<p>Let's say your child had a well-crafted college list with two reaches, four matches, and one financial safety. After several visits to some of these schools, not including the reaches, one of the matches emerged as a clear favorite for a variety of reasons (best fit, four hours away-so close but not too close, great program, etc.). Now, let's say that this favorite, which happens to have rolling admissions, admits your child. In the honors college. With a full tuition scholarship. With a nomination for a full-ride scholarship. And with a nomination for guaranteed med school. At a school ranked around 50 on USNWR.</p>
<p>Your family is ecstatic, of course. And your child says, that's it, I'm done , I'm going here. And her GC says, great! You're done! Are we really?</p>
<p>This feels too easy to me. Believe me, I know how blessed we are to have this situation, as finances are of major concern and she was going to have to take the best package she was offered anyway. But should she try other schools? I told her that if this school was offering this, then THAT school may offer it too, and she said she didn't care, this was her favorite. Help!</p>
<p>Also, if a family has an EFC of XXXX, and the school is offering YYYYY, do you still pay your EFC or do you pay the difference from COA minus scholarship? Sorry if this is a dumb question to you seasoned parents....this is my first time through this.</p>
<p>KSchmidt, first, congratulations to you and yout daughter, how wonderful!</p>
<p>It's impossible to second guess anyone else's decision, but, it does sound like it's a very nice college, it fits several criteria important to your daughter; furthermore, those criteria are evidence based and factual (vs. subjective)and, so, if she's happy, why not let it be? </p>
<p>I understand how you feel though - if it were me, I'd be saying, wait, wait, you have until April (or whenever) to decide, let's at least explore all other options, because this decision will still be here come April, it's not going anywhere, and it isn't going to cost anything to look around a bit more...who knows, there might be something even more interesting out there...</p>
<p>I'm not sure though how to convince a young lady of that when the college she has selected, and that has also selected her, seems to be such a nice fit. One circumstance that can drastically change opinions/decisions is when an acceptance package arrives - somehow, the arrival of mail has a way of converting "theoretical" to "possible" and even to "very exciting". </p>
<p>As to your last question, you pay COA minus scholarships. EFC is just a working number.</p>
<p>Kschmidt, I can't answer your FA question, except I thought if you got a "scholarship" offer, you paid COA minus scholarship. I didn't think EFC meant anything outside of calculating eligibility for governement grants or loans and for need-based institutions. "True scholarships" to me are merit based aid available for Bill Gates' son and for the poorest student.</p>
<p>To answer your other question - first congratulations to your D! I can only think of 3 reasons why this might be "too easy". First, is the remaining COA (less the tuition scholarship) affordable? I would be certain that it is easily affordable, even without the full ride, because you are giving up any chance for additional monies from other schools. Second, is D being unduly influenced by the prospect of guaranteed admit to med school? I generally think that is not the best route for most kids, and shouldn't be a tipping factor for one college over another, except in very special circumstances - IOW, she should evaluate the college separate from any possiblity of med school. Third, is she really ready to decide, kids change a lot over senior year, etc. If the answers to these questions are satisfactory - then yes, she should be finished.
Personally, I would suggest my child drop the safeties, maybe some of the matches if this is a real favorite, maybe even one of the reaches, and send in the last 2-3 apps, JIC she changes her mind over the next few months. But I would then forget about the other apps and concentrate on preparing for this school.
