<p>I know there was a post for this topic for last year - I guess I'll be the first one to start it for this one!</p>
<p>Twin 1 has got two acceptances in the mail today, both with merit aid.</p>
<p>Franciscan U of Steubenville: $13K merit aid (plus additional need-based to follow)</p>
<p>And, both twins got letters from small local LAC, Washington and Jefferson Col. Twin 1 offered $25K merit aid, Twin 2, offered full tuition plus R&B (about $38K). Both admitted under "Presidential Status," didn't have to pay to apply, no essay; just letters of rec., scores & grades, and documented EC's. Apparently local high school sends grades & scores to local colleges, unsolicited by student, with recommendations to all regional colleges. </p>
<p>Not bad for September.</p>
<p>
Class of 2012 Acceptances: Celebrate, discuss, support here</p>
<p>Since the good news is already coming in, we have recreated the Big Thread where parents, students, or delighted observers can come and share their good news, and everyone can rejoice. This is also the place to discuss both happy and disappointing news, and to support each other in the best manner of a community like this one. There are already some acceptances, so congratulations and keep 'em coming....... </p>
<p>Wow, that is terrific! Congratulations to your twins. What a terrific feeling to know that you already have a place to go (and they want you badly enough to give you money to come)!
My D is anxiously awaiting the decision from her first choice school (it is rolling admissions too).</p>
<p>It must be wonderful to know about these acceptances and aid so early in the game. I didn't even know that any schools did this so early! Congrats!!</p>
<p>Well, neither school is either T's first choice, but nice to have as a fall-back, of course. That $38K looks REALLY good to me, but I will not hinder or even discourage them from going to their 1st choice, should they be accepted. </p>
<p>The W&J news was completely unexpected. I may have to take them to actually visit the place! Found out today that the commissioner of major league baseball was a grad in 1981. I think that means he's not a fencer. haha </p>
<p>I am a pretty proud mom today (as I write out this month's tuition check for
S1). Thanks to all for kind words and best wishes.</p>
<p>It's interesting that these were acceptances. My son has received several (RPI, Tulane, Whitworth) priority applications for which he doesn't have to write an essay, doesn't pay an application fee, and where he gets an admission decision in 10 days. Since these were not schools on his initial list, I'm unsure how to tell him to deal with these. I was afraid they might be binding. For now, I have been ignoring them. Maybe, I should tell him to go ahead and apply so that he can have a back-up school.</p>
<p>Boy, it's nice to see the $$$ especially for twins! </p>
<p>I don't think your twins' school is allowed to send out info w/o permission for each college, so that may not be how/why the offers came in. If your twins did well on PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT then colleges are notified about that by the testing companies (they, too, cannot give out exact scores without your permission BUT they can give to colleges lists of kids who score over certain numbers.)</p>
<p>There are certain "benchmarks" that certain colleges look for when giving out merit $$$. When my s took the ACT, since his score was over a 32 (a benchmark for some colleges) he began getting $$$ offers. (obviously, ACT, Inc, released a list that had all students who scored a 32 or higher - which is 99%tile.) The same happened when s made the National merit cutoff for PSAT. Collegeboard had released the list of students who made the cutoff to colleges across the US and $$$ offers came in.</p>
<p>Wow, Congratulations!! To you and both of your twins !!!</p>
<p>What can you tell me about Washington and Jefferson? Last year my second son got a ton of mail from them and also a Presidential Application but didn't fill it out as the school was just too small for what he wanted. However, I think it might be a good fit for my youngest son, who is a high school junior and has started his college search because he thinks he might want to play soccer in college but only at the D# level.</p>
<p>Add University of Portland to the list.
This looks like a new twist on marketing, and a way to pick up kids who may not have a school in mind, but have talent and have worked hard. Interesting strategy.</p>
<p>Ricegal,
Since those offers are not ED, they are not binding. My son did some of those same apps (Tulane, etc) and he was quickly accepted and given $$$ offers. Usually, you still have until May 1st to finally accept/reject.</p>
<p>Would doing some of these freebies preclude a student applying early decision? ED applicants are allowed to apply to public schools in addition to their ED, but this sounds like mostly privates that are soliciting apps. Does anyone know if those are considered rolling decision schools that would not interfere with ED?</p>
<p>I don't know anything really about W&J, despite the fact that we live about 40 miles from it. It has never been on our radar. </p>
<p>Apparently, kids did fill out a form allowing their info to be circulated among local colleges, or the info could have gotten to them, and I think it most likely, from the SAT, on which they did very well. (They never took the PSAT; the SAT was their first standardized test since grade 3)</p>
<p>I have to call them tomorrow since I never thought of this offer interfering with their desire to apply ED to their #1 schools.</p>
<p>Hooorrrray! Today my D learned online that she got into the University of Central Florida! We are over the moon here in South Florida. UCF is really her first choice school (although she would definitely think about it if by some thread of chance she got into U of Florida in February). She/we are soooo happy, so relieved, so elated. She is going to college next year!</p>
<p>Wow, exciting good news already! Congrats to the twins.</p>
<p>ricegal,
Like the other priority ap schools you mention, Whitworth really is worth a look. It's a small school associated with the Presbyterian church, nice neighborhood on the northern edge of Spokane, WA. I used to teach in eastern WA, and Whitworth and Gonzaga were the two privates in the region (after Whitman) that we always hoped our students would consider. The students I know who went there truly loved it.</p>
<p>Actually, if you apply ED, applying to other schools EA or rolling generally doesn't matter. (I say generally because there might be one or two schools out there that I don't know about that have a different rule.) Some schools, like Columbia, don't encourage it but don't forbid it either. Since ED is binding and these early apps aren't, there shouldn't be a problem.</p>
<p>The problem, however, comes in with Yale and Stanford, which are Single Choice EA. You can apply only to one of them EA and nowhere else. The best thing to do for them is call them if you're considering applying to early to them and with one of these priority apps.</p>