Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[madge]

very exciting reading about everyone's offers and progress!

we are still white knuckling our way through the process ... and we still have a ways to go before we're at the end of our road.

since the summer, DS has been pretty set on one school. while that school remains his top choice ... it is no longer his only choice. we attended a local preview night for the state's flagship school (he only went because friends were going, LOL) and ended up talking to the rep from the College of Arts & Sciences, where he learned about a newly re-vamped major that is exactly what he's looking for. Then came the invitation to an event for higher achieving students, which we attended on Monday. The rep from the first event remembered DS, talked to him more about the major ... and the next thing we know, the university president is chatting with us about lanyards/nametags blowing around in the wind ... and how great it would be for DS to choose the university. So, needless to say, that school is high on the list. Also muddying the waters is the offer of a full scholarship (that includes a stipend for studying abroad) from a smaller state school ... he's applied to 3 other schools & haven't heard from them yet.

This is just the first round. We haven't even gotten to the competitive scholarships yet. Overwhelming, to say the least.

 

[JeannieNM]

I have been dragging my daughter (kicking and screaming, as you might recall) thru this process very slowly. She's still not ready to really make any decisons, so Dh and I are forcing things along. We finally had to break down the common app and essays into steps and give her deadlines for completing each step. She has applications mostly ready (only one of the schools she's applying to takes the common app, another takes it but sent her some kind of priority application to use, and the other two use their own application). One of the schools requires a separate essay on a specific current events topic (Syria) for the application to be considered for the Honors Program. So we are still working on applications.

A couple weeks ago we visted one of the state schools. Yesterday we visited another one, and today we visited UConn. She has been happier with each school than the previous one. Saturday we will visit Rensselaer. She is going to apply to all four of those schools and see what happens in regards to financial aid and honors programs (and hopefully lots of scholarship money). She is leaning toward a Chemistry major, but that is still very much up in the air, and we are encouraging her to think of the decision of colleges as an open ended one at this point...she can always transfer later. She is still very young (just turned 17 a couple weeks ago) and is very nervous about making these decisions now.

For me, it's been hard to keep this as stress free as possible for her, and she has had a bad attitude all along. We wanted her to go to community college for a year to buy some time to make these decisions, but she doesn't like that option at all.

I hate that I'm feeling so negative about this whole process at this point.
Am I the only one dealing with this, or is someone else here experiencing the same thing??

You are far from in this boat alone!!! Lots of kids burn the midnight oil to get there apps in. I am coming to realize that my DD was so stuck on schools in California that she may have missed some schools that would be great fits for her. We visited one school in Arizona and much to her surprise she liked it. She has only submitted a few apps so far and is working on more. We are visiting two schools out east when we are in DC for Thanksgiving. She decided to not listen to her GC who said only apply to 4 or 5 schools, and to instead apply widely and see where the cards fall. All the schools she is applying to require auditions for the programs she interested in (except one which is just an interview but it is such an academic long shot that we are not really counting it - 18% admit rate) which change the whole admission process. DD will not hear from more then a couple of schools before the end of March so it will be April before we know where she is going. Embrace the options and remember each kids process is different. Your daughter will pull through when she needs to! It is good to keep a list of deadlines and remind her what she needs to do when especially if she is busy or reluctant.

IDODis- you made me laugh with your envelope story. DD got her admit letter from a school in AZ and it was funny because in big letters on the outside of the envelope it said You are admitted. Her friend saw it lying on the counter the other day, and she said wow that takes all the fun of not knowing what is inside...I said they do that so the mom's don't have to steam the envelope open while they are waiting for their kids to come home and open it. Congrats to your DD. I hope she gets the combined MD program.

Just checked DDs status at our state university and they had her information incorrect, they had her applying for a cert in radiology instead of a BA. ARGH, I called since DD is in school and rehearsal and they gave me the address she needs to email to have it corrected. At least they have all the transcripts, scores, etc.

