My daughter has tshirts or sweatshirts from a lot of the schools she toured and liked but not all. We aimed to get things on the sale rack or the cheaper side. Do love that Pitt gave her a tshirt just for touring! Not sure what will happen to them all after she decides where she is going!
2 Likes
Ralphie VI just retired this last year due to an âindifference to runningâ 
(I can totally relate 
)
Ralphie VII debut at the beginning of this season and has no such indifference- I was super impressed with seeing the handlers keeping up with her !!!
One of my favorite mascots!
5 Likes
Haha I knew there was a new Ralphie but did not realize the reason for VIâs retirement
1 Like
I was telling D26 how it all went down back in the Dark Ages. I told her the applications were usually stapled into the view books (had to explain that one too ) and that I actually typed up my essays for EACH college into the actual application so there was no copying/pasting. Then I had to mail the applications- like drop into mailbox a few weeks before the deadline and pray it got there - no waiting until 11:59 pm to hit âsubmitâ on deadline day. She was speechless!!
11 Likes
I will âdateâ myself a bit hereâŠ
My University of Michigan acceptance off the wait list came by way of Western Union Telegram, which we had to sign for, and had a 1-800 number I had to call to accept or decline the offer within 5 days (it may have been 3) so they could either close out one more open slot or move on to the next waitlist candidate.
I still have that telegram in my little personal wooden box of keepsakes.
13 Likes
This is so funny! I didnât know anything about Ralphie or this tradition so looked it up. And then I was telling DH about it, who found âindifference to runningâ hilarious. D26 will love this so much. I wonder if Ralphie VI just kind of sauntered onto the field?
3 Likes
CU announces that Ralphie VI has retired days before season opener
This shows 2 videos- the first one with Ralphie VI who in fact âjust kind of sauntered onto the fieldâ
And the 2nd video of a previous Ralphie
I hear they have nice retirements- so Ralphie VI was a smart girl and got to start the leisurely life sooner than most
4 Likes
This is amazing. Iâm not even sure my kids know what Western Union is. And the 1-800 numberâŠcrazy.
We were just telling our kids the other day about how you applied (by typewriter and mailing it in) and then you waited for the mailed response and the lore was that a thick envelope meant you were in. A thin one you were rejected. Not always accurate thoughâŠI remember someone who got really upset when they got a thin envelope from some school and didnât bother opening it for a while. Only to find out belatedly that they had actually gotten in.
Ahhh, the good ole days!
2 Likes
Iâm glad your daughter is okay -but that is scary!
We are very worried about trying to afford 2 tuitions at once. If you go by the FAFSA - we are supposed to spend 38% of our take home pay on college tuition. Iâm really not entirely sure why they got rid of the âtwo kids in school at the same timeâ adjustment for the FAFSA. Iâm just hoping that D26 gets some good need/merit packages.
2 Likes
My D26 applied to WPI as well. I always think of it as a hidden gem - I think it has a lot to offer. But like you said - a long time until decisions come in!
1 Like
Not undergraduate but for professional school (and I may have told this one before in this thread)âŠ
As a Junior in College, I applied early to -one- veterinary school, for three reasons; one it was the same University as my undergraduate college and I had been advised that if admitted I could submit about 10-12 science hours back from the College of Vet Med to the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and receive my BS (biology) for LAS -or- I could defer my acceptance for one year, finish my undergraduate and then start the veterinary program - and- lastly, if I wasnât accepted it would be an early intro into doing 5-6 applications to schools for the following year.
Applications were due on like October 15th (maybe Nov 1st) with decisions supposed to come out Feb 1st (maybe Feb 15th?), and it was paper/typed etc. I walked my application across campus to hand deliver it to the admissions office more than a week in advance. And then waited.
