Thanks - it’s great to have two you love. I’m sure whichever she picks will be great.
D24 said that what did U of A in is:
- the $250M budget shortfall fiasco at U of A and its possible impacts to studying there as an undergrad
- large class sizes
- online and hybrid classes. As she put it, “I SUCK at online classes. My grades were bad in 9th grade because of all the online stuff during COVID. I NEED in person classes.”
- the other 2 schools felt more like a closet knit community, felt more like home. After visiting them, U of A now feels too big.
- ability to graduate in 4 yr
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I live in Austin, and Southwestern attracts really good, smart, and creative kids room our high school. There are lots of companies in Austin that love those Southwestern students!
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Pretty sure my kid is going to end up picking Austin College. Lower cost to her in terms of total student loans at the end of 4 yr. I’m definitely putting Southwestern on D26’s possible list to apply to, though.
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Ok, now it feels like it’s getting real. Just made a “just in case” 1-way SUV car rental through Costco Travel for a possible drop off at Austin College! I’m gonna to submit a PTO request at work now. 
DH & I will drop the rental car off at the Dallas airport and fly back home instead of drive.
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Make a hotel reservation now too. The hotels fill!
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I get the getting real… we are pretty sure my son is going to go to University of Delaware. So just in case have already booked hotel (pd a little extra for refundable) for parents weekend.
He might surprise us and change his mind. But hr is the kind of kid who once he gets something in his head it never changes.
As for move-in he will go early for marching band so I am hoping that hotels wont be a big problem.
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S24’s Spring Break just started and D24 will be coming home for her Spring Break on Friday. It definitely feels like their senior year is drawing to a close.
We have booked the hotel for D24’s move in and parents weekend, still waiting for S24 to make a final decision. He and my husband are going to revisit South Carolina later this week and we think that will seal the deal. In addition to tours, the have reservations at a nice steak house and at an oyster bar, and there is a restaurant in five Points that was on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives they hope to check out, so S24 should be assured there will be some fun dining options. They also may try to go fishing and explore the area.
I’m starting to think about dorms and such. We have learned from D24 being at boarding school that less is definitely better. While I love seeing the fabulously decorated dorms on Instagram etc, that definitely won’t interest my kids.
Husband and I are also thinking about our next chapter as they kids move on. What in the world will I have to stress over once the college search is over??? 
(Definitely will worry about them actually being in college and whether they are making good choices 
)
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I think your counselors have the right approach. These days, competitive schools have shifting priorities and you never know who the first kid will be to NOT get into a school that has seemed likely in the past. One example from our HS is a NESCAC school that had never rejected a kid with stats at a certain level - until last year when they rejected 2.
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And really, what is the harm of having a couple very strictly-defined but carefully-chosen Likelies, and maybe a couple more you call Targets other people would more optimistically call Likelies? If you end up easily getting into a college you prefer to all those, great. But a foundation like that just seems really prudent, and again ideally also makes you think seriously about what is most important to you.
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I have a very similar story! this was not the US and the general norm was you go to the college door/window with a results board and look for your name on a long list…So getting a telegram with your results was very thrilling! I remember jumping up and down for a full five minutes after getting that news. My mom still brings that out as her favorite admissions story and looking back in her shoes now, I can see how happy and relieved she must have been that I had found my place…
for all of us parents and kids for finding the right place…few more weeks…
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D20 list had a lot more reaches than D24 (both financially and academically). She also had several likelies and a couple of targets. She narrowed it down to 2 of the reaches who had good financial aid packages thanks to endowments and chose the one who wouldn’t give her loans.
D24 has had a tougher road making her list of who to apply to. She wants to be a nurse. Everything we have read has said that you need to get into a direct-admit nursing program if at all possible. However, our state (NC) does not offer DA at any of their public universities. Therefore, the only option that was an assured affordability was a big ? on whether she would be accepted into the upper level nursing programs. And likely for OOS public universities were more target/reaches when it came to getting accepted as a DA nursing student. We traveled to visit a lot of schools prior to application time and she did not like any of the non-flagship/ well-known schools (honestly, I think it was pride and feeling like she should go somewhere people had heard of and other students at her school respected - and you can’t blame a teen for not being able to be logical about these things). She was also going to apply test optional which was a gamble. She was finally diagnosed with ADHD last summer and here we are almost a year later still trying to get the med dosage right. Her SAT score was good but not at the level that matched her profile because she kept falling asleep during the test.
So she applied to 2 in-state choices (Chapel Hill - target (poss. likely reach due to being TO and where we live and UNC-W - likely) that we knew we could afford but which would mean a battle to get into the nursing major in her sophomore year.
She actually preferred the feel of a smaller college when it came to classes but wanted the sports / ra ra ra of a large school. That meant honors colleges were definitely sought. So the schools themselves tended to be likelies but became targets when you added the BSN program and in a few cases reaches when you added in the honors college (and the fact she was applying TO). And even then, the affordability was always a reach.
