Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[Mom3girls]

Ah, that stinks. Great score though!

Thank you bjscheel!!

Ugh but congrats! That is a great score!

Thanks mamacatnv!!

Wish she had thought about taking ACT earlier

 

[v.t.]

Just wanted to express my frustration... my daughter decided back in Nov on a whim she wanted to take the ACT and scored a 30. She's 9th in a class of 430. Has taken almost all AP classes both junior and senior year. She has a great GPA too. Temple has offered her $5000 in merit money She wanted to take it again and got her score today and got a 33!! But it is too late for Temple, apparently you only get one offer from them. They won't even consider this accomplishment Okay, rant over.

What a great score. Too bad it won't help with Temple but I think it would definitely help with other scholarships.

 

[v.t.]

v.t. - Love your message and quote! Since you asked for advice, I would try to reword so the last 3 sentences didn't all start the same. It makes your messages sound repetitive even though each sentence is its own important thought. JMHO

Thank you for catching that! I have rewritten it so many times, I didn't even notice that. The yearbook sponsor wants my stuff this weekend, of course I am in charge of a basketball tournament for Project Celebration this weekend, so that isn't going to happen. (Did I mention she and her senior daughter were supposed to volunteer but backed out because they are so busy.)
So if anyone would like to rewrite my message so I may turn it in on time.................

 

[Mom3girls]

What a great score. Too bad it won't help with Temple but I think it would definitely help with other scholarships.

Thanks v.t.!! We are gonna appeal the scholarship amount and hope they bump it up. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

 

[robinb]

We paid my DD's first acceptance fee and signed a housing contract! She applied to Iowa State at my urging and was accepted in less than 24 hours. As an out of state student in the top 25% of her class, she'll receive a merit scholarship which brings the tuition down to a reasonable level (about 50% more than the UW-Madison, but with cheaper housing). They have a very good Kinesiology department and a very active Greek community on campus. We are planning on visiting in early April for their special Freshman Greek Visit Weekend. Almost all of the fees are refundable by May 1 if she changes her mind but it gets her in line for dorm selection.

 

[piglet too]

Got the financial aid package today, and he was awarded a $15,000 scholarship (renewable yearly) and a $6,690 grant. Quite shocked, and excited, about the scholarship because we never expected he'd get one.

 

[Mom3girls]

Has anyone here ever appealed a merit scholarship that was offered and had it changed? This weekend we are sitting down to come up with an appeal letter to send to three schools that my daughter applied to. She took her ACTs a second time and got a 33 which would normally get her more money than she was offered. Hoping it might actually work

 

[robinb]

Has anyone here ever appealed a merit scholarship that was offered and had it changed? This weekend we are sitting down to come up with an appeal letter to send to three schools that my daughter applied to. She took her ACTs a second time and got a 33 which would normally get her more money than she was offered. Hoping it might actually work

I think it's worth a try! That is really a kick-butt score and she deserves more $$ for it. Good luck!

 

[Mom3girls]

I think it's worth a try! That is really a kick-butt score and she deserves more $$ for it. Good luck!

Thank you

 

[bjscheel]

Today was individual district speech contest. DD did musical theater, singing "Little Girls" from Annie. She wasn't really wanting to do it anymore and thought she wouldn't do that well. Her performance time was 3:28 so she had all day to feel nervous. But she did better than she'd ever done at home and it was great! She got a I and goes on to State in two weeks. She's happy to know she got a I but not that thrilled about practicing for two more weeks and performing again!

 

[aprilgail]

I've always found it interesting how some schools are selected or ruled out for this reason. For me, and both my sons, a big school held no interest. All three of us graduated from big classes (mine was 400, oldest son's was about 575, and middle son will be 550) and wanted smaller schools because of that. My husband graduated with 42, and wanted a big school.

My daughters class is around 400- don't consider that big at all. The small college was just one of the reasons- it was just weird there, when we were touring around seeing the kids and campus I was thinking that it just was really weird- it was an all girls school but just a weird vibe to it. When the tour was over my daughter said "mom, I can't go here, its like they picked that one weird girl everyone has in their high school and sent her here, I don't want to be that kid!" I was glad she didn't care for the college! We had toured three other colleges while we were there and they were showing us different dorms like "the honor kids are dormed here" "nursing students are on this floor" "the engineering kids are on this floor"-- well this other college was "this is the floor where the kids like to bake cookies" "this is the arts and crafts floor" "this is the scary movie kids floor"- the tour guide then went on to tell us about how they bring in bouncy castles for the kids once a month on the weekend LOL- it just want not the right fit for her.

