Re QOTD - not picky really – after getting accepted at a school in Michigan I thought about the distance and climate challenges (I was from the South), I decided to a local Jesuit college on a partial scholarship - had great fun and enjoyed the courses I took and student body. Was easy to get a good accounting job then at a big 8 firm. Went to laws school after a year. I think there is much more info now and easier to learn about schools online and apply to many with common app and we gt lots of colleges visiting our high school Went I was in high school the counselors and my parents were mostly hands off and few colleges visited our school.
When I was in high school, kids only took the SAT OR Act once. Few took both. At that point in the Midwest, the ACT was much, much more the standard test. Very few kids took the SAT. SAT subject matter tests? Not sure any of us knew what those were.
College app process was much simpler too. Applied to 2-3 colleges. Didn’t visit any of them (other than I had been to state flagship (where I ultimately went) for other things). App for flagship was one page with open admissions.
I think the process is better and worse today. Costs are obviously significantly worse. Its better than you can get more info from places you never knew existed. That is worse too though because more choices often leads to regret/indecision (saw a Brain Games episode about how having more choices often leads to less happiness).
In the end, you can make the college choice process as easy or as difficult/involved as you want it to be. And at least in some cases, the pain I see some families go through is self-inflicted. Your kid isn’t determining his/her life all at once. Just first of many different decisions in life. Making different ones will not necessarily lead to better or worse outcomes. Just different ones. Enjoy the journey.
@MotherOfDragons ok you send me yours, I’ll send you mine. LOL
We’ve dropped some commuter schools from the list. No sense in leaving town to be the only person in your dorm on weekends or not being able to meet a lot of classmates as they live off campus. For that, S could stay at home and not pay OOS prices.
** Picky QOTD **
No. For several reasons. It really never occurred to me at the time that I had options, largely due to financials as I covered tuition and fees and spending money, my grandmothers trust covered room and board and my parents covered books. That limited my options. In state, as far as I was concerned there was only one option (University of Washington) and out of state I knew I couldn’t afford anything (never occurred to me that aid existed or my stats might get something and I’ll never know lol). So I applied to Stanford, knowing I wouldn’t get in but wanting to do so anyway.
I honestly had NO idea you could take the SAT more than once until SD14. Very very few people went out of state back then. At the time, we had an in-state test called the Washington Pre-College test which, if memory serves at a certain threshold was basically a flagship auto admit. Did well on that, called it good and never looked back.
That said, I am quite positive that had my stats not been good enough for the UW, I’d have looked long and hard elsewhere and likely out of state! I do think I’d have loved an LAC but I wouldn’t trade what I did have for the world.
Completely finished the NMSF app. Dd is finishing up her section right now. Then we submit it to her recommender and that is one thing completed! Yay! Our very first completed anything!
Maybe @STEM2017’s new thread is influencing me, but I’m suddenly having a mini panic attack about NMSF app. Is a LOR needed for those who aren’t homeschooling? We went through all the steps, hit the Finalize link and sent the app to his school counselor. Is that it?
I did the parent approval, and we sent his SAT score to NM although I’m not 100% confident it will be a confirming score …
@iabooks When I look at the application, I would assume your GC fills out the portion that homeschoolers need the “endorser” for. For us, it has to be someone other than a relative who can attest to their academic abilities and recommends them. The form is really more appropriate for the GC, though. I am assuming that your GC fills it out and submits the applications similarly to our endorser.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Thanks. The Finalize button was supposed to send the OSA link to a school administrator (I forget the actual designation used) so that sounds right. I’ll have S login again and double check the instructions this weekend anyway, but we’re probably good.
Is there a way on the NMSF to see if NMCorp has received the qualifying score? My son said he put NMCorp down when he took the Subject tests which supposedly also sends the SAT score.
I think the reason there are so few OOS at UF is because tuition is such a bargain ( ~$6,300 yr - ~$3,000 with Bright Futures) for instate students that they attract a lot of qualified applicants and can be selective. For instate UF is ranked #2 best value by Kiplingers, that is hard to pass up.
At $28,000 a year for OOS tuition UF becomes less attractive to OOS applicants, who, if they have the stats for UF probably have other less expensive options. The other instate schools that are less selective and give OOS waivers plus merit aid have a much higher OOS population. Do not expect merit aid or OOS waivers from UF.
