<p>Our experience with USC is that they have scholarship visits (by invitation) for those with very good stats. Those are really, really worth doing. (Of course, it convinced D’12 that she didn’t want to go there, but. . . )</p>
<p>My daughter will not miss school for anything. She will not visit schools on a weekend or over a holiday weekend because she absolutely refuses to miss AP classes. We only visit colleges during school breaks ( thankfully colleges are open) and even that is pushing it. She brings work with her and very often we need to bring dinner into the room because she is working. We get back to the room at 4:00 and she works until midnight. Not normal. This is why overly intense schools are off the list. </p>
<p>Does UPitt give partial scholarships? We don’t need a full one ( although I won’t complain if it is offered). $10,000-12,000 would bring it down to a reasonable level, given grad school. </p>
<p>If my daughter gets an invite to a scholarship weekend at USC, she will be there. I may have to drag her…</p>
<p>She refuses to give up working- thankfully there are no AP classes on a weekend!</p>
<p>We cancelled plans to go to Atlanta this weekend. 
I wanted to see those schools, but between my migraines and D feeling stressed by the college talk, not to mention the expense…(both of visiting and the cost of those colleges) we decided to put those visits off, at least until we have a better handle on what we can pay, and what she might be likely to get as far as merit (scores coming in a couple weeks and her reaction to them will help with that).</p>
<p>Shoboe I am feeling your stress. My daughter does not discuss colleges most of the time. Once in a blue moon she has a revelation ie I think I will major in chemistry. When I follow this up with a question about a career path or school, she yells at me and says, " not now, I am working. I have no time for this." The other day she commented about a school, but once again when I try and conduct a conversation, I am shushed. Another thing that bothers me is that she is getting bitten by the " prestige bug" because she feels she works hard. I am not happy with that and will be getting a bug zapper ASAP. </p>
<p>I also feel your financial pain LOL. I think we may be one step ahead of you in that we have an approximate price that we can pay comfortably and without loans, and she needs to make up the difference with merit ( unless she stays in state, in which case we are fine). I spend every waking moment researching schools that a) she will like and fit in and b) will give her some merit to drop the price. This is in addition to a full time job, a husband, another kid, and parents that seem to be calling me all the time ( not complaining). </p>
<p>We are visiting some schools in February, and like you we will wait for some scores before finalizing these plans.</p>
<p>Bug zapper! I love that!</p>
<p>We canceled our visits for this weekend too. D is at a hackathon in the city with a group of GWC alums. It meets from 8-8 for two days straight. For someone who is so burned out, she left today in a flurry of excitement. I don’t think I’d be quite as enthusiastic about spending two long days closeted away in a windowless room working on coding but then she’s all abuzz about hanging out with her buddies too. </p>
<p>Not only are we trying to figure out what sorts of schools might fit (in all respects) and whether applying next year is even a good idea for her, she’s also trying to clarify her thinking about what sort of major she wants to pursue. Sure, she might well change her mind but if computer science is going to be a real possibility, she needs to make sure the school offers a decent amount of coursework. This is weird for me because I’m a very humanities-oriented person and up until last summer, that’s where my daughter was headed. </p>
<p>I also realized that we have to limit our consideration to schools that are a direct flight away.</p>
<p>My daughter is having a melt down. She has a 97 average in AP physics but the teacher is giving the class a Regents level ( regular level) test as a " grade booster" which will replace their lowest grade. I seem to remember him telling us at meet the teacher that this test is optional, and the syllabus suggests in the wording that the test is optional, but she says it’s not. The issue is that she forgotten this stuff ( or has not learned it the way the Regents presents it) and is melting down because of it. I told her to email her teacher and ask him if she needs to take the test. Right now she has my father explaining it ( he is a physicist) but she is melting fast… </p>
<p>She is on line with some web site that explains Regents physics but evidently they are teaching it differently than the way she learned. I have a friend who teaches AP physics and she is willing to help. </p>
<p>She has to take the Regents in June so she says that even if the test is optional she wants to take it because it will help her for the spring. Parenting her is the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. She figured out the problem but says he did not teach it so how can they possibly pass the Regents?</p>
<p>Pinot- got any extra bottles around?</p>
