Doing my usual portal-stalking this am. St Edward’s in Austin got kind of thrown onto the list bc my MIL lives near Austin and D17 loves it there. Not a highly ranked school or hard to get in to, and she’s not enthused about the Catholic thing, but free app and sure to get in so I said why not. Their portal sucks and I was just looking around on it [I think it’s basically their internal system for students so there is a lot of other stuff on there] and clicked on financial aid…said she had an award of $23,500, and more clicking on the Fin Aid page showed that she was admitted on 12/7. But nothing on the regular status page and she hasn’t had an email from them or anything. Guess they send snail mail? I’m not enthused about sending her there, but that’s a nice merit award and nice to get in anywhere, really…she only applied 11/30.
@kt1969 even if it isn’t a top choice I keep telling my son, “Options, it’s always good to have them”. Besides opening those acceptance envelopes is always a happy time, even if it isn’t where she wants to go.
@stlarenas If we had a COA down to 4 digits my son would be required to visit. Even if it meant dragging him kicking and screaming (but probably just bribing with burgers and shakes he’s easy that way).
Fellow parents: Has anyone’s kid applied to Loyola U - Chicago? Any experiences with how merit aid is allocated there and what stats are needed for that? My daughter has a 3.3 UW/3.9W, 28/29 ACT, good ECs. Not sure if it counts as an EC, but she’s trilingual. We got a some merit aid with the acceptance from U Tampa, but that’s not a first choice option. It looks from this board like merit aid is available to B students, but I’m not sure how widespread that is or what distinguishes on B candidate from another on aid. Thanks and congrats on the good news shared on this board.
@kt1969! Congrats on the acceptance, even if you had to track it down! The portal on our sole Catholic school is also pretty worthless. D got her acceptance in the mail weeks ago, the portal still just shows what they have received from her (along with a blank box next to “schedule campus visit”–I know that in order to be considered for a larger scholarship she does have to visit, but it’s not a condition of acceptance!
@stlarenas I have an acquaintance who is a professor at a business school. One of the exercises he does with his students is to give them data consisting of academic stats and financial parameters of a fictional applicant and then has them predict merit chances. He came up with this exercise after both of his kids applied to college. Anyhow, he was VERY keen on Truman State as a good educational and financial value. So maybe a road trip is in order? Congrats on the award.
Honestly that price is amazing! I may not push for her to matriculate there, but certainly a visit is in order. Does she have any idea how many opportunities can be had with all that extra money? On the other hand, who am I to talk…mine seems not the understand money at all…“it’s only an extra $10,000. What’s the big deal?”
Right now I am not pushing Truman on her at all. I don’t want her to refuse it even more just because mom likes it 
However there WILL be a visit before a decision is made. I will wait until she has all the options in front of her - then talk about what the savings can “get” her - and then we will visit.
I feel very lucky to have that option on the table.
EDIT - I just thought it was very odd that a second letter - almost identical to the first - came 2 weeks later with double the merit…
Driving - My S17 got his license about a month after he turned 16. Freshman year was really hard for him, and part of the advice I was given was to find something he could succeed at. After teacher my older D to drive, I knew he would be a lot easier. So I pushed on the drivers training, he took the permit test the day before school started his sophomore year. He drives himself almost everywhere himself. I really miss my time with him in the car, but it’s been extremely helpful this year. He’s mostly been a good driver but not perfect.
As to checking portals. One of the reasons I’m not pushing (besides letting him take care of it) is I think part of me just want to be in the applied and not yet knowing state. I don’t want to hear bad news right now.
Update on my process: So my Dad finally started funding my application fees and I’ve applied to Hofstra (free), Ithaca College, U of Oregon, LSU (random I know), U of Puget Sound (free), Temple University, Hawaii Pacific University, CU Boulder, CSULB, U of San Francisco, Westfield state (Free). I still want to apply to Udenver, Umass, and possibly Udel (although it would be a big reach). I feel like I’ve applied to so many schools compared to my friends but I am not as confident with my gpa (3.2) and sat (1200) as they are, so for me its honestly going to come down to where I even get in. I still haven’t gotten any decisions from colleges and its so hard to be patient but I’m really hoping I’ll get in somewhere I like.
