Kids headed to College Fall 2012 Check-in

[Green Tea]

Have your kids found out or found their room mates yet? This is all very exciting, isn't it?

 

[java]

Son got voted "the next Steve Jobs"
let's hope so!

 

[js]

We just visted Muhlenberg and it's my dd's first choice. She wants to Dual Major in Dance and either Psych or English. She REALLY wants to go there, but I'm afraid if she does ED the financial package won't be as good bc they obviously know she will go there if accepted. Did you speak to admissions before applying to see what the package could be? She flat out can't go there if there is no aid..we can't afford it otherwise. BTW, what does your dd want to study?

Hi Lovethatmouse! My dd visited Muhlenberg three times before applying ED. The last visit she "shadowed" for a day. I came right out and asked about Merit Aid and our Tuition Exchange Scholarship (I work in a private college). I was informed that if my dd applied ED, they would do an "Early Read" on her, so that is what we did. Her CommonApp and all essays had to be done by September (a deadline given to them by their college advisor) so she was all set. In October we sent all her paperwork in for an Early Read, within the week, we were told what they would give her as long as everything (grades, ECs, etc.) remained the same. She knew by the week before Thanksgiving that she was admitted ED. After/at your first visit, I would come right out and ask about aid, merit, etc. You do not know unless you ask.
We just came from Admitted Student Day last week and it was absolutely wonderful. Everyone is there to learn and succeed. Let us know what you decide during the year. Good luck!

It feels so strange to be done now! DD has picked her school, roommate, and summer registration date. We just need to pay the second part of the housing deposit & accept her fin aid awards. Prom was last night, she had a great time and looked beautiful. Now we are down to a few weeks of school & events then graduation!

How is everyone doing on their kids' decision making & final events of HS?

My dd's prom is AFTER graduation, which I absolutely love (so does she). With finals, AP tests and college courses it will be nice they don't have to think about prom during this crazy time. We just got a big packet in the mail yesterday giving us (oops, her LOL) information about Student Advising Day, which is beginning of June and a date of her graduation practice so she will miss that but think the school may give us some trouble with that. It was about 30 papers and I loved reading each one LOL Yes, I can't believe it is almost over but she was ED so we have known since before Thanksgiving but it's nice to know get more and more information. One other girl from my dd's HS is going to 'Berg so they know each other and are friendly so they are rooming together. They already have plans to go to BB&B shopping togther in the summer
Good luck to you and the remainde of the school year.

Deposit sent in, need to work on PLUS loan paperwork and Stafford loan paperwork as well. Spent the day shopping. Got her a cruiser bike for campus, among other things. Orientation is in June. We are renting a van to haul a her things out there to California from Texas and put them in a storage unit. She's accepted a roommate request and she'll meet her in June. Hope it all goes OK.

She's anti-prom, which makes me sad, so none of that here. She's counting down the days...

Wow! Texas to CA but that is WONDERFUL! Congratuations!
We now know our full award and what the college will cost and therefore the difference. Therefore, I can begin the paperwork for the PLUS and Stafford, that's correct right? I guess it is not too early to begin starting this since I have a feeling I'll be very busy this summer with vacations, college prep for my dd and my ds will be entering HS. Good luck with the move and your dd and her roommate.

They do not penalize the ED kids. Merit and need based aid are handed out freely to the early decision candidates. If the package is not something you can afford after being accepted, there is generally an "out" of the agreement if they can not meet the financial need.

lovethemouse, GreenTea is correct. But, your dd should really not apply ED unless you really think there is a good possibility that you can afford it OR perhaps they would do an "early read" before you apply. Remember, some schools also offer EA (early action) where it is not binding (but as GreenTea said, ED is binding but if you cannot financially pay for it, you are not bound to accept). Go to collegeconfidential.com if you haven't already and begin reading what you can on there, it is very helpful.

Son got voted "the next Steve Jobs"
let's hope so!

CONGRATULATIONS!! How wonderful!

