@StressedinCA As tough as CS is to get into, I’d say go where you are guaranteed to be in the major. Also, don’t go somewhere with the plan of transferring (other than a community college), otherwise you’ll never be fully committed mentally to your first school and the transfer may not happen anyway.
I think you need to clarify what you mean by lofted.
My D’s freshman dorm had beds that could be adjusted in height and raised. The highest setting was about 30" off the floor and allowed the dresser to fit under the bed and a 3 drawer plastic storage bin.
When I saw what lofted beds were, they were as high as the top bunk of a bunk bed. You had room for desk and dresser under the lofted bed.
Those especially should have safety rails.
Those cone shaped things that raise the bed, bed risers, are not allowed at my D’s school because they are made of plastic and can collapse?
I would only raise the bed if it is made to be raised.
thank you @youcee
Congratulations on MIT, @SincererLove and @nw2this!!
@Cloudysmom congratulations on the University of Richmond and welcome!!
@klinska Congratulations on Umass!
Good luck to everyone awaiting decisions this week, I look forward to reading about everyone’s good news.
I think we must be talking about different height of lofted beds, as @mommdc said. The ones at W&M were just about 6 inches higher than a regular bed, so I shouldn’t think the fall would be much different. I have never heard of beds raised as high as bunk beds! I agree, I would only loft beds if they were meant to do so.
My profile is my pear tree. I will replace with a better pic if and when I can X_X 
Good luck to everyone with the decisions and with the weather! [-O< [-O<
Beds can only be lofted at my older D’s university using one supplier. The bed is lofted before the year begins, so no create-a-loft with random lumber. The lofts came with integrated rails.
All the beds can be raised up to 30" off the ground so that stuff can be stored underneath. That does not require prior permission.
The accident with the lofted beds was at GT. I’m not sure if he was in the regular dorm lofted beds or something else. My son lofted his bed freshman year and he could fit his desk underneath it and do his class work. So if someone fell off a bed that high and hit their head it could be dangerous.
Beds at my son’s school were as @cloudysmom described. Higher than usual, but not so high as to cause concern. The added height offered much-needed storage space beneath bed.
Students can submit a work order to have the maintenance department raise beds higher. I can’t recall if they allow the full loft where desk & dresser fit beneath.
BB&B sells red Solo cup-like risers and I think I have even seen some with speakers, but I was happy to walk in freshman year and find the bed soundly secured.
In the California schools we’ve seen, the rooms that have been converted from doubles to triples have a bunk bed on one side and a high lofted bed on the other side with desks underneath it.
@rightcoaster I’ll take a shot at what MIT is looking for, if you don’t mind a perspective from the outside. I am mostly sticking to facts that I have heard or read from MIT people.
Of course grades are important… SAT’s and Subject Test should all begin with a “7”, and it wouldn’t hurt for Math to begin with an “8”.
However, the number 1 thing MIT loves is diversity. Self proclaimed, they love diversity “to a fault”. It is “who they are”.
There are a couple of reasons for this. First, there is a belief that problems are best solved when people from different places and prospectives come together.
Perhaps there is an additional explanation, using the “community” example. Elite institutions have a power (and a privilege) to set requirements which effect the world. When colleges require community service, they know students respond. Perhaps when an institution values diversity, they are also making a bigger statement on this value to the world at large.
MIT is looking for the quality of passion for someone to succeed and make a difference. BTW, it isn’t even a requirement for students to have completed high school to get admitted to MIT.
Passion for something in particular. Everyone is very accomplished in something, whether it is a sport, robotics, writing, etc.
An intended major in something other than engineering could be a plus- a university isn’t a university if you don’t have a variety of people majoring in a variety of things ex. English, philosophy, economics, etc.
Well rounded for a class… if you’re the only Eagle Scout applying that year, you’re in luck. Don’t need 30 trombonists.
In the end, there are so many exceptionally smart and qualified students, they might as well throw 10 applications down a staircase at a time, and accept the person’s whose goes the furthest. (Also known as LUCK.)