@rolani88 - If you are applying to Umass and Udel, you might want to try University of Vermont. I believe my D17 got an unsolicited application waiver there. The reason I suggest it is that I know the Udel and Umass aren’t generous with out of state aid, but UVM is. Friend’s daughter is loving her freshman year there.
S17 received his 2nd & 3rd acceptances (via portals). All 3 were his safeties/high matches, so not surprised, but still happy! We haven’t told anyone outside of family, but I know this group will not judge & be happy for him.
OHIO UNIVERSITY: AR 74%, AVG GPA 3.46, M 500-610, CR 490-600, ACT 22-26
Accepted by MomStudent2017’s S into Business
GPA below average, M within 50%, CR within 50%, ACT within 50%
Other: 4APs, 2 honors, several school ECs & awards, volunteer service @ 100+ hours
COA: $36,120 (out-of-state)
OHIO Guarantee: tuition, housing, dining & fee rates established @ enrollment remain unchanged for 12 semesters.
Merit: unkown
OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY: AR 83%, AVG GPA 3.28, M 460-570, CR 460-570, ACT 18-24
Accepted by MomStudent2017’s S: EA into College of Business & Public Administration
GPA above average, M above 50%, CR within 50%, ACT above 50%
Other: 4APs, 2 honors, several school ECs & awards, volunteer service @ 100+ hours
COA: $24,885 (in-state)
Merit: $4K/yr
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: AR 86%, AVG GPA 3.42, M 470-580, CR 460-560, ACT 21-27
Accepted by MomStudent2017’s S: Rolling into College of Business & Economics
GPA below average, M above 50%, CR within 50%, ACT within 50%
Other: 4APs, 2 honors, several school ECs & awards, volunteer service @ 100+ hours
COA: $36,226 (out-of-state)
Merit: $6K/yr
I’m almost falling behind on this thread – 2017 3.0 - 3.4 is getting busy. Congrats on all the acceptances/aid and may there be more in all our futures!
@klinska, @stlarenas, and @CoyoteMom, ha! My oldest was also 18 when she got her license. Her fiance is 22 and doesn’t have one.
@stlarenas, H told D he would buy her a car if she goes to CSU which is about an hour away. It’s so she can drive home on weekends if she wants to!
@rolani88, I don’t think that’s too many colleges. A lot of families seeking merit aid have big lists – ours is 13. Also, I agree about looking into UVM.
@kt1969 - Congrats on the admission, and for finding it by portal-surfing. I agree it’s nice to have options, and to feel the appreciation, even if not a top choice.
I’ve been obsessive about portal surfing myself lately - so glad Coyote-son is fine with sharing the college app/portal passwords with me. Allegheny College portal finally shows his ACT scores have arrived (3 weeks + 2 days after I ordered them on Nov. 16th!) Don’t know what the super-late arrival does to a supposedly Early Action submission-now I’m just hoping we might hear back in January, instead of being flipped into regular decision pool.
I’ve also been surfing Coyote-son’s high school grade book - the high school provides parent accounts - and Coyote-son has C+ grades in both AP Calculus and Astrophysics, and a B- in Honors English. At the moment, the only bright spots are AP Government and PE (ha ha – son is least-fit teenager I know). I personally think this is a great wake-up call, and son is finally ready to let me try to find a tutor – but, really, does he have to have his worst quarter ever for the report card that gets sent to colleges to prove that he is supposedly ready for college? At least we have a month before second quarter ends on Feb 3rd, so I’m hoping he has time to bring up his grades before his reach schools see them.
@MomStudent2017 - Congrats on a range of acceptances, including having a solid lower-cost in-State option in VA! I really like hearing good news <:-P
@rolani88 - Good for you on having so many of your applications (11 by my count) submitted, with only 2-3 to go. I agree with you that I am super-impatient to hear back, and I’m just the parent. As a student, I think the waiting would be so hard. I think the best thing you can do is to think of 1-2 high school events to focus on each week, to distract yourself from the college waiting game. I’m sorry I don’t know enough about your school list to be as reassuring as some of the other College Confidential parents, but I think you should be fine at many, many schools with a solid B to B+ average and 1200 on SATs. Good luck - We’re all waiting with you and rooting for you too!