She has gotten into all of her EA schools in the DA nursing programs. She has gotten into the Honors Colleges (where that was sought) with the exception of Chapel Hill. Now we are looking at affordability (which for our family was going to have to come from merit and a whole lot of luck).
We are nearing the finish line and it has been a tough road. D24 made it to the finalist stage for 2 full rides but didn’t get either. However, the private university gave her a scholarship that was twice the amount of their initial offering and the university is in the “affordable with unsubsidized loans” group. The public university really wants her and has offered full tuition AND fees (I have learned from D20 that fees are often more than tuition at public universities). They are now in the affordable without loans group (along with our 2 public in-states). Another public university has been pretty generous (esp. considering she applied TO) and is also in the affordable with loans group. We’re visiting 2 others in the coming weeks which are private and currently unaffordable but may provide FA to get them into the affordable with loans category. And we are waiting on merit from one other public.
She has 3 Reaches waiting on RD results but she’s about to tell one that she is no longer interested. The other 2 would have to provide great FA for her to attend (which they could as they both are meets needs). But I am grateful that she has choices now that are affordable. I personally am pulling for the OOS public that would not require loans but she is worried about how far away it is.
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Congrats on the options. If I’m reading right, the first student applied to school’s that your perception is top financial aid. I’m not sure if they were meets needs or not schools - but I assume you ran the NPC before applying. I’d argue that if they were deemed affordable up front, perhaps they weren’t financial reaches. I make the point only because - it’s, on paper at least, foolish to apply to a school you have no chance of affording but it seems like in this case, there was a chance - and that’s not foolish to apply.
Sounds like both kids ended up in good position so you played it well.
Congrats to your D24 on her choices and upcoming decision.
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D20 applied to the following (which I considered a reach academically - but with good financial aid)
Bowdoin (wait listed)
Bates (accepted)
Duke Kunshan (accepted)
Pitzer (denied)
Scripps (waitlisted)
She also applied to targets/likelies with good merit. She got full tuition to one of our in-state publics but didn’t like the feel of it. She wanted and needed a small college.
She chose Duke Kunshan University (and if she knew the impact of COVID she may have chosen otherwise). She’ll graduate this May with a degree from Duke University and Duke Kunshan University and I couldn’t be prouder of her. However, she spent the first 1.5 years of college living at home and taking classes virtually in the middle of the night (because they were taking place in China which is a 12-13 hour time difference). It was not fun for her or her mental health.
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Wow - yes, difficult but impressive. She should know if she could do that (work on another continent’s totally opposite schedule) - there’s little she can’t overcome in life.
Congrats to her.
Your list all meets demonstrated need (not all need blind though) - but that makes sense as a supplement to a list that includes an assured affordable school - so you definitely built it right the first time. I was just noting for others who read - in this case, makes total sense and unless you couldn’t afford the NPC, wouldn’t be a financial reach. I guess Bates and Duke would both be good proxies for that as you would have gotten the meets needs offers at both.
Best of luck to student one in finishing up and number two in finding an affordable school to pursue her nursing craft. I know there aren’t enough nurses and I never know where mine went but I know in Las Vegas, they are hiring from the Philippines. Hopefully you find that affordable Direct Admit but even if not, I bet a if this student has the intangibles that student one has, they’ll find a program they can pass through even if not DA. I’d also watch the scholarship requirements - because often times you need to keep a minimum GPA (typically 3.0) and that might tie in nicely with a non-DA - i.e. if you hit one, you hit both.
Best of luck to your students and family finances.
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I hate all this. Period. Been having ridiculous anxiety for months now. She found out Friday that she got rejected from Tulane and UC Davis. Right now her choices are Denver, boulder, Oregon, Hawaii, Indiana University, Penn State Burke campus which she doesn’t want to do, university of Montana Missoula which again she doesn’t want to go to, I can’t remember what else. She still waiting on a bunch of UC’s, Boston Washington and something else. I’m a freaking wreck. Sorry for venting but it’s just how I feel right now… and Michigan which she was already deferred to so I’m guessing that’s a no.
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Completely with you. This process seems to get worse every year (had S22 do this 2 years ago and now D24). The mental health hit of this on the kids is probably bigger than Covid was.
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And then there is my kid without worry in the world. I do not understand how she can be so calm and it’s driving ME even more insane!
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My husband and I are both double bruins and I am sure under today’s judging and competitive circumstances we would never get in. I just can’t believe UCs this freeking competitive … I’m praying for UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Cruz because I really don’t think Ucla or cal are going to be a go. I’m also hoping for a Washington but again who the hell knows it’s all a crapshoot. My friends daughter got into Davis and my daughter has better stats and very similar essays activities etc. I spent so much money on this entire goddamn process that it’s f’n insane. Between private college counsellors ACT prep all of this stuff I am seriously about to lose my mind. My husband is saying she’s gonna be okay she got a great foundation but I’m just so stressed out. Thank you for listening to my rant
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Dont freak–there’s some good choices there. Oregon and Indiana in particular are great schools with great environments. Agree it’s stressful, but she has good choices.
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