<p>Thank you all, very much. </p>
<p>I’m sorry to be a little secretive… I don’t feel comfortable sharing too many details since I am not the student nor one of his parents. Perhaps in the coming weeks/months they will get active here and share more.</p>
<p>And I don’t (yet) have the full story on the financial aid package they were offered last year… but the family’s finances are pretty typical working/middle-class. </p>
<p>It’s good to know that Oberlin and Northwestern are generous with financial aid. I will add them to the list for sure. Depauw and Lawrence were already on my radar… Nebraska and Iowa are interesting possibilities. I’m a little leery about OOS publics because of what happened last year, but perhaps they are better about meeting “100% demonstrated need.”</p>
<p>His SAT scores are average… they equate to an ACT of 25. His hs grades were good, and he took two ap classes… Do you know if not being an “elite student” academically would make it difficult to be accepted into the music programs at Oberlin, Northwestern, or Lawrence? Last year, the school that accepted him seemed to relax their usual academic standards (and even asked him to retake his SAT to raise it “just enough.”) Is that common amongst all of the best music schools that are also highly elite academic institutions?</p>