Spring semester rolls around and I am eagerly anticipating the decision letter, so much so that on decision day I started hanging out in the dining hall of my Fraternity house which was adjacent to the house mail room. Decision day comes and goes - multiple people I knew had applied to veterinary school had received rejection letters, and a small handful had gotten acceptances (including one or two that I âknewâ had GPAs and VCAT scores well below mine). And I got nothing, I waited about 2-3 days outside the mailroom with no luck, and called the admissions office - all they could say was that all acceptances, wait lists and rejections had been released on time. They could not give out decision information over the phone.
So around 2+ weeks later (after I had shown up in the admission office to inquire and was told that they would re-generate and re-mail a decision letter if I hadnât received it by 30 days!!!) I was in the dinning hall post meal just shooting the â â â â with a few of the guys, and one of the other guys who had applied to dental school comes running in to say he had gotten accepted to Dental School⊠and one of the guys sitting right next to me says âOh yeah⊠that reminds me. I have a letter I picked up from the mail room from Vet Med. I saw it come in and knew you had applied so I wanted to make sure nobody took itâŠâ
It had been sitting in his room since the day before decision day.
I could have punched him.
12 Likes
Oh gosh- so glad sheâs okay!!
1 Like
One of my closest friends went to WPI (ages ago). She loved it there.
2 Likes
I donât really see how our federally-calculated SAI (student aid index) per kid x 2 is logicalâŠlike the SAI x 2 adds up to more than my individual income per year.
What weâre planning on at the moment is to use $$ in D24âs 529 account to offset some of her college costs for her junior year and then the following year (D24âs senior year, D26âs sophomore year), use D26âs 529 account to offset some of her college costs.
their 529 accounts would have been fully funded if we could have afforded to plunk away $1500/mo since the time they were both born, but life got in the way of that like it does for most people. And none of the grandparents were/are going to help out at all.
Dollar-wise, Iâm crossing my fingers that UofA gives her a tad more merit aid like they offered to D24 (she received an extra $1-2k/yr more than we expected)âŠthat would be a nice relief.
1 Like
My D26 was intrigued by the projects and the study-abroad options, but we didnât get a good overview of the particular program she was interested in â and I honestly think weâd done so many tours by that point that she was just over it.
So she thought it was fine â but nothing compelling. I, on the other hand, thought it was a fantastic option for her. And I loved the campus. (The dorms are pretty bad, though.)
I also think being an hour from Boston would be great â and she loves Boston. Plus my MIL lives in the the Berkshires.
Weâre on the fence about the three-classes-for-seven-weeks schedule. I can see how it would work well for someone with ADHD, but on the other hand, if you have a bad week or two, youâre cooked (as my kids would say, lol). I think she prefers to have five different classes for a longer period of time.
So, weâll see. Decisions come out at the end of January â at the same time as RIT, which I think is still her frontrunner. (Lots of overlap in applicants between those two schools.)
1 Like
Found it. It says Western Union Mailgram (and US Postal service on it) - but I answered the door to a guy wearing the Western Union Uniform including the cap that looked like an old time driving cap / Maytag repairman hat, and had to sign off on his clipboard for it. Yep, gave me 7 days to respond by phone.
22 Likes
Kiddo submitted her ED and 2 EA apps today!!
Trying to finish up supplementals for one more EA before November 1. Then more supplementals for a Nov 5 EA deadline, and then ANOTHER supplemental for a Nov 15 deadline.
Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She did kick one that has several supplemental out to RD. But other than that one, we should be all wrapped up on Nov 15!
13 Likes
Hey - since this will be my first ârodeoâ -whatâs the procedure for talking about school acceptances and rejections? Do we just take those to the school threads? I realized I listed early acceptances here -but itâs to safety schools with high overall admit rates. I am probably overthinking it â
1 Like
I plan on posting it here. doesnât matter if your kidâs schools are safety schools w/high overall admit rates. I think that every acceptance deserves to be celebrated. 
16 Likes
Yay! Thatâs awesome! We JUST got the November EAs done yesterday. We still have a bunch of RD to go âbut itâs nice to have the first batch shuffling out the door. We also still need to make sure that everything is REALLY in -there always seem to be a few with portal âsurprisesâ!
7 Likes