Does anyone with older kids know when financial aid/merit scholarship info comes for the RD round? If those acceptances are coming in during March and we only have until May 1 to decide, does that information come at the same time as acceptance? I’m seeing EA kids and ED kids still waiting on financial info. Maybe it’s different for RD. I mean, how can you decide where to go for accepted students days, etc., if you don’t know how about to compare offers? There’s so little time.
When my friend’s son from Boulder wears his Vanderbilt sweats (black/gold), people think he goes to CU Boulder (same color). He found that funny.
Great news and good luck to @RightCoaster DS with the interview!
The test scores on the Writing/English section (grammar) is easy to improve. Get him Erica Meltzer’s workbook.
@homerdog every school may be different. I know Purdue for example sends out financial aid packages in mid-February. They also clearly state on their website if you want to be considered for merit aid you must apply by Nov. 1st which is the EA deadline. I know of other universities which have similar policies.
gosh, those mascots! I googled a few above, and that led to a link on 10 most weird mascots! X_X
I/We did not know what Colorado school of mines mascot was until they sent out the admission to DS17 claiming,
“Welcome Orediggers!” (what a weird name, I thought at that.)
It is a dynamite-chewing Colorado mule.
My boys are oblivious of school colors and mascots.
If DS17 had chosen Northeastern, he could have worn his HS shirts as they are black with puma paw prints. Close enough to husky paw prints.
Instead we now have tons of burnt orange shirts around. Orange is new black. :))
@Boilermom Thanks. 
I think most of S19’s schools don’t let the kids know about acceptances until mid March. None of them have EA. I sure hope financial stuff comes with any acceptances.
Some of them do say to get your app in by 11/1 even for RD if you want to be considered for merit.
@homerdog all the schools seem to do it differently. When son17 got merit aid it was always included on his acceptance letter or on the portal the same day. We did not apply for financial aid so I don’t know how that works.
I should probably figure that stuff out soon though, as we will have son19 at least fill out a Fafsa form this time. Our EFC is off the charts stupid, so I don’t even know if we’ll qualify for anything anyways, but it can’t hurt to ask I guess.
I think our best hope is some merit $$. Son17 got some decent merit money from a handful of his schools and chose to go to the one where he got zilch. The horror.
@RightCoaster yes. I’m only talking about merit money. Our EFC off the charts as well. We will file FAFSA and CSS because my husband wants kids to have skin in the game and they will take that $5000 loan each year. We both had about $20K in loans after undergrad and it was fine. Plus, we aren’t looking to spend down our funds earmarked for retirement any more than we have to!
Ok, it seems like a lot of schools list the merit award with acceptance and then tell you to wait a few weeks for financial aid info.
Your kid will get instructions on how to set up a portal at most schools, and the school will telll the kids when they plan to release their decisions. The kids log in, and there is a button to press to click on for admission info.
When they click it, it will state the decision and if getting merit it will say “Congrats on acceptance and you have qualified for our Presidential scholarship in the amount of XX per year”.
Getting back to mascots for a second, I got a chuckle out of this headline from The Student Life (student newspaper at the Claremont colleges): “Clutch Plays Help Sagehens Outlast Banana Slugs.” http://tsl.news/sports/7188/
Well I think son19 might be the first one in this group to have his info looked at by admissions. The flagship coach emailed son and told him all of the paperwork had been submitted, his guidance counselor sent in transcripts, and they would verify his NCAA status asap etc. Said everything looked great.
That might have been the easiest recruiting effort ever. Ha. I wish everything would work like that. I didn’t have to get involved on any level. So I guess son19 is now an official NCAA Div 1 recruit, and I don’t really know how that all plays out.
The academic program that son19 wants to study is fairly competitive there, so I guess if this could help in that regards it is a positive. I don’t know how much son19 really wants to go there, and I doubt he’d commit to anything or sign anything just yet, but it’s a solid option to have and it’s always good to feel wanted.
My wife and I attended a college admissions panel/seminar at our school today and didn’t learn anything new really.
Just double and triple check your common app for typos because those bug AO’s, and try to write an essay that conveys who you are or what you are all about.
That’s great @RightCoaster! Nice for him to already know someone wants him for sure.
Wow I @RightCoaster, that is so exciting!!!
^^^^^. Thanks!!
Whoa @RightCoaster ! Fabulous news!! Make sure he keeps his grades up! 
Congrats, rightcoaster! What sport? (Understandable if you don’t want to reveal it, of course).
It’s odd following college football recruiting website when you’re going through it with a non-athlete kid. National signing day is in a week, when the top 2018 high school football players announce which college they are committing to. Those kids go to many different schools (I wonder who pays for those trips) and announce which colleges they are considering. People online talk about how well a visit went or bad it went and who they are likely to sign with. Just an interesting juxtaposition between them and our kids.
EDIT: Just looked it up. The school pays for the trip and lodging for the kid and their parents. They can only visit 5 schools.
Congrats @RightCoaster - that is awesome news!!
@gusmahler track and field. He’s fairly new to the sport, but he’s fast,stong and can jump. He picked up track on a whim, and has a knack for it. With track it’s really about your performances and official results. There is no black/white. You either have the times/height/distance or you don’t. With boys it’s fairly easy to predict their potential. They usually get faster every year. My son has not had a lot of specialized coaching and he’s young for his grade, so it’s easy to expect him to get even better. Coaches like him because he can win pants in multiple events.
He also plays on a club soccer team and that has been his true passion. He has talked with some D3 coaches about playing in college. It’s certainly not as easy to get recruited or even walk on to a college soccer program. I think he would probably rather play soccer than run track, but he has been thinking more about running lately, especially now that he is has some D1 level interest- he thinks that is cool.
The coaches are certainly not sending us invites for extravagant college visits, lol. We’d probably be lucky if hhey threw a teeny scholarship amount his way. He has a better chance at earning some merit $$ from a D3 school vs D1 track $$. That’s just the way it works, it’s not like he’s Usain Bolt
We’ll see where it al goes. Trying not to sway him one way or the other and just want him to do whatever he feels better about. It’s tough, but I have to just shut my. mouth - not easy!!
@RightCoaster that is very cool and exciting. No matter what, it’s really lovely to be wanted! Congratulations!
My 16 DD is having a terrible junior year. Her grades have gone from high Bs/As in previous years, to 60s this year in Algebra 2 and APUSH. She had been taking honors english and global before this year, but junior year the honors-level classes are only offered as AP classes. English Lang and Comp is going OK, but she is tanking the math and APUSH despite putting in lots of study time. She is receiving tutoring and extra teacher help for Algebra, and has a study skills tutor trying to help her with the other stuff. I’m at the end of my rope – I’ve spoken to her guidance counselor and the teachers, got “she’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I am worried about it! What else can I do to get this girl through her junior year? She is losing faith in herself and I am worried that the rest of her classes (not to mention SATs) are going to suffer because of it.