I saw that article about the no kings protest! It made me really happy.
For better or worse — I think it’s lot a lot of schools in redder states — the college is likely more liberal leaning than the surrounding area.
Update on whether she enjoyed her visit tomorrow
D26 and my wife were looking at the portal for one of the EA schools she applied for and it said our Tax returns and other documents were not received yet from CSS despite me having uploaded them on IDOCs weeks ago. It turns out, while they are a CSS profile school, they do not use IDOCS (which I knew when I originally did IDOCs for schools that do use it as it was clear from the site they were not an IDOCs school). What I missed is that the schools that do not use IDOCs, still require us to separately upload our tax documents to their individual websites. I had assumed if they didn’t use IDOCs, that meant the detailed information we had to fill in in CSS profile was enough for them, and they didn’t also need the documents. Silly me! So, now, I have to upload docs to at least 3 schools sites it looks like. So annoying, and I’m hoping they don’t now try to claim it is not in time for the EA school that had a Nov. 1 deadline that we did meet for CSS profile, but just uploading the docs late.
A side rant: My wife and I are highly educated folks, who probably pay way more attention to this stuff than your average parent, and it is a lot for us and we clearly did not get this part right. How on earth do they reasonably expect the average parent who most needs financial aid (lower income, without college education, working tons of hours without time we have, etc.) to get all of this right? CSS profile in particular seems a lot of detail and technical aspects one has to get right to fully apply for aid. Seems a significant barrier to aid to me.
I think this is very often the case, but then maybe a factor to take into account is how much time the student is likely to spend on vs off campus.
In 21st century America. This is sickening. And I would almost bet it’s either someone who was never going to go to college or tried but didn’t get into that one. So sorry for this experience. C26 isn’t going for any red states, and it has limited their choices as it has your kids but they still have some good options on their list.
Edit:
Which is not to put down or in any way judge anyone here whose kids are at a red state school - I know there are a bunch of you with kids already in one or looking to go there - it’s just not the right place for my C26. (Or interestingly D19, whose grad school application list is excluding a couple of otherwise good programs for the same reason.)
I’m so sorry this happened.
My kid is as pale and freckled faced as they come ….so I won’t pretend she’s ever had that experience. But hanging out with racist, homophobic asshats is not what she wants to do for the next four years…or ever.
We had this exact same experience - that school also had some hidden ‘optional’ essays on their own portal.
The ‘do you really want to apply here test’ definitely gave me a negative feeling about the place. College applications are already stressful enough without a student worrying they missed something.
We received a similar letter from UNC-CH 2 years ago for S24. It was very nice. He ended up getting accepted and we received some nice letters post-acceptance as well.
Definitely different than any other school he applied to!
For those with students that are looking into STEM related degrees- Here is an awesome scholarship opportunity.
I am sad that D26 doesn’t want to apply- she does not feel comfortable ‘owing’ 4-5 yrs of work to the DoD after graduation (she wants to leave possibilities open)
19 days left- so not much time- but worth it for those that are interested!!
D26 is planning on applying for one of those when she’s a sophomore!
I understand that, otoh guaranteed employment in this job market is also something to take into consideration.
I’m so sorry you experienced that. This makes me so sad.
My D would love this, sadly not eligible as she has multiple citizenships (makes it a lot harder to get a security clearance).
Right now, it’s pretty much D26’s dream job to work at a DoD location. The colleges she’s applied to all have a track record of having students selected each year for one of these DoD scholarships (or similar ones…there’s a DoD Intelligence Community scholarship for service, too).
Really? I wasn’t aware of that.
Yes my S23 has run into this already with some internships… friends wanted to refer him, but when they found out he had more than just US citizenship, they let us know that he would not be considered for any job requiring security clearance because of the difficulty of getting it approved. They said it’s theoretically possible to get a security clearance but much harder, less likely, and takes longer, so employers don’t want to bother. It’s unfortunate, as a lot of the jobs that interest him require clearance.
Ohh- her not even trying for this one hurts my feelings!!!
Her top choice school requires two 6 month co-ops.
So that would be covered- plus guaranteed employment…
I enlisted in the Military after highschool (so did Hubby/her Dad) and served for 6 yrs- then used those benefits to go to college.
So for me it makes the most sense- but even better- they pay for your school first!!!
We are letting her make her own path- but I really wish I could force a few things on her 
(but that is a long commitment to make at this age. So, I do get it!)
I get it.
One of the things I like about Pitt is that a 6-month internship is required as part of the degree C26 would be doing. It’s one of the things to clarify, but it looks like school helps you get it. (D19 had something similar at NYU - it was optional not required,but she got credit for it and it was a prof who helped arrange it for her.) I know some schools require but then largely leave it up to the student to organize it.
Do school need CSS profile to make the admission decision? I thought we can apply later.
I believe the deadlines apply if you are seeking financial aid. Many private schools will give financial aid info with the decision letter, so need CSS with the EA/ED application for that. Should be clear on the school’s financial aid section on the website.
Off topic, but I posted on Facebook about D26’s Pitt acceptance with her holding the fun personalized poster that finally came in the mail.
Friend of mine responded that her daughter had gotten into Penn.
Now, I was 98% sure that she meant Penn State because I knew those decisions recently came out. I also know the Ivies don’t release until end of March unless you ED, and ED decisions don’t come out until December.
And yes, she meant Penn State – but she said she always confuses Penn with Penn State.
Which was kind of hilarious to me. 
But then, people confuse Florida and Florida State all the time, which is just anathema since I graduated from the former, and they’re bitter rivals – but at least those are both big public state schools, lol!
The most hilarious Ivy League confusion I know of is someone thinking Brown was a historically black college, presumably because of the name (confusing it with Morris Brown College I assume). Penn is often mistaken for being a state school, even if not confused directly with Penn State. Locally here, UC Berkeley goes by Cal for sports and locals often call it Cal. Sometimes it becomes clear that people think UC Berkeley (“nerdy”) and Cal (Pac-12 sports at the time), are two different schools. 