D18 finishes finals tomorrow. Wisdom teeth come out early Friday. Then she can relax. She has been accepted to Lawrence University Conservatory of Music BM/BA double degree program, so no more apps or stress over break. Just family, Star Wars and a Harry Potter marathon.
Happy Holiday to you all!
Congratulations on all the good news!
For those of you with kids getting wisdom teeth removed, my heart goes out to them, and to you. I think most of us remember our own experiences. I shudder when my D will eventually have to have this done. My brother tried to avoid it, finally had them removed when he was 38 and then braces to fix all the movement caused by the wisdom teeth crowding. Guess it’s better to get them removed in a timely manner.
Knot in my stomach. Got financial aid award from Bard yesterday. While they did give some grant money it is not enough to make it affordable. My absolute panic through this whole process is that being in middle class we will not be able to afford our portion at the schools. She is applying to a lot of tippy top schools that don’t give merit. Bard was actually a safety for her. Thank goodness I found this site last year and learned that they need to be financial safeties as well. She has two of those but if I am to be honest she would be disappointed to go.
To make matters worse
If I am understanding it right it looks like if I need to draw on our home equity I can not deduct the interest thanks to this lovely tax bill. Ugh
Congrats to those getting good news anhugs to those with disappointments. DS has gotten into his EA schools so far (no super reaches) - he wants to pursue business- Fordham, Case and Tulane and a couple others and received some merit awards. He is relaxing now and will enjoy his break and next semester. Good luck to all!
@swtaffy904 , (((Hugs))) I’m so sorry about this predicament! This middle class thing is so frustrating. 
I wish it all could be easier!
I 'm not worried about S18 not getting accepted. Its the “thanks but no thanks” acceptance that truly hurts.
Yes, we’d like to welcome you to our school but you’ll have to pay 4x your EFC to come here.
I’d rather the kid get told NO - the sting will only last for a bit, then be forgotten.
The last high school Christmas concert was very nice, S sang a solo, and I only teared up a little.
@swtaffy904 I’m so sorry, the financial aspect of college is so hard and frankly wildly unfair. Does Bard give out additional merit separately? Just hoping she’s in the running for some additional scholarships. I know some schools have done away with merit and are needs met, hoping Bard isn’t one of them. I have found in general this year that merit packages are all over the map, no rhyme or reason at some schools. My daughter still hasn’t heard from Udel with any financial Paco.
@mommdc so bittersweet. My Daughter’s last holiday concert is tonight. She has some solos on the French Horn. I may get a little misty.
My daughter chose laughing gas over full sedation. The issue with that is that she is now pretty swollen - the oral surgeon said he could have put steroids into the iv to help with that. I asked her if she wished now she’d gone under and she said no. She didn’t want to be asleep and have people do things to her. The kids who were sedated went in before her and came out after her, even though hers got complicated - I guess it takes a while to go under and come back out.
She did say the nurses were not nice, and I agree. I told her to remember that when she becomes one 
It was like a pep rally in the waiting room - a TON of high school seniors in there.
@swtaffy904 that is hard. Hopefully your kid is realistic about finances. My older child was very practical–I have my doubts about S18. So far his two acceptances are both affordable, but I suspect that may not hold.
We have not had any true “lasts” yet. Since he runs cross country and track, the seasons tend to blur.
Struggling with FOMO (me, not S!)
I’m thinking, wait why didn’t he apply to Villanova? Case? Fordham? Michigan? Wisconsin?
I need an intervention!
@Booajo, assuming around $75 per app (and maybe more with sending test scores), your S saved you big $$$$!
@Booajo, here’s my attempt at intervention. If it helps, run with it, and if it doesn’t help just ignore. 
He can only go to one school. There is no such thing as a single perfect college for each student. You and he did your college research, you didn’t just fling together a random list of schools. He already has two affordable acceptances, to schools I assume he would be happy to attend since you did your proper research beforehand. Help him to remain excited about those two affordable options in case later FA packages are not adequate. Also since he seems to have no FOMO, think of the time and stress you saved (for both of you) by not pushing him to apply to more schools he doesn’t want to attend.
And if none of the above works, I suggest wine.
I have FOMO for the schools my D did apply to! They are all perfect. Why can’t she go to them all?
D’s best friend graduated a year early (with the class of 17) and went to college in Scotland. I’ve known and adored this girl for about ten years. She is home now for a couple of weeks, and I got to sit down and talk with her this morning. She’s always been mature and insightful, but still, the difference in her is amazing! It’s only been four months since I’ve seen her, but she seems years older, with so much more life experience. It’s crazy to think this could happen soon with my child. :((
D just decided to NOT apply for one competitive scholarship, which means another school is off the list. I had reservations about that college from the beginning but it’s still hard to let go.
Three days of chipmunk cheeks for my D at our house last year after wisdom teeth extraction…
@MACmiracle My DS did the same. He was nominated by his school, went as far as applying and getting recommendations, took one look at the essay questions during a crunch time for him and said no way, he was not applying. I guess that happens, and I feel you.
@ChattaChia My D also will not finish an app she started for admission to one school because of the supplemental essays, even though everything else is done and sent. She has no special attachment to the school and is burned out.
I’m going to insist she do the essay for the honors program for her instate safety because some kids started posting scholarship awards with stats and I’m feeling fairly confident she’ll get full tuition.
Just a story about the application process for S17. I had no idea that merit aid was different from school to school. I did not know that some schools gave a lot while others did not. I just let my son apply where he thought he wanted to go and figured it would work out in the end. We are from Colorado and he wanted to be in the marching band in the Big 10. Since there were no schools in the Big 10 here, we did a road trip through the mid-west. We visited Minnesota, Michigan, Notre Dame (I know, not Big 10), Ohio State and Wisconsin.
S liked most of the schools but absolutely fell in LOVE with Wisconsin. It was the one he wanted, the one he could see himself at.
S decided to apply to Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. He also applied to other schools at either my urging or his mothers urging.
THEN I found CC and started reading. I found that not all schools give merit. Not all schools give merit equally.
The acceptance season was upon us and S did quite well. He did not get into his two reaches (Notre Dame and Vanderbilt) but he did get into every other school he applied to, including Wisconsin. He was going to be a Badger after all!. Then the merit scholarships started to come in. He got $10K per year from Minnesota and $15K per year from Ohio State. He got scholarships from most of the other schools he applied to but nothing came from Wisconsin.
Then the financial packages came in. Minnesota was affordable. Ohio State was in budget too. Wisconsin was double Minnesota. No way we could swing it financially as his brother was going to be headed to school the following year.
As we approached the May 1 commit date, my son was struggling with his decision. He really wanted somehow to go to Wisconsin (outside scholarships, Lottery, etc.) so it was making it impossible for him to decide where to do. I suggested that he put Wisconsin aside and choose between the schools left and if we “came into some money” we could confirm at Wisconsin. That seemed to get him past his block.
We visted his final 2 choices (Minnesota and Miami of Ohio) and he decided on Minnesota. We confirmed and as you could expect, we did not come into any “extra money”.
He just finished his first semester and is a Gopher to the core. He even hates Wisconsin now as all good Minnesota Gophers do.
So, moral of the story is to make sure that you can afford a school before you apply. That is why my S18 did not apply to the tippy top schools, even if accepted, we would not be able to send him.