I will be talking to several Miami of Ohio first year engineering students during the next two weeks, in case you have specific questions. I know the campus very well, as my s20 went to hockey camp there every year for ten years. Ice rink facility is fabulous, if that still matters.
Congratulations on her acceptances. Well… She’s going to college ??.
I have to laugh since the one school offered $40,000 in loans… How kind ??.
You suggest that you will wait on further offers from some schools about more awards. On the smaller schools I actually would not wait and it’s financial so you get to do this. Since we know how hands off you are… Lol ??..
I would suggest calling the financial aid /scholarship department and let them know how much your daughter wants to go there but you will need some more help to make it work. They might ask for comparisons which you have. We went through this and once done with merit etc asked for a housing credit. We had no idea what we were asking for but they gave us $3,000/year.
Larger schools not so much.
A patient of mine is graduating from Rose Hulman this year. She loves it but told me they are going out of their way to attract females since the last class was 80/20 male /female. She said the females are pretty close but there’s not a ton of them. If you have not been there definitely visit. It’s very small and secluded. Some like it some don’t but their kids get jobs and internships no doubt. Make sure it’s for 4 years and no restrictions like a certain GPA that is high…
My son was given a similar MSU merit with $5,000 study abroad and research and mentorship guarantee. He also didn’t go to the testing since the odds were not in his favor. But… If they give more money it’s a great program.
Lots of kids love Miami of Ohio. Know several families there. Also keep in mind that once you get out of the dorms and off their meal plans costs can really go down.
Congrats to your D for submitting so many apps, writing so many essays, and continuing the process despite her busy schedule and being so far from home (I’m sure you can only do so much nagging from long distance 
).
Congrats also on having some great options so far. I’m excited to hear about more acceptances and hope it works out so that she is happy in the end. She sounds like a great kid!
Great options. I disagree with some of the criticism of a Princeton app. I skimmed the thread so might have missed something but if the NPC looks okay then I don’t see why not. Seems like you’re in exactly the income range where Princeton can be unusually generous. All I’d say is don’t visit if you can’t afford it.
Congrats on all the acceptances.
IMO its too early to start playing the “I need more money to make it work” card. When your daughter narrows her choices down to a few , including those that are not yet quite affordable, its helpful to have her prioritize them; when you/she reach out to a FA office she should be prepared to say to them that if they can make the financial #s work for you, she will attend (and say that to ONLY one school). And be prepared to have her enroll if they sweeten the FA pot to a number that is workable. Its not a good idea to try to play schools against each other just to see if they will throw more money at her.
Some schools may spontaneously come to her with more FA (Miami of Ohio did that to one of my clients a few years ago), but it can be a bit irksome to some schools to try to start a bidding war, as it were. And if a school that she really wants to attend is very affordable, you won’t need to ask for reconsideration at all.
I think it’s because the NPC is only affordable if his other daughter is in college as well which is a gamble.
@jym626. We started early with talking to financial aid. At small schools they talk to the heads of the departments which really wanted my daughter. When she asked a question to her academic advisor at the school’s they even informed her who was “talking” about her per se. They make notes. So when we did get down to the nitty gritty they knew we were serious and not playing games. This was with 3 schools not her entire list. These were small Lacs also. One school actually called her to make an offer. Again, nothing “take it or leave it” but just showing interest to the point that we want to make it work financially.
A few weeks later we were asked for comparisons. Nothing was 1:1 of course but they also knew we were not lying either. