Just spoke with S’18 this evening. And while he is fully engaged in his summer program, he has started looking at applications on his phone and started texting short essay ideas. That’s all he has time for, but I’m glad he’s making an effort and that it was his idea.
Unless cutoffs change dramatically, S’18 is likely to be a NMSF. That said, he won’t be applying to the big NMF scholarship schools ('Bama, OU, etc.) because he figures that if he;s going to go to a large state school, he would rather be a Gator or a Seminole. His remaining schools are all midsize financial reaches (and no guarantees of acceptance) and will come down to merit, primarily. So odds are very low for those schools and very high for the Florida schools. But he does plan to make the effort to reach.
DD received her first acceptance today! SFA…so at least she is going to college for sure! <:-P
It was a cute little card with sparkly purple confetti inside…clearly they know the way to a cheerleaders heart is with glitter! Seriously though it was a nice touch.
Re: glitter - S’s UNM acceptance didn’t have glitter, exactly, but there was some judicious use of red gilt and embossing (Congratulations!) on the outer envelope.
@Pri930 - DD will be using the Coalition App for U of Washington Seattle.
We are still getting 3-4 mailings a day. I like to look at them, DD not so much. Today it was Furman, U of Rochester and Iowa State. Iowa State has been campaigning hard something from them every other day it seems. In the email today was University of Tennessee, Texas Tech, and Texas State.
Not really going to play the odds game, I am not much of a gambler. and after DD’16 application cycle, I really have no clue what the Ad Coms are looking for… she was accepted places where she statistically should not have been.
DD’18 says 100% to U of Washington - Seattle (I would rate actual chances of getting accepted at 7%). I bet 65% TAMU, if she is accepted (chance of getting accepted <5%).
DD’16 said 100% to Pitt when she was accepted in late September, but when it came time to commit, 6 months later, Pitt was not longer a contender.There are far, far too many things in play. The mind of a 17 y/o girl is frighteningly fickle and experience has shown me that they do a lot of growing and changing from September 1 - May 1 of senior year.
I couldn’t begin to guess where DD will actually end up. She’s been talking a lot about Grinnell recently, and Bryn Mawr is a favorite. Next week she is visiting Whitman and Puget Sound, so those may go up or down in odds.
@daffodilpetunia VERY good question. We love Bryn Mawr and it’s the only school in her top 6 that she can play Field Hockey AND she has a great relationship w/ the coach and is currently being recruited. However, I was contacted publicly and privately by a parent saying merit was unceremoniously pulled after freshman year so I’m super wary. Beyond that the coach told us the chance of merit aid is very very minimal and to not count on it. So we are being very realistic. I would think that if they are granted merit with a guarantee of 4 years as long as you meet criteria, it’s safe. However, not going to say we’re feeling super comfy with the financial situation. Beyond that my D18 is feeling better about larger universities at the moment so it all might be a moot point for us. I wouldn’t count it out…I’m just not sure what their deal is for sure.
@MACmiracle I love your D’s schools honestly. I know kids doing phenomenal things at all 3 of the top schools you mentioned. I personally adore TCNJ…I wish they had my daughter’s program :(. What is she planning to study? My older D15 looked at E-Town as well. Is she studying music by any chance?
I have to say that Stanford is the one school that terrifies me to my core. I hope and pray that ds does not apply, he has a good shot at getting accepted but ZERO chance that we could afford it AND his GF will be attending in the Fall. He says he understands the monetary limitations but there’s that hormonal issue and he really wants to be with his GF…
@3scoutsmom although,my DD swears that she would not make a decision based on her BF (a 2017 grad who is attending a local university), my odds on TAMU are higher than I would normally place them, precisely because of hormones too!
@AmyBeth68 She wants to study neuroscience but she has to be flexible because it’s very hard to find in our price range.
I would love for her to go to TCNJ. She hasn’t visited yet. She would have to apply as a psych major and study biopsychology. That’s the closest she could get to neuroscience there. At least psych will give her a solid shot at admission, even though she’s much rather be in a biology or biochem department. I’ve read that the admit rate for bio at TCNJ can be around 10%.
I just really like Etown because my oldest got a phenomenal education there. D would have to study biochem with a cognitive science minor. She would get their top merit and could audition for a music scholarship to make it more affordable. And then there’s the scholarship that would need a miracle.
She really likes Stockton. They graduate 20% of the science majors in NJ, but it have an intense vibe at all. It’s in the woods, and the freshman dorm area feels like a summer camp. Stockton also doesn’t offer a neuroscience major; only a minor.
She’s be happy at Rowan, too, and I’d be happy if she were in their honors program.
Really, I think we could stop here and she’d be fine. But I think she wants the TLC at LVC. She could double major in neuroscience and actuarial since and have to option to get a job directly after graduation. Lol.
Lastly, St. Vincent will be offering a new competitive STEM scholarship program this year that includes a lot of nurturing and support. I was going to suggest taking SVC off the list if D didn’t object, but once I learned about the new scholarship program, I reconsidered.
I’m so impressed that some of your kids already have acceptances in hand, and many others are well on their way with applications. My D is working a full time job And a part time job as well as working on her community service project, so I’ve barely seen her this month. She’s planning on taking a week off before school starts to work on her apps. But, we still have several schools to visit, so her list is far from complete. And I think she’s on the bubble for NMSF, so that could impact things too. I miss the days when my D wasn’t so busy and we could talk more!
And thanks everyone who responded about the mailings. I can’t figure out why they’ve slowed down so much. She’s done well on her testing, so go figure.
@mommdc Yes, leadership, and perseverance, in the sense of overcoming a challenge of some kind.
Buffalo and Cleveland are too urban for her…unless something happens to make environment less important than studying what she really wants.
Allegheny’s NPC was very close to Ursinus’ result but I’d have to add in health insurance and travel expenses, and travel seems a little tough, which she wants to avoid. However, I think it would give the best prep for grad school. So I keep thinking about it anyway.
UToledo’s NPC was great but there you’d also have to major in bio with a neuroscience concentration, which she could do at Rowan much more easily with a comparable result.
Muhlenberg’s NPC was not as bad as many other CSS Profile Schools, but costs are higher and scholarships probably less than the others on our list. However, if D were to tell me she loves Muhlenberg, I might call them to go over finances.
Our finances leave us in a stinky pickle. Our income alone is low enough to give D great FA, but due to living overseas for so long we never put our savings into protected retirement accounts and that has totally mucked everything up. I have two younger kids and a retirement to plan for, and it doesn’t look good. I just called a CSS profile school this week to ask if there are any provisions for people like us, since they will be able to see the whole picture, and they said no.
She re-took the SATs after doing some prep and her score jumped nicely, even though she really wasn’t feeling good that day. So I know if she has a shot to re-take again, she could move up more. But we’d still be facing the same problem.
She would fit right in with an intellectual community, and it’s very sad that I don’t see that happening.
@MACmiracle please don’t think that those schools don’t provide an intellectual environment.
As long as she is taking science and neuroscience courses she will be academically challenged, I’m sure.
And visit or talk with department heads about research focus and opportunities.
From what I hear that can be found at research universities and LACs alike.
And lastly, a lot of good students have financial restrictions and can be found at non prestigious public schools, get merit and go on to accomplish great things.
The schools you mentioned are fine schools.
An urban school might have an advantage of easier access to hospitals.
Saw the discussion yesterday on Oklahoma doing some trimming to their NMF scholarship. Alabama increased the ACT requirement for their OOS Presidential Scholar and trimmed it so that it is now a bit less than full tuition. What Kentucky is going to do still a mystery but it doesn’t sound good.
Anybody else feel like this is a big trend? That the automatic big merit awards are getting harder and harder to come by, just in time for your kid to come through?
No question it is exposing my sense of entitlement! I am so grateful that we have at least one school (Louisville) that I still expect to be a true guaranteed full ride.
Y’all are right about your kid’s preferences shifting over the next year as they mature, circumstances change etc… My D15’s top choice evolved over a year from UVA-Brown-Fordham-USCal. Applied to her eventual college the last minute before the scholarship deadline. Right now my S18’s top choice in Vandy, but he understands that school is a long shot in many ways.
