the school my kid is “reaching for” says it does not meet full need—but it is need blind…it’s a bit confusing. But when I do the Net Price Calculator, it says the school won’t give anything…but S will need to take out the Fed. Loan and will need to come up wit 5000 dollar + in “other sources”…??? not sure it 's even worth applying for need based aid through the school…(forget about the question on whether it is worth applying at all…)
I think S applied to that same school, unless there are several of them. Not crazy about faxing that information-- but I guess there will be a bunch of people who know way too much about our finances by the time this is over.
@drmom123 For us that was the deciding factor in the reach schools. If the finances looked like they worked, the kids were welcome to reach. If not…why bother, just so we could tell them “no” in April?
@drmom123 it is so confusing! I think they mean they are need blind when it comes to who they will admit, but the school does not promise to meet all need of admitted students. (On the other hand, there are “need aware” schools, but once they decide to admit they WILL meet full need … Of course, those tend to be harder to get into. Then there are Ivy-levels schools with huge endowments. They ARE need blind in admittance AND promise to meet all need. Those are even harder to get into).
As for home equity, we have been in the house 16 years and having it will definitely hurt us for CSS schools … According to different net price calculators, the equity tacks on between $3,000 and $7,500 schools expect us to pay each year — and we don’t even have a ton.
@madredos Copy your piece, Go to the main Parents Forum (listed in Community Home link in site directory), Click on the pencil icon at the right-hand side in the black bar of bottom of the screen , Title your post when the text box pops up, Paste your piece into the message box, Hit “post” at the bottom of the box. Whala! Such a fun spoof!
All 3 EA applications are in. Now two weeks to focus on school and then application to our state schools.
Okay, expert California parents, a few UC questions for you: is there any advantage to applying on November 1st? (DD’s application is pretty much done.) And must we send all scores (ACT, SAT, SAT 2s, APs, IBs, etc.) to each school that is checked off/that she’s applying to? We wish we could have attended those “UC and You” events you talked about in this forum…
@EastGrad I don’t believe there is any advantage of submitting UC application now, but if it is done, why not? I believe they require all SAT1 and allow score choice on SAT2. The score choice on SAT2 is a separate topic of discussion, since it is not clear from their website.
Thank you, @Ballerina2016. Just to confirm: there is no early deadline for merit scholarship applications? And does she send each score to each college she has checked or is there a UC central spot for submitting scores?
Thanks, @dyiu13. Such excellent instructions. Good luck to everyone. 
@EastGrad just arrange for score to be sent to one of UCs and they all will get it.
The last Nov 1 application is submitted. We were out of town this weekend and it happened without us (though there were some last minute texts when the essay wouldn’t upload). And this wasn’t a CA app, all those were submitted by last weekend. So proud!
Will give him a few days before nagging about the UC application.
Congrats to everyone for making it this far!
We too have completed the last EA and 1 very early RD yesterday morning YEAH! Very happy for and proud of my D for completing 8 applications so far. Now for the interminable wait til the end of January! Fingers crossed and praying hands that my D receives more acceptances than declines or wait lists. The other 4 RD applications (including 2 of the most desired schools on my D’s list) will be completed by either late November or early December…that way there can be no issues with last minute delays. Then another interminable wait until April 1! The waiting will be the ultimate stress factor!
DD is still working on app and not submitted yet. She said she was satisfied one app and working with the other two school. I think she’s going to send them out last minute. Hope there is no internet problem.
@NYDad513 if she is satisfied with 1 can you get her to at least submit it? It would be so awful to have computer issues and not get any out. :-SS
@Cheeringsection I gave my credit card yesterday and now it’s up to her when to apply. I don’t want to distract too much at the time. Finger crossed… 
@nydad513 I will be hoping for the best! You are far more patient that I would be.
@Cheeringsection Thanks a lot. We will see what happen at the end of today.
@crowlady – I know that your son at times marches to the beat of a different drummer (that being his own drummer), but he obviously got himself into gear as the excreta was about to hit the fan. It must be wonderful to see him take ownership of this process, act responsibly, meet deadlines, and put together some good pieces of work. His independence (and non-helicoptering parents) will serve him well next year. Congrats!!
@NYDad513 – You have far more equanimity than I do. Please come back onto the thread to let us know when the apps have been submitted. I may lose more sleep over this than you will.
And congrats to all the kids who’ve written innumerable essays and have completed and submitted multiple applications. All in all, this shouldn’t be all that surprising as the kids of the parents on this thread are pretty high-performing kids. But nonetheless, as my British friend likes to say, “There’s often a slip between the cup and the lip,” and there are all sorts of unexpected hurdles and curve balls. So it’s a really big deal when it’s done.
I know that a lot of kids here still have a host of apps to complete and submit, but now they know that it’s all absolutely do-able.
The button has been pushed for EA to S’ s first choice school. The app for a safety, which has rolling admissions, should go out this week. Probably it’ll be over if first choice offers one of the top scholarships, unless he decides he’d rather go to the school where there’s less to do but college fund has way more than enough to cover the full cost of attendance. Is it better to be where there’s lots to do but less money to do it with, or less to do with more money to do it with.
S has music supplement to send in…the more I nag him, the less he practices…the less he does…the less i nag him…the less he practices…the less he does…not so sure how this is going to turn out! :-SS