<p>Congrats Stillwatermom on your D’s admissions!! My, this whole application process has become quite sophisticated hasn’t it?</p>
<p>My son has been contacted by a Cornell alumnus for an interview. I’m confused because I thought Cornell engineering does not require an interview. Well I should clarify…the school technically calls it an “information meeting” but she wanted the meeting to take place before December. I guess this is a good sign. I am nervous, my son is not…</p>
<p>stillwatermom,
Congratulations on your D’s admission.</p>
<p>Smileygirl - sounds like a good sign for your son at Cornel. Good that he is not nervous, confidence is good. My daughter had admissions interviews with Reed and Knox, and thought she did well, they were not difficult, just conversations really, getting to know her. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Thanks JRNMom and smileygerl! I agree that Cornell interview/information session is terrific sign. D had Duke interview last week and Yale interview this weekend. Like your S, she doesn’t get nervous! And BVMomOf2, I agree, so far my D has returned from interviews with increased confidence and feeling like the interviewers were really interested in her and rooting for her. So great of admissions and alum to create a relaxed atmosphere to get to know these students personally, and sell their universities of course!</p>
<p>Stillwatermom, I am catching up here. You said Entomom’s son won a Rodriquez scholarship for half tuition to WUSTL and acceptance to Rice w/1/2 tuition and Swarthmore as well. Those schools rarely give half tuition and they are great schools anyway. Congratulations. Was that last year as its too early for this year correct? I think she had D2 applying to some schools this year. Been away from this thread for too long as my D has a gazillion applications to get ready to fire off after Thanksgiving. So far visited about half her schools which has been pretty much good enough to shorten the list a couple and add one that was not on the list and realize she loves one of the colleges over the others. Anyway, glad everyone is doing well and BU offers half tuition (its on our list of schools) for NHRPs which is a pretty good deal as I think they work with you to make it supplement your regular FA if you are outstanding academically. We are about half way done with applications but keeping up with college essays, applications and taking AP classes etc. requires a professional scheduler. Course we never make it easy on ourselves…started with a list of 16 now down to 10 or 9 maybe 8. Good luck all, back if any good news…if not its a long time…til packages go out for RD in April.</p>
<p>Waitlistman, my S in 2009 received the 1/2 tuition to WUSTL, Rice and USC and was accepted to all schools on his list. I urged EntoMom’s D to apply for Annika Rodriguez Scholarship at WUSTL if it was one of her top schools. Rice and USC are quite generous with merit aid to top students and no additional scholarship applications are necessary. My D is also applying to BU (she did a research internship there this summer) but remember to send them a hard copy of your NHRS certificate to Scholarship Coordinator. My S loves Rice, and I think he would have been happy at all of the schools on his list. Thank goodness for the long Thansgiving weekend…time for these kids to finish up on their apps. WUSTL scholarship deadline is January 15th, not December 1st, like others, which gives D a little breathing room. Best of luck to your D and hang in there. Then the waiting…which my D mentioned tonight.</p>
<p>Good news tonight, accepted to an OOS public that has possible merit aid. When the large envelope with “Congratulations” printed on the front came today I was cautiously optimistic. Her file was just marked as completed on Nov 10 and her regional rep said to expect a decision in 4-6 weeks. I though it might just be another mailing in response to NHRP or NM. Keeping our fingers crossed that the money comes through to make it a reasonable option.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all with EA/ED/rolling decisions in the coming weeks!</p>
<p>Congrats entomom!!! Very exciting!</p>
<p>My Daughter got the acceptance letter from Willamette! It says she will get a Merit Scholarship, no details, says they will be coming by Dec 4th. Anxiously waiting for news from Knox. 4 apps are in. Need to get the next set done! Hoping she will get them all done this Thanksgiving week when she has no school. We leave late this afternoon to visit University of Arizona. (Decided not to visit Arizona State since their offer is tuition only, not room and board).</p>
<p>Great news BVMomOf2! It’s nice to know about merit before all of the admissions deadlines have passed. Have a great trip to AZ, enjoy the sunshine!</p>
