<p>@shoboemom, it’s <em>my</em> top choice for D but it isn’t D’s top choice. OTOH, she says she’s not making any decisions until April when she should have all the results in hand. We chatted a bit about the four schools so far. There are two clear favorites, one great option and the fourth one pretty much has been discarded. She still has two more decisions to learn. and one or two more applications to send out. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Congrats @Bunheadmom!! My older D loved Lawrence. Ultimately she decided to stay on the East coast but Lawrence is a wonderful school.</p>
<p>And @PhxRising I am so glad to hear your son got into Colorado College. It’s a great school. And, as I recall, there was some stress around actually getting the application in. It’s great when they have choices and it sounds like he will have some good ones. </p>
<p>Congrats to you too @KAMmom!</p>
<p>And @SlackermomMD, super jelly of the t-shirt! I was really hoping one of D’s acceptances would come with a t-shirt but I don’t think it is going to happen.</p>
<p>Wishing your D a speedy recovery from her cold @shoboemom.</p>
<p>@Hoosier96, my D is also an epic shower taker. It will be interesting to see the ways in which she adjusts her lifestyle in college.</p>
<p>D’s winter break has started and not a moment too soon. Aside from writing all her supplemental essays, she has some major school projects to work on. But I know she will be able to relax and sleep in a good bit too.</p>
<p>DC#2 finally got a little hay in the barn this afternoon. That should brighten pre-holiday spirits and make the push to finish up the last few essays a little less painful. </p>
<p>Do tell, @SomeOldGuy !</p>
<p>@SomeOldGuy I think that turn of a phrase is absolutely superb! Made my evening!</p>
<p>I am starting to see ED in a different light…at least in some situations. I just keep having that sneaking worry in the back of my mind that D is missing out by not applying ED anywhere, but I just don’t think it makes sense for her. </p>
<p>I was reading yet another article about it this afternoon. The author pointed out that one school of thought is that if you need merit aid/FA if might actually benefit you to apply RD instead of ED, as schools don’t have strong incentive to give ED students the highest dollar amount, because they have already committed to going to the school. I’d heard that if you need/want to compare FA packages you are better off RD, but hadn’t heard it expressed quite that way before.<br>
D sent her RD app in to one school prior to their ED deadline, and they sent her verification of receipt and gave her another opportunity to change it to ED (binding). Since they already have her application, it did make me wonder why it would be important to the school that she switch it to ED. I would have thought it was, in part, to get applications in early, but her application is already in. If they want her to commit, we would be happy to let them send her a great merit/FA offer and then ask for her commitment. 
They can do that as early as they want to! 
</p>
<p>Of course there is always the flip side to that; schools of thought that ED applicants get rewarded, or that schools run low on funds for RD…so who knows. But that made me feel a bit better, for now, about not having an ED application in.</p>
<p>@shoeboemom: The school gets a lot of benefit because ED applicants really up their yield, almost 100% of them matriculate. It’s their chance to reel the student in. The student theoretically gets a benefit because the college knows they’ll go there so they may be a bit more likely to take a chance on a kid that might not be quite up to the RD pool (although they say they don’t). But ED also includes legacies, athletes, and all sorts of other things so the amount of boost a regular kid actually gets is questionable. Probably varies by institution. DS was all gun-ho to do ED to SS-LAC and decided not to. I am now quite happy with that since, now that we’ve seen the Colo. College FA numbers, I would hate to be committed to a college without all of that information. </p>
<p>Thanks, @leftofpisa. Yes, he went through a phase when he was only going to apply to Ginormous State after 3 years (!) of feeling the love for CC. But it all worked out. Their FA package was generous, I just wish the federal loan had been put in our column rather than their column. I can see that getting offers could be addicting - another reason to be glad for EA/RD rather than ED. </p>
<p>Me: You’re on vacation!
D: It’s not a vacation when I have to write college essays.
Me: If you don’t procrastinate, you’ll still have some free days left.
