<p>Creek - when I was going through this with my S and he had no safeties on his list we had several conversations of what if… he was adamant telling me he would go to the local cc and get a job before he’d go to any of the safeties we found. And I believed him. And I was a nervous wreck. It was not “my” vision for him. Thankfully he got into really the only school I saw him in ED so the angst was over in December. </p>
<p>It made me completely change my tactic for my younger D so we searched high and low for safeties first that she liked. </p>
<p>However, your son right now has something extremely particular in mind, it’s not like he can just go anywhere. Worse case scenario could he take some gen eds at the local cc next year and work and save some money?</p>
<p>I am a new poster to this thread and feel comfortable jumping on. I am one of those heavy researchers and have had to back off when DD asked to do her own research. Once she heard how much we were willing to cover each year she welcomed some of my research after all.</p>
<p>One dream school has already accepted her (Baylor), but she realizes that is not a possibilty unless she wins one of the full scholarships (we are going to their fall Invitation to Excellence next week). With our financial limits there is a high chance she will have to attend one of the state universities on the automatic full ride/full tuition thread (3.7 gpa and 32 ACT).</p>
<p>She honestly does not know what she wants to do occupation-wise. She does know it will involve Spanish in some fashion. She initially thought teaching, but I have tried to encourage her to be open to other possibilities. We really think she would do well in the hospitality management field, but it is hard to convince her of this strength that we see in her.</p>
<p>We are in the final push for apps and I am hoping she will finish within the week (some require admission by 12/1 for the automatic scholarships to be considered). It is a stressful time for sure and trying to nail down a busy senior is not fun!</p>
<p>Welcome, Buckeyeatheart! Congrats on the Baylor acceptance! You’re smart to be looking at all the merit money and free rides out there. Please keep us posted on your DD’s progress.</p>
<p>I just submitted the CSS/Profile for the one EA school that requires it - whew! So glad to finally get that done. However, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any financial aid so I’m hoping DD will get merit aid at the schools she’s applied to. Since most are test optional and her test scores don’t add to her applications, they’re not being sent in where not required. Hopefully the strength of her transcript, recommendations and significant leadership/community service activities will be enough to swing that merit money in her direction. Until then, we wait! </p>
<p>But I’ve got a fire in the wood stove and chicken soup cooking for comfort food - too early for wine yet! But give me a couple of hours…</p>
<p>I’m here to attest to the value of a mental health day. DS went back today and is much better. He didn’t miss too much and life is good in our household. :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to ALL the students receiving acceptances! It is exciting to read about, even when it isn’t my kid! I celebrate you ALL!</p>
<p>Also, a big hurrah for those hard-working GC! The GCs at my son’s school are great, but the LONE college GC at the school at which I work is a miracle worker. God Bless Her!!</p>
<p>And Classof2015 - FreeRice.com is a website run by the WFP (World Food Programme) where you play games to “earn” rice for hungry people across the world. I assume it is supported by advertising, and you earn the rice by answering questions correctly, so it shows you are spending a certain amount of time on the site being exposed to the discreet advertising. It started with just vocabulary games, but now has geography, world languages, math, science, etc. It gets harder with each successfully answered question. It is addictive, educational and supposedly worthwhile, but IT ISN’T GETTIN’ THE HOMEWORK DONE!!!</p>
<p>I kind of wish that S had applied to at least one school with rolling admissions. Mid-December is the soonest we’ll hear anything on the three he’s applied to so far. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Calla - good to hear the mental health day worked for your DS. You mentioned higher up about your DS’ last Boy Scout meeting. Mine only has about 3 meetings left - and only the board of review left for his Eagle rank!!! But not to worry, his younger brother is crossing over from Webelos to Boy Scouts in February, so DH will still be involved as asst. scoutmaster. </p>
<p>Welcome to all the new posters - and WELCOME BACK to all of you that have not posted in awhile! </p>
<p>I was looking the other day. 8 apps done, 2 acceptances in. The other 6 apps will notify anywhere between the end of this month and April 1st. April 1st??? Really??? Who on earth wants to wait that long to hear!! Seems like minds will be made up before we even hear back from that one!</p>
<p>NewHaven - I’ll take a bottle of that wine since you brought a case! I’ll provide the cheese & crackers. Glad to see you back! So what’s on DD’s list since Wesleyan has fallen off?</p>
<p>Maryjay - thanks for the explanation! Sounds a little like the cyber pets D had to feed when she was young.</p>
<p>Calla1- way to go in the mental health day! Did you call it in as “he’s sick” or did you do what I do which is: “he is not feeling great so I’m going to let him sleep in and go in later but he’ll check in with you when he gets to school.”</p>
<p>Another one crossed off the list - son submitted Early Action (non-binding) app to Tulane. 2 years ago it was his absolute first choice, which then changed to Duke (a reach), and now his #1 is his ED school, Claremont McKenna. He’s also applying to Rice (another reach) and Occidental. I think any of them would be awesome. Tulane may be the biggest stretch financially, since my husband got a raise this past year. When my oldest went there, our income was substantially less, and he got a very good financial aid package. They are generous, but he will have to submit some very strong essays plus a Dean’s Honor Scholarship project. I am so hoping for a yes for him from CMC - plus a decent financial aid package. It’s a great fit for him, he is a very active, smart kid. Always on the go, and that’s how the campus was when we visited.</p>
