@snoozn - I hope you realized that the CA is 650 - not 750 - words! (Not something you want to figure out when trying to submit!). We just had our own little scare when we realized that one of D/17s schools has an additional 500 word supplement we didn’t know about!
@WhereIsMyKindle and @Mom2aphysicsgeek,
I have a question for the guidance counselor in you. Do you upload the transcript and school profile into the Common App only once and all colleges can access or do you have to upload it separately for every single college?
We have a new GC who did not have an answer to this question. Thanks a lot!
@Ghibelline2017 The counselor information, all of it including the transcript/profile/counselor recommendation, is uploaded once by the counselor.
@LoveTheBard, oh my, no we didn’t realize that! One of us (probably me) must have mis-read the instructions. Our plan was to work on the essay this weekend with H, oldest D and myself providing editing advice. I’ve kept telling her that it’s much easier to lower a word count than to raise it – now I’ll have to prove myself. Thanks for setting me straight just in time!
@thermom, oh well, we will just be patient. D got an email from RIT about their “friendly ED” program. It does sound less intense than some schools’ ED, but I wanted to write back “Why can’t you just do EA? It’s very friendly!”
I keep meaning to ask – am I right in assuming your avatar is a cute l’il napping Cthulhu? Will he be awakened to seek vengeance on any school that rejects your D? >:)
@NerdMom88 Here is another list take it for what it is worth. Lots of opportunities at some great schools and with those stats you would get money.
Rank School
1 MIT
2 Georgia Tech
3 Michigan
4 Purdue
5 Stanford
6 Cal Tecn
7 Illinois
8 Maryland
8 Texas
10 Princeton
11 Texas A&M
12 Colorado
13 Cal- Berkeley
14 Virginia Tech
15 Washington
16 Embry-Riddle
16 Penn State
Not sure I agree with the assessment that Embry-Riddle is generous with merit. It was in my case, but it took a lot of personal connections, convincing professors & chairs that I could do valuable things, and handwaving at financial aid and the administration. And many essays that probably amounted to the length of a small thesis.
- all the standard high test scores/many APs/national level awards/etc.
So… be warned. Riddle’s automatic merit is not very generous. Riddle’s pull-some-strings merit IS.
Um, no… @NCComputerNerd - No merit - just financial aid - no matter how high the stats at many of those schools, including MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, Princeton, UC Berkeley. So, taking the list for what it’s worth should be just that. Gotta do the research.
@snoozn My avatar is indeed a cute l’il napping Cthulhu - who will arise upon command and wreak havoc and ruin on any institution foolish enough to deny D17 admission. >:)
@NCComputerNerd …chiming in late after a long day at work and I’m looking at your list.
Is that a list for Merit Aid?
A&M - yes, if your are a NMF.
UT-are you referring to the 40 Acres scholarsip?
@LoveTheBard Sorry it is a valid list and yes I did the research. Never said merit aid or not just a list of top Aerospace schools. Those area all schools that also offer PhD.'s in aerospace engineering. I did leave off Air Force Academy which is free if you can get an appointment.
@carachel2 No did not look at Merit aid just a flat ranking. I know UCF has a good program and seems to love to give financial aid to top students. I would bet with a ACT of 36 @nerdmom88 daughter could get some money which would give her OOS tuition relief at Texas A&M. Virginia Tech, Maryland give decent Aid at least to kids from my daughter’s school and again are very good engineering programs.
Mainly just trying to list top programs since you already is considering MIT and Princeton.
@IABooks I don’t think ds has application remorse but I second guess everything once the submit button has been pressed. Can’t help it but I am keeping it to myself!
@STEM2017 yup we will be torturing ourselves with the Coalition App for UF as well but we keep putting it off and doing other applications first. Hmmm maybe it’ll drop off in the end… but I doubt it.
Ds has 3 applications submitted, but nothing sent from his school so far. Grrrrr! Sooooo frustrating. Mom is going to have to play bad cop soon if they don’t get moving. People are shocked when they ask him if he’s started looking into where he might like to go to school and he answers with “Yes. I’ve applied to 3 schools and hope to have 2 more applications sent this week”. It’s funny to see their reactions.
I tried that Coalition App but abandoned it quickly - too many glitches and seemed very inefficient. Not ready for prime time. Not sure why any college would make it exclusive. I feel for those having to work with it - but we’ll do anything to help our kids so I know you’ll soldier on!
Our progress this week:
D has written 2 minor essays and has edited her Common App essay.
I have written and edited (and edited) the school profile. (Remember: homeschooler)
I have sent ACT scores to 4 schools.
We have spent an inordinate amount of time on Google Earth exploring IU-B and OkU :))
@WhereIsMyKindle LOVE Google earth for visiting campuses!
It’s usually my second stop right after the CDS and right before Naviance. 
On UCF (which does have a decent Aero space program and a great location), OOS tuition and fees is about $22.5K a year. The Knights Achievement Award (OOS scholarship) paid out $11K a year ($44K total over 4 years) last year.
UCF does a great job with in-state merit (combine with that $6.5K a year standard tuition rate), but is only so so for out of state. However, it’s not too hard to get the Knights.
USF, which engineering program is on par with UCF but doesn’t have an Aero Space program, is better with OOS merit aid. OOS tuition and fees is only $17.3K a year. Then the OOS scholarships offer is better, and they have several that are stackable.
http://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshman/admissions-scholarships/nonflorida.aspx
The top OOS scholarship is $12K a year. NMSF and Hispanic NMSF can add another $5K a year. Then you can stack the honor’s scholarship ($500 a year, $2K total)…and then they have a few more stackable scholarships…
@NCComputerNerd - When you say “…and with those stats you would get money,” the implication is merit. At least that’s what (and apparently others)I took it to mean. I don’t doubt that they’re great for aerospace engineering, but I wouldn’t go to the schools I mentioned expecting $$ unless you’ve got demonstrated need.
I don’t think reach schools and guaranteed merit go together. Safety schools go with guaranteed merit. Still with a 36 ACT, she probably shouldn’t give up on reach schools with even reachier merit like GT.
Stanford makes it onto a lot of aerospace engineering lists, but they don’t have an undergrad AE degree.
I finally feel like S made some progress on applications yesterday! He has a draft of his common app essay, he finished a resume, lined up teachers for recommendations, and did most of the common app except for the essays. So I think he will get some applications submitted in September, which seemed unlikely a few weeks ago.
He also applied for 2 diversity weekends that schools invited him to. I am not sure why he is being invited to diversity weekends, since as a white, upper middle class male interested in engineering he is about as non-diverse as it gets. So he isn’t expecting to actually get accepted to these weekends, but he figured applying shows interest.