<p>cakeisgreat - hooray! Congrats to your d. If it is a top contender I’d for sure have her go do that. My son did ED, then started getting cold feet in February (2 years ago) We called up and he sat in on a major class that he chose, went to lunch with a student, and they took a tour again, but this time the tour guides were training new people so there were 4 guides, just taking my son and hubby around. They even took him into their dorms so he could see the different choices. It really helped him calm down and know it was the right place. It’s so hard to pick a school from an admissions session and general tour. </p>
<p>I won’t let my kids do overnights, but that to me sounds ideal.</p>
<p>momreads—I also hope my son stays in contact with his HS friends. I am still in touch with my HS friends even though none of us live in the town in which we grew up and most of our parents have moved away also.</p>
<p>cakeisgreat—I am debating the ‘Accepted Student’ day also, even though my son applied ED. Even though it would be a hassle to drive up there yet again, I feel like he might gain something from the experience of being there on his own. I recall spending two nights on dorm room floors, eating in the dining halls, drinking in the pub, etc and really had a great time. I don’t remember attending classes but I must have done something during the day. The experience made college ‘less foreign’, especially for someone who had never been away to camp. It made me look forward to college and also gave me some touch points.</p>
<p>I have been waiting to fill out the FAFSA until after we file our return. Our return isnt that complicated and I forsee being able to file it and complete the FAFSA before March 1. Is there any reason we should estimate the FAFSA now and correct later?</p>
<p>Son was accepted to James Madison University. He is happy about this. Its nice to receive an acceptance after his recent deferral.</p>
<p>spritle – Do you need to know his financial aid package to decide where he’s going? JMU has a March 1 deadline, but other schools may have earlier deadlines, if there are other schools in the running. It takes time between when you file and when the school gets the FAFSA and then of course it takes time for them to work out a package for you. If you get selected for verification, they won’t be able to do anything until you do that. So… earlier is better if you can.</p>
<p>The first year, I would file early estimated numbers. If you need to compare aid packages from different schools, earlier is better. In subsequent years, you can wait. </p>
<p>I’ll also have my taxes done by March 1, but the DRT isn’t available for you to use until the taxes are processed by the IRS. That’s usually going to be a couple of weeks after you file. So, you might be looking at mid-March by the time the tool is available.</p>
<p>This is our first (and only) go round so I was unsure of the procedures. We filed the CSS for a couple of schools, and it looks like I will be filing the FAFSA this weekend for the rest. I love this forum…the advice is invaluable. :)</p>
<p>Thanks guys for all your congrats and input! I think we will go for it and do the shadow a student day. I’ll report back afterward.</p>
<p>Since we are talking about CSS/FAFSA, I have a question…D has been deferred at Villanova, so we wont hear if she is accepted or rejected until after their CSS deadline of Feb 7. I will be able to get the form done with exact numbers, but I’m wondering if it’s worth doing it because: -she probably wont get into the program she is applying (nursing) as it is a reach, -we probably wont get any financial aid from them (except loans?) as I hear they don’t give much aid and/or we wont qualify.</p>
<p>They require copies of tax forms which is my big discomfort because we wont even know if they will accept her for a month after that. It just seems kind of crazy to give them all that sensitive information about our whole family when she will prob get rejected. Even if she gets accepted, it will probably be too expensive for her to attend. I dont mind giving fafsa and css but dont really want to send tax copies unless she is accepted.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? this is the first time we are doing this, so I’m confused. </p>
<p>THANKS guys! I dont post as much, but I’m following everyone every day!</p>
