High School class of 2011

[agnes!]

My son applied to out of state schools for 4 of his 6, we based applications solely on who was tops in his major- Forensic Science. Of the schools Univ of West Virginia's out of state tuition is one of the cheapest for oos students in the USA, I think they are 13th on the list of affordable tuition for oos students. As to the rest, we will rely heavily on scholarships and financial aid.
My son was National Merit Commended, so no automatic scholarships, but he is getting a lot of interest from the schools that were notified of his National Merit status. He is also spending a lot of time on Fastweb.com, he figures that since he is writing essays until the cows come home, he might was well continue. There are so many scholarships available for kids who are just willing to write an essay, and so many kids just pass them by because they don't want to write the essay.

Actually, it's West Virginia University or just call it "WVU" and remember, football is practically a state-religion there and if the rest of the season stinks BUT the Mountaineers beat Pitt? Ah, all is right with the world .
As to the automatic scholarships...our experience has been interesting. DD was sick the day of the PSAT/National Merit Test - she was coming down with a severe case of mono so she didn't do as well as she probably would have otherwise. So I had been thinking she wouldn't have much chance at any merit-based scholarships . Well, I was proven wrong (and *very* happy about it)...because of her GPA and her ACTs/SATs/APs, she is eligible for scholarships at every single school she applied to (most of them with a December 1st deadline). Some of the scholarships she could be chosen for are full-rides .

Us too, schools all do it differently. You can usually see on their website when scholarship notifications go out. Only two schools sent scholarship notification with the acceptance so far, two sent it a week to two weeks later, and the last two will not even send acceptances until sometime this or next month. I feel like we are are pins and needles from now until after the holidays.

Thanks for posting that the schools do it all differently...it's good to know. We're going to be waiting until well after the holidays too (for news about one program we think DD will get some kind of award from). One of DD's schools won't start generating any paperwork for their full-ride scholarship program ("President's" - as in the college President) until after January 1st. The students get sorted and go through some process, the ones in the final pool get interviewed at some point and the top finalists go visit the school.

Hey, maybe we should start a 'pins-and-needles' club !

agnes!

 

[agnes!]

So help me out with the whole school aid/scholarship info.

DD applied to and was accepted at one of the state universities. The letter just basically said "you're in! Do the following: sign up for orientation, send in a deposit for housing" No mention of aid or scholarships. Do they automatically send you info on the aid and scholarships? At every single school? or is this something I need to call them about? Or does it not happen until after you fill out the FAFSA?

This will be my first one in college and I'm not sure how the process works.

Hmmm....I'm not sure. If I were you, I'd do a search over on collegeconfidential, see if this question has been asked/answered for this particular school already. If not, post over there and maybe someone will know the answer? Also, if you don't want to call the school, maybe poke around on the university's website....their timelines for aid might be posted there somewhere.
I do think that some loans, grants, etc. are not processed until the parents fill out a FAFSA...so do that as soon as you can after January 1st. The earlier you put your dibs on the pile, the easier it will be to get possible funds. In our case I am going to file a tentative FAFSA based on our previous tax year of 2009...because of extenuating circumstances (complicated family situations) our taxes are *never* completely done until several months after April 15th - and then I'll file file a final/amended FAFSA when we get all our paperwork from everyone.

agnes!

 

[golfgal]

So help me out with the whole school aid/scholarship info.

DD applied to and was accepted at one of the state universities. The letter just basically said "you're in! Do the following: sign up for orientation, send in a deposit for housing" No mention of aid or scholarships. Do they automatically send you info on the aid and scholarships? At every single school? or is this something I need to call them about? Or does it not happen until after you fill out the FAFSA?

This will be my first one in college and I'm not sure how the process works.

Look online to the school website and see what they have available. If he is going to that school for sure, send in your deposit ASAP as many schools use that to determine the order in which they assign housing. Find the financial aid section on the school website and see if they offer any scholarships for freshman (they will I would assume) and what the deadlines are. The qualifications for those vary-DS18 has 2 from his school-one for having a close relative that is an alumni (had to send in an application for that) and one for his ACT score-that was granted automatically. We got some information in the mail about the scholarships later in the year (Dec or early Jan maybe). You also want to check for local scholarships or use some of the online scholarship sites. The financial aid package USUALLY comes in March or April but every school does it a little differently.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Actually, it's West Virginia University or just call it "WVU"

Ok, I should be embarrassed.. the folder from the Open House is sitting right on the table in front of my for the past two weeks, I should know the name of the school, but I've taken to just callling it West Virginia. WVU is what it is here from now on, so much easier to type.

It seems we're all parents of kids who were early action on their apps on this thread. How will we all get through to their final decisions without going crazy? Agnes, Pins-and-Needles Club is a great idea, we'll have to help each other through.

Agnes, I hope a free ride comes through for your daughter's top choice school.

 

[Chelley00]

DS got his acceptance to Indiana University today. I'm so thrilled because he really wanted no backup school, and only applied to IU. It would not have been good to have been denied!

He actually lives in Illinois with his father, but IU considers him in-state because we have joint custody and I live in Indiana. We had no idea that would work out like that, so that was a nice surprise!