 

[wilderness01]

Does anyone know of a good discussion board, similar to DIS, for college.
Since this is my first child going off to college, I would love to find a board where I could talk with other parents on what to expect, financial aid, handling her leaving, etc..

I found a couple, but they were all about bragging. I dont need to brag or want to hear all about everyone's perfect child with the perfect SAT score and all AP classes. Barf.

I don't know if it is bragging or not because I haven't seen what you are talking about. It is probably just proud parents talking about their kids' hard work.

I understand what you are saying if it is bragging because it has been the same as us parents that had "normal, not superstar" athletes for children that have had to endure years and years and years of hearing about or reading about little Johnny's superstar athletic talents.

I have a "friend" who has bragged about her kid for YEARSSSSSSSSSSSSS and his athletic ability. He was talented, but not so talented that he got scholarships for college, etc.

When anyone talks of their child's academic accomplishments she gets her nose bent out of shape. It makes me laugh because she is a hypocrite who has talked about her kids for years, but now considers anyone's academic value bragging. Whatever floats everyone's boat is fine with me, I just think it is funny that these parents who get all upset, not talking about you, are the same ones that have boasted about their own kids for years.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Hi Lovethatmouse! My dd visited Muhlenberg three times before applying ED. The last visit she "shadowed" for a day. I came right out and asked about Merit Aid and our Tuition Exchange Scholarship (I work in a private college). I was informed that if my dd applied ED, they would do an "Early Read" on her, so that is what we did. Her CommonApp and all essays had to be done by September (a deadline given to them by their college advisor) so she was all set. In October we sent all her paperwork in for an Early Read, within the week, we were told what they would give her as long as everything (grades, ECs, etc.) remained the same. She knew by the week before Thanksgiving that she was admitted ED. After/at your first visit, I would come right out and ask about aid, merit, etc. You do not know unless you ask.
We just came from Admitted Student Day last week and it was absolutely wonderful. Everyone is there to learn and succeed. Let us know what you decide during the year. Good luck!


My dd's prom is AFTER graduation, which I absolutely love (so does she). With finals, AP tests and college courses it will be nice they don't have to think about prom during this crazy time. We just got a big packet in the mail yesterday giving us (oops, her LOL) information about Student Advising Day, which is beginning of June and a date of her graduation practice so she will miss that but think the school may give us some trouble with that. It was about 30 papers and I loved reading each one LOL Yes, I can't believe it is almost over but she was ED so we have known since before Thanksgiving but it's nice to know get more and more information. One other girl from my dd's HS is going to 'Berg so they know each other and are friendly so they are rooming together. They already have plans to go to BB&B shopping togther in the summer
Good luck to you and the remainde of the school year.


Wow! Texas to CA but that is WONDERFUL! Congratuations!
We now know our full award and what the college will cost and therefore the difference. Therefore, I can begin the paperwork for the PLUS and Stafford, that's correct right? I guess it is not too early to begin starting this since I have a feeling I'll be very busy this summer with vacations, college prep for my dd and my ds will be entering HS. Good luck with the move and your dd and her roommate.



lovethemouse, GreenTea is correct. But, your dd should really not apply ED unless you really think there is a good possibility that you can afford it OR perhaps they would do an "early read" before you apply. Remember, some schools also offer EA (early action) where it is not binding (but as GreenTea said, ED is binding but if you cannot financially pay for it, you are not bound to accept). Go to collegeconfidential.com if you haven't already and begin reading what you can on there, it is very helpful.



CONGRATULATIONS!! How wonderful!

Thanks for the advice. We went to Hofstra College Fair last week and Nicole from Admissions was there. We stopped by and my dd couldn't stop telling her how much she loved the school and it is definitely her first choice. She did tell me about the early read, so we will make an appt for that in Sept, along with her interview and audition. Funny thing..at our last competition, she came in 2nd overall for her division..the boy who came in first is going to 'Berg next year! They were talking for a few minutes, and will probably do the facebook friend thing. He was not ED and got a huge package (his mom told me the amount) and that without that $$ he wouldn't be able to go. I hope my dd gets close to what he got so she can attend her first choice. Good luck to your dd and keep us up to date on her 'Berg experience

 

[zurgswife]

We got the call from Fordham FA office at 6pm friday; the reviewed our stuff and gave us federal grants/loans that we qualified for and hadn't originally given. That was the kicker...My son has now chosen Fordham at Lincoln Center.

