<p>S finished all the applications, and I made an effort to tally up all the cost. By a conservative estimate it must be around $900. (This does not include test fees, test prep books etc).</p>
<p>Now the wait begins. Actually, Stanford's 20% admit rate for EA dampened our spirits. Now they will have about 1,300 spots left and 14,000 or so applicants. 100 lotto tickets might have been better !!!</p>
<p>It's an expensive process isn't it? I'm on D3! Although this time it is far less expensive for us because she wants to go to school in Canada and their application process is much simpler and less expensive. For D1, it was the typical process as most go through here, with fewer visits because her list was short. However, for D2 it was more expensive, simply because we visited more schools. I never calculated what the visits cost but it was high. Her intended major, drama, is so selective that she had to have more options available. Had she not been admitted to her E.D. school, it would have been even more expensive because she would have had to return to 7 schools to audition. As it was, she only did one! :) And who knows what D4 will do in a couple of years!</p>
<p>p.s. One cost that we never incurred, though, was SAT prep courses. We bought one of the SAT prep books and that was it. All 3 Ds only took the SAT once.</p>
<p>Wow 4Ds. How lucky. You know what they say,"daughters are for life. Sons leave when they get married."</p>
<p>I didn't include visit costs - they were vacation costs !!</p>
<p>Oh, I know, we considered the trips vacations, too. :) Actually, we've looked at college campuses while on vacations since our kids were little, simply because I enjoy doing it! I think my favorite is still William & Mary, and sadly none of my Ds were interested in going there. :) And yes, I realize I'm very lucky with 4 Ds. It's funny, too, because while growing up, I always imagined myself with a house full of boys when I had children. Oh well, I do love having the Ds boyfriends around.</p>
<p>Simba, isn't your son one of the Columbia ED acceptees?</p>
<p>No he didn't and hasn't applied to Columbia. He has not applied to any place ED.</p>
<p>I bet your house is full of joy, and your daughter is walking on the clouds. Are you planning a big celebration tonight?</p>
<p>Simba, I don't want to add up the college admissions process costs as it is not a pretty picture and in fact is a hardship but we have to do it. Yes, there are all the application fees, score reports, CSS Profile reports, yadda yadda. I did not see college visits as vacations in our experience. They were solely college visits and one night events, and added up. Then there were return visits, particularly in April to decide where to matriculate. </p>
<p>However, this process will be more costly this year with my second child. In her case, some schools involve flights, for one thing, others were all via car. Secondly, this child has to travel to all 8 schools in a three month time span to audition. That is a big expense. Even if visited in junior year, these audition dates must be attended. And while I understand all kids have EC expenses, in the case of kids who audition, it is quite imperative that there are preparation lessons (I don't equate this with SAT prep which this child did not do, btw)...as I venture to say every child who is auditioning IS getting coached/instructed with regard to their audition material, as it is the nature of the beast. Right now, this child has weekly private voice lessons and weekly private acting lessons that focus on her audition preparation and that is costly, more than the expense I normally pay in any other year for her training, and of course the normal stuff she does as far as lessons/classes. Add on having to get professional headshots made, another expensive proposition, the whole deal has been more money than I want to even add up. Add in the fact that the chances of admission on SO slim, well, I don't wanna think about it (until I read your post, LOL).
Susan</p>
<p>Susan:</p>
<p>I don't count EC costs as expenses - they are just sound investments. Tonight and tomorrow S has Region Auditions (he is hoping for one more and last shot at State) and yes those private lessons do add up. If he didn't have his music, what would he do? School is so easy for him.</p>
<p>BTW does soozievt stand for Susan from Vermont?</p>
<p>Simba, I normally do NOT count EC expenses either...all kids have 'em. All I meant is that with my second child, on TOP of what we spend normally for her EC activities (and did with the first child), this fall/winter she is having EXTRA expenses totally tied to college admissions in terms of preparation for the college auditions, besides normal lessons/classes/training. These private sessions are costly and are ALL about the college admissions material, not her normal yearly training, which I am STILL paying for, is all I meant. This is costing far more than her normal expensive EC investments, and is tied to the admissions process. Every person I have met going for a BFA and having to audition, is having to pay for this kind of preparation. I guess in our case, it is additional over and beyond what we normally spend (which I already thought was a lot). </p>
<p>Yes, SoozieVT is my posting name. But on CC, the capital letters do NOT come out when showing the name of the poster and it thus appears as "soozievt" and is often misspelled by other posters. In fact, this past weekend, when I met up with several CC posters at my D's first college audition, many were confused by my posting name until I explained it. So, yes, Soozie is for that I am called Susie/Suzy by family and everyone where I grew up and also by my husband. When I went away to college, I introduced myself as Susan (which nobody had ever called me in my youth) and I go by Susan now (except with family/hubby or those back home). And yes, VT stands for Vermont, where I have now lived for 23+ years. My husband is the one who picked that posting name for me back when we first got the internet (I was not too creative and he chose) and I now realize on CC that the way that the capital letters do not show up, it looks like some other letter "grouping" and is sometimes interpretted as "soviet" or "viet" and whatever else! So, in a nutshell, yep, it is Susan from Vermont. </p>
<p>So, are you a Lion King fan? ;-)
This forum surely deals with "The Circle of Life"!</p>
<p>PS, good luck to your son on Region Auditions...my girls also do/did these as well as States...and in fact States auditions are coming up here too. Music is a great thing to have in one's life. All the instrumental lessons my kids have had were worth every penny. They each play two instruments. I would say that their piano teacher, who they started with at age seven, has been a major influence in their life. Last May, she had a special recital for her two seniors, whom she had worked with for 11 years and I cried that that was all over now for that child. Will feel worse this year as it is the end of an era with all these folks my kids have worked with.</p>