@LMHS73 if you go to Parents Forum, it should show a bunch of Parents of “year” threads.
My kid is struggling a bit in Calculus and I’m strongly suggesting she restart it at the beginning in college. I’m also suggesting she not bother taking the AP test at all. She goes to an IB school and this is the only AP. She’s unlikely to score high enough for credit anyway, she’s planning to retake it anyway, and she gets super stressed about testing. Why add that extra stress and cost after the 2 solid weeks of IB testing?
It will give a smoother intro into college to take a class where everything is familiar. I don’t think she will be bored because it is not really coming naturally to her this year.
Not on the 2021 page as much, but I’m following there. D21 MUCH different than S18, will be an interesting journey. For now, still focusing most mental energy here.
Tomorrow is DD2018’s last time cheering at a football game/pep rally…
@LMHS73 thank you, loved your post!
@VikkiG5 @bearcatfan I’m in it with you for 3 more years as well with S21. I’m secretly happy that thread is slow right now. I can barely keep up with this one much less two! #-o
Just got S18’s Q1 report card, 4.0U (3 AP, 1 dual enrollment, rest H). Nice upward trend. Now to get it reported
@suzy100 - I just did that, too; looked at the results thread. That was depressing.
My son did not want to take Calc at all but I convinced him, in part by suggesting it may get him out of any math in college.
How much of a role do you think the admission reps really have in decision making?
@mommdc - WOW - Thanks!!! Lot’s of new stuff to read! All this time & I never knew that Parent Forum existed!!
@amominaz I’d guess that depends on the school and on the rep. A very experienced rep at a school that is fully holistic in its admissions would probably have a lot of sway when arguing for or against admitting particular students. An inexperienced rep at a school with more formulaic admissions probably would have little or no influence. And anything in between.
@3scoutsmom sorry, I’m with @LMHS73 on the McDermott video sharing. S purposely made his video private so that strangers on the internet couldn’t view it; he’d be mortified if I shared it with anyone outside the immediate family.
Re whether to retake calc in college, all incoming freshmen at UTD are required to take something called the ALEKS test for math placement. Regardless of AP credit status, the student has to score at certain thresholds to be placed in the different math courses. I suppose if S knocks it out of the park on his first attempt (UTD allows five tries) I might be less insistent on his retaking intro calc. We’ll see when the time comes I guess. I just want to make sure he’s set up for success in math.
@labegg Another last for us also. It will be the last time we will watch S18 play football. On top of that it is Senior night so I except a lot of tears. He will walk out on that field as a Captain and know that it will be the last time he will play under the lights of Friday night. We will close the door on this aspect of his life something he has done since 3rd grade. A bittersweet moment for sure.
What are your thoughts about smaller, more local scholarships?
At first I was in the camp of “everything helps.” Then I started hearing that some schools do not stack any extra scholarships and displace their own financial aid. We are talking a couple grand, total, with some that are renewable. And some require an application process and the dreaded essay.
The first one is coming due December 1 for $2,000 that is renewable. Several more possible applications follow. I guess if she won all of them (not likely) we’d be talking maybe $5,000.
Any thoughts?
@bearcatfan My kids will most likely attend public instate colleges that don’t meet need. They will not qualify for Pell, but a state grant. There will still be a gap between EFC and COA-aid.
So any outside scholarships help. They might reduce subsidized loans, but free is better than a loan.
My D applied to a few local scholarships, but there weren’t a lot for her major, and some had a lot of competition or depended on need. She got a few thousand $. It helped. They were not renewable, just for the first year.
My son will need to apply to the local scholarships for teaching majors. Usually there aren’t a lot of students applying for these and our EFC is lower with 2 in school, so he has a good chance. Anything he gets will reduce the first year loan.
If a school meets full need and then you get an outside scholarship, then they might be able to reduce loans, federal work study, and/or student self help first before reducing grant aid.
Either way, you don’t lose out. You get the same total aid and maybe the grant aid the college doesn’t give you that year, they will give another student.
You might also be able to ask the college to increase the COA for the first year, to allow for the student to buy a computer.
Most private schools are somewhere in-between gapping you (the only aid you get is federal/state aid, merit and loans), and meeting full need. That means they give you some institutional grants.
So you need to see the policy of that school regarding outside scholarships.
But since need is COA-EFC-all aid, there should be some room in the COA (those estimated travel, book and personal expense estimates) to offset some small outside scholarships before grant aid might be affected.
I had a mom bring up the “outside scholarships” can hurt you in the long run idea. I just couldn’t understand why at all. I’ve read a little bit now and I guess I kind of get it, but if you aren’t going to qualify for need based aid don’t see how it hurts. I doubt we will get any aid at all so I think outside scholarships can only help us.
@mommdc VERY true statement “So you need to see the policy of that school regarding outside scholarships.”
One of my D school specifically said outside scholarship reduce what they give and doesn’t reduce what the parents are expected to pay. The other one said it reduces the amount the parents pay up to a certain amount. Like if it was a few thousand they would use it for the parents pay. But if it was a larger amount they might take away a grant.
Things are still miserable here, looking at Cs and Ds first quarter.
But we’re faced with deciding in the next few hours whether he goes on a college tour at a place that he has a low chance of admission to, and it is 5 hours each way to get there.
So do I bring out the “I’m the parent, we’re not going” guns? To be honest, I feel like if he did manage to get in, because of course he is planning for As and Bs next quarter, it’s so far, and he’s on the autism spectrum so it seems kind of nonsensical to be so far away.
Any thoughts? Can anyone talk us down from the ledge?