<p>So if the teacher drops the lowest grade and she doesn’t do well on the Regents - will that score be dropped? Seems like should be a low stress situation. Easy for me to say :). I agree that if this causes a melt down on a Saturday afternoon that going to an uber competitive school is probably not a good thing. Hope she can relax and enjoy her Saturday!</p>
<p>3girls it sounds to me like you have a girl who has found her niche, her passion, and her joy! Sounds like THIS is how she will stand out!! How wonderful!! </p>
<p>Right now I have one kid melting down fast ( although at this precise moment she is quietly listening to a physics " thing") and another one who is getting all bent out of shape because she is turning 20 soon ( college sophomore). She is going through that wonderful ( sarcasm) phase where you are not a kid but not a self sufficient adult and she is kind of floating around… Although she IS in school so the structure is still there. I remember that time period well- it was not my favorite time.</p>
<p>I am walking a tight rope. A little this way and D15 flips, a little that way and D12 flips, a little that way and my H flips… And then I need to make sure my parents stay ok. UGH.</p>
<p>Ahs I asked the same question. Once you agree to take the Regents level test then it MUST replace the lowest grade, even if the Regents is lower. That is why I am convinced that the test is optional and I will convince her not to take it if it’s stressing her out. The colleges around here offer Regents review classes in the spring. I will sign her up for the full day class and then she will be prepared for the Regents. </p>
<p>She is emailing her teacher now to ask the question. I told her that if she does not, then I will. </p>
<p>Her personality can’t go to an intense college.</p>
<p>The storm has passed. Last year in her honors chem class they had to take the Regents. Everybody purchased an on line Barron’s review that has access to chemistry and physics- that is how they studied for the Regents, and that is how she is reviewing for this quarterly. She did email the teacher and he typically responds quickly. </p>
<p>I looked at the syllabus which clearly states IF you decide to take the quarterly, it will replace your lowest test grade… Blah blah blah . It seems that the way it is worded, it is optional. We will wait for the email. What bothers me is that if the quarterly is lower, it still replaces the lowest grade.</p>
<p>twogirls, I just love your posts…and I love the ‘bug zapper’ lol</p>
<p>Keep us posted, I am hoping she hears back soon from her teacher that the test is, indeed, optional. </p>
<p>Hope I am not being too nosy, but I am trying to understand all this financial stuff. </p>
<p>When you say that you are hoping that your D might get merit to make up the difference, do you mean the difference between what she might get in need based aid and what your EFC is? This is what I just can’t fully grasp…I THINK I have learned that merit aid has to be quite large (at least larger than what you’d otherwise get in need based aid) in order for it to really help…except in cases where it might be allowed to be used to replace the loan portion of what the school is offering as need based aid. I THINK what I am being told is that our EFC is our EFC and nothing, other than an amazing merit offer (like full ride) will get us out of paying that EFC.</p>
<p>shoboemom, but you don’t need a full-ride to get below your EFC, unless your EFC is REALLY low. For us, we can get below it by paying full price at our state school, UW-Madison. It’s a good school but reasonably priced. Or getting a full tuition merit award anywhere is even better. Full tuition offers are considerably easier to get than full-rides. </p>
<p>Of course I don’t know your circumstances, so maybe full tuition isn’t enough. But the full rides at top schools are like the brass ring. Not gonna happen in our family at any rate. My kids just aren’t that extraordinary. I don’t know how hard they are to get at some of the small LACs, as my kids are not inclined in that direction so haven’t investigated. What kinds of schools and surroundings does your D like? Is NMSF possible? You probably know there are a few you can get that way if she likes that type of school.</p>
<p>Shoboe when we applied to schools with my older kid we filled out the FAFSA and got loans, which we declined. She is at a state school which costs us $18,000 a year. She LOVES her school and we love the price. If my D15 goes to a state school ( SUNY) it would most likely be Buffalo or Binghamton. She does not like Geneseo because it is too " quiet" for her. FYI: SUNY Geneseo is an excellent LAC and for OOS it is quite reasonable at about $30,000. Our EFC for my older kid was greater than $28,000-30,000 if I remember. The cost of the school is less than our EFC so we just pay the bill and call it a day. </p>
<p>When we do the FAFSA for D15 I expect our EFC to be lower because we will have 2 in college. I don’t know how much lower. SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Buffalo will cost us about 20,000 a year. I suspect it will be about even with our EFC give or take a little. It is my understanding that we have to pay the EFC and any help we get will be for after we pay the EFC- I expect any help to be mostly in the form of loans ( for state schools in NYS and out of state -state schools). We will respectfully decline the loans and pay the bill. $38,000 for 2 kids in college per year if they attend SUNY. </p>