It is a good problem to have.</p>
<p>Congratulations! We had a similar experience last Fall and I encourage you to have your D wait before she makes her committment. She has time!!! They want her and she is "in the driver's seat!" It's a great place to be. </p>
<p>For us, the rolling admission school really "wined and dined" our D, offering her everything except a new college wardrobe! The only difference was that the rolling admission school was #2 on D's list. We encouraged her to finish applying to at least one or two of her reach schools even tho she had not yet visited (they were on the east coast, we are on the west). She had already finished her app for the UC's (UCLA and Berkeley) which were her in-state safeties. After all was said and done, she was admitted to one of her reaches. Over spring break we took her back east to visit the reach school and she absolutely fell in love with it. Tho they offered her less $ it was such a perfect fit for her. I am glad she did not stop with the first acceptance, even tho she thought she wanted to go there initially. The best part of this scenario is that the stress and worry is over. You know she is in a great school for her and she will probably be quite happy there. A full tuition scholarship is great and if she gets the full ride that will be gravy!</p>
<p>K- congrats. Good problem to have and you all must be on cloud 9.</p>
<p>If it were my kid I'd stick to the original plan (but perhaps drop one of the safeties). First, you don't yet know the fine print on the scholarship.... minimum gpa to keep it, etc. If your D is taking the traditional pre-med course load, a GPA which seems perfectly do-able may become impossible once the killers like Organic Chemistry hit the scene. If a school she likes just as much makes her just as attractive an offer but with fewer strings attached to get the money.... it's something you may want to be able to consider.</p>
<p>Second, same issue on med school. Read the fine print. If your daughter's goal is to become a Dr. with the least amount of stress, debt, and the best possible training.... this school may not be it. Without being able to weigh the options, she's making a decision that will impact her four years from now.... </p>
<p>Third-- kids change a lot senior year. It would be great for all of you to watch her head off to this school in September knowing that she chose it out of a lot of other attractive options.... vs. feeling that she cut short her options prematurely.</p>
<p>I say keep it flexible. She obviously doesn't need her safety, and she will want to check the rest of her list against her acceptance and decide, if accepted, she would attend any of the other schools. She has a month to do this, so there's no need to stress.</p>
<p>If you, as the wise parent, have any major reservations about the first school, you could try what we did. Son applied to one strong match school that I chose, and one his father preferred. The price was that we had to back off on the rest of the process.</p>
<p>Your situation sounds WONDERFUL....and yes, you can be done. DD's favorite schools were a match and her safety. Truthfully, she should have been done after those acceptances came in November...but she did three other aps (got accepted at two) but it was a big waste of time...those first two were the top choices from the day of admittance. Congratulations!!!!!</p>
<p>kschmidt
Congrats to your D on such a great fit and rewards to match!
My S has a "full ride" merit scholarship package to his U and it is not based at all on EFC,etc. In fact, they didnt use the FAFSA at all in packaging him.You may want to check out the exact parameters of the award.S's full ride is tuition,room and board,laptop and $$ towards study abroad.</p>
<p>Congratulations, kschmidt. Almost that exact scenario happened to our S. Accepted to Tulane, EA, substantial merit $$. He had liked the place a lot in early investigations and after visits to his full list of possible schools. It just grew and grew in his preference between that time and his acceptance and then merit award. He loved it there.</p>
<p>It was derailed by Katrina, for him, unfortunately, as even though he returned when it re-opened, they are phasing out his major.</p>
<p>He is now at JHU, one of his reach schools. If he had his druthers, he would be at Tulane in a heart-beat. The reach school is not always the better choice. So, mho, don't second-guess the desirability of being someplace "better."</p>
<p>kschmidt, I see nothing wrong with keeping it flexible, but there is no rule that says you must try to go to a reach school. </p>
<p>Many times a match school is better. </p>
<p>My daughter's favorite school was a match school and when she was accepted at the school, she lost all interest in her reaches. She had an interview at a reach school after her acceptance to the match school and when the interview was over she told the interviewer, "Thanks. Your school is my second favorite". :)</p>
<p>After 2 plus years at her match school, it is clear to me that the match school was a far superior choice. More importantly, it is clear to her.</p>
<p>"Your family is ecstatic, of course. And your child says, that's it, I'm done , I'm going here. And her GC says, great! You're done! Are we really?</p>
<p>Easy is great, but what does she have to lose by keeping her options open? Nothing. IMHO she should apply to all the schools on her list, and make a decision in April. What a joyfull decision it will be, with so many options!!!!</p>
<p>Applying to the whole list certainly <em>seems</em> to make sense. And ditto to keeping the options open until April. Kids do seem to change their minds in some cases over the months of senior year.</p>
<p>I would just point out that applying to the reachier schools, if she is quite happy now, has two possible downsides. (1)Rejection from said schools can be an unnecessary downer and a bit of a chink in the self-confidence and great feeling about acceptance at her first choice. (2)There is sometimes internal and external pressure to go to the "best" school (read "highest-ranked" school). Could be fine. But it could be, as dstark's and my case-studies attest, that highest-ranked is not the best fit for some kids.</p>
<p>Neither of these possible downsides is the end of the world. Just be aware that it's all part of a subtle bias that reachier is better. I tend to have this bias myself, but it has not necessarily proven the best thing for my own son.</p>