You indicated that many schools wanted a resume. Is this for schools where your daughter is hoping for significant merit?
We had way more paper acceptances than portal notifications two years ago. Paper seems especially common for merit scholarship notifications, which are aiming to make the student feel more positive about the school and may be sent early in order to surprise and delight. W&M sent an early handwritten postcard to Monroe scholars for example. The main ones that I recall being portal based were Ivies and UCs, but even then the UC Regents notifications were on paper and sent early before the portal was updated (for example UCSB sent a very nice embossed envelope and certificate).
And selective scholarship awards were done by phone (shortlisting was by individual email).
@twogirls I’m not sure if it was requested for merit only. Both Northeastern and Miami Ohio allowed her to optionally upload a copy of her resume. I believe Colorado School of Mines did too - not sure if it was optional or required…
I liked Northwesty’s comment about a story to tell for the resume. I think that’s going to my son’s focus - he has a unique/cool EC - and a great video to watch that shows it in action - and it’s so easy to hyperlink and include a small QR code on a resume. No idea if that’s a good idea or not, or if AOs or scholarship committees will watch it or not, but if he can’t share his link, no one will watch it for sure. His HS GC said to include that link anywhere he can . . .
One of my kids got accepted at U of South Carolina the week of Thanksgiving. She received a congratulations post card from the tour guide who had taken us in the tour (I thought that was amazing). Then she got a phone call from a current student congratulating her and welcoming her. She got her letter of acceptance. Then she got a holiday greeting card from admissions. In February, she received a large merit award, and another round of congratulations letters and calls. She got a birthday card a month later. When she couldn’t go to the scholarship weekend, they saved all of her “stuff” and arranged a private weekend the following weekend.
I thought that was amazing. She decided to enroll elsewhere. She sent them a very nice letter telling them she had decided to matriculate elsewhere…and got a response saying they would hold her acceptance and scholarship for a full year, in case she changed her mind.
Really excellent personal reach out. Excellent.
The one school that my daughter seemed to have a “personal” relationship with (kind of) was Lehigh. She had a few email exchanges with her admissions counselor and it got to the point where she was on a first name basis with him. She also saw him at a “Lehigh in your area” local event where he sought her out and spent a long time talking to her.
Her acceptance packet was very nice, but it wasn’t personalized in any way. She also received a large merit scholarship which was presented on her portal under the financial aid tab. There was nothing personalized about it…it was just there.
Can also add a few more stories about the student connecting with the admissions rep and the admissions rep recognizing them and calling them out by name in other situations. It can be helpful, for sure.
Younger s’s scholarship came with a note discussing the topic of his scholarship application. But the admission offer itself was email/generic. Ditto for older s’s ED acceptance.
@KevinFromOC Do not skip Ohio State. They are very generous with NHRP students because they have the Morrell scholarships. Both my children were NHRP (50% Mexican-American and from Southern California). In 2010 my DS received a full-merit ride to Ohio State (our EFC was 53k and we could afford 25k). He received the National Buckeye, a scholarship for his PSAT and $60k from Morrell which amounted to $133k. Even with my non-Hispanic students Ohio State has still been generous and given them the National Buckeye and another scholarship (Provost I think). You want your daughter to reach out to her regional admission reps and the staff at Ohio State’s diversity office which I think is ODI. Be sure to apply early and for honors college.
Also have you seen the list of NHRP colleges on the Hispanic Forums here on CC. I think Nebraska gives close to a full-time for NHRP.
My DD just graduated in ME from Georgia Tech. We knew that GT was not generous in merit but to make it affordable my DD applied for private merit scholarships each year and would receive between $10k (freshman year) to $25k (senior year). The applications are starting to be due now. Has your daughter applied to the Youth Awards through the Hispanic Heritage Foundation? Private scholarships focused on STEM (mainly enginering) and Hispanic females were are most fruitful areas. There is no one place that lists them all so you basically have to do the research and update it each year. Engineneer Girl had a good listing. For engineering private scholarships are used as recruitment devices for some companies. Shell, Ford, Exxon are just some companies that have scholarships. Also look at newsletters from the engineering dept because some companies will give money to colleges to create scholarships for those colleges and majors. Be sure to have your daughter apply to the national and regional scholarships through the Society of Women Engineers. Also the Hispanic Heritage Foundation has a scholarship and fellowship through Exxon that students apply to during April of their freshman year. Be sure your DD applies to it because it was life changing for my DD who received it. Make sure your daughter joins LOFT through HHF. One thing that is important is that your daughter engage in outreach to both her Hispanic and female community. My DD did a significant amount because she really enjoyed it and Ithink that with good grades is why she got so many scholarships. As I am sure others have told you, these private s scholarships might reduce your financial aid so check with each school their treatment of them. Also many engineering college students earn significant money during their internships. My DD earned between $25 and $40 an hour so we expected her to contribute 70% of her earning to her tuition bill. Companies also gave her milage money for travel to and from her internships as well as her living expenses during her internship. She saved a portion which helped with our bottom line.
The UC’s other than Irvine will not be affordable for you. I have students with a zero EFC who still are on the hook for 10k from the UC’s. The UC’ s will not make up the gap between your efc and the final costs.
