<p>My D has been admitted to her top choice school. What is next? I am not sure we should send all the forms/deposit, etc. yet - they are due May 1st and we are still waiting to hear about scholarships for NMSC Finalist and Honors Program.</p>
<p>How early should we send these back?
Will sending the forms early help her get the dorm of her choice? </p>
<p>Thanks for any guidance on the next steps.</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter :)</p>
<p>Send in the deposit for sure. It secures a place for her, and many schools do housing on a rolling basis so yes, it could help her get her dorm of choice. It also helps the school know how many more kids they can accept to the school, just like it would be courteous to inform the school if she wasn’t planning to attend so it would free up a spot for, say, someone on the wait list.</p>
<p>No always- it depends on the school. Go online to the website and see if the housing deposit holds a space and gives preference the earlier you send it in. Different school have different rules, but it should be easy to find out from the website.</p>
<p>Senior year gets very, very busy. The more you can do upfront, the more time you’ll have left for all the other senior year events and tasks. Congrats!</p>
<p>Thanks. I will try to find out</p>
<p>Congratulations on your D’s success!</p>
<p>Usually, one only needs to send in housing deposits early for public colleges that lack housing for all freshmen. For such colleges, the earlier you send in the deposit, the higher your kid’s chance of getting housing. </p>
<p>Otherwise, no need to send in deposits until May 1. Even though your D has gotten into her top choice school, she could change her mind, so unless she’d miss out on housing (check with the school about this), don’t bother to send in deposits now. There really is no hurry.</p>
<p>Oh isn’t that neat! Congratulations. She’ll have a great senior year ahead.</p>
<p>If the scholarships make a difference in your ability to afford the school, wait until you hear before sending in the deposit. I would ask the school if sending in stuff early makes any difference in housing. Some do and some don’t but it is not just public Univ that it makes a difference with. Many schools will be more likely to give you your first choice in housing if you get forms in early.
Congrats to your daughter and you, what a stress reducer.
Ellen</p>
<p>There are also schools like Carnegie Mellon which do have a first come first served system for housing, but they don’t start taking deposits until April. (Hope I’m remembering this right!) Anyway, my son waited till the last minute to send his deposit in, and got placed in an off campus apartment. Luckily it was a great situation, but it was not his first, second or third choice either.</p>
<p>Not really saying anything different than Northstarmom - you need to find out the exact rules at the school your child will be attending.</p>
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<p>What others have said (in spades) plus …</p>
<p>She should apply to some other schools. From another thread, it appears that she has only applied to one school. For 50 bucks it might be well worth to applying to schools that Loyola would not be thrilled to lose her to and schools that might offer her a better financial deal. Why not apply to a school like Marquette or DePaul? As of right now it doesn’t appear you have an negotiating leverage when Loyola comes back with their financial package. Is that really the position you want to be in?</p>
<p>If your D is a National Merit finalist, then Loyola was a safety for her, and she was a shoo-in. She should be in line for major merit aid there if Loyola offers it, but if finances are of any importance to you, she’ll have her best chance of getting an excellent merit scholarship if she has been accepted to some colleges that Loyola would want to compete with her for. This means colleges rated higher and colleges similar to Loyola that offer her excellent merit aid.</p>
<p>Thanks - she has applied to Fordham also and depending on the Loyola initial offer (that should be in with the official admission letter and should be about half tuition based on her stats), she will apply to others. Loyola has 5 full tuition scholarships for National Merit finalists, we are hoping for one of them.</p>
<p>It’s really nice to have experienced people in these forums.</p>
<p>Students first in line for major merit aid scholarships tend to be outstanding students whom the colleges fear losing to competing colleges. That’s why your D should apply to more schools that are ranked equally or higher than Loyola. Colleges know that given a choice, students usually pick the college that ranks higher, so colleges use merit aid to attract great students who otherwise might select a better college.</p>
<p>Congrats! :)</p>