It is not reasonable that anyone should expect to get accepted into MIT, yet a few lucky ones do. And for those who have caught “MIT– itis”, it seems worth the shot.
** FAFSA Change of financial status update: **
For any of you who have had a big change in financial status since 2015 (like me), I want you to know that once you file an appeal with one school, the rest are fairly easy. The process is very similar at different schools and they all require the same paperwork, for the most part.
They typically ask for…
-A standard form with boxes to check off
-A written explanation of your situation
-A tax transcript of your most recent filing
-W-2 from your recent filing year
-A letter of separation (if you lost your job)
As I said, after I filed the first one, the rest have been pretty easy. Full disclosure - I have not had any results yet. I’ll probably find out more in the next 3-4 weeks.
In the end, I am just hoping for better loan terms and maybe a little Pell Grant money. I’ve been paying enormous sums of money into the system for 20 years, I’m just looking for a tiny bit in return. Fingers crossed
@STEM2017 --very helpful explanation and will help many.
fingers sincerely crossed Update everyone when you get the results.
@STEM2017 so they asked for this years tax return? When we did appeal with BU they asked for 2015. Submitting 2016 would have been better for us.
@RightCoaster and @HappyGoLucky2017, I’ll weigh in on the MIT question too (mostly as a way of passing the time until my kid hears from the colleges he applied to!). I don’t buy that MIT’s #1 thing is diversity. They may say that (although we when visited, I would say that they didn’t make much of a point about it at all), but it’s not what drives their decisions. Sure, if you have otherwise equal candidates and one is diverse, that may be a plus (though many would actually say that it’s a disadvantage being Asian or Southeast Asian).
And the notion of stating up front that you don’t want to major in a science, math, or engineering field? We heard that was strongly discouraged. An admissions officer flat out told us that although MIT does have kids who graduate with majors in the humanities, almost all of those kids came in expecting to major in science/math and switched plans after taking some of the required humanities courses. Further, we were told that if a kid does major in a humanities field, it works best if it is in some way related to a science – such as the history of science.
But I do agree with the part about they’re looking for kids with a passion. It can be almost anything, but it has to be a demonstrable, real passion. And really, really strong scores on math and science testing. A 5 in AB calculus isn’t going to impress them.
@botcom They usually ask for your most recent tax return. For me its my 2016 return (I filed quickly this year knowing I would need it to fight the FA battles). 2016 is also the most revealing about my financial situation.
Why would BU ask for 2015 returns when that is the year represented in FAFSA? Makes no sense. I would call back and offer (force) them your 2016 return.
@soxmom I don’t have a dog in this fight but when I read the post above about MIT valuing diversity I didn’t take it all to mean diversity as defined by race or culture.
The description above applies to diversity of interests and passions. So perhaps a kid who is almost a professionally published cartoonist would bring more diversity to MIT than another stem/robotics kid.
Just my 2 cents!
I went through this. Univ of Richmond aid rep told me that legally they must use 2915 for the school yr 2017-18, however they will look at 2016 if you had a significant change, however, it won’t effect it that much. Next yr they will look at 2016, and so on. My ex made good $ but lost his job early 2016 so made much less that yr & this year. Was hoping they’d accept 2016 insead as he had trouble finding 2015 taxes but it didn’t matter, they said required to use 2015.
@klinska and @RightCoaster My D16 is a Freshman and UMass now and really loves it. I too was concerned about the size and party atmosphere. The truth is there is one area of campus that is known for the party atmosphere. The other side (Central, Orchard Hill and Northeast) are definitely quieter. They also have a good RAP (Residential Academic Program) for incoming Freshman that allows them to live on a floor with all students in similar majors or of similar interests. D16 went this route. She is on the top floor of a nice dorm on Orchard Hill and it’s really not bad. She found a group of friends (and a bf) within her major and does a lot of studying with them. I remember them saying on our tours that the way the break out the Schools makes a big university not quite so big - that seems to be a true statement - at least in our case.
Looks like Cornell diversity admits are coming out now, for anyone who fits that category.