I love dry May! Way less pressure than January, and it helps me feel less guilty about summer indulgence. Though I usually only make it about 3 weeks 
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Do other colleges come to speak at your high school? I believe the high school college counselors reach out to the admissions officers and not vice versa.
When the time comes, she might want to prep for the PSAT. National Merit Finalists who are accepted automatically receive a half tuition scholarship.
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I second this. Indeed, when we were in the area last summer, I required a walk around the USC campus.
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A mom-friend of mine whose S24 is going through the college app process like the rest of us told me recently that sheâs fit to be tied about FAFSA and is so frustrated w/her spousal unit over his refusal to even look at FAFSA until âlater.â Her DH has even said, âI donât believe it that you lose out on grant money if you wait until August. We have until August. Whatâs the rush?â
Sheâs even contacted each financial aid dept at each of the schools that accepted her S24 and all of them have said the same thingâŠapply early for financial aid!
They file their taxes jointly. They already have their FSA IDs. So I told my friend that when S24 fills out his FAFSA app, to list mom first and dad second. Then my friend will get the FAFSA invite firstâŠshe can fill it out and then wonât need her DH to do anything.
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In person visits havenât returned since Covid.
We now have a county-wide event thatâs open to all area schools with about 20-30 or so colleges. Itâs not very personal though.
We are in a bit of a mid-range average public school donut hole, we donât send a ton of kids to college but donât quite hit the threshold of enough Pell kids for colleges to recruit for that demographic.
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The UCs arenât staying away because of the type of school your student attends. Likely it is because your school doesnât have someone who reaches out to set up virtual visits. Or maybe that HS college counselor feels that they only need to have one virtual UC visit and one virtual CSU visit since they share the same application.
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There is no need for her son to list dad at all. The student only needs to list one parent (assuming married and parents of the child). The mom gets the link she fills it out. Now she will need to list husbandâs name, social and email but that is just to confirm its the same person as on the tax return. Dad will never get anything.
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Agreed. DS is punching startlingly above his weight given his stats (3.94 W, TO), and I am convinced itâs due to his essays. He poured his heart out in his essays in a way that is so sincere and vulnerable I have to believe it is making the difference. Heâs been accepted at four out of the five schools heâs heard from (including Virginia Tech) and has gotten merit scholarships at two so far.
Fwiw this is a talent we had no idea he had until he started the college application process.
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From the âmy kid is better than I amâ files, C24 told me last night theyâre kind of glad they got rejected from a school they had really loved because now theyâre seriously looking into other schools and getting excited about them. They said that if theyâd gotten into that one school in December, they wouldnât really have explored anywhere else (including two other schools to which they have been admitted).
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I was soooooo glad my kids both got rejected. What if they chose the school for the wrong reason?
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I shall seek it out. Seem appropriate nowadays.
âSomeoneâ has a birthday in May so thatâs a tough one for us.
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Question on interviews, if they are given the choice of in-person or zoom is it fine to choose in-person or is it better to say no preference and whatever works best for them? Heâs just thrilled to have 4 interviews next week after not getting one for Yale SCEA, even if they donât mean anything.
Also, had posted about my S24âs full-ride interview last weekend. Well, we had a family zoom for it prior and the boys were predominately in suits with school color ties. My kid was in a pastel plaid collared shirt and pajama bottoms. Oops! Told him to throw on a sport coat during 10 minute break before zoom interview.
He has another one this Friday for another school full-ride scholars program. Should he wear a suit? Just feels weird in his bedroom. They just say business casual. I feel like the shirt and sport coat is more him, am I being naive?
I think wearing a long sleeve shirt, no jacket is fine. Suits are out - hence so many suit stores are gone.
I think the eye contact and listening / answering the questions are key.
Also, being well prepped - we used the STAR method for my kids but whatever works for you - that they can have a couple stories, scenarios - to pivot to the questions asked.
I think suit and tie is way way way way overkill in 2023.
And pajama bottoms are fine - if the shirt is hanging properlyâŠjust donât get up.
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I felt like suit was too much for this round too, but panicked when I saw the others. Heâs good on his lighting and set-up of body framing, he record podcasts and content for one of his ECâs. Just didnât want to seem disrespectful in any way if he was underdressed.
I think your kid should choose the format with which he is most comfortable. My son is charasmatic and shines during in-person interviews so that would always be his choice. For business casual, a dress shirt and a sport coat are fine.
Okay, thanks. He loves interviews, comes naturally, and prefers in-person if able. Traffics just such a nightmare around here so wondered if they secretly hoped he chose zoom.
I was wrong on business casual, looked again, neither school mentioned dress for it.
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I donât think they have a preference with interviews. S24 has done one over the phone, one in person and has another scheduled in person this week.
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DS2022 wore a suit jacket with a button-up shirt (no tie) (and pjs bottom) for his Princeton zoom. The ~50years old alum specifically commented that he appreciated sonâs effort in putting on the jacket.
Iâm sure Iâm old-school; I like the sport coat.
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The only real no-no is wearing a college sweatshirt.