Great trip to Miami-Fla over the weekend for their Stamps Scholarship weekend! Really beautiful school with great resources, smart kids, and in a world class city. S18 is smitten, but additional scholarships and a music school admit are still pending. The field is narrowing. Trinity-TX scholarship weekend is the only trip left, and then we wait!
Re College tours - my wife and D are on a Bama and FSU trip right now. This is our last hurrah then it’s probably decision time. They visited Bama on Friday and will see FSU later today and Monday during an accepted student’s day.
Without getting into a lot of detail, Bama was a good visit for her and now a contender. Campus was beautiful, the surrounding town/strip nice, the tour was a well-orchestrated machine. They even posted a picture of her being held by the elephant mascot prior to the tour saying “Welcome XYZ Name, from San Juan Capistrano, CA” - they market very very well.
I will give an update on FSU after that visit. BTW - if anyone looks at these schools in the future, they flew into Birmingham and rented a car and making the drive between Tuscaloosa and Tallahassee - would be 5 1/2 hrs but made a sidetrack to Destin yesterday to break up the trip.
More to follow . . .
@vistajay I’m glad you had such a great trip. I’m wishing you the best as your S goes through those competition.
D is really hoping for success in two remaining competitions.
@my2caligirls Agree re: Bama tour. My D16 and I were very impressed when we visited a few years ago! She ended up going somewhere else with more merit aid, but was definitely in her Top 2.
I told S18 today that after he submits his last scholarship application today, then we have a wait from March until May for results. We are still operating the annual and/or financial cost AS IF he doesn’t get any scholarships. But it would be nice to take some off the top.
:))
We adulted today!
DD signed some HIPPA paperwork at her doctor’s office, and later registered to vote online. She said both were very anti-climactic, lol.
@my2caligirls my niece’s dream school was Bama. Long story short she couldn’t afford/wasn’t allowed to go. She is a freshman at FSU and loves it.
Congrats @burghdad & @LOUKYDAD !! Can’t wait to hear what the kids choose.
@vistajay Glad to hear that the UMiami trip went well. My H was totally against Miami before August…all it took was one tour of that beautiful campus and to hear about their programs and support to change his mind. Now he’s thrilled DD18 is going to pick it.
This weekend we started a new era with DS23…we went to our first Varsity track meet. After 14 years of Soccer this was a big change but we loved it. D18 kept telling her brother she admired him because there would be no way to drag her out to a track field to run 2 miles and then another mile. She said soccer is a lot different since you have 80 minutes to run that much.
We have Future Cane Day on Sunday and then we’ll go ahead and officially put up the enrollment and housing fees.
@my2caligirls DS’ dream school is Bama. He has the UA Scholars scholarship (roughly 2/3) but as of right now he has better offers on the table. Hoping, but not optimistic, that March may bring more to the table. It is a really impressive tour.
Looks like Friday was a good day in the @LOUKYDAD household. Congrats!
And a good Friday in the @burghdad household. Also congrats.
(Can you tell I’m playing catch up?)
OK. I lost track. Too much posted. So, congrats to all acceptances, vists, interviews, etc. Seems like it was a good news weekend.
My D has the UA Scholars as well and while it’s nice to have it’s certainly not inexpensive. For us it puts it right on par cost wise with several instate options. Traditional dorms vs suite style dorms save a few thousand.
My wife and D are on the FSU leg of the whirlwind tour and are not feeling it at FSU. Too bad as it checks all the boxes on paper for us but looks like a no go.
How many times a day do you check your senior’s email to make sure there is nothing important from a college? My son is awful about checking his emails so my wife and I have to do it to make sure nothing is dropped. I have found lots of emails in his spam folder that needed attention within 24 hours. That said, I probably check it as much as 10-15 times a day. I think I have a problem, LOL.
@vistajay My D set up a new gmail for colleges…I check it as much as you do. As justification, D missed an interview because they filled the spots two hours after sending the email. It’s not so much that she doesn’t check email, it’s just difficult to do at school.
I remind mine, but I don’t have his password. He missed applying to Purdue honors because he didn’t see the email. Mostly he’s done pretty well. Due to CC I ask about stuff that I see posted about acceptances, etc. but the way I see it, he does have affordable options, so if he misses out because of failure to follow through, it’s his own fault. I can’t follow him around next year.
@vistajay "How many times a day do you check your senior’s email to make sure there is nothing important from a college? "
Never. It’s hard to answer this without sounding snarky and snark is not my intent. 
That said,
I would never dream of checking my DD’s email, I don’t have the access and don’t want it.
She has to take ownership of this process (if she needs help, she knows where to find us and we are very supportive but I don’t check her email ever, let along 10-15X’s a day)
I cannot want a college education for her more than she wants it for herself.
I don’t have access to S18’s. That said, I’ve told him what info I need to know (acceptance info, financial aid, scholarship results, anything from his chosen college). He reports nightly on his own if there is anything noteworthy, or will check within an hour of a request from me.
In other news, the little one was fever free all weekend and went back to school today. But now I have the flu. Home until Friday.
DD received notification today that her stats for graduation are: rank 80/586, 4.8612 wgpa. She will graduate Magna Cum Laude.
AND although there is one more decision to arrive in March, DD says she will not attend that school if she is accepted, even though it was her top choice. DD has paid the deposit, registered for the new student conference in June and put in her housing deposit to…
Texas A&M University
Not much of a surprise in the end I guess, back when we did initial odds and in July I gave A&M a 65% chance (but a 5%chance she would actually be accepted) and ranked it her 3rd choices. So I, a northern Ohioian, have birthed an Aggie! Gig 'em!