You all have added so many schools to our list for our D29 (eventually) that I’ve not heard of. My S25 was pretty laser focused on Ohio schools.
D25 got into Denison today, which has been one of his tops schools for a while. But, the merit wasn’t what we would need. He sent an email seeing if they will match the offer from Kenyon and he is doing some work to see how he likes Kenyon vs Denison, with Miami still heavily in the mix. I think as of today he actually likes Miami better than Kenyon, but Kenyon would be $30k less over four years and he has been really focused on cost.
He is 11 of 11 on acceptances and waiting for one more, he reach of reaches for him at Vandy (also very unlikely to be affordable). He also has a tiny chance of a competitive scholarship from Case, but I don’t think he wants to wait until mid April to find out.
Oh yay! we will be there too.
We actually visited Carleton last year. I fell in love with it, my son was a little lukewarm b/c he was really imagining a city location for his college years and Northfield is very ‘small town America’. He has since come around and is now very excited about the possibility of Carleton. We’d already visited Macalester and he loved it (I did too). We’ll be doing back to back Macalester and Carleton visits - with a 3 day break in between - we’re trying to figure out what to do with our time in Minneapolis - in April! It’s a great city but 5 nites in April? I have a feeling we’ll make a couple of visits to MOA - which my son loves. They have great vintage clothing stores there surprisingly.
Maybe we’ll see each other?
So glad to hear he came around and is excited about his Minnesota options! Mine have also mentioned a desire to be more urban, though I think they just don’t have all the context on how — even (or especially) in a small town — the campus ends up as the cultural center of life and activity, and you end up having a great time. I’m curious how Northfield will read to them once we’re there. Should be interesting!
Will keep an eye out for you at Carleton; we can coordinate by DM.
Up at 3 am and can’t sleep — my D has an interview for a competitive scholarship and that got me worried. She would have to maintain a 3.5 GPA (as an engineering major).
I’ve moved on from worrying about where she will get in, to worrying about if she will be able to hack it once she gets there. What if the stress is too much? Or what if the academics are too difficult? If she changes majors and loses the one scholarship, we can still afford the school, but what if she loses the other one?
I think this is definitely part of it. C25 has had a fun senior year (maybe a little too fun tbh) and will definitely miss her friends. Though, gosh, remember when there were no cell phones and email was brand new?? In contrast to those days, kids now seem like they’re always connected!
Yes, and this is the conversation that I’ve been trying to figure out in my mind. I don’t want to hold funding over their head - we agreed on a budget and all of their admissions are within it. But, as we’ve learned more about the depth and opportunities of some programs vs others there are clear frontrunners (to me). Will think more on the best approach for this.
Does anyone still remember the sleepless nights and exhausted days back when our seniors were infants? In my mind at the time it couldn’t get any harder, but yeah parenting is a LOT harder now…and I’m still sleepless .
@creekside It’s a whole different kind of hard, right? Now we worry about different kinds of things. I have a new kind of helpless feeling when it comes to D25. I can’t fix a broken heart or stop her from worrying about things happening in the world right now.
@SomeGuy121 If you work for a college or university that is part of the Tuition Exchange, they would give you info on how to apply. Several of the colleges you mentioned are members, which is why I mentioned it. I think several of the colleges you mentioned are also part of Colleges that Change Lives. There seems to be a lot of overlap in those groups.
I often say in yearn for the days when parenting decisions were easier. They cry so feed them or change a diaper etc. Sure I was sleep deprived, but at least there was a more straightforward right answer of what to do. Now I just feel like I am making the wrong choices-so much judgment with every parenting decision. Feel like I am messing up and want a do over.
Lots of great options in April! If the weather is nice and if you like outdoorsy activities, Nerstrand State Park near Northfield is a fun outing, as well as Minnehaha Falls in Mpls (and hike along the creek down to the Mississippi). You could even do a day trip or overnight up to Duluth and the North Shore and explore up there. There are several other small towns within an hour’s drive that are also fun to visit (Red Wing and the nearby Frontenac State Park, Stillwater, Mankato and go to the state park there to see the bison, etc.).
If the weather is more iffy or you prefer indoor activities, there are several museums that are well worth the visit (Mia, Mill City, Science, Bell, MN History). Taking in a play at the Guthrie (or the Ordway or Orpheum or one of the smaller theaters) is always a great idea.
Thank you so much for all these great ideas!
Hoping for decent weather- we will be there tail end of March and early April. Sounds like plenty of things to keep us busy!
We decided he’ll live on campus his freshman year, and then he’s going to try to RA in the future, but if that doesn’t work out, he can live with my sister. It’s a huge ask for my sister (their house isn’t huge), but it would save a LOT of money, so we’ll try to figure something out where my sister won’t feel taken advantage of (she’s awesome and would not object, but I also know she likes her routines and her space)
Huge thank you though, we had never even considered LMU before you mentioned it, and it ended up being his first choice by far.
That’s an important part of scholarships that doesn’t get talked about enough.
A 3.5 can be tough, especially if there’s no grace period. (One of one of my kids’ scholarships, they had to keep a 3.5—but the first semester was effectively a “mulligan” as long as they passed all their classes, and they’d do a probationary semester if you fell below it, and that seems to acknowledge that many people have a rough semester. A hard cutoff, that’s just harsh.)
The scholarship Hofstra has offered C25 requires a 2.8 (with the first year simply requiring satisfactory academic progress), which seems more than reasonable to me. Even more along that path, unless they’ve changed it in the past two years (the last time I checked) scholarships at Earlham simply require satisfactory academic progress—and Earlham explicitly said that part of the reason for that is to not discourage scholarship-holding students from taking courses in subjects that would require pushing yourself, which I found more than interesting.
I had more than one kid that didn’t have identiably different cries for different needs. No matter how hard things are now, the fact that I can just ask? Yeah, that’s gold. Even if the answer is “I don’t know”, then at least I know that—and if it’s a snarled “Leave me alone”, I know that direct intervention probably isn’t best right now. I’ll take a cynical 17yo over a newborn any day.
Music to my ears! You should stretch, and you should take classes in things you’re not good at because they may be helpful (says the mom who persuaded her kid to take his first CS class in college ) and/or interesting. Earlham holds a special place in my heart.
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