I guess I add in all the grad schools (medical/dental/law) and the amounts that my friends have which is easily mostly over 100K, most closer to 200K if not more.
Oh gosh yes, I was just thinking undergrad for some reason. Med school! Yes! 
Soooo excited for the McDermott news for our CC crew. Congratulations!!!
Congratulations to all of the fabulous McDermott news tonight! Wowzers!
@amominaz, I do not know what’s normal/acceptable for med school these days, but I really counsel kids strongly against taking on any law school debt. The market is still not good.
@3scoutsmom WOW! Congratulations!
Wow excited for the McDermott Finalists tonight and fingers, toes crossed for the kids waiting on the next round. This group rocks. So proud of these kids!!!
There aren’t many choices for med school other than going into massive debt. My H went to a military med school, so he owed time serving in the military instead of money. It was the right thing for him to do, but it’s certainly not the best avenue for everyone. I know a 2016 kid, Native American, who could potentially have his tribe help fund med school. Again, he would owe time, serving his tribe as an MD, instead of money. But again, this option is obviously not open to most med school hopefuls.
Private med schools tend to be more expensive than public, but few med school candidates have multiple options. Often you take whatever you can get.
Congrats to the McDermott “Top Tens” and those advancing to the next round. Since we are in radio silence around here, we’re living vicariously though you!
@ShrimpBurrito - my husband went to USC med. When we got married halfway through, I got a job there and then he got 50% off tuition. That was a HUGE help. Of course after that my husband said “darn - we should have gotten married right when medical school started”!!
As a side “funny” story - he went to UCLA for undergrad and didn’t get in there for med school. When UCLA would call hitting us up for alumni donations he said “if you would have let me into medical school there I would have some money for you, but now all my money has to go to pay my medical school loans to USC”. 
So great for all the terrific showings for McDermott! Hope all your kids get it!
@suzy100 - I think it really depends on what field to anticipate going into. Sadly, if you want to do pediatrics or family practice, you better not accrue a ton of debt because it is unlikely you’re going to ever pay it off. It’s really unfortunate that in a lot of cases, your debt dictates what specialty you need to do. I see people routinely coming out of med school with 400K in debt or more. I am not sure how they will pay that off given the future of reimbursement of medicine.
Sooo…
D just got an email from McGill admissions, saying they can’t make a decision on her until they see her first semester grades. :-< Not the news we were hoping for. Historically, they’ve accepted the strongest applicants in the first wave, which is apparently starting right now. Admissions is purely stats based. D has 4.0 UW with 11 APs and 34 ACT. I can’t figure out what they’re looking for here, as she is WAAY above last year’s minima. The earliest she’ll get a decision from them now is mid-late January. We were really hoping (and expecting, honestly), to have this acceptance in hand by Christmas.
@ShrimpBurrito that really feels out of line from what I know of McGill (two of my older D’s friends are attending, great students w/ almost identical stats to your D)…the only thing I can think of is perhaps she’s in a very competitive major? Her stats are very high!!! I’m so sorry for this disappointing news!
@AmyBeth68 I’m grasping at straws here, but D also applied for a major entrance scholarship. Maybe they want more info before making a decision on merit? Although I think those decisions come out separately.
She’s applied to faculty of Arts, which is one of the least competitive departments, and faculty of Arts and Sciences. Not the heavy hitters.
@ShrimpBurrito Bummer! That stinks. Maybe USC comes through and your D loves it there.
@amominaz $34k for undergrad seems low to me. I would have thought it would be around $50k. But that med school debt, yikes!
@ShrimpBurrito stay positive…maybe she’s in line for a nice merit package! This is such a roller coaster ride 
@ShrimpBurrito - I feel your disappointment and am so sorry you didn’t get the news you wanted. I don’t know anything about McGill but I do know your D’s stats are great for USC. Hoping for better news from So Cal. Hang in there!
Congrats to all the finalists, and those who submitted applications! We need to get a final tally of “who is going where” sometime in May.
@ShrimpBurrito That is a bummer. We’ve gotten at least one unpleasant surprise in admissions this year, so I get it. But all is not lost … it sounds like there is still a chance, and maybe she got pulled for something bigger.
Part two of “things we do for our children.” Yesterday right before they came home I got a panicked phone call from the ballet instructor (it’s either ballet or physics, lol). She was nearly in tears - overwhelmed by life and work, and she couldn’t figure out how to electronically submit this scholarship recommendation for my daughter. I ended up sitting in the studio for about 10 minutes typing it into her phone and submitting it for her. It got submitted, and the positive was that I got to see what she said. 
Don’t know how competitive the application is, but at least it’s done. And we probably won’t ask her to do anything again, lol.
The honors competition my daughter wants to attend requires two teacher recommendations - man, I had no idea how many times teachers get hit up for these things. I’m going to suggest she use two teachers who already did the Common App for her, since hopefully they saved them and they just have to email them again with a few tweaks. We will have to look into requirements to get in/stay in a little closer, but if nothing else this is another chance to visit campus and see the best they have to offer (hopefully).
@bearcatfan - That’s what our son is doing for his scholarship apps - he only asks his teachers that already wrote the Common App recommendations to submit the letters again to all the scholarships. They have been happy to and have typically responded in less than a day, so hopefully your D’s teachers saved the letters as well!