He finished up his run as Teyve in Fiddler on the Roof; a great run as his HS lead for the past 4 years. His Director summed up his 4 yrs as the Golden Age of theater at has school. It was a wonderful tribute.

Now he has 29 days until graduation....

 

[Green Tea]

Great news about Fordham!

 

[Buckalew11]

We got the call from Fordham FA office at 6pm friday; the reviewed our stuff and gave us federal grants/loans that we qualified for and hadn't originally given. That was the kicker...My son has now chosen Fordham at Lincoln Center.

He finished up his run as Teyve in Fiddler on the Roof; a great run as his HS lead for the past 4 years. His Director summed up his 4 yrs as the Golden Age of theater at has school. It was a wonderful tribute.

Now he has 29 days until graduation....[/QUOTE

Congrats to him! I would have loved to seen their production--Fiddler is my favorite!

 

[SC Minnie]

DD is heading to college in the fall as well. Prom is this saturday night. She is ready to be done with HS and move on to the next chapter. She has 3 AP exams in the next couple of weeks and then she is basically finished since she doesn't have to take her finals.

She was accepted to her top choice. DH and saved all her life and are covering her tuition. We had told her she needed scholarships or loans for the rest. As of right now she has enough scholarships to cover the rest of the cost of attendence. She will be in a quad/apt style dorm and has 1 roommate confirmed. She is waiting until June to find out her other roommates so she can start the shopping phase.

August is going to be here in a flash. DD has 2 trips she is going on with the youth group and our family trip this summer. With those and working the time is going to fly.

 

[js]

Thanks for the advice. We went to Hofstra College Fair last week and Nicole from Admissions was there. We stopped by and my dd couldn't stop telling her how much she loved the school and it is definitely her first choice. She did tell me about the early read, so we will make an appt for that in Sept, along with her interview and audition. Funny thing..at our last competition, she came in 2nd overall for her division..the boy who came in first is going to 'Berg next year! They were talking for a few minutes, and will probably do the facebook friend thing. He was not ED and got a huge package (his mom told me the amount) and that without that $$ he wouldn't be able to go. I hope my dd gets close to what he got so she can attend her first choice. Good luck to your dd and keep us up to date on her 'Berg experience

lovethatmouse, Nicole K was my dd's Admissions person too. When we went to Admitted Student day a couple of weeks ago, she walked up to my dd and remembered her name and gave her a hug and said Welcome to your new home! It was lovely so I hugged her too LOL
Hope everything works out!

 

[MinnieGirl33]

DS is heading to American.

Took him right up to April 30 to make his decision but have to say I think he made the right one.

 

[poohbear2]

Checking in. Just sent the deposit to USC this morning. Goodbye, Walt Disney World. It was nice knowing you!

I was just thinking this today!

 

[Buckalew11]

We had a parent/student orientation day last Saturday.

8:30 -3:30 chock full of info! Reality its setting in!

We got the speech about this generation(can't remember what they called them)--it started with the fact they have been sheltered (unsafe world compared to ours, 9/11 happening and making us hold a little tighter) and ended with "special." lol

Your student is not special...they are all special and will be treated the same, etc. It reminded me of that commencement speech.

Anyway, it was interesting to watch as they separated us for the day--some parents were wondering if the apron springs would stretch that far and some kids were looking at parents like, "Do I hafta?" lol

The kids met with their advisors and picked their classes (not official, I do not think, yet) and that caused some parents great anxiety to think of their student going to sign up without them. As a homeschool mom, I was more than willing and elated to turn all that over to someone else!! Yay me! haha

They have another meeting today (they have 3 dates for people to choose from) and she will be going over to meet her roommate. She's excited to meet her, a girl from Murphy NC.

