Never mind. Got my answer. The school, not the FAFSA, determines need.
@peachActuary73 in the case of a CSS school yes, itâs whatever number they come up with, not FAFSA. If itâs a FAFSA only school, then the FAFSA EFC is what would determine loan eligibility (sub or non sub). CSS gave us similar results (higher than FAFSA) but it varied by school.
@ninakatarina my friends daughter is a sophomore at Gettysburg and absolutely loves it!!!
Coming in late, but:
Congrats @Trixy34!!
Congrats @bettzke1
Congrats @momcatof4 !!
Today was college shirt day at Dâs school. the HS somehow has T-shirts from a huge array of colleges, especially the Midwestern ones which most of the students end up attending, and they hand them out for free to anybody who hasnât yet got one (kids either havenât visited, cannot afford a T-shirt, or both, so this solves both, with the convenient excuse for kids who who may be embarrassed that they canât afford a T-shirt).
My kidâs friends are all well situated in colleges that are very good for them. I am once again happy that College Prestige competitions and one-upmanship are limited at my kidâs HS, which helps a lot on kids being focused on colleges which are right for them, and then being really happy with their choices.
@momzilla2D Sorry, my Dâs friend chose Ailey/Fordham instead of dance at OSU.
Hello all - I have been following this thread for a while and thank all of you for some great info. I thought I would share my sonâs journey. He was rejected ED1 from his âdreamâ school, then deferred and ultimately waitlisted at his second choice (both high match/reaches). He was accepted EA to Fordham, which he did really like, but with a small FA package. He had little interest in âsafetyâ schools (or any other schools for that matter) after his early rejection and didnât even have a list of other schools to apply to despite my harassing him. When he finallyâwoke up" in January, he applied to a few of my suggestions - one of which was Gettysburg College. He was ultimately accepted to a few of them along with one of our state schools. Gettysburg gave him a great scholarship/financial aid package so he decided to attend an accepted orange and blue day. The school set up a schedule for him to sit in on a class in the Health Sciences major and then a meeting with another professor who gave us a tour of classrooms and labs, lunch with current and prospective students and a tour. By the end of the day, my son was pleasantly surprised. He decided to go back to Get Acquainted Day 2 weeks later. It came down to our state school, GB and Fordham. When he realized that he would graduate with over 70K in debt by going to Fordham, he ruled it out in favor of Gettysburg. After Get Acquainted Day he told me that he felt âcomfortableâ there and that it felt âhomeyâ. He is a history lover and somehow the location was meaningful to him as well. My son was cautiously excited for the first time since he got that first rejection and is very happy with is decision. S ended up choosing a college that was in the Northeast,which he never wanted although he would have made an exception for NYC)
sorry - new at thisâŠsent before it was doneâŠDidnât want the northeast, nor did he want a small school. In fact it was opposite everything he thought he wanted but he is very happy and looking forward to the fall. As parents, we are very happy and impressed with GB and are thrilled that it all worked out. Good luck to all.
Welcome, @AlexDs2019 ! So glad to have another Gettysburg parent around. Everything about that school was a pleasant surprise. Maybe we saw you on Get Acquainted Day. They had a good program, though we only stuck around for the free food parts our kiddo did the full tour.
@AlexDs2019 Congratulations on your sonâs successes and his decision! Really good to hear his story and to hear that he is happy with the outcome.
@AlexDs2019 Welcome and congratulations on your sonâs excellent choice of college. One of the real cool things about GB is that it is, I think, the only college in the USA which literally had its students fight a battle for it.
@AlexDs2019 = Welcome! And congratulations on Gettysburg! Sounds like heâs going to have a great 4 years!
Thank you all. I know that there are so many kids (and parents) who have gone through the same experience and can relate. I hope future college applicants will read these posts and realize that it really can work out, even if it doesnât feel that way!
Have realized that after checking out of CC for awhile, I never reported the final decision.
In the end, D19 was accepted at ASU Barrett, Lawrence, St. Olaf, and Macalester; waitlisted at Carleton, Haverford, and Reed; and denied at Harvey Mudd. (Other than the final WL at Reed, I probably had mentioned the rest at some point.) In the end, although I think Reed was one of her top choices (along with HMC), she decided her acceptances were good choices and she didnât want to go through the uncertainty of the waitlist process. The final choice came down to St. Olaf and Macalester, and she ended up wanting the urban setting and more diverse feel of Macalester over leaning hard into the music-intensive surroundings of St. Olaf. (The costs were literally the same, down to the dollar.)
She (and we) really liked both campuses for some overlapping and some different reasons, but she chose to be Macalester Class of '23.
Congratulations to all of you for helping your kids make it to the finish line!
@BorgityBorg My D19, was in a similar situation. Her final three were St. Olafâs, Carleton and Haverford. She was accepted by Macalester, but didnât feel the fit was right. As you said, St. Olafâs is very music-intensive and we felt, âpre-professionalâ. This is not a bad thing at all, but not enough to win the day for my D.
Carleton was just a bit too far away from home for her, at 1400 miles. Haverford is about 114 miles away or about a 2 hour drive. She loved both schools for their size, quirkiness and serious academics. With Haverford she will have the ability to take courses at Bryn Mawr and in theory at Penn and Swarthmore. Philadelphia is a 20 minute train ride away also.
FWIW, all three schools were generous in their financial aid offerings. St. Olafâs was especially helpful and really wanted her to attend.
Congratulations to all of the students and their families! Good luck to everyone in the next four years.
@BorgityBorg Congratulations on your daughterâs decision! Sounds like she was very thoughtful in her decision-making.
Congrats to your girl @BorgityBorg !!! My D really liked Mac when she visited. Seems like a GREAT place. I hope your girl loves it : )
Senior breakfast and yearbook day today. Things are moving so quickly. Next task to complete, figuring out when to get his haircut donut still looks good for graduation.
I agree. Time is flying by SO fast.
DD not letting off on the gas.
Has a big conference championship meet today. Her team is expected to win for the first time in the 40+ history of the conference. Senior class is the best the school has ever had in girls track. DD one of the team leaders on and off the track. Team is looking to her to get some big points for the team in the long distance events.
Math team state finals tomorrow. Not sure how much sheâs prepared for it. Sheâs been so busy with classes and track that sheâll probably prepare for the competition on the 3 hour drive.
After that, she has to get home for senior prom. Yes. Busy Saturday for her. DD is on prom court like D16 was. Happy for her.
April went by just like that. Already May and graduation only 3 weeks away! ?
Opening night for the play went well for the actors, but sound and light really need to get their act together. Kiddo had a standout performance. He claims that he forgot lines and ad libbed, but the ad lib was smooth enough that I couldnât tell.
@BorgityBorg - Congratulations! Great Choice!
@lemon_drop - I have always had a hunch that Haverford would be perfect for S19. Unfortunately, since itâs so close to home, he would not even consider it. Oh well, it would have been beyond our budget anyway. In any case, if your D ever needs anything, feel free to pm me. Iâm less than 15 miles away.
Just dropped D19 off for her last day of school.?
(No, no tears or sadness. My spouse and I are unfashionably unsentimental about the whole thingâwe simply see it as our job to help them get to and through the appropriate rites of passage. Thatâs what happens when you have a social science researcher and an engineer raising kids, I supposeâŠ?)