Convinced my S17 to check his two portals that I was expecting would get back to him this months. No word yet from UofO. But he did get his first acceptance at his safety, Cal State Humboldt. I’ll have work up the stats & such to send to @eandesmom later. Not at lot of excitement about this since it is his safety. He would really rather go anywhere else on his list. But it’s still nice knowing that he’s going somewhere. He does not want to stay home next year.
It was a big day for D – last day of all her classes for the semester. Finals are next week for HS. She only has two actual finals, in AP Calc and AP Chem. For her CU classes she has papers to turn in. She said she’s really going to miss her college classes, which I think bodes well for next year!
And she got an acceptance from Michigan Tech. It’s not a high interest school (free app and no essay), but they do have an energy specialty which includes renewables. She’ll look into it further if nice merit comes her way. It was nice to get something positive as we impatiently wait for more news this coming week.
D in the car today: “I just want this college stuff to be over!”
@CoyoteMom, I hope your S can get his grades up. At least he’s got a good bit of time. Everyone else’s finals are so much later. Our school district decided to end the first semester at winter break, which is nice for the kids. But the semesters are different lengths which is kind of crazy.
@curiositycat333, congrats to your S on Humboldt! We looked at it early on and it seems like a pretty cool college.
I will also get my info to @eandesmom, our heroic Keeper of Decisions. I’m sure it will be in a timely manner. 
Congrats to @curiositycat333’s S and @snoozn’s D!
<:-P <:-P
So, I have a question for this group (I know what the answer will be from the larger CC community, but I think this group better understands why I’m asking and might have a more sympathetic perspective).
Last year, D was invited to apply to the NHS. She filled out the application and submitted her essay, but was not invited to join (several of her friends were). I felt bad for her, but apparently they take it seriously at her school and you actually have to demonstrate leadership and community engagement/service, and to be honest, she was a little lacking in those areas. We moved on. This year, she is more involved with school activities. Last night when I got home from work, there was a letter of congratulations welcoming her to the NHS sitting on the counter. I didn’t even know she applied again. Apparently they induct seniors in the fall. NHS is open only to juniors and seniors. She’s accepting and will be inducted after school on Monday (official ceremony isn’t until April when juniors and seniors are inducted together). The NHS at her school is fairly selective (the GPA requirements aren’t that tough, but the other components have fairly high bars–I’d say there are about a total of 40-50 members between juniors and seniors (for class sizes of about 250-275 students per class).
So now I’m wondering if she should send an update to the AOs at the schools she still waiting to hear from (especially her ED school). I know the conventional wisdom here on CC is that NHS isn’t a big deal and to not bother–and maybe for the tippy top students applying to top 40 schools it wouldn’t be–but that’s not my kid and those aren’t her schools. She had virtually nothing under awards and honors on her CA.
Similarly, she also received a scholarship from the state that covers tuition at any in-state public college or university (which sounds great, but really only amounts to about $6K, because the bulk of costs for tuition and fees falls under the “fees” category). In order to receive it you have to score advanced in at least one of the subject areas on the statewide standardized test (all other areas must be at least proficient) and be among the top 25% scores for that test at your high school. Again, not that prestigious, but it’s something. Worth sending an update?
@Klinska - Yay and wohoo for your D on both honors! =D> My disclaimer is that I have only one child, and so I have no actual experience with this process (but my own college admission back in the Dark Ages)…but I would definitely send an update to every school she’s still got apps waiting. Even if the AO isn’t impressed by NHS or the in-State scholarship, I think sending an email shows interest if you have a sentence or two customized for the school. Anyway, I think the potential benefit outweighs the risk of annoying the Adm. Office - if it comes in an email or letter from your D, they should think the best of her intentions.
@snoozn Congratulations on Michigan Tech!! That’s great news!
@klinska I agree with @CoyoteMom and also have one child, first process, etc. - but in this case, I agree it’s something exciting and shows interest - I certainly don’t think it will hurt!!