And that's a wrap for one midwestern kid

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

She is done and committed - whew!

In case this is helpful for anyone else:

Large suburban HS in MN
Act 34 (math 35)
Unweighted GPA 4.0
Will finish HS with 40+ college credits, with a full year of PSEO at U of M TC campus
Calc BC junior year
Has own business (creative, sells at in person markets)
Competitive dancer through all MS and HS
Many volunteer hours incl only student on planning committee for annual fundraiser at local organization
In cast of several HS stage productions
National Honor Society
Orchestra
Works once a week at local restaurant for 2 years
Major; actuarial mathematics
A big plus was college with great dance classes and orchestra for fun opportunity
Very creative kid with hobbies such as photography, hiking

Not elig for any need based aid
Didn’t apply to any EDs or “Top 30”- can’t afford them and she doesn’t check any of the boxes for “hooks,” not URM or first gen

Apllied to 4 state flagships, 4 privates, one Canadian Uni, three state universities a few states over. One private and one flagship in state, all others OOS.

Accepted honors program at all schools apllied to, with some merit aid offered at all (except hadn’t heard yet from Canada)

Cost at all of the schools except two after merit came to between 22k and 34 K per year.

One OOS flagship gave her lots of love, bringing cost down to $17k per year.

One OOS state school awarded her top competitive (required interview etc) and other scholarship which brought cost down to, gulp, under 4K per year,

Her final choice came down to the OOS flagship with the great merit, the amazing scholarship at OOS state school, and private school she really liked for roughy $30K per year.,

It was her choice, I offered to cover 85 percent for her at the $30k per year private. All top 3 finalists had some big positives in their own ways.
They also had very responsive and helpful admissions officers.

She chose the state school where she will graduate with no debt, be able to take great dance classes along with her math major, and enjoy benefits of the honors program.

She is so happy to be dine! She already met “online” another incoming freshman from a state far from Minnesota who will be her roommate.

A new adventure begins. I realize ours is not the typical path on this thread, but thought I’d share.

42 Likes
2

You’ve got a lot to be proud of. Smart girl, smart choice. For actuarial science, it’s all about passing the exams, not as much about name of school.

5 Likes
3

Thanks for saying that. Just tonight she came home from dance where a friend from a family that can afford full pay was cheered loudly by teachers and teammates for getting into a “dream school” on ivy week. She is from a full pay family and applied to a bunch of schools that my daughter didn’t even bother applying to because of cost. It wasn’t really that choice that made her need a shoulder to cry on for five minutes, but rather that not one of her dance teachers has said anything to her about getting that competitive scholarship to the state school, which frankly seems like one of those “stars aligning just right” kind of things too. She was very fortunate since I think two hundred kids made the final interview round. But the teachers also didn’t say anything to another dancer friend with single parent who got into the auditioned dance program at our state flagship. Quiet confidence. That’s been our mantra since she was little. And she has room in her heart to be happy for everyone else and to cheer them on for achieving their dreams too, whatever those are. Heck, I have no clue if the teachers even know about these two “non-elite” achievements that are under the radar and getting no accolades. That confidence of hers comes from her hard work and talents and successes, more often than not no one is cheering. That’s kind of a good life lesson. No regrets, work hard, and enjoy the journey
 I also reminded her that on college graduation day she will have more freedom than some due to being blessed with no student debt.

20 Likes
4

Wow, your daughter sounds so amazing! Congratulations on her many accomplishments!

2 Likes
5

@Bettybuddy - my kids sort of felt the same way when classmates were all having signing days for sports. The colleges were often NAIA, state directionals, community colleges, sometimes D3s; without any sort of full scholarship, if any. The academic kids had no signing days. tis life, i guess. But i do know my kids would have liked to have been recognized a bit. :slight_smile:

oldest son is an actuary. it’s a good field for him!

3 Likes
6

My daughter did have a signing day for athletics. It truly was more important to her (and me) than her graduation. A real celebration of her hard work.

A friend’s daughter had one for academics. It was a small, specialized hs program and there were about 30 kids who were recognized by the schools they were heading to. Reps from the colleges came and brought swag and congratulatory words (friend posted the ceremony on FB). This was in Ohio and IIRC all the schools were state or small private schools in Ohio, most in the area of the HS but some farther away. It actually was quite touching that the schools all sent hats and pennants and admissions officers to speak.

Nothing stopping schools from celebrating scholars. My daughters’ hs had a senior award night and my non-athletic daughter was recognized for her theater scholarship. Lots of military scholarships, (and of course the girl going to Navy), the history awards, art prizes, essay contest winners
 But it was really strange and not fun like the athletic one at all. And there was no food!

The athletic awards were all celebrated, the NAIA, Div 3 schools, JUCO, Div 2 and Div 1 (and of course the girl going to Navy). The was put on by the athletic department and the food all paid for by the parents of the athletes.

Any department could have sponsored their own celebrations, and some did. The theater department had an ‘awards night’ and I think the special program in engineering did too.

Graduation? Not much special recognition at all, even for the Val and Sal. Of course, the girl going to Navy was mentioned several times.

2 Likes
7

Was there a girl at your D’s high school going to Navy? :rofl:

3 Likes
8

And you know what was funny? My daughter had never met this girl before the athletic dept signing day (they assigned us the table next to hers). Girl didn’t play for the school’s tennis team, wasn’t in any of daughter’s classes (and they were ‘in the same league’ with honors/AP classes). No one else knew her either. D thought she must have taken a lot of online classes and been gone from school to play on the junior tennis circuit. She was not in the top 20 of the graduating class, wasn’t in NHS, didn’t win any academic awards or other scholarships. I happened to get two sightings of this wunderkind, one at the athletic awards (D2) and one at academic awards night (D1).

But to the OP, please celebrate your daughter, her dance accomplishments, her college choices, her being a kind person, an entrepreneur, a volunteer. She’ll go far. I wanted my daughter to be an actuary but she had other ideas.

4 Likes
9

for sure - kids in athletics work hard! in no way didnt mean to imply they dont. :slight_smile:

1 Like
10

Congratulations to the OP and daughter!

3 Likes