>Him: Are you going to our baskeball game tonight?
Me: No, I don’t like basketball
Him: Why?
Me: I’m from Minnesota. We like Hockey.
Him: Why don’t you try a game? You might like it. </p>
<p>Flash forward a few weeks later I’m at a Michigan-Duke game screaming my lungs out for my friend! ha ha Was a fun time at U of M. Attended both Final Fours in 92 and 93. '93 ripped my guts out. I didn’t even know what had happened (the timeout with no timeouts left) and had to have someone explain the rules to me as NC sank their free-throws. 
</p>
<p>STRONGLY considering going to ATL. Being bombarded by the Athletic Dept, Athletic Boosters, Alumni Association, etc. with emails. Soooo tempting. We’ll see…</p>
<p>Really feel for all of you struggling with FA issues, questions, concerns, etc. I can’t believe how expensive everything is!!!</p>
<p>I say go for Atlanta. Fab Five guy huh…my guess…Juwan Howard.</p>
<p>So Michigan it is for my D! If it doesn’t work out I know where to find you! Lol.</p>
<p>Yay muf123 on the decision! I’d like a hard lemonade, please.</p>
<p>Yes, momofzag, our numbers are smaller (not hard to guess, since I’ve mentioned before that S13 is a QuestBridge kid 
). But the difference between “Directional State U strong in his major” and Notre Dame is roughly twice our EFC, plus an estimated 12-16 credits from AP tests. Also, Directional State U guaranteed full tuition, room and board for 4 years, regardless of price hikes. The hardest thing is, I really think Notre Dame is a better fit for him.</p>
<p>FlyMeToTheMoon - thanks for reminding us of the light at the end of the tunnel!</p>
<p>89wahoo - yes, love thy safety! S13 went 2-5-2 in the admissions process and is really happy, because his two admits are his dream school and the safety he likes.</p>
<p>DDHM - we won’t be there, having been redirected, but we know the difference and wish you fun :). Congrats to her on being the first Ivy-er!</p>
<p>mnmom62 - congrats on the last acceptance! Please, join us… lol.</p>
<p>S13 is fighting tooth and nail on scholarships. He insists they’re all a waste of time. Grrr.</p>
<p>S13 does not want a graduation party. I was hoping to do something joint with GF (much better place for a party), but she’s now x-GF, so that’s off the table. I may poke around and see if anyone else is feeling like me and maybe we do a joint grill-out at a park later in the summer. Around here there are parties every weekend through the 10th of August or so.</p>
<p>Thanks Laurendog - taking all votes, though dd is locked up in her bunker refusing to talk so…anyway, my ds ('11) is at Pitt, having a good time even if that includes OChemII.</p>
<p>critter: the other school is also a very nice top engineering school and probably free for her but it’s local, she is not dumb enough to choose it:)
confetti247: I specially liked your “star struck” part:) we may put off our retirement for few years, DD is offered to take $6k loan/year which helps a bit. The difference between price tags for us may be as big as $15k-$20k.</p>
<p>ooooh confetti, i like the idea of a grill-out at a park, we have some beautiful ones here. D’s best friend’s parents are insisting on including she and one other bff in one big party - so I was just thinking about doing something for the family, which could end up small or huge, depending on who wants to show up.</p>
<p>it’s amazing how much more “real” this all feels with all the answers in, as suspected she was too reachy and her refusal to even apply to midwest highly ranked LACs hurt her, but she ended up 4 for 10 and 1 WL, not awful. She had this high moral feeling that since there was no way that she’d attend St O, Gustavus, Grinnell, Lawrence, Beloit (there is an endless list) which were all good fit schools, that she’d just be taking a possible place and scholarship money from another… anyways, that’s in the rearview mirror now.</p>
<p>She has good choices, just depends on whether she wants debt, er big debt for SLC at the end of this, because we can’t help much.</p>
<p>Confetti - I totally get it and didn’t mean to imply that your choice is any less significant. (I’m not good about keeping track of who is who / checking prior posts so didn’t recall that you guys are Questbridge anyway.) Notre Dame is supposed to be a really amazing place / experience so I can see the pull for that one…</p>
<p>I just feel like we (meaning DH, DD and I) are being complete idiots for even thinking of turning down such a generous scholarship offer even though I believe that the more expensive option has a few real advantages – like the specific opportunities in her major. It seems wasteful to me–I am a person who drives a 2004 banged up mini van–it’s ugly but it only has 90,000 miles on it On the other hand, last year we spent a lot of money putting high quality replacement windows in the house – I guess because those are an investment.</p>
<p>And a college education is certainly an investment…</p>
