Parents of the HS Class of 2015

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
22721

<p>@sbjdorlo, Glad to hear that the music teacher came through!
You mention that you won’t know if the safeties are affordable until March. Doesn’t this mean they aren’t true safeties? I just hate for you to be in a bad position in March, with unaffordable acceptances, and reaches. :-/
I know those affordable safeties, that the kiddo actually likes can be very hard to find! </p>

<p>D has 2 state schools as safeties. At first it was with great reluctance, but then she visited one (USF) and liked it much more than she thought she would! I was definitely doing a happy dance over that! Now she has done some more research and it has slid back down a bit (mostly due to issues with her preferred major and classes), but she still says she can imagine being happy there if that becomes the best option.:o3 The other one, which we haven’t officially visited yet (UCF) looks stronger for her major, but she feels she is less likely to like it. We’ll find out over Christmas break. There are a couple days that D is off and they are in session, so we get to squeeze in a visit with students there! I am getting anxious to see it!</p>

22722

<p>D favorite continues to be her first visit with her major. We are now in the process of looking at the calendar for accepted days. She clearly has 3 schools that have made it realistic safeties; now just to get through finals for the final time in her high school years :-?? </p>

22723

<p>@shoboemom,</p>

<p>Two things complicate matters here. One, we’re in California and many/most of the schools are selective/highly selective simply because so many people want to go to school in California. Two, my son is an independent homeschooler.</p>

<p>So, what would <em>seem</em> to be a safety-the local state univ., San Diego State Univ, where my son’s stats are clearly in the 75++ and it would be basically free to attend, isn’t a safety at all. It admitted 33% of applicants last year and it’s very “in the box”, meaning it looks at SAT scores and a-g accredited coursework and nothing else, and we aren’t accredited, for sure. UCSD, where my son’s stats are also in the 75%ile and would be tuition free (basically free if he lived at home) also isn’t a safety for the exact same reason.</p>

<p>So even though he’s a high stats kid with a lot of college classes under his belt, there is no local affordable safety.
The only true safety at this point is the local community college where he’s already attending full time.</p>

<p>Because of our lower income level, there is no affordable safety school with the possible exception of UT Dallas, but again, until we get the scholarship info, we won’t know.</p>

<p>So no need to worry about us being in a bad position. It just has to be this way and it’s totally fine. My son 100% understands and isn’t invested in the least in any college, selective or otherwise. He is not that kind of a person at all. He’ll likely go to college somewhere even if it’s to continue on at the local community college.</p>

<p>I have scoured the country many times over trying to find affordable colleges and the bottom line is there really aren’t any right off the bat. Even schools that give full tuition for National Merit Commended (Liberty) still leave room and board, and that isn’t necessarily affordable for us. Our EFC will come in quite a bit under typical room and board.</p>

<p>So, yep, waiting until March is what we gotta do! :-)</p>

22724

<p>sbj, that’s tough. Which schools have you applied to? Sorry if you posted about that earlier and I missed it!</p>

22725

<p>@sbjdorlo, Good to hear. I rather imagined you already had a handle on it, but couldn’t control my urge to say something anyway. :-@ My anxiety over my D’s search is extending to anxiety over everyone’s search.</p>

<p>Speaking of…D started worrying again today that she might not have the ‘right’ schools on her list. Even the ones she loves that are on her list she has some concern or other about…some just the ‘reach factor’…and knowing even if she gets in, we still have to be able to afford it. Logically, we know none are perfect, but that’s what we want anyway, of course. ;-)</p>

<p>Her choice of major has shifted over the last couple years from being very stem (mainly neuroscience) to not stem (cultural anthropology) and she has now melded the 2, looking at Anthropology, with cultural and physical anthropology combined. The physical anthro wasn’t really a part of our original search, so she is finding that a couple schools on her list don’t have a real focus on that side of anthro…so research into what she can do at each of these schools continues. Meanwhile, she has now learned that the state flagship (UF) that she has refused to even consider before, has a great anthro department, and offers some options she could be excited about. Their priority application deadline was Nov 1st, and all others are ‘space available’, whatever that might mean. :frowning: So she started her application for them today. The roller coaster ride continues.</p>

22726

<p>Sbj–I’m sure you’ve looked at everything, but I saw on Oklahoma State’s website that they offer $25,500 for National Merit Finalists. I don’t know about commended and I didn’t look further into cost of room and board, but thought I’d pass along the info. </p>

<p>I also believe Arkansas and South Dakota offer good scholarships and the cost is already much lower than many schools.</p>

<p>Good luck. This isn’t an easy process.</p>

22727

<p>Finding money for commended is tricky. We’ve tried to look at colleges that had his majors of interest which are way varied! But we were trying to stick to a) California public colleges b) colleges out of the area that have his majors c) highly selective affordable schools.</p>

<p>@dustypig, ha-ha, not sure you really want the rundown on school and major, but here goes! LOL</p>

<p>Already applied and accepted: SDSMT (metallurgical engr), MST (metallurgical engr), UT Dallas (Arts & Tech), U Colorado, Colo Springs (Bachelors of Innovation in Game Design)</p>

<p>Already applied:</p>

<p>SDSU-Mech Engr
CSU Long Beach- Industrial Design
CSU Fullerton-Animation
SJSU-Industrial Design
Cal Poly SLO- Mech Engr.</p>

<p>UCLA- Mech Engr/Structural Engr alternate major
UCI-Computer Game Science/Music Alternate major
UCSD-Mech Engr/Structural Engr alternate major
Purdue-Industrial Design
Northeastern-Game Design</p>

<p>Still to apply- Apx. five reach schools; depending on SAT IIs, may drop some or add some. He’s taking two other SAT IIs in December, though he might skip physics and just take Italian.</p>