 

[Poohforyou]

So just out of curiosity, how much schools did your senior apply to? Did you visit all/most of them before applying? Is there a clear favorite?

Dd applied to 5 schools (accepted to 2 so far). We visited all of them (#1 twice). Yes, there's a favorite and it'll probably be the last she hears from.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My daughters class is around 400- don't consider that big at all. The small college was just one of the reasons- it was just weird there, when we were touring around seeing the kids and campus I was thinking that it just was really weird- it was an all girls school but just a weird vibe to it. When the tour was over my daughter said "mom, I can't go here, its like they picked that one weird girl everyone has in their high school and sent her here, I don't want to be that kid!" I was glad she didn't care for the college! We had toured three other colleges while we were there and they were showing us different dorms like "the honor kids are dormed here" "nursing students are on this floor" "the engineering kids are on this floor"-- well this other college was "this is the floor where the kids like to bake cookies" "this is the arts and crafts floor" "this is the scary movie kids floor"- the tour guide then went on to tell us about how they bring in bouncy castles for the kids once a month on the weekend LOL- it just want not the right fit for her.

That's interesting! I work with a TON of nurses who went to Simmons College and most of them really loved it. It's also known to be one of the best nursing programs in Boston. I guess that's why it's good to visit the campus. It wasn't somewhere that interested me or my DD, either. What did you think of the other schools you visited in Boston?

 

[3smithboys]

We are off to Penn State later today for DS's accepted students day tomorrow. He is very excited (and I can't say that I'm not as well.) I went there too, and it's going to be fun going back!!!

 

[aprilgail]

That's interesting! I work with a TON of nurses who went to Simmons College and most of them really loved it. It's also known to be one of the best nursing programs in Boston. I guess that's why it's good to visit the campus. It wasn't somewhere that interested me or my DD, either. What did you think of the other schools you visited in Boston?

We loved the other 3- Northeastern, BU and Tufts. Tufts was VERY hilly and lots of stairs but she is a kid, didn't matter to her LOL. I really think I liked northeastern the best but my daughter said she is fine with any of those.

 

[robinb]

My DD applied to 7 schools and we have visited 3 of them, plus another that she did not apply to because she did not like it. We plan to visit 3 more in the next month and we are not visiting the last one.

 

[AustinTink]

DS sent two new applications this week to schools he had not previously considered. Never thought we would doing this in February! Thanks a lot, UT.

 

[SmallWorld71]

The big news around here this week is that DS finally got his license. He has had his permit almost 2 years and it was due to expire in April. He was just too busy before with school, after school activities, summer jobs etc. that he never had time to complete the driving hours. Glad that it's done.

It's interesting to see what people consider big graduating classes. DS will graduate with about 80 so 400 seems big to us.

To answer a PP, he applied to 6 schools: 1 safety, 2 match, and 3 reach. Haven't heard from any yet.
Eta: We visited 3 of them. We have also been to the areas/ cities where 2 of the others are located. He has two favorites, but both are reach. He did really like the safety school, though.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

So just out of curiosity, how much schools did your senior apply to? Did you visit all/most of them before applying? Is there a clear favorite?

Dd applied to 5 schools (accepted to 2 so far). We visited all of them (#1 twice). Yes, there's a favorite and it'll probably be the last she hears from.

DD applied to 5 schools. She visited 4 of them (some on official tours, some for school programs or to visit friends & family). She was accepted to 4 of the 5 (rejected at her "reach" school for nursing, which has a 10% acceptance rate), and is trying to decide between her 2 favorite "good fit" schools.

I am very glad we have heard from all her schools! It takes so much pressure off. At the beginning of the school year we talked about applying Early Action to 2 schools with November deadlines. She got her ducks in a row and made it happen! Since one of those 2 schools was on the common app, she submitted 2 more apps early to common app schools with rolling admission. Her last school notifies accepted students in 2 waves (Feb 20 and March 17). She was accepted in the first wave.

She just received the Financial Aid package from her safety school. She got $4000 in merit money, $2100 in work/study money, $3200 in subsidized loans and $2300 in unsubsidized loans. We won't be taking loans no matter where she goes. I hope her two top schools give her something similar, but I'm not counting on the merit aid. She only got it because the safety school is academically beneath her.

 

[punkin]

Niece applied to 10 and we visited 5 of them. Unless she gets into her top choice, with money, we will have to do one more trip before she decides.