Here’s a question some of you may have dealt with in the past …
One college told us that her housing lottery number/selection is based on when she puts down a housing deposit (refundable). Another one told us that is illegal because it is a form of financial discrimination (ie not everyone can throw hundreds of dollars around). That same college’s tour guide said it is based on when they put down the housing deposit, lol.
Can anyone clear this up? Is it up to the colleges? FWIW, both colleges in question were private. I would have no problem putting a refundable housing deposit down, as long as it somehow doesn’t commit us to the college forever.
@3scoutsmom, I think they’ve updated the packing list to include an umbrella, but if not make sure your S has one. Or a rain poncho that can go over him while he’s wearing his backpack. I don’t think the list mentioned a water bottle (either that or S and I both overlooked it); I ended up sending S a care package and included one because he didn’t bring one initially. S spent about $100 but a lot of that was due to eating lunch at the food court with his food-allergic friend instead of eating the lunch provided by the camp. For bedding, we went low-volume with just a mattress protector, sheets, one pillow and a couple of fleece blankets.
They used the rec center, student union and lounges a lot, and there are a lot of board games and movies available. If your S has a particular board game or card game he likes, he will surely find others to play with him so he might consider bringing it.
Hope your S has a great time! Feel free to PM me with any other questions.
@3scoutsmom I love that list!! It will be so fun to watch it grow. A month ago I would have added my D’s choice to that list, but now she’s all over the place. :-?? There’s a lot of flip-flopping to do yet before decision time, I suspect.
@DiotimaDM I’m so glad road rash is the worst of your injuries. I slipped on an icy sidewalk this winter and BROKE MY LEG. Keep taking those calcium supplements.
D leaves tomorrow morning for Montreal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this confident and happy. :x Softens the blow of having to put her on a plane by herself.
@ChattaChiahi welcome! That is a diverse list of schools, all a good choice!
I see that you are from TN. Eastern Tennessee State University has recently popped on to our radar for their undergrad degree in Psychology that allows a concentration in behavioral neuroscience, which is unusual at the undergrad level. Can you tell me anything about the school’s general reputation?
All of you with kids working on apps and submitting…how are they tackling (if necessary) the what is your senior schedule question? DD will not see her actually schedule until Mid August and who know if she will get the classes she requested.
DD has started her U South Carolina app yesterday and is also working on her apply Texas app. Both want her to list her senior courses. She’d like to get these apps in now but do y’all think it is better to wait until after mid August too see what the actual schedule is or to go ahead and submit apps and update if there is a discrepancy between her anticipated classes and the actual classes?
Aww, thanks for the good wishes on the boo boos. Hubs got me a milkshake and I took it easy for the evening.
There’s a slightly edgy sense of humor in this family, so there were many jokes about “aww, you fall down go boom,” getting me a helmet and saying that next time I should have unloaded the pillows first… and strapped them to myself.
I said I wanted my helmet to be pink and purple with a unicorn horn, glitter and a flowing mane!
Happy Saturday! We are on the road to Alabama. DS is taking the engineering camp at Alabama next week. He got the app submitted yesterday. I echo @my2caligirls - the Bama app is weirdly easy!
He checked AP scores on the road this morning. Happy to report he banked 9 hours of credit with either of his top 2 choices!
For folks with kids on the border of NMF status, can I assume there is no problem with early applications, as they can be updated with NMF status in ~September?
I ask only because I have seen elsewhere the recommendation to wait … which doesn’t make one bit of sense to me.
Can I vent for a second? My DDs school decided to switch from tried-and-true Naviance to what seems to be a barely-ready-for-Prime-Time Scoir this year. To make matters worse, Scoir seems to have a bug that doesn’t let parents see the Analysis Heat Map: the thing that tells you if your kid’s scores + grades + school are a reach/match/safety based on the data from previous students. THIS IS WHAT IS VALUABLE ABOUT THIS APP and to not have access to this data in the summer before Senior year is really unacceptable. Rant over. ~X(
Re: applying before NMF status - I don’t think it makes sense to wait. Having the acceptance in hand means you can apply for housing, apply for the Honors College, put down any advantageous deposits, etc.
We will update if S makes NMSF, and then again if he makes NMF. The scholarships won’t come until spring, but we wanted the application process done and off everyone’s plate until then.
S’s AOs both know that he’s a likely NMF, and we know we have to wait several months before everything’s official. It’s all good as far as we’re concerned.
@labegg since it doesn’t have engineering, it hasn’t been on our radar. I know a few kids who are going there. I think it attracts artsy kids. I know a boy who is a good musician and My son said he knows a few from school that plan to attend there. A lot of kids in TN stay in state. The most popular school is UTK. I don’t know how selective ETSU is, my guess is not too bad.
Second @DiotimaDM re waiting for NMSF designation. At schools where NMF scholarships are automatic (Alabama, OU, UTD etc) everything can be updated in February when NMF decisions are made. For students who are auto admit, waiting for NMSF is unnecessary.
My thinking for S is to have him complete the UTD app next week, and then I might follow up with an email to the person in the UTD NM department who helped us just to let her know he’s set on UTD and that he’s likely NMSF. Or I might just wait until S finds out if he made NMSF, and email the contact then.
I suppose I can see where waiting might make sense for highly selective schools, but yeah, for the auto-admits? Git 'er done!
S was sitting in a recliner just now letting it sink in that this whole college thing is done, and that he’ll probably have his acceptances before school starts. He also has a really light schedule next year because he’s already taken everything but Gov and one English class. He had a lot of senior classes last year, so he knows that the seniors were angsty for months over testing and college apps.
He joked that he’s going to walk onto campus on the first day of school wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, a leopard-print vest, sunglasses and booming Twist & Shout a la Ferris Bueller from today’s equivalent of a boom box (namely bluetooth speakers that attach to his cell phone).
@3scoutsmom I love lists, but my S isn’t ready to fully commit to OU yet! He’s got a bunch of other competitive merit plans as well. So he may wind up at OU, but we’re still in the hunt for now.
