My kid seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum – doesn’t much care where the schools are. Near, far, whatever. She’s planning on a LAC and there aren’t a lot that meet our criteria and are close to home. I’m insisting she keep one safety on the west coast even though she’s not that enthusiastic about the school, mostly as a location safety. If she doesn’t get good merit at one of the two matches on the coast and gets cold feet about going thousands of miles away, I’d like to keep that option.
Good plan. I couldn’t get S15 to seriously consider a local school but he still applied to have it as an option. He wanted snow. He is a 1000 miles away in Philly and loving it. Especially the snow. Go figure.
D has emotionally committed to a school (safety/low reach) 1600 miles away. She has been daydreaming and planning for months. Yet she is still insisting on applying to the local flagship, “just in case.” Smart. You never know.
WashU grad here. I know they use wustl for email addresses and such, but I’ve never heard anyone try to verbally pronounce that. That would be a mouthful! It is weird that they would give the school that name when it’s not in WA state or in DC, but I can tell if I’m talking to someone who knows about colleges by whether or not I have to add “it’s in St. Louis” whenever i tell them I went to “Washington University.”
@Astro77 Fingers and Toes crossed for tomorrow’s ACT lol! My D’s #1 choice is University of Pittsburgh…while I think she is a solid candidate for acceptance; Merit $ is very tough to attain and we’re out of state so she really needs to get her test scores up. Beyond that she has a few other low reaches Boston U and Northeastern (my guess is they will be priced out for us). Her safety schools are Rutgers (we are NJ residents) and UDel (her dad and I are legacy); both offer an excellent education. She is all over the map with majors the only thing she knows for sure is she will double major in a foreign language (either Russian or German) and then either Economics or a Science. She’s my younger child and honestly, this was SO much easier with my older one!
@NamePoster which Philly school does your S attend? I’m thinking my D should look at either Drexel or Temple (or both). So many great schools in the Philly area. Upenn…Swat…Haverford…Nova!!!
@AmyBeth68 Yeah, there are certainly a lot of options! He is attending Temple, majoring in Actuarial Science. They had guaranteed merit aid when he applied and that was really what made it feasible for OOS. I think there’s still decent merit money but it’s competitive last I checked. S18 has put Upenn on his short list since his brother will be close. We may have some sibling rivalry 
I am confused, isn’t Drexel or U penn more expensive than Pitt or Temple OOS ($40,000)?
Or is need based aid figured in?
@mommdc I can speak only to Pitt with any sort of confidence…Pitt is ~$45,000 OOS for cost of attendance which makes it “reasonable” in the world of college tuition but we’d still need to obtain some kind of merit aid. In order for to have a shot at Merit though she’ll need to hit a 33 minimum on this ACT :(. Drexel and Temple both used to offer excellent merit aid but since she hasn’t seriously looked at them I’m not sure what they offer and how competitive it would be.
ACT is over! She finished everything but one math question, dangit. Oh well.
Did anyone else get subjected to a “practice” section from the ACT? From what I could tell, these might be questions the ACT might put on future tests. Everyone got a different subject area, about 15-20 questions each. Hers was science.
Good luck, everyone!
Fox business school at Temple is $34k tuition for OOS. S15 had the GPA and test scores to get automatic full tuition, which is how it became an affordable option for us. Temple has since changed the automatic presidents to be competitive. They spent too much apparently on the automatic full tuition program. We would need to rely on UPenn for need but as with most elites, they meet 100% need without loans, since they don’t do merit. We wouldn’t be fully covered by need, but it would likely get us into the range of affordable. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
This morning on the way to ACT test DD’18 told me she plans on taking both ACT and SAT for a 3rd sitting in August/Sept, I so wanted to be done after last weekend and this weekend. She was not happy with the SAT score that came out this week I guess. Still am not sure why it is going to take so long to get last weekend’s SAT score back. If ACT can do it in 10 day there is no reason SAT can’t turn it around faster IMO.
