Woo hoo @Collegecue <:-P
And @BigPapiofthree !!!
I have been reading here actively but not posting too much… Work has been insane, we have been squeezing in college visits, and trying to start the school year while juggling the college search. I am impressed with those of you that can keep up with the posts and posting.
I jumped back in to add D17 name to the UA list. D is so excited and I imagine UA will be her college home. She has another acceptance already but UA is on top - not just for the money. UA started as a “good deal” but after visiting and reading more it is now #1. As a result, she has really lost interest in any more applications - although we are encouraging her to apply to a few more just in case she feels that it is too big/too far/too much come the spring. She is now fighting us and has taken all other safeties and matches off of her list. She has a few high reaches that she is throwing out there just for fun – to see if she could get in – but she also knows that the $ would make those highly desirable schools out of reach for us. She has said even if she gets in, she will still go to UA over Princeton and UPenn (both on her “dream” list but so unlikely to get in) because of the value that it offers.
She struggled with her UA housing roommate search form - and now that I am reading so many people talking about it on here, I feel like I should ask her what she ended up writing (I was a work and didn’t see it). She was surprised that there were so many questions about music preferences but no questions about books, hobbies, activities, quirks, study habits, etc… She struggled to say that she was messy – even though she is not a slob she also is not overly concerned about neatness and she messaged me to ask me what to put- I think she was surprised about having to fill things out about herself right then and had not given it much thought – now that they are “public” and others are reading/judging her responses I wonder if she will want to put more thought in.
@stem2017 - Sometimes all the kids need to do is take the test more than once. Then they know what to expect.
Also I don’t know if your son applied to Ole Miss but I think as long as you take the test before you enroll you get that scholarship tier. It doesn’t have the deadline like UA does.
@MichiganGeorgia Ole Miss app is in and complete. Just waiting for an answer and pushing him to write the Honors essays. If he can just inch his ACT up a point or two, Ole Miss and UA become real options. He’s sitting for the ACT again this month. I’ll be organizing a candle light vigil the day before.
@RightCoaster said
It depends on the schools. Some have rolling, some have an exact decision date. If you look up the schools your son is applying to you can find out. Also you can search through CC from last years thread of that school and you can see when they released their decisions. My D16 applied EA to UVA and the decision said January 31st but it came out before then. Sometimes you can see a trend of when they will release decisions.
thanks @longwood and @greeny8 for the info. I’ll have to do a bit of research.
@STEM2017 I’m holding out hope for your son and his ACT score. My son somehow pulled it out at on his very last attempt. He wasn’t stressed out about it, and I think that might have helped. He also reviewed the section that caused him an issue on his 2 other attempts, science. He went from a 24 or 25 to a 31. That really helped him.
I think your son is going to get it done!! Viva la scholarships!!
roommate matching When D14 filled out her roommate selection (not at UA), she also said she was not planning to rush or be in the Greek system. All of her initial matches were girls who were planning to rush. We realized just using the words “rush” and “Greek” was causing a keyword match, despite the surrounding “not” and “no.” She rewrote her bio to not use those words and got a different selection pool. I haven’t seen UA’s screens so I don’t know if it’s just a checkbox or free text, but something to keep in mind.
Bama kids S was behind many here and is just getting his UA app finalized, so no acceptance yet. We haven’t visited, but it is high on our list as well.
new question Has anyone looked deeply into comparing Auburn to Bama? Auburn seems like it could be a fit for S if Bama is and maybe better in some ways, although at the moment S is flatly refusing to add another app to his list.
status update One app essay and two scholarship apps to complete and he will have all his apps in for his initial list. 3 acceptances and several scholarship notifications have arrived, and I imagine at least 2 more acceptances will be coming soon. Then we are planning a break for SAT review, a deep breath and possibly a couple of campus visits before we start to figure out which honors programs he’s really interested in. Essay fatigue is setting in and we decided it was pointless to fill out an honors app for every single school – better to narrow it down based on merit aid and campus visits first. I still need to draw up a timeline to ensure we still get the honors apps he really wants in on time. Any spreadsheet lovers interested in making me one? ;))
Thank you @RightCoaster
Somewhere up thread someone was asking about the benefit of filling out FAFSA early (maybe it was me - can’t remember - LOL). Anyway, got an email today from U Kansas with the following headline…
**
FWIW
@STEM2017 I have this probably totally unfounded fear that the scholarship committee for Ds school of choice would look at her FAFSA and say “nahhh…she’s good, let’s just give her HALF tuition.” :))
I know it is totally silly but I can’t help it!
@carachel2 That is exactly my fear as well. It’s unfounded since it’s “merit aid,” but still. It’s why I hate having to disclose my current employment and education on apps (a couple schools even asked about income). I’m hoping they look at my graduation years and instead think, she must still be paying off a ton of student loans. :))
@carachel2 Not silly at all. I think your fear is a valid one. Let’s be real, these decisions are made by committee members who sit at round tables and pontificate over the merits of every dollar given and every yes or no answer. The formulas and algorithms are used in the first round, then the pile of apps goes to the committee.
JMCO (Just My Cynical Opinion)
Ok glad no one thinks I’m crazy.
We will be late filler outers of the FAFSA.
@novicemom23kids I was out of town yesterday when D filled her profile out. She had me on the phone while I was sitting in the airport in another country:) She struggles about the messy thing too! She is more of a messy clean freak. I pity her roommate:)
@STEM2017 Regarding the ACT essay - for both the ACT and the SAT, I googled “how to get a perfect score on X essay” and was directed to tutorials posted by well known test prep companies that cannot be named here. The guides were extremely helpful in terms of writing to the rubric for each format. This does not necessarily correspond to good writing, IMO, but I had my daughter do a few practice essays according to those guidelines, and I think it helped a great deal. Her ACT essay score was within striking distance of her composite score.
@mamaedefamilia He needs to get his Reading score up by 4 or 5 points, everything else up by 2 points. He’s working on it…kind of.
We’re not worried about his Writing score - I think most school are trashing them anyway.
^ Sorry, for some reason I thought it was the writing, not the reading section that needed the most work. FWIW, the on-line prep offered by ACT was helpful for targeted study in specific areas. Worth the fee.
@STEM2017 This link describes what I have done with my kids to help bring up their reading scores (slow reading speed was their main issue, not comprehension or being able to answer the questions. They would just run out of time.) http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19252759/#Comment_19252759
@VickiSoCal I know many kids attending or who attended CSUF and really liked it. The only reason S17 isn’t applying is because he won’t apply ANYWHERE is S. Calif.
@RightCoaster You will have to check with the other schools. Many schools are not rolling and you won’t be hearing until March. Particularly the lottery schools, they like to send out decisions all at once. My son will only hear before March for more than 1/2 his schools. This is one reason I’m not stressing about the fact that S17 still has not applications submitted.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
Question what is “local directional” college? We don’t use that term here in CA? Is that similar to a community college?