<p>For interviews there is nothing wrong with you accompanying them, but you greet the interviewer, let them go off and interview, and then afterward they may call you in for a couple of questions.</p>
<p>Congrats to all who received acceptances and merit awards!! =D> </p>
<p>So D applied RD to a school that tells her at the end of March- ugh. She applied in September. Yesterday both she and I received emails reminding her that the FA papers are due 2/1/15, and it appears as though they assigned her an ID number. Further reading on the website states that this particular ID number is necessary to register for classes, etc. So- do schools make decisions so far ahead of when the decisions are released? One would think that right now they would be busy reading ED apps (?). This is a fairly selective school, but not super reachy - I fully expect her to get in based on Naviance and based on the fact that they track interest big time and we visited 3x for various events. The ID number was found yesterday on her login portal but today it wont let her view that section- it’s almost as though yesterday was a glitch. The fact that they sent both of us an email regarding FA suggests to me that they started reviewing RD apps already. And the mystery behind this process continues… Please pass the fruity drinks. </p>
<p>I think that you can ask questions relating to the way the university has changed over the years. My DD is applying to a school her grandfather attended in the early 1940’s. The world was obviously a different place then, but this is a school with a strong identity. It was really fun talking to FIL about what we had seen on a visit and hearing what he had to say about his college days.</p>
<p>Thank you for the interview suggestions; it went well. S took it in stride, but the interviewer admitted to reviewing his fb today…and congratulated him on his full ride, lol.</p>
<p>S’15 received official confirmation of his merit award at LSU today. Not a surprise since the awards and thresholds are pretty transparent. But its nice to be “official” Now just waiting on the Honors College acceptance - if that comes through? coupled with the way winter is starting off? I think the odds tip towards that direction… :-S </p>
<p>@planner03, that’s a pretty hip guy to be checking your S’s FB page!</p>
<p>@Felicita, Thank you for posting that article. It is gut wrenching. There is so much to deal with, just thinking about sending a daughter away to college…to think that this type of thing is even a possibility is so frightening. </p>
<p>Congratulations @STEMfamily and @planner03! and @giterdone, for your official notification!</p>
<p>@shoboemom It was gut wrenching. I shared the article with my boys and they could not believe that people could behave that way. The whole situation is so wrong in so many ways. The frat bro culture that objectifies women is not healthy in my opinion. Although my daughter is too young to discuss this topic now, I will be discussing it and what she has to do to avoid being raped before she goes to college.</p>
<p>Additionally, the underage drinking that occurs in the fraternities is just ignored by the universities. If I were to invite 150 18-20 year olds to my home and serve them all alcohol until they were blind drunk, I’d be put into jail. Why is it ok if it is at a fraternity house?? </p>
<p>Before anyone says that I am over generalizing, I know that not every fraternity member is a rapist. I just fail to see what benefit these organizations provide for an institution of higher learning. There are other ways to make friends, gain leadership and complete public service that aren’t so exclusionary and, in the case of UVA, misogynistic. </p>
<p><a href=“Rape at UVA: Readers Say Jackie Wasn’t Alone – Rolling Stone”>Rape at UVA: Readers Say Jackie Wasn’t Alone – Rolling Stone;
<p>This is what frightens me even more. Look at the number of young college women and graduates who have shared their horrible experiences in light of the current UVA situation. I hope this will be our nation’s call to action to finally address this issue in a comprehensive way. </p>
<p>Thanks for this new link, @Felicita. As sad and horrible as it was to read the first article, to think of all these women who have been raped in similar circumstances is truly dreadful. I am sharing these articles with both of my sons.</p>
<p>I was in a sorority, and my spouse was in a fraternity. Both of us benefitted from it a lot. I ran fundraisers for the prevention of child abuse among other things. Several fraternities on campus regularly fed and gave blankets and clothing to the homeless. It frightens me that people insist on generalizing based on a few horrendous cases clearly committed by criminals. When the Bush/Gore election was messed up, we didn’t abandon elections. We put procedures in place to minimize the chance of a repeat of the debacle.</p>
<p>I believe that though it is no way going to fly, banning alcohol on campus with zero tolerance will reduce these cases tremendously. At the VERY least, banning freshman of both genders from any Greek party on campus should be mandated and enforced. The victim noted having “spiked punch”. Like, seriously? She didn’t know that punch at fraternity parties is grain punch? This is less likely to happen to upperclassmen. </p>