<p>Every single school applied to so far with the exception of UCLA, my son’s SAT is 75%ile. I think UCLA, he’s at the top of the 50%ile, but of course they admit so few students into engineering.</p>

<p>After all these engineering major apps, my son is now waffling on engineering, but then, I could have told you that. His math disability is a big deal. (Still waiting on that Math SAT II score!) </p>

<p>So, likely for his reaches, he will be applying to things like music, English (really a strength), possible CS, and maybe Product/Digital Media Design (which is still engineering with a little less math). For one school, he’ll have both his music supplement and a digital arts supplement.</p>

<p>And, he might still apply to some Christian colleges in January if we can find ones that fit.</p>

<p>He is a finalist for the Special NM scholarship and just submitted another scholarship application, so we are definitely on the hunt for money. :-)</p>

<p>So now aren’t you sorry you asked? LOL!</p>

22728

<p>@sbjdorlo Wright State offers full RIDE for commended. It’s near Dayton. I know a handful of kids who pay full price to go there, you might take a quick look. Hidden under “academic” on this page, and deadline not until June so if nothing else works out…<a href=“First-Year Scholarships | Enrollment Services | RaiderConnect | Wright State University”>http://www.wright.edu/raider-connect/financial-aid/first-year-scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Did you all see the sort of feel-good NYT article today?</p>

<p><a href=“For Accomplished Students, Reaching a Good College Isn’t as Hard as It Seems - The New York Times”>For Accomplished Students, Reaching a Good College Isn’t as Hard as It Seems - The New York Times;

22729

<p>@OHMomof2‌, thanks for the tip on Wright State. What do you think of it? Did your child apply? I see it’s a commuter campus with 2% of students from out of state. It seems to have a lot of majors except game design.</p>

<p>I’ll ask my son about it! Just asked my son about it and he said, “That’s pretty awesome!” So there you go. :-)</p>

<p>I did see the thread on the Parent’s page but haven’t read the article yet. Ha-ha, would love to think it’s true.</p>

<p>Honestly, I am not really stressed because my son is so laid back. (Except that he’s stressing about finals in two of his college classes-yikes)</p>

22730

<p>D wouldn’t apply because it’s so commuter, and so “normal” for our area. She’s into going AWAY. But since the deadline isn’t until June, it’s nice to know it’s there. There is an honors program. And engineering. And a very large air force base almost adjacent, for that kind of engineering - internships and whatnot. It’s the sort of place that would probably give all kinds of college credit, maybe let him jump into a masters ahead of time or something. </p>

22731

<p>I would look again at the Wright State commended scholarship. It reads “in state tuition” so I think an out of state student would have to pay the difference maybe.</p>

22732

<p>D is three for three with EA apps. All with some sort of merit aid, but not (yet) enough to put any of them in the “affordable” range. Two more EA schools should roll in by mid Dec as well as one of the already accepted schools that give additional scholarship awards. She was hoping for enough money from at at least one EA school so she didn’t have to complete the RD apps, but it isn’t looking that good. More apps will be needed. (I hear a giant sigh coming from the back room).</p>

22733

<p>D has been busy this past week. She now has 7 apps complete and 6 prescreen auditions submitted. She has 3 other apps started and will continue to work on those, but at least all of the Dec. 1 deadlines have been met! Whew!</p>

<p>I put together the cost sheets for each of the schools and D and I sat down to talk about how each one of these schools can happen. (A lot of them have to have serious merit/talent money to work.) H is certain it’s going to come down to an expensive, awesome school with not much financial help vs. the not-as-amazing school with lots of incentives. That sounds like a definite possibility, but isn’t that the way it usually goes? We’ll see.</p>

22734

<p>DD submitted 2 applications this week. One RD app with a 12/1 deadline for scholarships would not allow her to confirm the PDF on her computer. The IPad didn’t work either but she was finally able to submit it on my very old Mac. She has 1-2 HMFR schools with a 1/1 deadline. I’m hoping she will finish all by 12/15 before EA decisions start to come in.</p>

22735

<p>Love to see the acceptances coming in!</p>

<p>@W2BeHome and others, My older D did the audition route for theater BFAs. It adds a whole 'nother level of stress and work! We schlepped all over in January for her auditions but it was wonderful mother-daughter time. We had some great meals and did some great shopping. I was glad we had that time her last year at home. I am sending out lots of stay healthy vibes to those facing an audition season this winter!</p>

22736

<p>HMFR?</p>

22737

<p>HMFR is a CC term for a major reach. It stands for huge mother (F is what you assume) reach.</p>

22738

<p>Thanks, @LeftofPisa - Mother/Daughter time is something we have an abundance of since we homeschool. :wink: Regardless, I’m looking forward to the trips and seeing how she likes the schools. We’ve only been to one of the campuses so far. I made my d start taking vitamins more regularly. This month is full of performances and then the auditions hopefully begin in mid-January. Good health would be awesome.</p>

22739

<p>Thanks mom…was trying to figure out what colleges started with F ;)</p>

22740

<p>Needing a glass of wine tonight!! My D spent hours this weekend working on 3 essays required for some special honors programs at one school. She asked me to read over them tonight before submission - they seemed long so I asked her how she was managing the word count. She got a deer in the headlights look and let out an expletive. These are only her 1 millionth essays so far?!? She said that the word count was much longer than for previous essays so she hadn’t paid much attention… and was 800-900 characters over on two of them when we checked! Oy vay… at least she didn’t submit them before figuring this out.</p>

<p>…SOOO glad when these darn apps will be done. I am also rooting for 12/15. She has two more brief supplemental essays for reach CA schools due 1/1…ugh!</p>