<p>I’m working on the FAFSA and CSS, even though my D is almost positive she’s going to uni in the UK. She’s been accepted to her safety here and a school in England, but hasn’t heard from her other choices. You never know what’s going to happen, so I figure I have to cover all possibilities. As for submitting the tax forms, I don’t think our finances are so interesting that anyone would care about any of it.</p>
<p>For Villanova, do they have a deadline listed for tax returns as well as for the Profile? I have to agree with Snowme that no one is going to take any notice of your sensitive information – they see thousands of them and it’s all just numbers to them. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to close any doors, so I’d try to comply with their deadlines. However, you could certainly contact their financial aid office and ask if it’s ok if you send the FAFSA and Profile by the 7th, but wait on sending the tax forms until she is accepted (if she is). Usually they can do the package based on the FAFSA and Profile and just use the tax forms to verify your information, especially if you don’t own a business. (If you do, they may reverse some of your schedule C deductions for their purposes of computing your income.) So… ask and see what they say, is my advice.</p>
<p>I understand the hesitancy in sending tax forms. I’m uncomfortable with it myself. I usually fax them instead of mail them because I figure they are less likely to end up in the wrong hands that way. However, on that one form, someone has all the information they need to steal the identities of your entire family. While I know they are supposed to follow certain procedures (shredding them, etc.) I still feel uncomfortable giving out anything that has so much personal information on it. Any time you give out your social security number, you are taking a risk. </p>
<p>I do it, but it makes me nervous. I consider it a necessary evil. Until I had to do this, I not printed my tax returns in years. They went onto an encrypted USB drive and into an encrypted folder on my hard drive, so I had a backup. I hate that I have to print it, fax it and then shred the printed copy now. The thing is, if you don’t do it, you really don’t know whether you qualify for anything or not.</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered if it’s ok to black out SSNs when sending in tax forms. We had a close call when our IDOC package was “lost in the mail” for several weeks. We started the “possible identity theft” process. We sent <em>another</em> copy of the packet. Then they found/acknowledged both packets finally and we breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>Done, DONE, D<em>O</em>N*E! My daughter finished the supplement on her final application on Tuesday night (due Wednesday!) and pushed the button. She looked really happy and relaxed the next morning, but of course I expect the stress level to increase as we approach decision day. She applied to a few schools with rolling admissions that I expect she’ll hear from earlier but not the ones she really wants to go to, and of course money is a big issue.</p>
<p>I filed the FAFSA (and will file my taxes on the first e-filing day, 1/31), working on the CSS for 3 schools (one of which is an extreme reach, one for which I really doubt she’ll get enough money, and one she really wants to attend). The other 4 are FAFSA only. And then we wait. The first half of the year here ends in 2 weeks. She will show a 95+ unweighted average, much, much better than junior year, with an equally rigorous schedule so I’m cautiously optimistic!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone waiting. An Avonhsdad, congrats on the grandbaby! I truly am an oldmom (by adoption) and one of my only regrets is that I may be too old to be a big part of my grandchildren(s)’ life/lives.</p>
<p>matmomvt–Based on what you said, I went to the villanova website to double check and it looks like there is a little more time to submit the tax forms. Thanks for thinking of that! </p>
<p>From website: February 7, 2014 – 2014-2015 College Board PROFILE must be filed PRIOR TO this date online at [The</a> College Board - College Admissions - SAT - University & College Search Tool](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5DThe”>http://www.collegeboard.com)
March 1, 2014* – Completed signed copies of custodial parent(s)', stepparent’s, and student’s 2013 U.S. Federal or Puerto Rico Tax Return as well as 2013 Federal W-2’s, 1099/1099R’s, and all tax schedules must be submitted to IDOC.
