A little off topic, but I think it was in this thread about an org that trains volunteers to help kids (that would otherwise have no helped maybe FGLI) with the application process. My search terms are coming up empty. Anyone? Bueller?
Possibly ScholarMatch (which @Mwfan1921 has volunteered with)?
2 Likes
Yes on Scholarmatch! We had this thread which identified some other organizations:
2 Likes
ScholarMatch
Busy day today w/D24. Busy, but fun. Scored a winter jacket for D24 at Costco that she found acceptable. Note to self: donāt take the kid shopping when sheās hungry. She turns into Miss Grumpy Gills. 
Had lunch at an awesome place thatās won local awards for their Chinese dumplings. 1st time either of had soup dumplings and oh my gosh, theyāre so satisfying!
D24 also wanted to go to an Asian grocery store, so we hit one up so she could stock up on her favorite ramen. Both of my kids are home now so our home is full and our hearts are happy. 
10 Likes
Iām also volunteering with ScholarMatch. Itās been a great experience.
2 Likes
Iām looking forward to doing that.
Iāve been a full time mom-counselor for four years straight. My youngest was accepted to her ED school on Friday and that is a wrap for my family!
Iāve learned so much during that time, here, from our excellent school counselor, on my own. It would be a waste to not use it.
22 Likes
Had a long morning chat, I think I was being used to put off studying! Takeaway is that I am very pleased with how honest his fellow classmates seem to be and that no one is pretending to have it all together.
His fellow pre-meds in same math/chem. One with B hasnāt started studying for math, doesnāt think itās possible. The other with an A in math has a B in chem and is only studying for math to try to keep the A as he doesnāt think he has a chance in chem. Meanwhile mine has been non-stop on math for better or worse as heās in a great position in chem. Told him at least he knows he did all he could and no regrets any which way, wasnāt lack of effort.
I think they are all relieved and feel validated that no one is breezing through everything. You hear so much about grade inflation at some schools, it can really mess with your head and expectations.
I donāt understand math, I was terrible at it. He says he knows all the formulas, can do all the math for each formula correctly, but his weakness is knowing which formula to use.
4 Likes
Congratulations!! Thatās the way I felt, too. So much knowledge that I wanted to turn into something good.
3 Likes
Has anyone ever tried to get their kid off of meal plans? We are full pay and the meal plan costs more than going to a restaurant in S24s college town and he much prefers their food. Crazy idea?
When I was in college you could do a combo/points system for just a few meals on campus.
Itās generally hard. My youngest is Celiac so itās on my radar as many have issues and have to do this. Schools donāt seem to make it easy and require medical documentation, and then some will still try to fight it and claim they can accommodate.
1 Like
S24 is home! Long day for dad as he drove to pick him up and brought the dog. It was a hit though, so worth it. Now itās pass 1:00 and heās still sleeping, lol. He showed me his grades last night, not all of them are in yet though. I am so proud of him! Enjoy the holiday season and time with your families!
11 Likes
WashU requires a meal plan even if you are living off campus, as long as you are registered for at least 12 hours, although the off-campus plan is not too expensive. But first years are required to live on campus, and then need at least what they call a Silver Plan. There are also Gold and Platinum plans which are more expensive. Calculating the marginal costsāit is $1.39 per point for Silver, then $1.00 per point for the extra Gold or Platinum points.
According to S24, he appears likely to end this term with more points than he needed. So we might downgrade his plan for Spring term, but we can only go so far down. I note extra points roll over Fall to Spring, but not beyond that.
Anyway, I have not looked into whether you could ever get an exception, but as explained to us it is pretty tightly wrapped up that you need at least the Silver Plan as a first year.
2 Likes
Drove up to get S24 and enjoyed the ride home with him so very much. Itās about a 4.5 drive each way, and I had him drive home, which kept him from taking a nap so we got to talk the whole way. 
I am definitely seeing some signs of good growth and maturity, and it sounds like he has found a great, tight knit group of smart, hard working friends who also like to have a good time. And he actually even opened up to me some about the parties, etc.
D24 has one more exam and then flies home Wednesday. This will be her first time home since August.
And in crazy news, my husband made a deposit on a puppy last night. 
We had a very sweet cocker spaniel when we first got married who died about 13 years ago and he has wanted another cocker ever since. I had been trying to resist (dreaming of care free travel) but he is ecstatic and Iām happy for him. I guess we will fill our empty nest with dogs (we already have a 7 year old setter)
13 Likes
S24 is happy with his meal plan, but if he was not, his school allows students to switch meal plans between semesters. Students living in dorms are required to have a meal plan, but can choose between a number of different plans. The lowest tiered plans are declining balance dollar(DBDS) plans. Students may use DBDS credits to purchase meals, coffee, snacks, or for purchases at on-campus convenience stores.
2 Likes
D24ās school requires the unlimited plan for all first year students, and upperclassmen can take different combos of swipes and dining dollars (but the plans all cost about the sameā¦) Next year she will probably do something like the 14 swipes but more dining dollars.
At my school, like many, dining dollars are use or lose at the end of the academic year, and our grab and go buys up things like 12 packs of soda, extra chips, soup, etc, and then itās like supermarket sweep as kids try to run it down to zero before going home for the summer.
2 Likes
Glad to hear about everybodyās kids coming home safe and sound for the holidays! D24 opened up a little about college parties. Sheās only been to āabout 4ā and said she drinks āa little bitā and thinks that beer ātastes horrible, like Iād imagine pee tastes likeā and said that she was a little alarmed when her roommate and another girl downed 8 shots of vodka in 30 min and then an hour and a half later, were vomiting their guts out and then passed out the rest of the night. She and the other girlās roommate had to help the girls back to the dorm and D24 helped her roommate get vomit out of the roommateās hair. She said, āI donāt think youāre supposed to drink that much vodka in such a short amount of time. That could be pretty dangerous. I donāt think I want to drink like that.ā
Sheās going to submit FAFSA next week after Christmas. 
As are us parents.
D24 is meeting up with a high school friend later this week. The Child slept in until 11 am today. 
3 Likes
Itās a wrap here grade wise. All Aās and one B in a notoriously harsh graded Chem class with a specific Professor who takes no prisoners. S24 is quite upset as this was unexpected. The final exam carries 40% of the grade with no room for extra credit. He thinks this will be a premed app killer for him. I donāt know anything about premed apps so I cannot console him.
He will eventually get over it but right now is quite demoralized.
12 Likes
There are multiple routes to med school and a lot of people donāt take a direct path on the freeway to get there. If he really really wants to go to med school, he can always retake the class at, for example, a community college in the summer and get an A in it and submit that when he applies. Most students accepted to med school these days donāt actually attend straight out of undergrad. A lot of them work for a year or 2 in some sort of healthcare-related job before they get accepted somewhere.
Basically thatās a long winded way of me saying that he isnāt doomed because of 1 class. He should go talk to whichever organization or office on campus offers pre-health/pre-med advising and talk to them about it.
4 Likes