<p>^^ Please sit down with your son and weigh the pros and cons of Columbia’s Core Curriculum. Every Columbia student, regardless of major or interest MUST take the same basic set of core courses during their freshman and sophomore years: Contemporary Civilization, Literature Humanities, University Writing, Art Humanities, Music Humanities, and Frontiers of Science. It’s kind of like high school – you cannot graduate without taking those specific courses. Columbia’s educational philosophy is that the core provides every student with a commonality – alumni from the 1920’s through last year’s graduating class have taken the same basic set of courses. The “core” is not for everyone – some kids love it, others hate it. See: <a href=“The Core Curriculum”>http://www.college.columbia.edu/core</a>. Yale, on the other hand, has distributional requirements that need to be completed in order to graduate, but students can take any number of courses to fulfill the requirements. See <a href=“Distributional Requirements < Yale University”>http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/yale-college/distributional-requirements</a>. Sometimes the differences in curriculum get overlooked when weighing what school is the best fit. </p>
<p>@gibby thank you. Yes he’s looking at that</p>
<p>My son said yes to Yale last night. Finally! One chapter is closed and a new one starts. </p>
<p>@Riverview , over the weekend we attended an Accepted Students event at a local library. The Yale rep mentioned that the 700+ commitments before BDD were a record. Among the students this weekend, the majority had already said yes. Btw, it was an exceptionally nice bunch of families we met. </p>
<p>Hi quick tax question: My student earned about $5,000 from an on-campus job in 2013, and we live in a different state (California). Yale withheld $12 for Connecticut state taxes. The Connecticut tax rules state that an out of state resident does not have to file unless they earned more than $14,000 – or – had CT tax withheld. Doesn’t make financial sense to pay $40 bucks to Turbo Tax for Connecticut forms to get back a $12 refund. Can I just skip it, and let Connecticut keep the $12? Wondering what others do for students earning on-campus income? Thanks!</p>
<p>Why don’t you just download free CT forms and fill them out? They won’t be difficult.</p>
<p>Here’s where: <a href=“Connecticut Department of Revenue Services”>Connecticut Department of Revenue Services;
<p>@Riverview- Congratulations! It must be a great feeling to be able to finally get excited about Yale. My daughter is waiting until after BDD to make a decision and the suspense is killing me. She thinks I secretly want to go to Yale myself- probably true. </p>
<p>Thanks Hunt. </p>
<p>We may be also sending in a deposit check to Yale, BDD will be the determining factor. She has whittled down the list to 3 schools from 9. Such a huge decision for 18 year olds. How does one choose when all of the schools are so great and have so much to offer? </p>
<p>@NewHavenCTmom - it sounds like you have made a lot of progress going from 9 to 3! My D was pretty much decided, but confirmed at BDD. She actually committed while there. There was no deposit check, surprisingly!</p>
<p>She crossed many off of list due to location, some were asking her to take loans & others just offer a better college experience. Her top 3 are giving the best aid. </p>
<p>We accepted a while ago and have been expecting a request for a deposit. Fine by me if Yale doesn’t require a deposit, but it’s the kind of thing I worry about – nightmare email: Since we have not received your deposit, we are sorry to say that your spot has been given to a deserving student off the wait list. We sincerely wish that you had not reneged on your decision to attend Yale.</p>
<p>One thing I’m hoping to have clarified at BDD is the student account, allowing parental access to the account, ACH deposits, etc. I’m sure that I am silly to be worried, but that’s the way I’m wired.</p>
<p>Wow I am surprised about the no deposit part. I was going to go through all the correspondences from Yale tonight after work to find the deposit requirement but it seems unnecessary now. So the first payment occur in the summer when we pay for the fall semester tuition and room & board, is it correct? </p>
<p>IxnayBob, I know we have until May 1st but your nightmare email will now be giving me nightmares. </p>
<p>That is definitely how it worked last year when D was committing as a freshman. I have not seen anything that has changed. Is Yale the only school that does not require a deposit?</p>
<p>@Riverview, awesome and congratulations. My son is waiting after BDD. He also scratch his list from 10 to 3, visited Penn and it was ok, visited Columbia and it was great according to him. He simply loved it which makes his first choice Yale harder. Let’s see what happens</p>
<p>@GeorgeBailey, IxnayBob, I am with you. Now that my son has declined all other offers, I hope no nightmare situation with Yale 
I will call tomorrow to confirm. </p>
<p>Yale and Harvard (maybe some others) do not require deposits. Your word is good enough. </p>
<p>@GeorgeBailey, IxnayBob, Please share what you learn! We’re all in the same boat</p>
<p>Welcome to the new Yale parents! Another confirmation: Yale does not require a deposit. Hope all you kids get into the best residential college(s)! ;)</p>