<p>I was also part of the Greek system and have positive experiences to share. I believe the Greek system often gets the blame, but it’s important to realize these terrible acts are not isolated to frat houses. When people talk of party schools, do they really believe only the Greeks are partying? UVA is 30% Greek, considered heavily Greek, but what about the other 70% of campus? Parties happen in dorms and off-campus apartments, and that’s also where sexual assaults can happen. </p>
<p>In reading about UVA, a large problem is in how the school has handled and punished. Other schools being investigated for their handling of sexual assault cases include Harvard, University of Chicago, KU, Brown, Sarah Lawrence, Stony Brook, etc. There are 76 schools and they span the country, include large and small schools, and many aren’t heavily Greek, but assaults have happened and people have complained about how they were handled. </p>
<p>Boys must be taught to respect and girls must be taught to stay on their guard, whether in a frat house, a dorm, a friend’s house, or anywhere. The location doesn’t matter. Our kids need to also learn to watch out for their friends and don’t always follow. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the interview inputs. S left a while ago for the interview. I probably won’t find out how it goes until this afternoon since he is going to work afterwards. It is a reach (for him) and private school and is not his top choice (told him not to say that). He likes to meet with/talk to people so I hope it will be a fun and good experience for him. </p>
<p>Got a question - will post this in FA forum as well, but wanted to start here.</p>
<p>D received an acceptance letter over 4 weeks ago to a school where she qualifies for an academic merit scholarship. The website says they are given out on a “first come, first-served” basis at time of admission, so she applied early even though it is a RA school. The admission letter and accompanying info had nothing about the scholarship so she thought she would receive something separately. Well, so far nothing has appeared. So, I went on the admissions FB page and asked a general timing question regarding this particular scholarship. They replied back that the academic scholarships are given out after the student fills out the application form for ALL their scholarships. That isn’t what their website states, so emailed the Scholarship office to get some clarification. They said the academic scholarship is handed out at time of admission, the Admissions office handles that and she cc’d the director on our email exchange so she could get back to me.</p>
<p>That was last week. I followed up directly with the director myself at the beginning of this week via email and have yet to hear from her, not even an “I rec’d your email and will look into it”.</p>
<p>So, my question is, do I continue to follow up, with a phone call now, to the Admissions Office? This is a school that D really would like to attend so knowing she actually has that scholarship in hand would give us a little bit of breathing room. But I also don’t want to be a pest. Should we wait a little longer for notification?</p>
<p>I have no Greek experience, but I have a bunch of friends who were in a frat at RPI, and I love all these guys, they are great, so my perception is that there are some bad players involved who might influence others and cause a lot of problems. While 1 out of 4 women is sexually assaulted, it’s not 1 out of 4 men who are doing the assaulting. There are a lot of men who don’t, and it would be good for kids of both genders to learn what they can do to prevent rape. </p>
<p>In other news, we received our early estimate of financial aid from College of Wooster, and it was pretty good - $38K of free money, leaving about 18K to finance in other ways. I can maybe cut that in half with my contributions, or close to in half. But we don’t even know if she’s accepted there yet, so who knows?</p>
<p>@ILMom13579, if it was me I’d go ahead and call on Monday.</p>
<p>Once my DD16 hits her last semester of HS senior year, I think I’ll give her the very creepy <em>I Am Charlotte Simmons</em> by Tom Wolfe to read as a “warning” about the predatory culture at many colleges. Sad. </p>
<p>I am Charlotte Simmons is a 2004 novel by Tom Wolfe, concerning sexual and status relationships at the fictional Dupont University. Wolfe researched the novel by talking to students at North Carolina, Florida, Penn, Duke, Stanford, and Michigan. Wolfe described that it depicts the American university today at a fictional college that is “Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and a few other places all rolled into one.”[1] — <a href=“I Am Charlotte Simmons - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Charlotte_Simmons</a></p>
<p>@ILMom13579 - Yes, a call is in order. </p>
<p>Ilmom13579-- definitely call and say you are simply trying to get finances in order. I can’t imagine you’re the only phone call on that topic.</p>