D: . . . . [silence]</p>
<p>@green678 - DITTO HERE!!!</p>
<p>1st semester ended yesterday. Hard to believe senior year is half over. No schoolwork for once over Christmas break. But those essays have been pulling DS down all semester long. He finally has 2 applications submitted (with 11/1 and 12/15 deadlines) but he has several essays to do for 1/1 and I told him very clearly that we are NOT NOT NOT waiting until 1/1 to submit them.</p>
<p>I’m hoping he listened. </p>
<p>@shoboemom, D didn’t apply ED anywhere because of the need for aid, but she did apply non-binding EA to four schools. She has heard from all of those now, but waiting on aid info from two of them. Next up are the RD decisions, so she will still be wiring for a while longer to make a decision. But some of the stress is off!</p>
<p>@NoVADad99 and @GoAskDad - I got notice as well - we should start a support group!!</p>
<p>Oh no, @amandakayak! </p>
<p>I wonder if companies do this at the end of the year because they’re trying to make their financial projections for next year look better. Hey, look at all the money we’ll be saving by not having to pay all those employees!</p>
<p>@amandakayak - I’m so sorry to hear that. Best wishes for you to get something soon. </p>
<p>@amandakayak I’m sorry to hear about your job. The grinch has been much too busy this season.</p>
<p>My mother ended up in the hospital having open heart surgery after driving me home from my sophmore yr of college. The first day out of ICU my finacial aid letter for the next yr. It was not good news, some how she found out and insisted on calling the college from her hospital bed. The aid package was adjusted, so make sure to let the schools know of the job losses.</p>
<p>I had lunch with my spunky Mom today and we celebrated her 80th over the summer.</p>
<p>Sorry to those who have lost their jobs-there is never a good time for that I wish the New Year brings you better opportunities!</p>
<p>@Mom24boys your mother sounds awesome!</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any right way to apply EA would be the best if it is achievable IMO but I could envision cases where I would have signed off on ED. Neither of my bozos gave me that option though so at least I can’t go back and wonder if we did the right thing as it wasn’t possible to do anything other than what we have done.</p>
<p>About the ED FA - I gave an “anonymous” (not anonymous if they have caller ID LOL) call to his ED school FA office and asked about the difference between the NPC and the offered merit aid. She said that they do not differentiate between need-based and merit aid on their NPC, so the total aid both merit and government need-based aid should match. Which it does pretty closely.</p>
<p>We got my son’s EA school FA package, laughable. They think our EFC is $25,000 more than the ED school does. So my son is taking RPI, and we are trying to figure out how to say no to the other schools. Is it classless to email admissions about it? Or should he call?</p>
<p>He also has one application to rescind, that was RD. Appreciate on any protocol thoughts in advance.</p>
<p>@rhandco, an EA school gave you the whole financial package? D has gotten an acceptance from one EA school and got merit info, but nothing about need based aid.
I am wondering also about turning down an acceptance. D applied to one early on just because they offered a free app and no essay, but I don’t think it is going to make the cut.</p>
<p>Most schools have a portal where you can decline the offer; at least that was the case with my oldest. Maybe others will chime in.</p>
<p>Many schools have an option to withdraw your application on the portal. If they don’t then it’s perfectly appropriate to email your admissions officer and either decline or withdraw an application. </p>
<p>Yes, his ED school posted the FA award letter when they posted the acceptance. The EA school he got into posted both together last year, but waited a few days this year to post FA data. </p>
<p>Both included merit and government FA estimates. The schools determine who qualifies for government FA apparently, so it was good that he got a Perkins loan as well as the Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans. We were toying with him refusing some of the government loans, especially the unsubsidized one, but I think due to our family’s financial situation, he’ll take them all.</p>
<p>(Now that he has a deposit at the school, all of our good thoughts for him are divided between you guys who haven’t gotten acceptances or are waiting for “the big one” to answer, as well as my son’s friend who got two deferrals and is really down and he doesn’t have any other college responses forthcoming until February)</p>