<p>^^^also of interest: Karen McFarlane Holman, chemistry prof at Willamette, was just named Oregon’s Professor of the Year!</p>
<p>p.s. she plays guitar in a punk-rock band too!</p>
<p>I just received an email that I wanted to share with everybody. My son is not interested in Rice University it is just to far from home. I just found out that their financial aid is great…they meet full financial need for incomes of 80,000 or less with no student loans. For incomes over 80,000, they meet full financial need with loans not to exceed 10,000 over the 4 yrs. This might be a great option for some families.</p>
<p>Hope everybody had a nice weekend. I took my son today to they “Discover” program at USC (that’s Southern California, not South Carolina). They did a great job! Lively sessions all day long, some on academics and others on student life. They had booths from all the different schools. I was impressed with the mood on campus – very upbeat and very informative. They have a lot of resources and programs. My son participated in an improv acting workshop with one of their professors and loved it. USC has become a great university, and I recommend it for anyone still looking for a nice campus in the middle of a city where on a “cool” day it’s sunny and 65.</p>
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</p>
<p>Sounds great to me!</p>
<p>D got acceptance letter from Knox today with a nice Merit Scholarship!!! Still need to see how finances will work out after FAFSA and Financial Profile stuff. But very exciting now with Knox and Willamette as posibile options.</p>
<p>Just got back from visit to University of Arizona, and to my surprise she really likes the school. So that is a big relief with their great scholarship for National Hispanic Scholars and their Honors College. Makes this a very good option.</p>
<p>She still needs to apply to a few more. Still procrastinating.</p>
<p>BVMomof2, congrats to you and your daughter. It must feel great to have two possibilities. I am impressed that you’re so far ahead that acceptances are coming in already. My S hit send on the UCs today (one app goes to whatever UCs one checks, at $60 each). He is sending off two more apps later this week. </p>
<p>Nice to hear about the U of A. Did you go to Arizona State also? I’ve heard great things about Barrett honors college. Those universities have great offers for NHS – wish I could get my son interested, but he is adamant about being in a big city.</p>
<p>Glad to hear your great news BVMomof2! Copeterguy, USC has great merit money if your son likes it (notification of acceptance and merit scholarship interviews at end of January) and I was really impressed with campus feel, interdisciplinary opportunities, and honors options. My D is applying there also…I think it would be a fabulous undergraduate experience. They don’t specifically say NHRS but I believe that is in their radar…S was offered half tuition scholarship, struggled and chose Rice University with half tuition scholarship. Sometimes he wonders about USC…</p>
<p>Wonderful news BVMomof2, looks like she’s going to have some great choices in the spring, that’s so important!</p>
<p>Thanks for the congrats.</p>
<p>Copterguy - we decided not to visit Arizona State, even with the great Barrett Honors program. Arizona State National Hispanic Scholarship is full tuition, but not room and board, so that leaves about $11k - $12k per year for room and board. University of Arizona’s offer is full tuition, room, and board, and an iPad computer. Since, we don’t really have the resources to pay much for school, but expect that EFC may say that we do, our strategy is to go after the merit aid. I didn’t really think she would like Arizona, didn’t think she would like a big school, and she probably won’t like the hotter months. But she is starting to see the advantages of a bigger school, since she is unsure of her major, and likely to change it. And she is smart enough to see the advantages of graduating without a lot of student loans!</p>
<p>BVMom,
Sounds like you’ve done your homework and have found some schools which suit both your D and your pocketbook. And she’s smart enough to see that there are advantages to both large and small schools and is prepared to make the best of either. I don’t believe in Dream schools, there are only Dream students, who will thrive anywhere!</p>
<p>We’re in a similar situation, since D2 is pretty sure she wants to attend Med school, she needs to conserve money on her UG degree. For us the threshold is about full tuition, a full ride would be nice, but as you know, much more difficult to come by. A half tuition scholarship still leaves about 35k COA for privates, which wouldn’t leave much for professional school. So the search goes on, it’s sure nice when colleges let you know about merit money early on in the process rather than waiting until spring to tell you if you’re one of the lucky ones.</p>