What is his reason? Given his stats, RD coach support or not, I’d reconsider. My kids would gladly ED for the chance of not completing extra apps. Regardless, I hope he is planning on EA at all the schools that offer that option.
Thank you for the offer! We should know enough people at VT that I don’t need to take you up on it, but I appreciate it. And yeah, we’ve had the initial finance talk - he knows how much we’d be willing to spend and Clemson full price (hopefully he’d get some merit) would come in at or under that amount. What he needs to really think about, and I don’t think this occurred to him before but I started trying to lay the groundwork, is that if he goes to a less expensive school, then the delta between what I’ve saved and what he’s spent can still go to him. It’s not all in a 529, so it could go towards grad school, or could go towards buying a car, or towards saving for a house. And when he really thinks about that, it might make a VT look much more appealing.
I suspect, though, that for any of that kind of potential thought process to be successful for him, we’ll have to wait to see what happens in terms of money. We know VT gives almost no merit, we should assume it’s a 0. But Clemson might give some, JMU would almost certainly give him merit. If he got into Chapel Hill or UVA it would be unlikely that he’d get merit, considering the applicant pool for merit money at those schools. So all the calculus could well change as things do (or don’t) come in.
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He is hoping to have an incredible season this year and go last minute D1 mid (he has interest from lesser D1s) so doesn’t want to be in a binding contract anywhere. He is quitting his secondary sport to focus solely on advancing in his primary sport so I suspect he will have a great year this year. I know it’s unlikely but I don’t want to be the one to shut down his dream. Like I said before, he has a safety he’s very happy with so I’m not worried at all about where he will end up. He’s my third so honestly I’m pretty relaxed about the whole thing and he can do what he wants to do, knowing the risks.
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Groovy. We told our kids that we have X amount of money for them to help them get started in life. It isn’t a blank check, but we’re open to a number of different things for them as long as they have a plan for it. So, if they go to college and it comes under the amount we have saved for them, they can keep the excess to help them get started… if they go over, they’ll need to get loans.
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Also we will probably need to discuss EA vs RD with coaches/AOs. They may want to see one more semester of grades. He went from a 3.3 cumulative to a 3.8 this past year. (A great amount of maturing happened the summer before junior year THANK GOODNESS.) He should have no problem continuing that trend.
Had one coach tell us this past year that his RD athletes fared better than EA with merit aid so I’m not sure that applying early is always better.
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How does this work for an athlete that is not academically competitive? Are they still expected to receive merit $? (I have seen some evidence that suggests some D3 coaches have a thumb on the scale of merit distribution)
Yes! D25 does not like the digital SAT and wants to get a couple more points on his ACT
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Not sure how new it is…
Here’s the link to discussion: Article on Merit Jeffrey Selingo
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D25 has senior pictures in 2 weeks. Have to decide on outfits. She can do one outfit change. I think she’s going to do one dress and one more casual outfit. What are you all doing?
We just did ours last week - these were the ones sponsored by school, not like a professional that we hired ourselves. So one photo had to be in the outfit they wear in the yearbook - for boys it’s a blazer and tie, for the girls its the “drape”. Then we did one casual outfit - he went with a short sleeve button down and khakis. We saw girls waiting their turn in everything from sundresses to something I’d think was more for a dance (it was short, tight, and sequined), and a cute cropped top and capri’s.
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Gah, yet another thing my C25 has to find time for this summer (senior photo shoot.). I don’t know how we’re going to get everything done!
Me! Son hated the DSAT. Has very good (not great) score for Paper SAT but wants higher. He took the ACT last month amid finals knowing he wouldn’t put real effort in just as a dry run. He’s taking it again in July and hoping to nab a seat in Sept. We are in CA so testing is hard to come by. But most of his list wants the scores.
Can’t believe we are already here.
Oh but I saw registration opens July 8 for September testing. Same day as the AP scores.
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After some chats…
Ranking?
Lindenwood
U of Louisiana-Lafayette
Stockton
U of Southern Mississippi
Maryville University
Iowa State
Rider
Wayne State U
Mercyhurst
Central Michigan University
Western Carolina
Adelphi
Wayne State College
Kansas State U
(Do we keep these on the list?)
Saint Joseph’s University
Southeast Missouri State
U of Nebraska-Omaha
Shenandoah
Creighton
LeMoyne
U of Missouri-Kansas City
Minnesota-Mankato
University of North Texas
U of North Carolina-Greensboro
Kent State University
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I just re-read old posts about your D25. I know you were trying to apply widely with TE, which I understand the basics of, but nothing more. How much of the “do we keep these on the list” are there for TE purposes? Is the following still true for her: not huge universities, more suburban in location, 3.0 student, test optional, wants a dance team, criminology/human development/social work type major, would like a more diverse campus, open to more religious affiliated schools (although not seeking that out)?
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She is open now to location and size. 3.2 gpa, still TO. Looking at criminology, social work, or a family studies type of major. She would like a dance team or a dance minor but doesn’t need to have both. She would prefer more diverse but we haven’t figured out what percentage that is for her as her current hs is about 95% white so pretty much all the schools are better than that.
Many on her “do we keep these?” are not TE schools. We are open to MSEP schools or other schools that may end up around the 25k total COA perhaps.
S25 got home yesterday from Rose-Hulman. He had the most amazing experience at Operation Catapult, and he is pretty much all in on Rose. On Friday they had the poster presentation where the kids shared the projects they completed during camp. Kiddo was on a team of three who built a balsa bridge and then tested it for weight. Walking in and seeing my son proudly explaining his poster to folks walking by, confidently answering questions, and looking so engaged and excited was such a gift. He loved the campus, the other students, the faculty, and even little Terre Haute. It’s amazing to see how much he grew in even a short amount of time.
He’s saying he doesn’t need to look at any other schools, but we may check out one more possibility over fall break (St. Olaf). It’s really just an excuse for a trip, but I want him to see one more school to make sure he feels good about Rose. Also, while Rose looks like a safety on paper, I want him to have a few other acceptances to be on the safe side.
Really excited for him to have found such a great fit. Hopefully it all works out for him!
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Thanks so much for sharing such a wonderful, heartwarming story! Any reason why St. Olaf would be an alternative to Rose-Hulman as it’s not a school I’d recommend for engineering. If looking for smaller schools, has he considered Clarkson, SD Mines, or Olin? The first two would be safeties while the latter would be a reach.
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St. Olaf has a strong math program with a good track record of sending kids to PhD programs. (Were you the one who shared that database with me?) Honestly, I think he wants to be done with it and just apply to Rose, but my anxiety is probably what’s behind wanting to look at other schools. We’ve already visited other engineering schools (CO Mines, SD Mines, Missouri S&T), and Rose was the only school where my son said he could see himself. So again, this is my anxiety driving wanting to look at more schools. So I should probably chill. 
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