<p>^…sorry, UK, not GB. Thinking of swimming too much!</p>
<p>Fascinating conversation! I can barely keep up! I’ve visited both Kenyon and Denison with my kids. They were very impressed by Kenyon’s athletic facilities and liked the small rural setting at the time but now have aimed at larger schools. Both are attractive. Denison has nice merit aid and an unusually strong internship program.</p>
<p>WelshPixie, What kind of waterproof clothing do you recommend? Where can you buy it? Feel free to pm me. S13 just got home from China Monday night and I am already making packing lists for his next adventure.</p>
<p>Thanks to Researchmum, Welshpixie, and everyone else who has chimed in on UK universities, my D is now intrigued with the idea of study outside the U.S. The downsides are that it seems you have to choose a course of study very early on and that coming from her anti-AP, non-IB private school, she won’t be an ideal candidate. I guess she could plan to self-study several APs if necessary but she’ll likely only have 6 in total by the end of senior year if she continues with the school program. The positives for her are (1) the importance of test scores (2) relative unimportance of ECs and “leadership” and (3) the tutorial approach to study. This fits her like a glove!</p>
<p>@mum Just recalled a recent conversation I had with my brother-in-law. He was a decent high school swimmer–I really don’t know how good–and he was choosing between Dartmouth and Bowdoin–neither shabby. He would have likely beem admitted to either, even if he wasn’t going to be in the swim team. The Bowdoin coach said he’d get a lot more personal attention in his training than he would at a Division I school. He couldn’t resist the Ivy, but he has wondered how much more he might have developed at the school where the coach took a particular interest. </p>
<p>Purely anecdotal, but do you get more attention at a Division III school from a coach who really, really likes you?</p>
<p>Meanwhile, for the next two days my rising junior son will be attending at the local uni “a premier HS recruiting camp” in lacrosse. The hype goes on to say “this camp will host the best players at their respective positions from across the country,” but there was no recruiting and anyone who could pay was accepted. That said, there might be a self-selection, and I think players are in fact coming from a distance. (For $500, you can get a personalized highlight video.) My son is doing it a bit on a lark. It’s almost within walking distsnce. He loves the game, and has potential–maybe what they call in the coaching trade “a project.” He’s more likely a D3 than D1 player. I admire his fearlessness, although his HS coach says he’s a sweet kid who needs to be more aggressive. He’s a defender, and that may be a good choice–aside from the fact he’s very big, since there seem to be fewer of them. For this camp, where you apply by position, everything was full for all positions, except defense, for which you could have signed up just a few days ago.</p>
<p>Lacrosse is not his life, but he’d love to continue to play. As for admissions/recruiting we see it as value added–like a legacy–rather than the key to admissions.</p>
<p>@latichever, so so true. Hope your son is enjoying his camp and honing his defence skills;)</p>
<p>Researchmum - I am assuming that my D would get the EU fees in Scotland as she is not eligible for the loans in England or Wales. We have not lived in the UK since she was 2, we moved to the Isle of Man, which is not part of the EU and then to Germany. This is not really a problem as she is adamant about Holland being her first choice.
What has intrigued me are the kids in her school this year who everyone thought were a shoo-in for Scottish unis not getting offers, I think Scotland is getting more picky as they have more candidates to choose from.
Good luck to your son in his exams, it is a very long wait.
It was a shame about not meeting George Clooney but she did work with a German actor called Kai Schumann, if you google him you can see that she was still very lucky ;)</p>
<p>@Welshpixie, you must be right. Your daughter is lucky to have so many choices. Re Scottish unis, I am surprised, as I thought that applicant numbers were down, but maybe that was just English and Welsh ones cos of the fees hike. Wow.</p>
<p>Re Kai S, yes she definitely is;). I hope she got lots of autographs!!!</p>
<p>Trying to do some catchup reading on the this thread. I haven’t posted much, but I’m trying to keep up with you!</p>
<p>twogirls: I love what your D did in the mentors meeting. </p>
<p>Re: the search for schools outside of the US: I can’t really keep up with that. 
