This is awesome, @eandesmom – thank you!
Hi @kathyrain - my ears must’ve been burning 
I don’t check on here as frequently as I used to (and in the middle of the frenzy, that was several times a day!!)
… because yeah, D19 got accepted to WVU and she truly doesn’t want to go anywhere else. We had a couple of safeties that I wanted to apply to, just in case - like others have said, you get an uneasy feeling – but the reality is, it’s my uneasy feeling, not hers! She just knew, the minute she attended the Discover WVU event, that she felt at home and her search was over.
So … we applied to two schools, technically, but when she got the WVU acceptance, she formally withdrew her complete, and pending, application at Ohio University, because, as she put it, she didn’t want to lead them on. (She’s sometimes inadvertently hysterical…). The OU application hadn’t even hit the EA deadline of Nov. 1 and she yanked that sucker back. Never even asked me!
We haven’t applied to the safeties — they have rolling admission and she’s a shoo-in, so I really have no reason to worry even if the state of West Virginia decides to rescind all OOS acceptances and become a cloistered seminary for monks only…
Your son’s stats seem great for merit! Good luck!
@OrangeFish, we dug into the Common Data Set to decide costs. One of DDs top 3 choices is a state directional. 4yr grad rate is in the 37% rate; 5yrs is 55%. So, we used 5 yrs at that school vs 4 yrs at a the private schools she is considering.
D19 was very chatty at dinner last night (rare for her) and proclaimed Santa Clara as her top choice. Interesting as this is the only school for which she did not submit EA and still has not completed the application. It was all news to us. It even got her brother’s attention who rarely contributes to the college discussion.
I tried to keep a smile on my face but I am terrified that she could end up 3,000 miles away.
@DCNatFan Wow. That is big news. Breathe…If she ends up there, she’ll be fine and you’ll visit a lot.
@DCNatFan Wow! How did Santa Clara come up on her radar? Have heard lots of good things here on cc about Santa Clara, but yeah, 3,000 miles ?
@DCNatFan it is a lovely school. It’s really fascinating to watch favorites play out over applicaiton season, I know it changed quite a bit for my S17 between submissions and the final decision day. He did end up 3000 miles away, his second choice was 90 miles. It was the right choice for him. If anythign it’s made our relationship stronger. I agree, breathe, and it will all work out.
@jonsmom23 thanks for your post, glad to read a similar story. Congratulations on Alabama, we wanted our son to go see that school, but he wasn’t interested. His loss, as I’ve heard its a great place.
@Gatormama - my son seemed to have his mind made up on WVU before we even went there. I think he heard enough about it from people that mattered to him. We toured last month and liked it more then expected.
@EENYMum Apparently her father mentioned it to her. Grrr. He has been suggesting smaller schools as he thinks she will find a way to get lost in the shuffle at larger schools. I don’t disagree but I’m more a fan of smaller schools closer to home (Elon and College of Charleston).
I can’t wait until May 1 to come back here and read the roller coaster ride we have all been on
@DCNatFan
Santa Clara is an excellent school and the campus is real nice. Off campus living is rather expensive though! My cousin graduated a few years ago and loved it. My daughter thought of applying but didn’t as she was not very confident she would get in, she was so-so on the area and merit would have been unlikely as she would be in the bottom part of the admission class if she did happen to get in.
Congrats! My daughter could be 3,000 miles in the opposite direction!
Speaking of going far, D was friends with a foreign exchange student from Italy last year. Last night she learned the girl applied to our local community college. She lives in Milan and wants to go to school in rural Iowa. Just thought it was funny how one person’s last resort is another’s dream school. D did ask then if she could go to college in Rome- um, no.
@bjscheel
That is odd because it is very cheap (comparatively) to go to college in Italy. She must love corn!
@bjscheel There is the AUR and Marist Florence, and probably others. Maybe she could! Lol.
The Italian Universities are the cheap ones. The American run universities in Italy are not so great for 4 year programs. Their approach is pretty bare bones though: no sports teams, little in the way of clubs, no to little gear etc.
Also typically no on campus housing.
Though it sounds glamorous, D does not actually want to be abroad for 4 years She wants to do something, but says she would be okay with doing a 2 week faculty led trip, which may be all that fits her schedule.
Will be interesting to see if the Italian girl really does come here!
Studying abroad is awesome, she should do that. I did a semester abroad in Florence and loved it!
This is my favorite thread! Congratulations on finishing applications and getting those early acceptances.
My daughter is only in 10th but she’s fussy and we have budget concerns so I’m starting research now. I searched, by now that most of your kids are in the home stretch, would any of you be willing to give us suggestions? Looking for urban, medium to large, liberal, coed. We’re in NJ, and I would prefer within 3-4 hours but she wants a dry climate.
So far we’ve toured Drexel (loved) and Delaware (hated). Pittsburgh trip in the works, and boston. Possibly the southwest but I’m clueless. Any help appreciated.
My D23 is likely to have passed the German B2 exam by the time she finishes high school, which would allow her (assuming she does well in her non-German classes, too, of course) to attend a German university. We’ve penciled it out, and it would be a lot cheaper for us than any private college in the US and many OOS publics, even with having to line up (quite expensive) housing.
Unfortunately, out of all of our children (we have four), although she’s the only one likely to reach that level in a foreign language, she’s also the one least interested in studying outside the country.
But if it’s a possibility for any of your younger kids (it’s pretty certainly too late in the game for the class of 2019 absent a gap year), I’d run the numbers—if your kid’s into it and meets language qualifications and such, and if you’re in a state where the in-state options are either expensive or low-quality, it could be financially positive.
@mom2cats Funny, I have been pondering what collective knowledge we (in this thread) might pass along. In two years colleges will still be stat driven so I would get test scores as high as possible along with her GPA. Junior year was a killer. From there, you can tour schools that align with your D21’s academic/drive profile. I would avoid touring many super reach schools as that can lead to heartbreak.
I am clueless about a dry climate. There are plenty of schools in FLA. LACs are what my kids like, but this group can advise on anything!