<p>Well, soon the decision will be made and then my challenge will be to not second guess (especially when sometime in the next 4 years D is not happy or something does not go her way at the chosen option)!</p>
<p>momofzag…</p>
<p>Best of luck with your decision. It is not easy. We were comparing schools with out of pocket costs of $12,500; $21,000; $24,000; and $38,000… a huge difference from high to low. Think it through and make the best choice for YOUR family. For some families, the most expensive option might be the best choice, for others something different.</p>
<p>{Raising Hand} Yeah for people driving banged up vehicles from 2003 and 2004 and not planning to replace them anytime soon! Just got the Financial Resource Guide from P e n n - Total cost of attendance next year is estimated at $61,800. :eek: Anybody still serving drinks? Kahlua and cream please. I still have boxes of donuts. Let me know your preferred variety.</p>
<p>Mamabear: So what you are saying is PA calling itself a Commonwealth is kinda like when I said I looked like Grace Kelly. Got it. Good to know. :D</p>
<p>drmom123, Bryn Mawr is one of my D’s finalists, she (and I) loved the campus, and it is very highly regarded in her areas of interest. Plus, having the bi-co and tri-co consortiums is definitely a plus.</p>
<p>Laurendog, PittStart, true to Pitt’s form, is very well organized. They provide a schedule for parents to keep them busy while their student is meeting with their advisor, but H and I are debating whether or not to skip those sessions since we already “know everything”. 
Because there is less and less course choice as the summer progresses, we are attending in June. Make sure you call the hotel directly for reservations, and tell them you are attending PittStart. We were able to save $50 a night by doing that.</p>
<p>Move in this August will be crazy for us, since we will be moving in two daughters. We think we will have to take two cars. Finding a place to park the second car overnight will be the biggest challenge, but I haven’t researched it yet. I’m sure there have been other parents in this situation. We are probably going to stay two nights so we can move in one kid a day, and then sleep before driving home.</p>
<p>TV- our D just decided on the date for her grad party last night. Everybody has them in our location, so we are kind of stuck. But we do ours more low key than the other families. I’m not an entertainer. :)</p>
<p>FlyMe- Thanks so much. Step-D can select her Pitt Start soon (I guess you have to wait 5 days after deposit.) If it’s in June, I’ll give you a shout. And…you DO have a big task in front of you this August! Step-D will have too many people moving her in, so if we do manage to connect, of course I will help if I can. </p>
<p>pkd and dr mom - Love Bryn Mawr. So beautiful!!</p>
<p>ZUMBA here I come…what time is the class!!! hope it’s below deck! </p>
<p>We love the Bryn Mawr Campus. She cannot go wrong by going there. I know that…she just has to know that…this “developing brain thing” is really driving me nuts! Can’t they just be 40 years old already??? (at least in terms of decision making skills)</p>
<p>“Yeah for people driving banged up vehicles from 2003 and 2004 and not planning to replace them anytime soon!”</p>
<p>Represent! I have long referred to ten-year-plus Volvos and minivans with college stickers in the back window as “tuitionmobiles,” and I think I’m going to be driving one for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Yeah! One of my two tuitionmobiles just passed its annual state inspection. Please, oh please, nobody smash into it for the next four years…</p>
<p>…or perhaps the next six years (Master’s programs…gasp, gasp)…</p>
<p>Tuitionmobile: Yes I am driving one! We have been paying tuition for 5 years so ours are particularly ratty. </p>
<p>While on a break from serving drinks, I was researching AP credits and foreign language requirements for DS. It appears he doesn’t even need to pass the AP Spanish test to fulfill the language requirement (in fact he only had to take 3 years in high school) AND his 5 on AP Eng Lang got him out of one semester of English and if I read it right, if he gets a 4 or 5 on AP Eng Lit I think he will get out of both semesters. His brother’s school (both UC’s) requires you to pass the AP language test or pass their oral exam and only allows credit for AP Lang or AP Lit but not both. Next break I am going to research dorm options, but you guys are keeping me awfully busy! </p>
<p>Oh, and I finally got a look at the financial aid from one of the Cal States (actually it is Cal Poly) that DS applied to. All of the UC’s were about the same, except for Berkeley which was a little better because of the Regents Scholarship and the Middle Class Access plan, but Cal Poly’s offer was only loans. So even though the tuition is half the price of a UC, at least for us, it ends up being much more expensive. </p>
<p>OK, back to work, who was it that requested the Tequila shots? I remembered the salt and limes.</p>