Finally I think you are setting your daughter up for some disappointment. Get it in writing from her that these reach schools are only affordable if you get aid to being the total down to $15k or less. I see students say one thing in Sept. and then become very resentful in April when parents have to say no. I know of no merit at Cal Tech that will make the school affordable for you with your daughter being NHRP. Same with Princeton. Time would be better spent having your DD participate on diversity flying or diversity events. Making a connection with the admission reps assigned to Hispanic students applying is very important. I know this area very well because my children are Hispani and I spent 10 years helping middle class and underserved students applying to college. For an engineering Hispanic girl to receive good money they also have to participate in STEM activities in high school in addition to making the grades and test scores. I haven’t read the entire thread so I dont know the extent of your DD’s ex’s and her involvement in her Hispanic community. The best thing you are doing is applying early and to a wide selection of schools, but with your daughter’s remaining time before early action deadlines use it wisely. Good luck!
If OP gets a sizeable merit award, the UCs can all become affordable.
@KevinFromOC I forgot to mention that with a resume and the Common App, it is better to include things not covered in the ec or honors section in the additional info section of the common app rather than attach the resume. Admission reps hate seeing the same info multiple times. My students would cut and paste from their resume into the ec or honors section of the common app and anything left over was put in the additional info section. My DD had a 3 page resume and I never let my students have more than 3 pages. Resumes are very helpful for a scholarship applications and in those instances I would attach it even if info is in the application. For applying to engineering internships there is a specific resume formula to follow and that one is no more than one page.
Also check local alumni clubs for scholarships. My DD won one from the local Georgia Tech club and it lead to other benefits.
UCs typically expect around $8-11k of student contribution (i.e. student loan + work earnings) in addition to FAFSA-based EFC for California residents.
Won’t the UCs be over budget since you don’t qualify for Calgrant and they don’t give much merit?
Also, I thought WPI was moving to mostly need based aid.
Since she has a few automatic and possible merit options, why not just add Princeton, Rice, Vanderbilt and call it a day?
Purdue probably won’t give enough merit. MIT and John Hopkins gives mostly need based aid. I really don’t know how these would fit the budget.
USC even with half tuition would be above budget, right?
If OP’s daughter gets an outside award, it can go towards UC expenses very nicely. It would likely be integrated into need package at those schools giving financial aid that are on the list. UC tuition and commuting is affordable to OP; but not the living expenses of staying on campus.
It would have to be a hefty outside award to cover most of room and board for 4 years but with Direct loans, part time job, summer job, savings on commute, it just might work. Most outside scholarships are just for one year but there are some exceptions. It’s all a matter of luck at this point as to what pans out in lottery ticket chances.
OK, AP Test question for those who have been through this wringer… I tried looking at the AP credit at a few colleges, and they are as clear as mud, so I figured I’d ask here.
Apparently the deadline for signing up for AP tests have been moved up to November 1. We are trying to figure out which AP tests my daughter should take. Obviously they will have no affect on college admissions or merit aid since they take place a month before graduation, but if they will give her credit in college then it’s probably worth it…
She has already taken 4 AP tests :
Human Geography (4)
Calculus BC (5) with Calculus AB subscore of 5
Chemistry (5)
English Literature (5)
This year she’s taking AP Physics, AP Computer Science, and AP English Language. So she could take up to 3 AP tests this May…
For sure she’s taking Physics C : Mechanics, and I have no doubt she’ll get a 5.
I’m thinking it would be good for her to take Computer Science A, and she should be able to get a 4 or 5.
Then there’s English Language. She already has a 5 on the AP English Lit test. Would a 4 or a 5 on the AP English Lang test provide additional benefits? From my limited research it appears not really. For example, RPI states a 5 on either test counts for the same credit as a 5 on both. And other schools seem to give more credit for the English Lit test than the English Lang test. Has anyone’s student taken both, and if so did they get credit for AP Lang over and above the credit for AP Lit?
At UCI:
- One AP English exam, score of 4 or 5: earns 8 quarter units and subject credit for one English course / GE requirement.
- Both AP English exams, score of 4 or 5: earns 8 quarter units and subject credit for two English courses / GE requirements.
http://catalogue.uci.edu/informationforprospectivestudents/undergraduateadmissions/#ap
Utah gave credit for both, but only exemption from one general ed (lower division writing). You are very unlikely to need all the extra credits to graduate (my D had 58 semester credits from APs, but will only use the 6 general ed exemptions and even some of those would have been subsumed by courses she is taking anyway).
However depending on the college they can count for class standing and give you an earlier registration timeslot for high demand courses (so my D could register as a senior for the fall semester sophomore year). I would look at that aspect as well.
Re: AP, many colleges are moving to the model where a student has to be there for four years (8 semesters or their equivalent). Was speaking to a friend who works at a college about this. Even a kid with lots of college credits won’t be able to graduate in less time. Sadly, schools seemed to have closed this “loophole”
With the early deadline it’s hard to say. English is the least likely to be useful but it sounds like it might be, if she lands at UCI. At most of the schools my kids looked at, it was either/or but not both for the two English exams. Assuming you have to pay the fee for all of them? I hear some schools cover the cost and if that was the case I’d be inclined to register her for all three exams.
I disagree that “many colleges” on OPs list are moving in this direction. It may be the case at private colleges who want (need) more students and more tuition money, but most state flagships are happy to get more people through.
Each college can make its own rules about what they offer for AP credit. Some colleges can give full credit, others will only offer placement. Very generally, core APs such as English, Bio, Calc, languages, probably a few others are most likely the APs for which kids will get credit. Some colleges will offer something for 3 and higher, others only for 5. Some colleges won’t give anything for some APs. There is no standardization.
I suggest your D focus on core AP subjects for the tests. You’ll have to research what each college’s policies are. I think most colleges are pretty clear about what they offer for APs.