The roommate match up they did this year was you filled in the regular questionaire and they put it online and you were able to pick your own roommate that way. Interesting...DD said it was like match.com or something, lol.
Anyway, she didn't find hers that way, she was matched by the softball coach because this is a recruit of hers and she knows DD. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they are a decent match.

Anyone else's college doing anything like this for roommates or are they just strictly assigning them?

 

[Patience]

We just returned yesterday from a 2 day freshman orientation at App. State. My daughter has finalized her first semester schedule with her academic advisor, she will find out which dorm she is assigned to on July 15 and the bill for first semester will arrive around July 18. Freshman move in date is August 17 but she has to be there a week early because of cheerleading so we get to miss move-in day madness. She already knows who her roomate will be, a girl from our county that she knows a little bit but they went to different high schools.

Yowza! This is really happening! My first baby is going to college very soon!

Best wishes to all parents!

 

[StephMK]

We had a parent/student orientation day last Saturday.

Anyway, it was interesting to watch as they separated us for the day--some parents were wondering if the apron springs would stretch that far and some kids were looking at parents like, "Do I hafta?" lol

The kids met with their advisors and picked their classes (not official, I do not think, yet) and that caused some parents great anxiety to think of their student going to sign up without them. As a homeschool mom, I was more than willing and elated to turn all that over to someone else!! Yay me! haha

They have another meeting today (they have 3 dates for people to choose from) and she will be going over to meet her roommate. She's excited to meet her, a girl from Murphy NC.

The roommate match up they did this year was you filled in the regular questionaire and they put it online and you were able to pick your own roommate that way. Interesting...DD said it was like match.com or something, lol.
Anyway, she didn't find hers that way, she was matched by the softball coach because this is a recruit of hers and she knows DD. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they are a decent match.

Anyone else's college doing anything like this for roommates or are they just strictly assigning them?

We had our orientation the first week of June & it was very similar. I laughed because I think a lot of the parent activities were basically fillers to keep the helicopters from trying to "help" their students. I would have been fine not attending, it was a very long day w/o much new info. Thankfully DD is very independent & very sure of what she needs to do & wants. She got registered for classes & is happy w/her schedule.

She also did the roommate match service. I like that they offered it. The girl that she matched w/the best emailed her to room & they are all set. They've been emailing but no plans to meet yet. She recently got her dorm assignment & will be in a suite. One of the other girls attended the same HS as her roomie. I am praying that they all will get along since I don't know the relationships! The other 3 are from the same town also.

DD is ticked because one of the girls in the suite has the same name as DD! She has an unusual name that we really don't hear often at all. Seriously, 3 kids, 3 different schools & haven't heard her name more than once. Since we've lived here, we've run into 2 girls w/her name. One was in her HS performing group & now this one is her roomie. The other 2 roomies share the same first initial.

It's definitely flying by! We'll be on vacation most of July then it's time to finish shopping & ship her off. I'm so excited for her!!! Although I'll miss all of her HS buddies & their get togethers.

 

[RitaE]

I've been through Freshman orientation and registration twice now and both times there were parents practically hyper-ventilating at the thought of the kids registering without the parents.

This time it was so bad .... every single parent presentation the SAME lady raised her hand and started grilling the presenter of why the parents weren't allowed to sit in on today's advising and registration session with their children and no matter WHAT the session topic - Financial Aid, Housing, Meal plans whatever - she turned it into yet another discussion on how her child NEEDED her to choose classes. I finally during the lunch break found her and told her that if she didn't like the classes her child registered for that the Advising registration hold would be removed from the record right after orientation and she could just go online and change the classes to what SHE wanted at will from now until September.

Good Grief. But at least it shut her up for the afternoon sessions.

 

[tar heel]

DS is going to my and DH's alma mater, and we had a great time at his orientation. We got a fantastic orientation rate at the campus-owned hotel, which we will probably never be able to afford again, and met a couple we expect to become friends with. We loved that our parent group, like the one our son was in, was arts and journalism as our son is in the arts and both of us are in journalism. With Facebook, I think our son may actually become friends with some of his orientation group.