<p>Private schools is where things get sticky. I think we MAY qualify for something at Princeton ( but she has to get in) because we will have 2 in school and we make at the top ( almost) of that FA chart. I think Princeton would be affordable IF she got in. Once my older one graduates they would take away a large chunk of the FA, but I think we would qualify for something. </p>
<p>Schools like Duke, Emory etc- I have no clue how their FA works, but I suspect that our EFC would be about 30,000 ( less $ freshman year when I have two in school) and then we would have to try and get $$ to pay the gap between the EFC and the cost- we would have to pay the EFC and hope that FA would cover the rest. My guess is that we would get primarily loans, which we do not want. So…</p>
<p>My goal is to pay something in the mid to upper 20’s and get merit aid to cover the rest. I am not counting on FA because I suspect it will be loans. There are some schools where I am sure she will get merit to bring down the cost ( ie Ohio State, Ohio- Oxford), some schools where I am fairly certain she will get some money ( ie UDel), and other schools where she may or may not get enough money ( ie UMD-CP, Etc). There is also a long list of schools (15) where she may or may not get a lot of merit- but she is going for it regardless. She has the grades and the rank. Now she needs the scores. My plan is as follows: what I can reasonably afford + amount of merit aid = cost of attendance. If she casts a wide enough net then I hope at the end of the day she will have a few choices. </p>
<p>If a $60,000 school gives her $20,000 then she can’t go. If they give her $30,000 then we will talk. If a $42,000 school gives her $15,000 then she can go. We fall in that zone where we do not qualify for FA ( except for the Ivy League perhaps) but we are not wealthy. We are fine enough I suppose - but not wealthy. </p>
<p>I hope I make sense!</p>
<p>celeste, thank you…yes I should have said full tuition or full ride… I think our EFC is going to be somewhere in the low 20s, which means a private school that does meet 100% need would already be giving us a large amount in need based aid to come down to that amount. To beat that with merit would be a challenge. From what I am gathering now, if part of that meeting need is in the form of a loan, it is possible, but not certain, that merit aid could replace that loan, so if we think we can actually pay the EFC, it could make a school that had EFC plus a loan more doable. I just don’t see us taking on a loan in addition to meeting that EFC! </p>
<p>She does like the smaller schools, which does make it challenging since not many of our state (Florida) schools seem like a good fit.</p>
<p>Shoboe my issue with loans is that my older one needs grad school and my D15 talks med school- loans are in our future so if we can do without them for now, the better off we are. I would like to help them with these loans. I am hoping that somewhere out there, there is a school that will give her merit, and combined with what we can pay it will work out. It saddens me that I may not be able to send her to a school that I know she belongs in such as Cornell, UNC-CH etc, but such is life I suppose. Sometimes I find myself getting depressed- but I snap out of it when I come back to reality.</p>
<p>Ugh- I don’t mean that she " belongs" at Cornell- remember I am the one who requested the bug zapper to get rid of the prestige bug!!. Cornell happens to take a lot of kids from our school, and she would probably get in based on who they have taken over the years. I don’t think that Cornell would offer us anything other than loans, so she would not be able to go. It makes me sad because we visited it and she loves it- oh well. It would mean taking out $25,000 or so in loans every year- too much money. </p>
<p>Here is the new motto- LOVE THY SAFETY- both academic and financial. The best advice that I was ever given is to make your kid fall head over heels in love with their safety school. I did it with my older kid. Now it’s D15’s turn.</p>
<p>Shoboe I certainly can’t afford a loan in addition to our EFC. To be honest, we can afford SUNY schools and not much beyond that comfortably without merit. Colleges are very very expensive. I am spending every waking moment researching schools because I want to give her every opportunity that is out there, as we all do. I can’t get over how schools now are $45,000, 50,000, 60,000- it’s absurd.</p>
<p>Shoboe have you made any kind of list where your daughters stats place her at the tippy top of the applicant pool?</p>
<p>twogirls - yes, Pitt has partial merit to full ride (Chancellor’s). Full ride is very difficult though - only about 10 or less given each year and it’s by invitation only. It was one of the schools S2 applied so we were following it closely a couple years ago. I think it’s a good school with pretty good merit offers.</p>