 

[Bluestars]

We know exactly what to expect when we go to Rensselaer, as my DH is an alum. She has been on campus many times over the years, and I think that visiting and applying there is mostly a competition that she feels with my DH. DH is trying to talk her out of visiting and applying because of the cost but mostly because of the location. The campus is pretty nice, but Troy is a very sketchy yukky town to be in. It wasn't very good when we went to school there in the 80s (I went to college in Troy as well, but not RPI), but it has gotten worse. DH was recently there and was completely disheartened to see how bad the city has gotten. DH also thinks the school doesn't have as good of a reputation as it once had, but I don't know if that's really true or not. I have no idea what will happen if we visit and she loves it, because we'll have some hard choices to make if that's the case.

We felt the same way about the city of Troy. It seemed ok near the campus, but a few blocks away reminded me of very bad downtown areas. While we were driving through Troy, we saw an adult male riding a little girl's pink bike.

My son loved the school until he toured Texas A & M. Now A & M is the only school he wants to attend. This works out price-wise too.

 

[Bluestars]

very exciting reading about everyone's offers and progress!

we are still white knuckling our way through the process ... and we still have a ways to go before we're at the end of our road.

since the summer, DS has been pretty set on one school. while that school remains his top choice ... it is no longer his only choice. we attended a local preview night for the state's flagship school (he only went because friends were going, LOL) and ended up talking to the rep from the College of Arts & Sciences, where he learned about a newly re-vamped major that is exactly what he's looking for. Then came the invitation to an event for higher achieving students, which we attended on Monday. The rep from the first event remembered DS, talked to him more about the major ... and the next thing we know, the university president is chatting with us about lanyards/nametags blowing around in the wind ... and how great it would be for DS to choose the university. So, needless to say, that school is high on the list. Also muddying the waters is the offer of a full scholarship (that includes a stipend for studying abroad) from a smaller state school ... he's applied to 3 other schools & haven't heard from them yet.

This is just the first round. We haven't even gotten to the competitive scholarships yet. Overwhelming, to say the least.

That's neat that you guys got to talk to the university president and that the rep remembered him.

 

[madge]

That's neat that you guys got to talk to the university president and that the rep remembered him.

we're finding it's all about sales and marketing .... and at the end of the day, who better to sell the school than the university president?

 

[coinkc]

Having a really hard time here....

My daughter is having a difficult time finding the "right fit" for her as far as which college to go to. Well, I take that back - she found her "dream school", it's just a private school that is WAY out of my price range. So unless they offer up some serious scholarship money it's just not going to happen.

Unfortunately, it was one of the first schools we've looked at and everything she has seen since just doesn't compare. However, last week we visited another school and she really seemed to like it. Said she could see herself going there which is the first time she has said that since the private school. I was thrilled! It's a state school but not the state we live in so she would have out-of-state tuition but it still wouldn't be as high as a private school.

Now for the hard part...she has received two offers from other state schools (where we live) that are for FULL tuition based on her ACT and GPA. One of the schools we have visited (before we found out about the scholarship) she absolutely did not like it. The other one we are going to visit next week.

It's so hard to know what to do because I promised her that I wouldn't make her go to a school just because of the money but at the same time, it's awfully hard to pass up a full tuition scholarship. I did not enjoy college and so am hoping that she has a better experience which is why this is such a difficult situation for me.

We are still waiting to hear about scholarship money from the school she did like so am hopeful they will offer a lot! Otherwise, I'm really hoping the other school that offered her tuition will catch her eye and she will like it as much.

Keeping my fingers crossed! And boy will I be glad when the decisions are made and this whole process is done!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We are still plugging away trying to find colleges for my DS that he is interested in even touring.

We have a tour coming up on Saturday for a school that has been in the news because of a merger. Another college is most likely taking it over. I'm wondering how that tour will go - if this will be mentioned or if the school will not say anything hoping people haven't seen the news yet since it was just announced last week.
Current students have been protesting and are unhappy. Should be an interesting tour.

We've heard back from the one college that my DS sent an application to with a list of items he needs to submit before his application can be processed.
Once he sees the doc and gets his TB test done and the immunization form approved we'll have everything we need that the college is asking for.

And the weekend after next is the last school we have a tour scheduled for. His Dad wants to take him to that one so he'll be doing it. DS isn't too thrilled about that but says he'll make it work. Apparently I'm better at asking questions and not embarrassing DS during these tours according to him. LOL

 

[JeannieNM]

Having a really hard time here....

