<p>@chrysanthmum - if you heard from the same school as my DS, he didn’t get the invite, either. Oh well, one less he has to choose from! </p>
<p>Still waiting on one last announcement - 4/1. And scholarship/financial aid info for ALL of them. </p>
<p>I had to laugh at eyemamom’s mention of the PB teen catalog. D has been dragging her feet on the last application but I’m pretty certain she has picked out everything for her dorm room from PB Teen and West Elm. I told her she might want to focus on getting an acceptance letter before she decorates. I think she is just “over” the application process. </p>
<p>@chrysanthMum Sorry your D got bad news. Best wishes as you wait for more decisions. </p>
<p>Finally got the FAFSA filed for D this evening. Had the taxes nearly done and was able to construct missing info by reverse engineering last years forms and entries to find the components I needed. Can’t file yet and IRS says it won’t be ready for one of my business forms for another week or two. Will have to complete the CSS and submit by Saturday. There goes Friday night! CSS is fairly easy until I get to the business part of the forms (I own my own small business) and have to transfer and translate everything the accountant did onto the CSS forms for an owned businesses. What a pain but worth it so far for S-2011 and his three years of FA. The only good thing is that it will be done early and Uncle Sam owes me some $$ this year so the refund will be here for the spring college visit trips.</p>
<p>Completed the FAFSA and CSS Profile! And S’s dad completed the non-custodial profile as well. What a relief! S did not get invited to interview for scholarship at one of his top two. So that pretty much eliminates that one from the list. So far he has one invitation and we are waiting for four more that should come within the next week. We’ll see how big the list becomes at that point.</p>
<p>I submitted CSS now too. Now to work on D’s taxes which are insanely complex as she had jobs in Michigan and New York City which means there are federal, two state and one city to look at. So far, she’s clear of NY state taxes but has to pay Michigan tax on her income from New York. She is not happy about that. She gets all of her federal tax back. But in what world does someone who makes less than $5000 have to pay anything? Michigan. </p>
<p>Congrats to all those getting financial aid forms done! I finished the FAFSA and then got DH’s W-2 and realized my income calculations for him were a bit off! But all the stuff is with our tax person and should be completed by Monday. I figure I’ll complete the CSS once I get the completed tax returns back and file. Her first CSS’s aren’t due until 2/15 so I’m hoping by then everything will be filed and I may even be able to use the retrieval tool. I’ve never done that before so we’ll see.</p>
<p>DD had her first of 4 interviews yesterday for Princeton. She thought it went well and was very relaxed heading out to it. Especially since she looked everything over before hand and decided she thought Yale was a better fit for her than Princeton! Not that she’s likely to get in either place but I do agree with her as do people who know her and know the schools. And I like that Yale is much closer to home than Princeton and wouldn’t involve going around NYC to get there! We’ll see.</p>
<p>Found out her one remaining EA school (Marist) mailed decisions yesterday so she should hear around this weekend. Hoping for an acceptance and merit aid to match some of her other offers. And then maybe we’ll have to add that to visit again over February vacation as I want to get done with visits to accepted schools if we can.</p>
<p>We got the FAFSA and CSS completed over the weekend. DS has a college interview Friday afternoon. After that, just a waiting game. We are trying not to bring up the college topic with DS - want him to just focus on his ECs and friendships. </p>
<p>I completed CSS yesterday and probably submit it today. This is our first time doing CSS and my impression is that the colleges are very thorough. They want to make sure that every income/gifts/property/investment/allowance (taxed or untaxed) are declared. </p>
<p>This tax season is bad for us. We’re hit by AMT and we are short by 3.5K of fed and state taxes withheld.</p>
<p>No interviews coming up here, and DS is mighty happy about that. He had one at U of Rochester last summer. His first choice college emailed applicants asking them to let them know if they wanted to interview, and he said he did because he felt like he needed to say so, but they replied saying they don’t have enough interviewers in our area, and since he has already visited campus, that is considered “as good” (even though he didn’t meet one-on-one with anyone then). Since he really doesn’t like doing them, this was his best possible outcome – he got the brownie points for saying he wanted one (school considers interest fairly strongly) without actually having to do it. ;-)</p>
<p>@beadymom, It is the same one. You are right though, one less choice. I keep hearing that most kids end up doing well where ever they land.
@crowlady: Thank you for the support. Good thing, she is learning so much being on the Robotics team and that experience will be useful when she starts working. How is your robot coming along? D’s team still working on the catapult design and it is fun to see the progress. </p>
<p>I can’t help but wonder if the college process is similar to dating experience. Kids need to have the “goods” to be considered suitable yet they all compete for the same “popular” schools. </p>
<p>D got her first semester grades yesterday (after missing 5 school days because of the weather). She worked very hard this semester and pulled out a 4.0!!! We are so proud of her. She’s applying for a couple of outside scholarships and I told her to get new transcripts to reflect this semester. She’s also going back to her top school’s scholarship competition next month and I asked her to make sure her GC sends these new transcripts to the school. Not sure if it will help but any little thing is better than none.</p>
<p>@go2mom…no worries! All is well! DD is well & is also playing the waiting game. She has won an award for education excellence & a community service scholarship. The scholarship apps continue to be the bane of her existence. They are just as tedious as the college app process! But she will weather this storm as well. Happy Friday Eve!</p>
<p>Good luck with all the interviews! Yes, I agree those scholarship apps are tedious.
My s just got in at UNC Chapel Hill, OOS. he’s so happy! First acceptance so it feels very exciting!</p>
<p>Finally gave up on D14’s counselor and sent all the updated transcripts ourselves. They’ve been waiting for the counselor’s action at Common App for weeks. Even though counselor said grudgingly that the Mid Year Report would be done at Common App, nothing. (I think it’s because D has not named her top choice school yet? Hasn’t everyone heard about the SS Indecision??) But now that we’ve sent them all ourselves, I think D is done needing anything from the counselor. Sigh of relief!</p>
<p>I gave up on our college counselor after going through it with my son. Not sure why I thought he’d be of any assistance. His secretary is fabulous though and really on her game sending out transcripts. I really don’t even understand his job.</p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>My S had his last interview this week and started his final HS semester. In a very good mood this week! I asked him how the interview went and if he was still interested in the school…He said he was not going to think about any school until he finds out whether or not he gets in…I thought it was a heathy attitude…I am happy that the stress and indecision is temporarily on hold! …of course we still need to find scholarship money…</p>
<p>D15 just made a comment about D14: “She’s a teenager. She’ll never show excitement about anything parents suggest.”</p>
<p>Finishing Fafsa for the first deadline – a school she says she won’t be going to because she prefers others. Still finishing it in time, just in case. Luckily I have a couple weeks before the other schools’ deadlines and CSS.</p>
<p>@chrysanthMum Catapult? Our robot doesn’t seem like it will have anything like that. Hope we don’t have to compete against you! Found out my S <em>can</em> go to the competition. It’s during Indecision month, the week before his Spring Break trip abroad. I hope he doesn’t need last minute college visits that month! What were we thinking?</p>
<p>@MImama I just found out today that our GC expects the kids to let her know for which schools they need midyear transcripts. They do NOT do it via Common App. Report cards haven’t been issued yet so I’m assuming colleges are willing to wait. Our GC has been great, though, so I think we’ll get them pronto once my S asks.</p>
<p>@mathmomvt - Indeed, that’s a great outcome. Hope it works out!</p>
<p>@lindz126 - Kudos to your kiddo, UNC is a tough admit for OOS! </p>