DD18 was just named Varsity cheer co-captain on Friday. She is thrilled to have a leadership position to list on her college applications!
We need to decide which schools to apply to early decision and which regular. DD’16 applied to most , if not all if I recall, early decision and was accepted no issues. But I was just reading one of the schools DD’18 is applying to does not take into consideration anything other than GPA and test score if applying early decision, so if you think you want them to consider ECs, essay, recs you should apply regular. (It is a school where DD is closer to the 25th% than the 75th%) Both DDs have similar GPA and test scores so I am wondering if we should rethink some of the applications deadlines. DD’18 is not applying to any of the same schools as her sister. I am not sure why I am questioning the applications strategy this go around?! At any rate she will be done by Nov 1, it’s just a matter of marking what category she wants to be considered it.
I am extremely worried about the number of applications that DD’18 has that are independent. (not Common Ap) and the guidance counselor getting things sent properly. She seems rather clueless. The one app the DD’16 had that was independant never did get the paper work sent correctly despite DD following up multiple times. Eventually DD just gave up and let the app die (good thing it was not a school she was seriously interested in).
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/getting-scores
Old SAT used to be about 3 weeks. I think next year (starting in October) the scores are supposed to come back faster.
OK. Rookie parent question here. How do counselor recommendations work these days? If our student gets a letter of recommendation and it needs to go to 9 schools, does it somehow go electronically? Do we give envelopes that are stamped and addressed for each school (like in my day)? The schools are not all common app. Some are independent applications, some common, and some coalition.
Thanks! Just trying to figure this out before S18 asks next week.
I’m also a rookie, but our school has a form the kids are supposed to fill out that lists all the schools, which app they use, and due dates. I believe that drives how all the school documents (transcripts, school report, counselor report, LOR) get there.
So really, I think you have to ask. Either the school has a process (apparently the process our large public has is only a few years old) or you have have to manage it yourself.
Didn’t win the Powerball last night (didn’t even get one number on five plays!). Guess D18 will still need to go to college 
I’m sure everyone has posted this prior but curious where your kids are planning to apply? My daughter has recently made a huge decision to not apply to the Coast Guard Academy which was her #1 for a long time. Reasons are varied but her desire to double major in a foreign language is the primary reason and CGA doesn’t allow that . So now it’s Pitt, Rutgers, UDel, Boston U, Arizona State and Northeastern. She’s being recruited at a few small LACs for field hockey but I don’t think that’s going to be her path. We need these ACTs to bump upward. She’s at 31 currently. Her other stats and ECs are great though. She felt the math was tough on yesterday’s ACT. Had to guess on 4 questions. 
My daughter is focused on small liberal arts schools. There are more than 20 on the list right now, and she is working on making some cuts, to get it down in the range of 8-10. Top contenders are Bryn Mawr, Grinnell, Lawrence University, Occidental, Whitman.
DS18 will likely only apply to UT Dallas (likely NMF) and be one and done, we are not the typical CC family. DD16 only applied to OU (NMF) and was one and done and I expect DS20 will follow the same path. DS18 was finished with testing in Oct, SAT 1590 single sitting so no need to take the ACT. I’m so glad he got testing done early so he didn’t have to worry about it any more, I can’t imagine the stress of test prep plus APs and finals and end of year stuff.
My D has been shrugging her shoulders when asked about schools she’ll apply to, but the obvious ones being here in CA, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, UCSB, UCD, USC, etc. but the OOS schools becomes the issue. As a family, we’re not much for cold weather. :))
So, the OOS list is a huge question mark. Possibly a few Ivies, maybe ND and Tufts, and she’s not feeling the South at all. I just can’t see UMichgan and UWisconsin. Great schools, but cold. Yes, ND is cold. But it’s ND. Oregon, Washington and Colorado are also possibilities, not as cold and in the West. We’re all over the map. And I’d like her to take a look at smaller LAC’s, like the “Pomona 5”, but she really wants a D1 sports program to root for.