It's so hard to know what to do because I promised her that I wouldn't make her go to a school just because of the money but at the same time, it's awfully hard to pass up a full tuition scholarship. I did not enjoy college and so am hoping that she has a better experience which is why this is such a difficult situation for me.

Keeping my fingers crossed! And boy will I be glad when the decisions are made and this whole process is done!

Sometimes private schools work out to be less expensive then State schools because they have more money to offer. Probably won't be as good as in state full ride but maybe better then out of state.
What I have told my daughter, is keep looking, apply broadly, decide in April. There is no reason to decide now. Who knows what will click with your DD in 6 months. I know my DD is in a far different place today about college then she was in September, who knows where she will be in April. She just keeps getting the applications in. We are going to look at 2 more schools over Thanksgiving when we are visiting family in DC, originally she would only consider schools in California. (AU and Maryland)

Current students have been protesting and are unhappy. Should be an interesting tour.

We've heard back from the one college that my DS sent an application to with a list of items he needs to submit before his application can be processed.
Once he sees the doc and gets his TB test done and the immunization form approved we'll have everything we need that the college is asking for.

And the weekend after next is the last school we have a tour scheduled for. His Dad wants to take him to that one so he'll be doing it. DS isn't too thrilled about that but says he'll make it work. Apparently I'm better at asking questions and not embarrassing DS during these tours according to him. LOL

Why don't you both go. DH and I have gone on all the tours with DD. It is fun to compare reactions. Give us a tour report when you get back, sounds like its going to be interesting.

IDIDis- thanks for tip about SDSU, DD applied to it sight unseen because the Cal State schools all use the same app. She figured since she applied to CSULB she would apply to SDSU since it did not require an audition.

DD got another acceptance yesterday. Our state school. So as she says, two down and who knows how many more to go. She has one or two left that she may hear from before March.

Found the perfect motivation for getting applications done and energy about the process. Her good friend came back from college this weekend and they hung out together. DD came home Friday night and submitted the application to her friend's school which was DD's list. It was fun. She now feels confident about getting out of here and moving on. I know it will ebb and flow but it was fun to see her jazzed about the prospect of getting done with high school.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

 

[IDoDis]

Why don't you both go. DH and I have gone on all the tours with DD. It is fun to compare reactions. Give us a tour report when you get back, sounds like its going to be interesting.

IDIDis- thanks for tip about SDSU, DD applied to it sight unseen because the Cal State schools all use the same app. She figured since she applied to CSULB she would apply to SDSU since it did not require an audition.

DD got another acceptance yesterday. Our state school. So as she says, two down and who knows how many more to go. She has one or two left that she may hear from before March.

Found the perfect motivation for getting applications done and energy about the process. Her good friend came back from college this weekend and they hung out together. DD came home Friday night and submitted the application to her friend's school which was DD's list. It was fun. She now feels confident about getting out of here and moving on. I know it will ebb and flow but it was fun to see her jazzed about the prospect of getting done with high school.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Oh, I'm glad I was able to offer some useful advice! Congrats on another acceptance! DD decided to go ahead and fill out the app for NMSU even though she's pretty sure she doesn't want to go there. I told her it would be wise to do the application just in case. She got her folder/packet in the mail from the College Boards a few days ago and there were 9 tuition waiver forms in there, so she might as well use some of them.

So, does "senioritis" officially hit at the beginning of the 2nd semester?

 

[madge]

So, does "senioritis" officially hit at the beginning of the 2nd semester?

mine was done before school started. LOL ... after he spent a month on a college campus this summer, that was it for him!

 

[scrapquitler]

mine was done before school started. LOL ... after he spent a month on a college campus this summer, that was it for him!

The same with my DD. She took a summer class at the local community college, and isn't very interested in being in high school any more.

 

[JeannieNM]

Oh, I'm glad I was able to offer some useful advice! Congrats on another acceptance! DD decided to go ahead and fill out the app for NMSU even though she's pretty sure she doesn't want to go there. I told her it would be wise to do the application just in case. She got her folder/packet in the mail from the College Boards a few days ago and there were 9 tuition waiver forms in there, so she might as well use some of them.

So, does "senioritis" officially hit at the beginning of the 2nd semester?

Thank you.
I think it is good that you convinced your DD to apply to NMSU. It is always better to have choices even if she sticks with her original plan. Congrats on the 9 waiver forms!!! That is great.

