<p>SteveMA - I suspect your DD is the first kid to finish all the apps s/he has in their entirety! Congrats to her, and yeah for you!! :)</p>
<p>SteveMa - I’m sure you’ve already said, but how many colleges are each applying to?</p>
<p>Ds requested a transcript and sent SAT scores for the safety school to which he applied a month ago!</p>
<p>Yeah, not as exciting as Steve’s news.</p>
<p>SteveMA, wow! Congratulations!!! That has to be a huge relief for all of you.</p>
<p>(and yeah, I’m happy for you guys, and a little jealous!)</p>
<p>Big sports doings around here - DD is playing very well this season. 
So happy for her - after all her health problems is so nice to see her out there playing well again! But sports every day means that there’s been no movement on apps. I told her that we’re sitting down tonight to go over the essay list and come up with a plan. </p>
<p>YDS, hooray for progress in your house too. :)</p>
<p>We returned a little while ago from our Carnegie Mellon information session. I really didn’t get any of my questions about Early Decision and Financial Aid answered. I learned some neat facts, and we left there knowing that CMU is definitely her #1 pick. Now, we have to make a decision about Early Decision. I have emailed financial aid, so maybe someone can give us some answers.</p>
<p>DS has submitted all apps/transcripts/ACT scores…now he just has to wait…and he’s not very good at that 
LOL</p>
<p>SteveMA: Yay! DD13a banged out three of her six today. Dd13b almost finished completing the supplemental essay for CMU. She wants to look at it one more time before sending it. We also got headshots done this weekend. Very productive.</p>
<p>ACT is done and gone. Both of my kids thought the English and reading were easy and the science ridiculous. The math always seems to be an unknown. That’s it. We are done, however the chips fall.</p>
<p>One of my dogs caught a mouse in our basement while DH and I were out. I got a text about it and a picture of the dead rodent under a plastic top. I told them to throw it in the trash and take it out. DD13b replied that her sister was waiting to put the mouse in the garbage under the mouse “got cold”. Translation: when mom gets home! Lol</p>
<p>DONE!!!</p>
<p>The waiting begins:D.</p>
<p>congrats terinzak!</p>
<p>Terinzak - way to go to your DS! I hope for our DD to be in the same spot in two weeks…fingers crossed!</p>
<p>I’m jealous of those whose kids are far along (or even finished) in the application process. I’m trying to avoid pushing and letting D own the process. The downside is that she has done nothing so far, in terms of applications and essays. At least she is thinking about which schools she wants to apply to, and has asked about re-visiting a couple of her favorite schools, to help her make her decision about whether to apply ED somewhere. </p>
<p>She also decided NOT to retake the ACT, and just live with her score, which was OK. There are a reasonable number of schools on her list that super-score the ACT, so I had kinda hoped that she would want to retake. However, at this point I suppose it is more important to devote the effort that would have been spent prepping for the ACT on writing essays and filling out applications.</p>
<p>School just started this week, so I hope that being around other students talking about colleges will motivate her.</p>
<p>D added another school to her list, as a result of a mailing. Well, that is one case where a mailing did influence a kid to submit an application. It must happen a lot, to judge from our mailbox. LOL.</p>
<p>So jealous of those of you who have kids that have completed all applications. It is going to be a long 4 months in this house.</p>
<p>Okay, I admit to a major FA screw up. Probably a year ago I plugged data into a FA calculator, saw the enormous figure and thought that was the total cost that we would be expected to pay for the two kids we would have in college next year. When I realized today that it was the cost we were expected to pay for D13 alone, not counting what we are already paying for S11, I had to break the news to D13 that it is highly unlikely that she’ll be able to go anywhere other than our state flagship or any other state flagship with major merit aid for OOS. We are both depressed. I feel a little guilty. After all, these amazing schools to which my D would probably be accepted, think that we could pay that much. However, there are 4 more kids to put through college after these first two and we would like to retire one day. We have lived frugally without vacations, new cars, nice clothes, private school tuition, nice restaurants etc. all to save for retirement and even if we just pay four years of state flagship expenses per kid we will have likely have nothing left in our savings. I guess some would say we should have thought of that before we adopted and bore 6 kids but I thought we’d get some break for them being only 9 years apart.</p>
<p>(((Hugs))), Apollo. The price you pay for S11 will go down next year.</p>
<p>What are her stats again and what college’s are you looking at?</p>
<p>Apollo - Some schools offer excellent merit aid. In my D’s case, she received enough merit aid from her private uni to get the cost roughly equal to our state flagship. IMO, your D should go ahead and apply to several schools and just see where the offers come in. As long as she knows that you can only afford to pay X towards her COA.</p>
<p>A Huge Congradts to apps done and data sent to schools !!!
Steve and Ter and anyone I forgot.
Awesome and I bet you guys sleep well tonight :)</p>
<p>Just got towed home 46 miles after a tire blowout on the highway with a small shoulder and trucks flying by at 90 miles an hour almost taking off my mirror Called the trooper who was so nice he stayed with me till the tow truck came SCARY
Eating Oreos to make up for it :)</p>
<p>D revised an essay I’m very proud of her. VB season in full swing and team is doing well .,they lost some great players last year but the new ones have great potential…
Going to be a fun Senior year :)</p>
<p>Yes I think the Odds Are in Our Favor</p>
<p>Just got back from an info session for Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, Duke and Penn. D wasn’t blown away by their presentation. She thinks they all sound the same. The little voice in my head wonders why the schools can’t seem to distinguish themselves by showing us their “voice”. LOL. </p>
<p>I was surprised that they don’t accept credit for dual enrollment classes. AP tests either in “most cases”. Harvard said they want you to experience those classes…so no credit.</p>
<p>D says she’s still looking for a school with a recognizable name in an interesting midsize city that is academically challenging and a little quirky. Help me out here!!</p>
<p>Ezily, how 'bout Tulane?</p>
<p>Good morning Lucky '13’ers! I hope everyone has a great week, with lots of good news and successes.<br>
:)</p>
<p>Ezily-How recognizable is recognizable? If Case Western is deemed recognizable, I would say it otherwise completely fits the bill. Part of University Circle in the city of Cleveland, quirky as in “Big Bang Theory” cool quirky, tons of smart kids and very academically challenging.</p>
<p>Congrats SteveMA and Terinzak! Breathe easy now for a while!</p>
<p>Apollo- Sending HUGE hugs to you. I’m sorry. No doubt in my mind that every one of those six kids is worth their weight in gold. I agree with what megpmom said- there are many LACs that will give a sizable amount of merit aid. We are in a similar position (“only” three kids though!) and half my daughter’s list is made up of schools that we are hoping will offer her merit aid. If you are willing to share your D’s stats, I’d be happy to help you brainstorm if you like. xo</p>
<p>D’s meltdown earlier in the weekend seemed to have helped her clear her head. She was much more able to focus on getting homework done one item at a time. She has gotten two people to review her CA essay and give feedback and is waiting on one more. Then that can get revised and typed in. Otherwise CA is ready to go. JMU is almost ready to go. </p>
<p>!!!GO RAVENS!!!</p>