*As early as February 7, 2014, but no later than March 1, 2014</p>
<p>of course…they do have until April 1 to give a decision. So I am also going to email them and ask for more detail.</p>
<p>Any other parents have kids who are active in Business Professionals of America? My son competed in regionals today and qualified for states in Extemporaneous Speech, Advanced Interviewing Skills and the open test for Parliamentary Procedure. He’s President of the school’s chapter and 18 of the 21 kids from his chapter qualified for states! He’s pretty excited. He ended up qualifying for Nationals last year, which were in Disney World, but this year they’re only in Indianapolis- not quite as exciting or fun. </p>
<p>So, when a kid wins awards like this, do they email admissions counselors and ask to have the information added to their files? Or wait to see how he does at States?</p>
<p>BarnardMom–congrats to your son! Very exciting.<br>
When will States be? My concern with waiting is that the Ad Coms may already have reviewed his file by the time he reaches out to them. </p>
<p>Is he applying as a business major? Was this EC an important part of his application?</p>
<p>If he were a deferred ED candidate, I would definitely say contact the schools now, but as RD, I would decide based on timing of States.</p>
<p>Caveat: I know less than nothing as my HS Sr is my oldest!</p>
<p>And, I am completely amazed at the # of HS clubs and organizations I have never heard of. Further, I am annoyed at the massive over-emphasis on athletics at our school. Too late to do anything about that now….</p>
<p>S2 was going to send in his Oxy supplemental essays today (yes, all five of them!), but then we saw on their website that they have extended deadline until 1/15 due to CA submission problems (he hasn’t had any, but then he submitted his first a while back, during an error-free period), so he is going to fine tune them for errors and word count and submit Sunday. He is also reaching out to his admissions counselor at his EA admit school to try to increase his merit award a little - he wants to submit some material that was not included in his app; some recent writing that was very high quality, an updated resume that reflects recent academic awards, and recommendations that did not need to be submitted with his EA app. He is also taking ACT one final time to try to raise up his score a point or two. S1 was able to increase his award a little bit at the same school by such persuasion, so we shall see - every little bit helps! I was able to convince him that even an increase of a few thousand to the next merit step would mean quite a lot off of his total loan bill for 4 years - like a car payment. It’s definitely worth the effort, especially to a school he wants to attend so badly. I feel like he will be more invested in the whole process if his hard work pays off - rather than us just biting the bullet and saying, ok, we’ll pay more. Also I pointed out that the nice thing about merit aid is that, unlike need-based aid, it stays the same for 4 years, so even if our incomes go up, it will still be there.</p>
<p>BarnardMom - my d is the VP of Future Business Leaders of America, which sounds similar. Since it’s the beginning of the competition season I’d wait until he moved on to states to email.</p>
<p>spritle - thanks to your post we checked the James Madison portal and my d got accepted too! I just signed her up for admitted student day in February. </p>
<p>D applied to 10, so far she’s admitted to 4, deferred at 2, we hear from 3 more this week, one more in February, then the deferral decision in March.</p>
<p>I just checked on the dates for States- it’s March 20-23rd. That’s too late to wait until then to update, I think. His top 3 ECs are Eagle Scout, President of Student Council Exec Board and his BPA involvement (since he is President and qualified for Nationals last year). I think I’ll have him email the new information, noting that states aren’t until March 20th. It will highlight that last year wasn’t just a fluke- he has some skills in this area. The programs/majors he’s applying to are public policy focused- Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown, and the SESP college at Northwestern. I would think skills such as extemporaneous speech and advanced interviewing skills would be good skills in that field. They also demonstrate strong verbal communication skills, which you can’t demonstrate in a college application. </p>
<p>I don’t think it can hurt to get his name on the radar of the admissions counselors at either of those schools either.</p>
<p>DS’ procrastination and lack of self-advocating is killing me! He received a letter from one program before Christmas, but after he was out for break (school was still in session, he just didn’t have to go take finals). It said they had not received the LOR yet. I suggested, but he did not ask his teacher about it. He finally asked her about it this week and she never received the e-mail asking her to send the LOR. So needless to say, we can kiss that program goodbye! He also did not fill out the scholarship app for our state flagship. Friends are starting to receive their awards - he received nothing. He thinks of that school as the bottom of the list. I hate to tell him, without any awards it will not be on the list!</p>
<p>He has applied to a nice scholarship to one school that I think he has a decent chance of getting, and I’ve heard even if the student that applies doesn’t get the full ride, they still get a nice scholarship. You have to have certain stats to even be eligible to apply. I guess he’s counting on that coming through that he’s blowing off the others. </p>
<p>It’s a beautiful day today after the ice we had a few days ago! I’m hoping to get out and enjoy the sunshine! Hope everyone has a great day!!</p>