DD has a bit of academic senioritis already. She told me she is sick of working so hard! She has two classes that are absolute killers and with the play opening next week and bff bday this weekend her schedule is packed.

We are looking at two more schools Thanksgiving week. I am torn because both are in the DC area where DH and I grew up and while I love the area it would be hard on me if she decides to apply to school 2000 miles away. I have been secretly hoping for AZ or CA which is where all the other schools she is applying to are located. I don't want to bias her but figure here is a safe place to express myself.

 

[IDoDis]

Thank you.
I think it is good that you convinced your DD to apply to NMSU. It is always better to have choices even if she sticks with her original plan. Congrats on the 9 waiver forms!!! That is great.

DD has a bit of academic senioritis already. She told me she is sick of working so hard! She has two classes that are absolute killers and with the play opening next week and bff bday this weekend her schedule is packed.

We are looking at two more schools Thanksgiving week. I am torn because both are in the DC area where DH and I grew up and while I love the area it would be hard on me if she decides to apply to school 2000 miles away. I have been secretly hoping for AZ or CA which is where all the other schools she is applying to are located. I don't want to bias her but figure here is a safe place to express myself.

That is totally understandable. Since your DD wants to be in a warm, sunny place, then she probably won't want the east coast weather. She sounds like more of a west coast gal! Try not to worry about it too much.

I didn't know those fee waivers were coming or why DD received them. Once I saw them, I assumed everyone got them, but wondered why they were sent out so late. DD didn't apply or qualify for a fee waiver on her ACT and never took the SAT, so that makes me wonder... I looked on the College Board website and it says they will send a maximum of 4 waivers for financial need which we never applied or would not qualify for. So why the odd number of 9 waivers?

 

[sk!mom]

That is totally understandable. Since your DD wants to be in a warm, sunny place, then she probably won't want the east coast weather. She sounds like more of a west coast gal! Try not to worry about it too much.

I didn't know those fee waivers were coming or why DD received them. Once I saw them, I assumed everyone got them, but wondered why they were sent out so late. DD didn't apply or qualify for a fee waiver on her ACT and never took the SAT, so that makes me wonder... I looked on the College Board website and it says they will send a maximum of 4 waivers for financial need which we never applied or would not qualify for. So why the odd number of 9 waivers?

We also just got a packet of fee waivers. They kind of irritated me as DD is done applying. It seems like they should have been sent much earlier.

 

[Bluestars]

Kind of frustrated with my son. He started his applications in the summer and had a list of schools. We visited two of them and he loved the second one so much that it's the ONLY one he applied to. Ugh.

I bugged him almost daily to finish applying to those other schools, but he feels confident that he will get in his favorite. He finally applied to another school, but it was in London. My husband of course said that's not happening.

Anyway, I am done nagging him and told him that if he doesn't get in, then he will need to figure something out. We could find out next week or it might not be until the end of February. To think his applications started out so promising and now all of his eggs are in one basket. Sigh.

All of the other stuff is done. We've sent in the money for announcements, cap & gown, and tassel. Senior pictures are done. All that's left is waiting for an acceptance.

 

[Mom21]

We had a quite a scare this week. She applied to 3 colleges and got emails from them they had received her SAT/ACT scores and her application package. She assumed this meant her transcripts since she had the school send them. Well this week found out they weren't sent. I called the school livid. Her number 1 choice was already cut off, and that meant she wouldn't be in the running for the Dec 16 acceptance.

They had sent them, but since they don't have a registrar at high school right now, I was told no one was reading the reject messages. For some reason her transcripts didn't send out. Her #1 school told me no matter what too late. That would mean we would have to wait until March/April to find out if she got in.

Well the college counselor talked to them and sent it to them PDF, and she is now in the Dec decision. I am happy about that, but not happy about their response for the other two that she will "get around to it eventually". Well her eventually better be by end of next week. Those schools are on rolling admission, but still we would like it all wrapped up so she has all of her acceptance letters when she makes final decision.

Boy howdy, I will say I was MAD. No excuse for that lack of competence. The person sending them should at least pay attention to the rejects. Oh, and also, when I spoke with the college counselor at her school, she admitted she had glanced at the reject and remembers my daughter showing on that list. I wonder why she didn't do something immediately? I let it go because she was willing to try and get the school to accept the transcript late.