<p>Classof2015, I called in and said he’s not feeling well and I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Which is technically true. I felt a little weird about it but it worked out in this case and I realize now how much he needed it.</p>
<p>Beadymom, congratulations to your son on the almost-Eagle! We are anticipating the board of review in December or January, depending on how fast the paperwork clears. I’m kind of jealous that you get to do it again. I absolutely love the scouting program. Amazing opportunities for the boys and I loved going on the outings because we adults had so much darn fun!</p>
<p>I have a quick question for you guys. How exactly is a “safety” defined. I know it’s where an applicant is supposed to get in, but are we talking likely, 100%, pretty darn likely, etc? What are the criteria y’all use? Naviance? Common Data Sets? Previous class profiles? I’m just curious. My first son went ED and got in, but was prepared (or so he said)to send in apps in those weeks of December if necessary, but I’m not sure what would have been his “safety, safety” school… My second son has gone ED,but I can’t say he has a real safety yet… December will either be very good or very bad :(.</p>
<p>I would say an admissions safety is a school where your kids’s stats are above their 75% ile and they accept more than 50% of applicants. (If they accept a small percentage of applicants, it’s likely that stats alone won’t do it.) A “true” safety should be both an admissions safety and a financial safety, either because the total COA is something you can afford, or there is guaranteed merit aid that makes it affordable, or they guarantee to meet need and you understand how they define need and can afford your family contribution. </p>
<p>To be honest, neither of my kids had absolute financial safeties. Both were NMSFs and had schools where they would be guaranteed substantial merit if they made NMF, which was very likely, but not guaranteed. With DS’11 he ended up with options that would have been doable even without the NMF money, and I <em>hope</em> DS’14 will too. He has a reasonable selection of schools “likely” to give him merit, but none guaranteed until his NMF status is known. But for that reason, he has more schools on his list than many others (8). We need to see how the money plays out, and want to have plenty of options to compare (and potentially play off one another if necessary).</p>
<p>Hi, I have been a long time follower of posts in CC, but this is the first time Im posting on any forum. This forum is not only an awesome way to support our kids by sharing valuable info and tips but actually lets us support each other as parents, which I feel is something even more needed. Originally from the midwest, we have been posted abroad last few years, My D graduated from an international american school in '12 and goes to college in the US and S’14 is in the middle of application frenzy!! Happy to be in the company of involved parents! Soory, I’m not up with all the abbreviations and acronyms yet :)</p>
<p>Submitted another app last night. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to do, because Son '14’s mind was elsewhere. Like on today’s state cross country meet. He would love to finish in the top 15, which would give him All-State status. That does not happen too often with runners at his school. The funny thing is the number of fellow teachers who have come to me the last few days to wish him luck. These are teachers who never had him in one of their classes (I teach at his school), but they are just thrilled to see him do well. One of our assistant principals made arrangements for someone to cover my husband’s classes today so we could go and see Son '14 run (I had already made plans to take off part of the day). That assistant principal plans to attend the state meet and use his twitter to give a play by play of what happens.</p>
<p>Congrats on the acceptances to all (and the better scores/grades to those who have them).</p>
<p>So it seems we are alone with the “one or bust” school choice. He should make it in… his stats are there (and in line with their top merit award) and it’s not a UVA or greater caliber school. It’s just a top school for him and his desired major.</p>
<p>My main concern lies solely with the finances. We had extra income this year that will significantly affect our EFC, but that same income wasn’t there before and won’t be again (sold investment property). Our “normal” EFC is affordable. Hence, why our back up plan could be to have him take a gap year. It’s definitely not my ideal back up plan - nor his - but he prefers it to choosing a different school where he’d get more merit aid, but have not quite as good of a program.</p>
<p>Then too, our middle son is still in college, so it’s not just youngest’s EFC we need to be concerned about. Both boys may end up doing a gap year if neither college is affordable. We don’t mind increasing some, but we can’t put all of our planned retirement funds into one year of college, nor do we want massive loans.</p>
<p>Time will tell I guess.</p>
<p>It was nice just having ONE app to deal with! It’s just too bad the high merit school wasn’t his top choice…</p>
<p>DS’s lone acceptance so far is one of his safeties. Although it is not at the top of his list, he is so happy and relieved to have one acceptance under his belt that he is now telling all his junior friends to apply early to at least one rolling admissions school! </p>
<p>And I’m glad he has that stress off his shoulders, at least for tonight, because the post-season starts. His team made the playoffs but is a lower seed so it is very likely that their season will end tonight. He will of course be quite sad about that. He will miss his team terribly, as will I. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of boys to be his friends. The good news is that he received all-conference honors!</p>
Glad to see you back! So what’s on DD’s list since Wesleyan has fallen off?</p>
or very bad :(.</p>