It was two days and after the first morning, the students were separate from the parents. You might or might not run into your child at lunch/dinner. I did see some parents and students texting back and forth while they registered (not us). My favorite helicopter was in the residence life session. The speaker said that none of the furnishings can be removed from the dorm room. She raised her hand and said that would be a problem because her daughter would be bringing her own mattress.

 

[Buckalew11]

We had our orientation the first week of June & it was very similar. I laughed because I think a lot of the parent activities were basically fillers to keep the helicopters from trying to "help" their students. I would have been fine not attending, it was a very long day w/o much new info. Thankfully DD is very independent & very sure of what she needs to do & wants. She got registered for classes & is happy w/her schedule.

She also did the roommate match service. I like that they offered it. The girl that she matched w/the best emailed her to room & they are all set. They've been emailing but no plans to meet yet. She recently got her dorm assignment & will be in a suite. One of the other girls attended the same HS as her roomie. I am praying that they all will get along since I don't know the relationships! The other 3 are from the same town also.

DD is ticked because one of the girls in the suite has the same name as DD! She has an unusual name that we really don't hear often at all. Seriously, 3 kids, 3 different schools & haven't heard her name more than once. Since we've lived here, we've run into 2 girls w/her name. One was in her HS performing group & now this one is her roomie. The other 2 roomies share the same first initial.

It's definitely flying by! We'll be on vacation most of July then it's time to finish shopping & ship her off. I'm so excited for her!!! Although I'll miss all of her HS buddies & their get togethers.

Yes, I agree, I felt like they were trying to keep parents busy, She did say they had to escort some parents out last year during the time the student were to be with advisors. Geez...

Stuff like, "over the summer, teach your kids to do laundry, show them how to pick good food choices..." I'm wondering what parents have been doing for the last 18 years!

DD also knows that another girl will be on campus with her first name too. Pretty usual--lots of boys with the name but not girls!

I've been through Freshman orientation and registration twice now and both times there were parents practically hyper-ventilating at the thought of the kids registering without the parents.

This time it was so bad .... every single parent presentation the SAME lady raised her hand and started grilling the presenter of why the parents weren't allowed to sit in on today's advising and registration session with their children and no matter WHAT the session topic - Financial Aid, Housing, Meal plans whatever - she turned it into yet another discussion on how her child NEEDED her to choose classes. I finally during the lunch break found her and told her that if she didn't like the classes her child registered for that the Advising registration hold would be removed from the record right after orientation and she could just go online and change the classes to what SHE wanted at will from now until September.

Good Grief. But at least it shut her up for the afternoon sessions.

We didn't anyone vocalizing that type of concern but I am sure there were those who sought out people in charge and bugged them to death!
~~~~
This is my first and only so it is all new to me and I have many mixed emotions. The empty nest will hit soon and I'm finding things NOW to fill the extra time. I've signed up for the half in 2013 and I haven't done anything jogging wise (but start C25K 5 times, lol) since the 2007 race.

 

[Chelley00]

Orientation for DS is Monday-Tuesday. My ex husband will be going with him since he's a little more OCD than I am about little details. I'm not totally left out, I bought DS towels at Target today on sale

DH and I were on vacation last weekend and drove through the town and stopped to peek at dorms. DS qualified for a residence scholar program which gave him a big break on housing costs as long as he keeps his GPA up. He was happy to get a single which means no roommate issues. He's the type that likes to socialize on sports fields but then come home and do his own thing so I think a single room is perfect for him.

 

[Green Tea]

Anyone else's college doing anything like this for roommates or are they just strictly assigning them?

My DD matched herself with another girl who we have now met and they were a fantastic match. It is like match.com but the first agreement isn't one date, you are actually agreeing to move in with each other!

I initially felt like random matching would be good because then if it didn't work out you wouldn't feel like you did that to yourself ( I have guilt issues, clearly ) but after seeing the 2 kids together it was a roommate match made in heaven!!