 

[TLuvsD]

I'd stay on top of the transcript issue. Once you are sure the #1 school has the transcript, follow up on the others.

And don't forget to send an email to the #1 school "thank you so much for including Minnie Mouse in the Dec decision pool. We were so concerned when XXX high school failed to send the transcripts on time." This is your back up in case she doesn't get the decision in Dec.

As we learned when our D was applying, check those portals often, and for EVERYTHING. If you are not sure the college has EVERYTHING, call and talk to someone in admissions. We had huge problems with a Letter of Recommendation....it was written, and emailed, but didn't get to her file. It's a lot of chasing small details, but it can make a difference.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We finished the last 2 college tours that my DS scheduled.

The one with the college that had an announcement of a merger just a couple of days before the tour was interesting.
The president of the college called it the elephant in the room and addressed it directly. Basically they didn't know much - the president said she was told that the merger with the other college would strengthen the cirriculum of both colleges. The one it is merging with doesn't have much of a Computer Science or Engineering cirriculum.

About the only thing she knew was that she was told all Computer Sciences and engineering classes would be located at the same campus because they had the classes already in place and the other college didn't.
Based on the other time colleges merged in Georgia, it took about 18 months for everything to go through.

The parents and students were seperated after that for meetings. Many parents had the same questions I did but no one could answer yet.

Then the rest of the tour was pretty basic and uneventful. We didn't have the most personable student ambassador so there wasn't much chatting. We did see alot of protest posters during the tour though.

My husband went on the tour for the final school today. Both he and my son liked that college. My son said the college he toured today is now his Number one choice so I told him he needs to get the application done as soon as possible.

Hopefully he'll listen to me.

Unless he finds another college he's interested in touring, we are done with that now. I think he's tired of touring colleges even though he's only done 3. LOL

 

[acebatonfan]

Yay, more college application stress.

I had my ACT application all filled out last Wednesday evening (for the December ACT), and all I needed was my dad's credit card. I had a hair appointment that day, and I left the house with the application open at 4:30PM.

While at the hair appointment, my stylist commented that my hair is really thinning out, and, after I commented that I lost over 60 pounds within the past four months, she recommended that I go down to the urgent care just down the road.

After a few tests at the urgent care, I was rushed to the nearest hospital for a blood glucose reading of well over 560 and having large amounts of ketones in my urine; I was in the middle of diabetic ketoacidosis and needed IV insulin.

Eight hours in the ER, 24+ hours in ICU, and another 24+ hours in a regular room, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. During that time, the regular deadline for December's ACT passed, and I also found out that the ACT could not accommodate for my diabetes for that testing date, because I needed to register during the regular registration period for accommodations.

I was discharged last Saturday, but I decided to miss this week of school in order to have a better grasp on treating my diabetes and to get my glucose levels down to a more normal range.

Now, I am freaking out about all the work I have missed. I only have four classes, but one teacher has been M.I.A for 3+ weeks (and she doesn't have an email I could contact), and I have a ton of examinations I need to make up. I know my teachers are, for lack of better words, such a-holes that they would make me take an examination while I am experiencing a hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic episode, and I 100% do not feel safe in that school.

I have posted on my CommonApp that I was recently diagnosed and that my grades and attendance may not be stellar, so I am not very worried about the college taking the comment the wrong way -three of my classes' grades are above a 99%, and my other class, AP chemistry, was at a 92%.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I've been sort of lurking on this thread. My DS hasn't been to ambitious about figuring out what college he wants to go to. He found one in Utah that turned out to be not a good institution so we scratched that one off the list. He had decided to go to the local community college then after getting his AA degree he thought he would go to the same State University that his brother went to. Great for me because it is affordable and will give him time to mature.

Then this week he finds Digipen Institute of Technology. It is near Microsoft's main headquarters and has great programs for software and game design, which is what he wants to do. Problem is that his GPA is probably not good enough to get in AND it's about 10 times more expensive than the community college So we talked and I told him he has to buckle down and get his grades up. Then we'll check it out. I think that I'm still going to try to get him to do one year at the local college. His study habits aren't the best and before we start spending huge amounts on tuition I need to know I won't be throwing my money away.