<p>Good luck on you D’s surgery Steve, and happy birthday to your S reeinaz!</p>
<p>Sahp2kids - I think you should lowball the figure or put your fafsa calculated EFC if it’s affordable for you.The school is going to set your EFC at whatever they determine it to be even if you put zero. But if you put a number higher than it seems you can afford, or higher than they’d calculate your EFC to be, they will likely assume you have assets and/or resources that you haven’t dislosed.</p>
<p>89wahoo and asmuoh, not single sex schools, but different schools. Despite being twins they are very different students. DD is an A, headmaster’s list, high scoring kid, while DS is a twice exceptional, B-, ok scoring kid. DS attends a school that specializes in 2E kids. He’s got three acceptances with scholarships so far, and she has a deferral from her first choice school.</p>
<p>AND WE’RE DONE!!! WOO HOO!!! D submitted her last app at 3am this morning. She, like many of your kiddos, decided not to apply to one of her schools because she didn’t like their essays. LOL! I think when you apply to as many as she did, you can have that option with another lottery school. </p>
<p>SteveMA - sending positive thoughts and prayers your way. Hope D’s surgery is successful and that she has a VERY quick recovery!!!</p>
<p>ashmuoh, wahoo, & fredricks … Yes, I was incredibly surprised and grateful for the postman who saved my sanity on NYE. It’s not something you find much of down here. LOL!!</p>
<p>BTW … I swear I heard someone whose S was going to Miami soon. Was it Miami FL or Ohio?? If it’s Florida, PM me!!! 
If you’re in town I’d love to meet up!!!</p>
<p>AND … Puffs? Green boxes … i was soooo lost!!! I had no idea what that was all about until i logged in from a PC today. I usually just use the iphone app. hahahaha </p>
<p>Final school tally: 15 apps. Seriously? How did that happen? </p>
<p>15 apps submitted
4 acceptances
1 deferral
awaiting 10 more (11 including the deferral)</p>
<p>May the odds be ever in your favor (and in the favor of our lucky '13ers!!).</p>
<p>sahp2kids - i put 0. My EFC is 0 so i didn’t think it was off-base to put the same number. Not that I won’t be helping any way I can, but it’s not a steady amount.</p>
<p>ree - Cake? That’s ALWAYS a good reason to stay home!!! Happy bday to your S!!! :)</p>
<p>Funny that I was a SAHM when my kiddos were little. I thought it was so important then. Now I realize it is just as, if not more important, to be there when they are teens. <em>sigh</em> time moves too quickly.</p>
<p>SteveMa - Good luck! Hope the surgery and recovery go well!!!</p>
<p>SteveMA - best wishes to your daughter through the surgery. Happy B-day to Ree’s son. Happy New Year, and all the best for 2013, a very important year for all of us here.</p>
<p>reeinaz, Happy birthday to your DS! Quite a number of DD’s male friends are into My Little Pony, too. It seems really popular!</p>
<p>Steve… update when you can?
Ree- I think that is sweet. Chances for things like this are winding down, although I guess with a birthday now, that’s not such an issue for you maybe? He should be home on break? Happy birthday to him!! Save me a slice of cake
STEM- thinking good thoughts for you too- and your mom.
Pkdad- that makes sense. I was really quite mystified. I’m envious of people with “matching” kids where Round 1 lets you basically master the information on the schools Kid #2 will find interesting as well. Here, I have S14 so at least its not all at the same time, but also a different student than D13. Guessing they may have one overlap. Two at the outside.