 

[MichelleVW]

DS got his acceptance to Indiana University today. I'm so thrilled because he really wanted no backup school, and only applied to IU. It would not have been good to have been denied!

He actually lives in Illinois with his father, but IU considers him in-state because we have joint custody and I live in Indiana. We had no idea that would work out like that, so that was a nice surprise!

Congrats!!!!

 

[missypie]

DS got his acceptance to Indiana University today. I'm so thrilled because he really wanted no backup school, and only applied to IU. It would not have been good to have been denied!

He actually lives in Illinois with his father, but IU considers him in-state because we have joint custody and I live in Indiana. We had no idea that would work out like that, so that was a nice surprise!

YAY! I wanted D to look at Indiana, but she thought it was too big.

 

[geffric]

DS got his acceptance to Indiana University today. I'm so thrilled because he really wanted no backup school, and only applied to IU. It would not have been good to have been denied!

He actually lives in Illinois with his father, but IU considers him in-state because we have joint custody and I live in Indiana. We had no idea that would work out like that, so that was a nice surprise!

congrats... in state tution.. wow what a savings... congrats..

 

[minkydog]

DS got his acceptance to Indiana University today. I'm so thrilled because he really wanted no backup school, and only applied to IU. It would not have been good to have been denied!

He actually lives in Illinois with his father, but IU considers him in-state because we have joint custody and I live in Indiana. We had no idea that would work out like that, so that was a nice surprise!

Congratulations! So glad it worked out for him. Doesn't it just drive you crazy when they get stuck on ONE SCHOOL ONLY? And then you really hope and pray that they get it(or that they change their mind) I don't think I put my folks through this stuff. In fact, I KNOW I didn't. I did all the testing, applications, financial aid, etc, and THEN I told them where I was going.

 

[MichelleVW]

DD17 is heading to Austin today to spend the week with her sister at the University of Texas. She has applied there, but I don't think her grades are good enough to get in (UT is pretty much next to impossible to get in unless you are in the top 10%). But this will give her a taste of college life since she'll be hanging out on campus and going to class with her sister. She's also going to the UT/A&M game on Thanksgiving.

She's been accepted to the other 3 schools she has applied too, she just needs to decide which one she wants to go to. We have visited one already, going to one Dec 6th and then trying to fit in a visit to the 3rd place. DH and I hope that she picked the school that is 2 hours away rather than the others which are 4-6 hours away, but the decision is up to her.

 

[ctinct]

DD got her first acceptance today. Feels good. If she should decide to attend, she gets free tuition. Yeah!!!!

 

[geffric]

DD got her first acceptance today. Feels good. If she should decide to attend, she gets free tuition. Yeah!!!!

congrats..

 

[Nancy]

My daughter just got off the last of her apps last night. So, we are now in the waiting game. She did get a phone call from OSU once they received her scores...wanted to make sure she was still applying there. Well, if they offer her enough money I might have 2 kids at OSU!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

DD got her first acceptance today. Feels good. If she should decide to attend, she gets free tuition. Yeah!!!!

Congratulations!
It feels so good to see their faces when they open up an acceptance letter.

We're still waiting on Hofstra and CW Post, but the boy has said that Penn State is ihis number one choice now.... Lord help me pay for it, or at least have an armored car burst open in front of me and spill thousands into my lap, lol.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

My daughter just got off the last of her apps last night. So, we are now in the waiting game. She did get a phone call from OSU once they received her scores...wanted to make sure she was still applying there. Well, if they offer her enough money I might have 2 kids at OSU!

Nancy, it she got in on the last days of Early Action, you should have some answers by Christmas, hopefully. I hope she gets the money she needs from OSU, sending pixie dust to you on that one

 

[agnes!]

DD got all her apps (5 of them & TG4CA - 'Thank God for the Common App) done at least 4 weeks ago so they would all be in by the scholarship/Early Action deadline of December 1st, *but* the high school didn't get their official transcript (counselor recommendation, courses/grades) out until sometime before Thanksgiving so I have NO idea when we will hear .

agnes!

 

[ctinct]

Daughter will have to wait till April for a few of hers. The one she heard from is rolling, she's got two that are early action, and the others are regular decision because they only had ed, not ea. I'm pretty sure she will get into all but the two very reachy schools. She has the stats and lots of extracurricular stuff, but these two particular schools have many, many qualified applicants and only admit about 15%. They are not Ivy, either, but still very tough admits.

 

[geffric]

Lord help me pay for it, or at least have an armored car burst open in front of me and spill thousands into my lap, lol.

can you send a car this way too.. LOL

Waiting on Ill.. but I think IU is his first choice.,.hopefully he'll get a scholarship

Since everything is gonna be bought in early August - laptop, printer, paper, sheets, mattress cover, blanket, towels, fan, waste paper basket, etc.. i guess he'll get cash for holidays..

 

[kbeverina]

Congrats to all the kids with their acceptances! We still haven't heard from my son's number 1 choice, but it does help to have a few acceptances under his belt where he'd be happy to attend. I'm really glad I was able to talk him into applying to some rolling admissions safety/match schools because he seems more at peace with the idea of a rejection or deferral from his first choice.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

Got my first acceptance letter yesterday. It's a relief to know that I have a future!