Also, having a holistic admission process means that “selectivity” may value different things than their peer schools, like no SAT II or LORs and they rate 6 factors higher than standardized test scores. OOS applicants that are competitive elsewhere may not be as competitive at UF while Florida public schools are factories for UF applicants.
@youcee, call the NMC and ask them if they received your son’s SAT score and if they qualify for NMF. They will tell you yes or no as to qualifying, although they won’t (or hadn’t in the past) given a definitive score to meet or exceed.
I’m kind of bummed. DS17 sent his SAT and ACT scores to UGA. But the truth is that his GPA is probably not high enough for him to get in… Sure he will apply but most likely he will end up at UA on the Presidential scholarship. So today UGA sent him an email inviting him to scholars day… in part it said.
“invites select high school seniors who may be competitive for admissions to UGA’s nationally recognized Honors Program and possibly eligible for merit scholarship consideration.”
Ugh.
@CaucAsianDad thanks, your explanation makes a lot of sense. I think I will leave that fine school to the in-staters 
I guess with all the EA’s she’s doing if they all come back terrible she can then scramble and do some RDs to other schools. That might be the saner course.
@MichiganGeorgia I think you should give UGA a shot. Is his GPA that bad? He should qualify at least for HOPE, right? I would think a kid who can get the Presidential at UA should be able to do the honors at UGA?
@MichiganGeorgia - I read that UGA email as their saying that, based on the info they have, his acceptance into UGA is assured (or nearly assured, perhaps), and that he is being considered for the honors program and/or merit aid. Why did you find it discouraging?
@MotherOfDragons - He has a 3.53 GPA and yes he will qualify for HOPE. But that GPA is not good enough to be admitted to UGA let alone the Honors college. This is the class of 2016’s Stats:
Middle 50% of All Enrolled First-Year Students: 3.91-4.17
Overall Average of All Enrolled First-Year Students: 3.98
@LoveTheBard - Becuase they only have his test scores not his GPA…
QOTD: Since I asked, I should probably answer. I grew up in a lower middle class town in suburban NJ and applied to Rutgers and a selective LAC. Got into both. Dad then said, we’ll pay up to in-state public costs, the rest is on you. Did I want debt of 40K+ in 1980s dollars? I did not. I had a great time at Rutgers.
My HS had a “college” track and also offered training and certification in various trades - secretarial, cosmetology, carpentry, metalworking, etc. Going to a “four year” college was considered a big deal. Out of state was an exotic choice. I don’t remember taking the PSAT, but I must have, because I got NMF. I think it was presented as just one more standardized test. It never would have occurred to anybody in my school to take the SAT more than once.
@MichiganGeorgia DO you have Naviance? Sometimes it’s easier to see this as a graph and see how it is relative to your school.
Yes given what you are saying I wouldn’t call this either a safety or a match. But he might still have a better chance than you think if he SAT/ACT’s are high assuming the 3.53 is his Weighted GPA. Do you know where the bottom 25% of accepted students looks like? There is a reason the 3.98 is an average, it means some students were admitted with lower GPA’s.
My S17 is in this situation and Naviance is really helpful, since if I went by the type of stats you are looking at I would declare he had zero chance almost anywhere. Many of his match schools, he fits the lower 25% on GPA, but top 7% for SAT. I know they don’t average out but Naviance shows me that for several of these that students from DS’ school were admitted and not reject with his stats.
@curiositycat333 - We don’t have Naviance. I have no idea what the bottom 25% is but because Georgia has the HOPE scholarship most kids stay in state. The best way to get to UGA for kids like him is to go some where else and then transfer in. I doubt he will go that route though. I think he will stay at whatever college he starts at.
I’d put it on his reach list and try and try and temper his enthusiasm. I don’t know his entire package, but it doesn’t sounds like an impossible reach to me.
It’s frustrating when schools send out notices like your son’s based on only partial stats. (We still get U of Chicago mailings.) I think this is happens a lot because of the college rankings game. US New and world reports considers low yield and important plot point. And in order to get good yield they need to encourage even more kids to apply, so they can reject more.
QOTD: I applied to three schools, all Big Ten, one state flagship and two nearby state flagships. (I wanted a music degree, and my parents told me that I had to go to a “real university.”) But I really only wanted to go to one of them, out of state.
In hindsight, I had no idea what I was doing, and remember filling out my apps with a ball-point pen (didn’t we all?), hoping not to make a mistake. I only visited one of them, but got in and loved my four years there.