Looked at the FAFSA. Just, oh dear God. Not only do I not think we will qualify, I dread finding all the answers. Since I was completely ignoring this whole topic, let me ask this of those of you who know. Do I need to do the CSS thing too, or is just having the FAFSA on file sufficient?</p>
<p>Hey y’all! I’ve missed so much since I’ve been gone!! I know I can’t list everyone, so let me send huge congratulations to those who have new acceptances and/or scholarships and sympathies to those who have received the dreaded rejections. To those with children or other family members ill, I’ll be keeping you all in my thoughts. </p>
<p>We returned from WDW late Saturday night. The trip was great, as always, and the break from college talk was much needed. Since returning, though, I’ve been plagued with doubts about everything my D has done. I’m sure it stems from those 2 rejections right before break, but I’m questioning everything now. Plus, we are in a holding pattern for the moment. Most of her colleges are still off and none of our questions or concerns can be answered. I hope we have picked the right schools, but I just don’t know. Well, I guess it’s back to all the college “stuff” now.</p>
<p>Each school website will tell you if you need CSS in addition to FAFSA. Usually private colleges use CSS (but not all of them). I just double checked and neither of S2’s choices use CSS but I had to fill it out in 2010 for D1.</p>
<p>ugadog: I know that your D wants to do theater tech. Has she considered Columbia College in Chicago? We have 3 friends that are there - one acting, one directing, one makeup design. They love it. And it is non-audition, non-portfolio based. A great “safety” and its right in the heart of Chicago. I hear that their tech kids get lots of work before and after graduation. Having a safety like that might take some of the pressure off during audition/portfolio season.</p>
<p>Ack!!! The mixer broke in the middle of making the frosting. How hilarious that this is just my third cake ever and I’m turning up my nose at the thought of putting store bought frosting on my cake lol. I’m glad I didn’t wait until this evening make it.</p>
<p>ree- hope your S has a great bday and good luck with the cake!</p>
<p>I think I am officially a helicopter mom. DS was accepted to a school EA and we have heard nothing about est. FA (submitted Profile in Oct.) or what I thought was an automatic scholarship and I was seeing lots of kids on CC saying what scholarships they were getting and est aid letters. So today when a letter came encouraging me to fill out FA for them I called the admissions office. The ad rep was very nice and I asked my questions, just making sure that we hadn’t missed a step and to explain why it hadn’t been financially feasible for him to have visited yet. I was told he was considered for some scholarships and he would hear back later. DS received an email right after the call stating that he had qualified for a full tuition scholarship, that the ad rep believed some pages may have been missing from his admission folder, that he was being considered for their “big” scholarship and the honors program and he would hear more about those the end of March. Yay to the power of the “helicopter mom”!!!</p>
<p>Keep doing what you’re doing parents…I am a senior, completely self-motivated…I wish my parents had a clue as to what I am going through right now…I will make sure to be 100% in the process someday, but of course not “helicoptering” so to speak…Good Job!</p>
<p>Momma!! You have vindicated us all!! Yay for that, and even greater delight for the scholarship news!! That is awesome. I can’t wait until we are all able to say what these schools are. :D</p>
<p>Don’t think I mentioned this one. D got the rec letter for a school with a Jan. 1 due date the day she got out for break. She came home and popped it right in the mailbox before she even went inside- flag up, everything. Saturday morning, she and I went to the mall. Before we left, she checked the box (though the flag was still up…) and there it sat, still waiting. A few hours later, we got home and the cover was open and the flag was up but the letter was gone- and the mail had not come (we checked with neighbors too- and then later the mail truck came.
So, she emailed her teacher who very kindly printed a new one and when D gave her the envelope today, she told her she would mail it through the school mail this time. Too funny. Good thing this teacher loves my D, or she could be truly annoyed about this.</p>
<p>S2 just received an email (about an hour ago) from one of his schools saying “You can expect an admission decision by mail by the end of December.” Or not! :)</p>
<p>Lol…megpmom, I caught myself thinking “any day now” DUH!!!</p>
<p>megp, I love that! Especially that it is an EMAIL, not regular mail, which could be better understood… I guess if they were talking 2013, they’d be correct…
I’m stalking EA schools’ pages where D applied to see if they will release early, and then perusing CC’s old threads from said schools to see when they released last year while eyeing the calendar to see when the Fridays fall this month. I. NEED. A. LIFE.
the end</p>
<p>MegP … Yipes! That’s crazy!</p>
<p>Wahoo … you crack me up!! I’ve started a new spreadsheet. THat always keeps me entertained. Plus, my S16 is here on vacay … so I’ve already asked him if I should start whittling down schools by the quality of their acapella groups. LOL!</p>