<p>Got my shirt yesterday too!</p>
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<p>I’m with my daughter on this. After the early announcement that she’ll be admitted, the “let’s stroke the parents ego letter,” and the T-shirt, we’re wishing they’d just quit this hard sell nonsense and send an admission offer so that we can actually figure out whether or not we can afford to send her.</p>
<p>You do have an admission offer ^^
your daughter wasn’t notified that she <em>will</em> be admitted. She <em>is</em> admitted 
I am waiting on the financial aid package, but Smith is my clear first choice.</p>
<p>I’m sure that’s what lostcoast is referring to: the financial aid. Always a top factor in people’s final decision.</p>
<p>I realized that after I posted. :/</p>
<p>Apologies!</p>
<p>Got my t-shirt today - I’m with StarbucksBarista…it will likely become a sleep shirt or painting shirt haha. So nice of them to send it though!</p>
<p>All I’m really waiting for at this point is to find out about STRIDE… if I get one, I’m sending in my deposit the next day. :)</p>
<p>Lost- I don’t really consider these contacts a hard sell. As a matter of
fact I find it refreshing that a high quality LAC identifies a group of young
woman with drive, grades, ranks, and scores and then says we want you
to attend Smith. Years ago I was recruited myself, to play baseball at
Northwestern. Yep, 90+ per hour fastball, a curveball that would fall off
a table and left handed too boot. I’d like to see more schools pursue the
academically gifted as Smith is doing-- rather than just athletes.</p>
<p>Like you, we await the final numbers from Smith’s Financial Aid Office.</p>
<p>Just my .02 David</p>
<p>Agreed. I would hardly call a tee-shirt and a couple notes “hard sell.” Like every college, including the Ivies, Smith is in competition with hundreds, if not thousands of other schools for the top students. A little “swag” never hurt anybody. ;)</p>
<p>I also got a tshirt from Smith, and my mom was so amused/elated that she hung up my tshirt already. :D</p>
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<p>Oh, I’m quite sure that you’re right. It’s partly my basic cynicism, plus the fact that the wording of the parent letter was so similar to what we heard at an event (I forget which) where it was obvious that the parents were being buttered up.</p>
<p>There’s also the fact that I’m very pessimistic about our ability to afford Smith. As a result, it feels like my daughter is having all of this dangled in front of her, only to get slapped by an unaffordable FA offer later. Obviously not what Smith is intending with this, but it’s all a matter of your situation.</p>
<p>Lost it is understandable that you would be apprehensive about the financial aid your daughter may/may not be getting. I was in the same place a year ago. We were, however, pleasantly surprised at how generous Smith was in our daughter’s case. I do not know your circumstances obviously but can tell you we are probably what could be called “middle upper middle” in the income department if that makes any sense. In other words, you don’t have to be “broke” to get decent fa from the school. Best of luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>Backing up what Boss said. Smith is a stretch for us even though d’s package was very good–they gave us 100% of need after our EFC, but of course, everyone feels their EFC is too high. In terms of fed loans, they gave our d the lowest amount of all the schools she got into. Now that we’ve spent a wad on the first year, it will be interesting to see how things play out for next year. But Smith is a fantastic place, and I hope your d can go! Since she was admitted early RD, it means they really want her, so hopefully your package will allow her to attend (maybe there will be a STRIDE!). Good luck and let us know how it turns out. I have found that the whole Smith community is a very supportive group–family–on CC, on Facebook and parents and admin included.</p>
<p>We were “middle income” folks ($60k give or take) and Smith was extremely generous to us. And we had special needs TWICE (both my wife and I had life-threatening illnesses), they increased our financial aid within 30 days of our notifying them. Loans were quite manageable. (Full disclosure: she was a Zollman).</p>
<p>We remain extremely grateful, as my d. got a fantastic education. (And I’m now contributing to the “Pearls and Cashmere” effort to provide assistance to international students with need.)</p>
<p>Let me just say that an income in excess of $100k does not even preclude a nice financial aid package. Again, much depends on other factors, but suffice it to say that Smith does everything they can to make it possible to attend.</p>
<p>hey, has anyone received an email asking you for your current senior grades?
- I go to three schools and don’t have any sort of unified senior grades, especially not in the middle of the semester
- I was already admitted
- When I tried explaining my situation to the person who emailed me, she ignored my response and sent me what looked like a form.
- My guidance counselor told me to just ignore it</p>
<p>What should I do? I’m not sure why they need more materials to complete my application if I’ve already been admitted. Plus, I sent my midyear report.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t ignore it! Did you call the school or email? Because I have found Smith to be very helpful when I have had a question and called a particular office directly.</p>
<p>Just because you have been admitted doesn’t exempt you from submitting grades for your senior year. If you read your acceptance, it says that admission is contingent on keeping up a high level of performance throughout the remainder of your senior year. By all means do not ignore the email.</p>
<p>If you don’t have unified senior grades, you probably need to submit three grade reports, one from each of your schools. Acceptances are usually contingent upon satisfactory completion of your senior year. You do need to send your grades if they ask for them. Admissions staff are very busy right now, you may need to follow up your email with a call.</p>
<p>Hey are those students who get early acceptances typically those who get offers for STRIDE? Are there any former early-writes who did not get it? Just wondering.</p>
<p>Crayonwax-- STRIDE ?.. We have arrived at what we call down here in
Florida as “Fish or Cut Bait” time for schools with “merit awards.” Basically, the
upper crust pays the 53K, families with bright kids with very limited means
get taken care of, and… the middle class … uh, uh, uh, goes to fine flagship
state universities that they can afford. (if they are smart)</p>
<p>It will all work out for the best. FWIW don’t assume too much debt!</p>
<p>.02 David</p>