I’m having enough trouble researching the handful of schools D says she’d like to check out. I’ll admit, I get a little obsessive about the research and planning. I spend hours reading on school websites and following just about every link on them. I’m sure none of you can relate to that. ;)</p>
<p>We were able to make an appt. for one tour/info. session on our way to D’13s orientation, but the days we’re driving through the other location ended up on a Sunday one way and during their freshmen orientation on the way home. We’ll still do drive-by visit on the Sunday, I think. I’d just like to see the campus. There’s at least one other school that isn’t too far off our planned route. Depending on the timing, I might try to fit that in. At least we’re getting a little bit of a head start on this process.</p>
<p>W2 thanks!! It should be interesting considering that my daughter will be in this girl’s group for the whole year. I am glad to see that I am not the only crazy mother obsessively planning visits and reading web sites for hours each day. I am quite sure that there are a lot of us!</p>
<p>Yes, I’m spending far too much time researching schools, but I’m secretly enjoying it!</p>
<p>Question: When we are finally to the point of filling out the FAFSA, etc., will that be based on 2013 or 2014 figures? I’m getting confused because when our kids apply, we will only have the previous year’s (2013) tax info, but do we actually use a figure based on an estimate of what we think earnings will be for 2014?</p>
<p>W2, I’ve got a S11, D13, S15, and 3 more so I’ve been obsessing for years. You are in good company.</p>
<p>Suzy- they will apply in the fall of 2014. You will fill out the fafsa either at the end of 2014 or early 2015 using 2014 tax returns- you have to estimate until you get back your tax returns.
I think I am giving you accurate information LOL. I am not sure which month the fafsa comes out.</p>
<p>FAFSA is available each year on January 1st.</p>
<p>You’ll file FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1, usually using estimated/previous year numbers. Then you’ll file taxes as soon as possible after that -I try to do it in early Feb when all my forms are in - so you can sync your FAFSA and IRS data. At that point schools can finalize their aid offers. The college years are NOT the ones to file April 15th. That’s too late for many colleges.</p>
<p>Many schools also require the Profile form.</p>
<p>What ohmom says. </p>
<p>If you think the FAFSA is a pain, you will not love the much more intrusive profile, which almost asks how much money you’re hiding under your mattress. On the Profile, they not only ask for financial data from the previous and current year, but they also ask for estimates for the next year. Fun. </p>
<p>But here’s my exciting news of the day. My son had heard a tale of a HS kid who had blindly emailed a bunch of faculty at the local uni, and had scored a volunteer opportunity on a research project. My son just last week did the same, and today received an email from a prof to visit his lab and discuss possibilities!</p>
<p>Latichever that’s amazing! Good for him! When my daughter took bio last year one of their " jobs" was to do an independent research project. They were permitted to have a partner, but of course my daughter refused. They spent the entire school year learning how to do research, write the report, etc. I spent weeks and weeks with butterfly cages all over my living room. Several ( including my daughter) were chosen to present their research at the Science Honor Society. I think junior year the kids in the AP sciences get a chance to conduct more research. One boy in our school did research on skin cancer and was published in one of the medical journals. I seem to remember my older daughter being a subject in an experiment.</p>
<p>What’s great about your son is that he took that next step and sought out that experience completely on his own. That is truly an independent research project. Good for him for taking that initiative!! That, in and of itself, is quite an accomplishment.</p>
<p>Way to go Latichever’s son! I hope it all works out!</p>
<p>Thanks. It did require a bit of handholding and research assistance from his parents.</p>
<p>He’s both shy and fearless–if you can picture that.</p>
<p>Teaching the lesson: it doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Another thing he has been doing, which I highly recommend to others: although lacrosse is the sport he plays now, he used to play soccer, and became a certified referree a couple of years ago. (You dont need to have ever played to become certified.) It’s a great job for a young person. This weekend he earned $170 from reffing at a local tournament. During the year he regularly picks up around $50 in a typical week. What’s nice about it is that it’s all on weekends. You don’t have to do it on particular day if you have other plans. Contrast with working in fast food, for example, where your time is more the company’s, and the work schedule could mean school nights. As his certification level increases his plan is to be able to ref at the high school level wherever he winds up in college.</p>
<p>^ My daughter did that with softball through Little League.</p>