<p>je<em>ne</em>sais_quoi, my D graduated from Smith in '06. She was a tour guide while there and is an alum interviewer now. Feel free to PM me if you want to run any questions past us.</p>
<p>Your D has several attractive options. By Thanksgiving I bet she will be very caught up in her new environment, whichever she chooses. Best wishes to her and you for the “decision” month.</p>
<p>:: sets up tea ::</p>
<p>Scones, anyone? Or should I just break out the hard liquor now instead? :)</p>
<p>Owlice, you are such a kind, delightful person. Thank you for the tea. It hit the spot.</p>
<p>At the post office there was a T-shirt from one school. At the house mailbox there were three fat envelopes from schools which notified online. One of them will have FA info we don’t currently know. But the FA offer he really wants to know is STILL not here, despite supposedly been mailed this weekend.</p>
<p>All this talk of spread sheets and indecision makes me see what a really vague, unscientific, unmathematical family we are. Both kids just went from gut (F/A being close enough.)</p>
<p>No course catalogues even looked at. (Of course, I did, but of course neither was interested in my observations.)</p>
<p>Each just had a “this is it” epiphany.</p>
<p>Just got our last FA award…it was the best of the bunch. Have to figure out how it would mesh with merit if we can work that out. The plot thickens!</p>
<p>I love that plot, CountingDown! How well does your son like the school?</p>
<p>I am a CPA - so I breathe spreadsheets. What a geek I am! </p>
<p>Congrats CountingDown!</p>
<p>What would be on the spreadsheet?</p>
<p>Obviously, I am not a CPA.</p>
<p>Post-acceptance visits are SO different…
agree with Mom2three</p>
<p>DD would not let her heart get set on any one school until after acceptances and $$ were in. She knew that they would be off the table if $$ did not work so she could not let herself fall in love. Afterwards the visits were different. She could let her heart in on the decision and actually envision herself at the top contenders. Then she could make that decisison. .</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay, obviously, I’m not where others are in the process, but off the top of my head, I can imagine a spreadsheet that includes: name of school, cost of attendance from school’s website, additional costs (dependent on location/travel/etc.), merit aid from school, merit aid from other sources, parental funding from cash/income available, student funding from cash/income available, gap, loans to parents to cover gap, loans to students to cover gap.</p>
<p>Probably some other things, too, but those are some of the financial considerations for each school; one would want to know what each option would cost and how that compares with the other options.</p>
<p>2blue, thanks, but I don’t know that offering hard liquor to stressed out parents in the middle of the afternoon is necessarily kind! :D</p>
<p>CountingDown, yay! on the last and best of the FA bunch!</p>
<p>For me - on the top part, I have total costs less total free money less total loans to come down to what I can pay. This way my son can see the difference between what I can do and what is offered. </p>
<p>I also break apart the loans so that he can see how much a loan costs over the payout period. </p>
<p>I just do the numbers. He does the rest :).</p>
<p>Mythmom - S is the “gut feel” type of kid and gave H a quizzical look when the spreadsheet was suggested. He started the spreadsheet about an hour ago and asked, “And why do we need this again?” I actually did not care for the spreadsheet idea (even though I’m a finance person) because I know S. Spreadsheet or not, he will go with his gut. He’s doing the spreadsheet to keep the family peace. And I’m planning the visits which I love.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all - it sounds like all of your kids have at least a few great schools to choose from. </p>
<p>Owlice and mythmom, I just finished reading through this thread and I have to compliment you both on the amazing job you did keeping everyone’s spirits raised. I hope you’ll be back when my D is going through this in two years - I’m sure I’ll need the moral support.</p>
<p>Always for you LIMOMOF2. And you can always PM me. And you have all the contact info now!</p>
<p>We all need support. What a grueling, ridiculous process.</p>
<p>mountains: Well, after reading this I realize I keep all that spreadsheet stuff in my head. I just don’t actually make the spreadsheet!</p>
<p>But I don’t the kids if I had to downsize the house, I’d pay for their college, so they really didn’t have anything to think about except where they wanted to go.</p>
<p>Thank goodness we did get F/A. Enough so that I’m still in my house.</p>
<p>May 1st does come, and then before you all know it the kids leave.</p>
<p>Talk about a vigil. I think you '12ers should keep this thread going. You have a long countdown to actual D-Day. (Departure Day.) But many others have survived, and you all will too.</p>
<p>What’s on the spreadsheet? Am trying to compare apples to apples w/financial aid and how external scholarships, term time work, etc. sort out. It’s about the only part of this process where I have any input!</p>
<p>Mainly, though, it’s to keep myself busy while he’s visiting one of the schools this weekend.</p>
<p>I ought to get working on my Torah reading for next week – 12 verses in Hebrew and I haven’t done much of anything yet.</p>
<p>D got invitations to accepted student receptions at her top 2 schools today. Of course, they are both on the same day, but at least in the same area of the state. The first one, unfortunately, starts at a time when she is already committed to being at another event. She can probably make it to the reception for the last hour, so maybe they won’t hold it against her (it’s not like it’s for prospective students where she might be penalized for being late). Then she can hop in the car and hurry to the other school’s reception, and if traffic isn’t an issue, she might actually make it on time. What makes this even more interesting is that she is also going to open houses at the schools–one on the day before the receptions, the other on the day after. So, that gives her two events for each school in a period of three days. If she can’t make up her mind which she likes best after that, we’re definitely going to have her toss a coin!!</p>
<p>“so maybe they won’t hold it against her”</p>
<p>Peabodie time to shift focus! Now she is in the catbird seat. They want her and are wooing her. She gets to let them know under what terms she will consent to be wooed 
Enjoy the change in perspective.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, I’ll bring the cake!</p>
<p>We’re still debating the revisit. I’m for it, D feels like she just doesn’t have time with AP exams coming up, sports, graduation… after March draggggeeeeeeeddddddddd on, April is flying by! It seems like D is waivering daily though, as she gets tidbits of info she sways this way, then that way… </p>
<p>I have a spreadsheet with costs, gift aid, loans (broken out by subsidized and unsubsidized), etc. That’s really for MY use, so that I can see what the net cost is after gift aid, what the total loans over four years might look like, and what I need to come up with. D and I have discussed it, but really, it’s mine.</p>
<p>It’ll be interesting to see how this ends.</p>