Hi everyone, I think the acceptance thread updates will slow down now, but please keep sending me your news. Woohoo! 
And send me any scholarship amounts you want to share for the other thread, too.
(My kid still has Berklee outstanding, and I’ve asked him to check today. It will be so nice to have them all!)
Absolutely! The ball is in your court once you have an offer or a waitlist spot.
I would totally have my kid email about a sample lesson while on a waitlist if you haven’t had one! The worst they say is no. And I’d be surprised if that happened, but it would be telling. These music waitlists can be pretty fluid!
My kid got a package of swag from a much beloved but too expensive music school today! Gah! Don’t make it harder please.
Great post bridgenail!
Thank you for this wonderful post, @bridgenail.
I would say to contact any teacher your student has an interest in, and see whether they make a connection with one of them.
Right?!!! I feel the same. But otoh, I think my kid really likes some of the stuff. From my pov, it’s a validation of talent. 
Man, we haven’t gotten any swag…bummer. 
We haven’t either. Of course, we’d rather have a scholarship than the swag!
My daughter and I were joking if only they had sent a box full of cash instead of the swag!
I think this same sort of thing, but depending on the school, I’m kidding-not-kidding. S got a fun package from Loyola with confetti I’m still finding under furniture 
and I think he will treasure his Thornton sweatshirt, regardless of whether he ends up there. 
Well, I thought we were done getting answers, but my son revealed last night that he also applied to Cal Arts and The New School. His materials to TNS were late, but they did accept them for consideration. In any case, he also told me, it costs 80k, and I think Cal Arts is another where he just heard it was awesome and wanted to see if he’d get scholarships or aid, but in reality they may not typically give much. It’s a long shot that these two schools would be affordable contenders, but we are not done waiting. Ugh!
ETA: I forgot, he is still on the waitlist at UNT as well. While he’s considering that a “no”, it is still technically out there.
Same but my son did not let me use it! He has used the LoyNo umbrella though!
And I bought him a LoyNo sweatshirt that he will continue to wear.
I’m about 90% sure he has decided on Cuse. Only thing holding back is if for some reason IU grants a miracle with competitive aid but likely not.
Yes, it’s been sounding more and more like Syracuse in your posts, which is a fantastic school. I’m so happy he has the chance to go there. I think he’s going to love it. The campus looks magical, too.
Funny, I needed an umbrella yesterday, and the Loyno one is nowhere to be found. It must be in my kid’s room. We live in a rainy city and it’s a point of pride for locals that we do not use umbrellas, but it was desperately miserable out.
I was trying to figure it out but I’m stuck - which one is Cuse!?
ETA - ok Syracuse?! B cleared it up for me maybe lol. YAY - no bad choices but it will feel great to be done.
This process has been so tough, but through it all my kid has figured out more about what he wants for the next four years, where he wants to be, and what he wants to learn, and that makes me so happy.
One thing we parents did not fully understand was his focus on jazz, which was a new development when he began pursuing a music degree. He basically taught himself as much as he could day and night, so he could audition. (He had the base of 12 years of guitar lessons). It’s really nice to know where his heart and his head are now. After talking, he decided to contact his Loyola admissions officer to find out about a lesson, because it was unclear who the prof is that he should write to.
Depending on USC’s aid offer, he’ll be down to two final choices. With USC, I don’t know what will happen. Without USC, he might add one more school back into the mix, or he might decide.
One thing I was going to mention in particular with need based FA appeals in particular is that make sure the numbers will work all 4 years. They will recalculate every year.
I mention it because I know a young music student who ended up transfering due to this at a meets need school and it was really heart breaking to watch! But I can imagine other familiies might just swallow more debt which is also rough. The calculators don’t work well for every situation (by design IMO).
This may not apply to B’s situation and I hope those corrections get you where you need to be, but I just throw it out to the universe as people are getting and thinking about their offers! Getting and negotiating extra merit usually leads to a 4 year committment to it at least. So if you’re negotiating with a school that has combined merit and need based FA, it may be safer to try and negotiate merit.
I am curious about this because Northwestern did say that his award would be reevaluated each year based on the family’s situation. Just curious what type of changes could result in some significant amount of reduction.
This is a conversation I plan on having if my son decides he wants to go to the more expensive of the two schools he’s down to.
Around this site, I’ve heard some conversations about doing less-responsible financial things to still show need in later years. What a crazy thing to have to be thinking!
I feel so sorry for that student. 
I hate to see something like that happen to a kid.
This whole thing is why I feel more sure about Loyola. 1) It’s mostly merit, and 2) they’ve been the only school so far that has come close to meeting our actual need. I feel like they looked at our actual situation, which makes me feel respected. If that is true of any remaining schools on our list, I’ll feel less at-risk with them, too. Maybe that’s naive, but it’s what we have to go on. The public schools S got into are more expensive than Loyola, so I don’t think he’ll be transferring in that direction.
Increased income, increased assets, moving out of a primary home into another residence and then the equity in the primary home becomes an asset (if it wasn’t already – some CSS Profile schools assess equity in the primary residence and some do not. No FAFSA-only schools do).