@morningside95 Thank you SO much! That is great info for us about Grinnell! As far as the spring break shadow program, the school set that up? What a cool opportunity!
@Cubanmom3 I couldn’t agree more! Its about taking advantage of your opportunities!
@socalmom007 Tell her Hook em! Texas is the best (My D17 disagrees, but…)
@smcirish - My S16 completed an application and submitted his resume. Reportedly they had about 200 applications for about just over 100 spots. I do know other freshmen that also received an externship offer. I assume it depends from year to year on how many alumni volunteer to host and work with the students. He had to choose and rank three Externship opportunities, and was very happy to get his top choice!
Let us know how your D 17’s visit goes.
** Be careful what you wish for: **
At this point, S has been accepted to several schools. He has declined a few, but we are still waiting for a few. Plus, we are waiting for financial aid packages before narrowing the list down to 2 or 3 finalists.
In the meantime, he is getting BOMBED with emails and snail mails about admitted students days, housing, orientation, meal plans, qualification testing, forms, and lots of other “To Do” items. It is getting very difficult for ME to keep up with all the new dates and data requests flowing in the door. These are good problems for now, but it is getting overwhelming. Really starting to envy you ED folks.
@STEM2017 Same here.
I had a an interesting talk with son17 last night about financial aid/merit aid and the cost of attending different schools on his list. He is working on a project for stats class and thought he might like to try to come up with some report based on his school list.
We ended up talking about the levels of “love” he has received so far in terms of merit awards. He’s had some generous offers and some not so generous offers. We did some research on the schools on his list regarding merit awards using the Common Data site and it was really interesting to see that some of the schools he applies to almost all of the students apply for financial aid, and he has a few where not that many apply and not many qualify. We enjoyed the statistic that showed how much average merit award was awarded to kids not not needing any aid. At a few schools the kids got some very generous average award amounts, and at some schools most of the kids not seeking aid received almost nothing. It was an interesting quick lesson, he’ll have to gather more data for his project.
Anyways, we looked into Boston University and found this article on how they grant aid and I enjoyed the read. I though I would share it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html
@RightCoaster thanks for sharing that article. It was very interesting, especially the section on “packaging”. So the mystery of how they determine exactly how much each student receives shall remain a mystery apparently. I can’t wait to see how they “package” my D!
Re: Laundry - D16 took over $100 worth of Quarters (from her grandmother) to school with her for Laundry. She ended up cashing them in over break - it’s cheaper at UMass Amherst to use your card for laundry - I know she’s doing it and if not at school - she comes home every 4 weeks or so and does it then. For S17, one of the selling points and Colorado School of Mines (also true at RPI - not sure what other schools have this), Laundry is free. He does his own laundry at home - sheets not so much - so I’ll have to trust he will do it there. He’ll be too far away to bring it home. :((
Preferential packaging is definitely real.
http://www.thecollegesolution.com/beware-of-preferential-packaging/
I think the packaging concept is interesting. We’ve seen it firsthand. One school that wants him has prepared an extremely generous offer for someone with demonstrated need, while another state school where he sits high in GPA and test scores has offered him zilch to this day. They think he’s not worthy of anything, can afford it so gets nothing, or doesn’t think he is a serious candidate and gets nothing.
He has a few private schools he’s waiting to hear back from in the next few weeks. He may get into all or none, based on his stats. It will be interesting to see if he does get into any of them if he will be awarded any merit money at all.
Based on our little bit of research this is what I guess. NEU, nothing,. BU, $7k because his mom went there lol, Babson $5k Deca scholarship and maybe $2,500 because his stats help them a little bit, RPI $20k just a hunch.
I think he’s going to get waitlisted at NEU and Babson ( so this discussion may be a moot point) , get into BU but at almost full price, and get into RPI because they want some DECA and Model UN kids for their business program and his stats are OK.
I think it’s great some of you have already found schools willing to “package” your kids for their best awards, and you get to send your kids to a school they like for very little money. That’s pretty cool.
Popping in to say hello… I am many many many pages behind but I miss my CC friends. I have lost mobility in my shoulder 
and being in front of the computer is not fun, nor am I able to sleep well, so I’ve been generally cranky lately. My S/O and daughter have been extremely tolerant of my whining as of late. :(( Also, work has been extremely busy and will be for the next month. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to catching up hopefully this weekend!
@Fishnlines29 , heal up. I’ve found Tylenol 24 helpful for sleep after surgery/injury.
Very interesting article @RightCoaster
So I told my DS that if he opts for a suite, he has to clean the bathroom and there won’t be any maid service. His response “I have to rethink” 
So sorry @Fishnlines29 , feel better!
As for packaging… that was an interesting read. What we’ve found so far is that schools that want our daughter, aren’t dying over her, but want her, are all ending up right around our instate flagship cost… a bit below our EFC. They’re showing some love, maybe enough to get her there but aren’t going overboard. Our EFC for her was 44k, another 44k for her brother, lol! Our net cost with merit scholarship and $5500 loan, no plus loans, no work study, so far is as follows:
Manhattan College $24,128
Ithaca College $32,466
Duquesne $21,922
Seton Hall $24,280
Carroll College $24,054
Mills College $27,800
They’re all ending up right in the same range, very close to what our UC net cost would be. I’m expecting the few higher tier privates she’s applied to, where she may or may not be accepted, will give her less… they won’t “love” her as much. We shall see.
@Stem17 I am so stressed that I am waking up at 3 and can’t go back to sleep…my lists have lists at this point.
@youcee I thought one of the more interesting points of that article was the statement made by the BU Financial to not hound them with “give me more $$” requests. Don’t call them and talk to them about other offers you’ve received and hope BU will match. Nope, not going to happen they say, unless you have some new circumstances that they will consider. Otherwise, you get what you get, take it or leave it.
On the roommate/bathroom/suite/double/single thing … just know that your kids will most likely end up in each one of these types of living arrangements at some point during their four years, at least it seems that way with my older one. Good for them to try them all out and figure out what works best for them and their personalities and tolerance for ickiness. And on the cleanliness/ewww factor, as @CT1417 and probably others have said, best not to think about it too much. X_X
Bathrooms: DS13 doesn’t clean the bathroom in their on campus apartment at GT. GT has cleaning people who come in and clean the bathroom and stove at certain times… I’m not sure how often it is but the couple times I’ve gone to move him out I haven’t had help him to clean it… I wish all colleges had that because I’m pretty sure DS17’s bathroom is going to need to be cleaned when I move him…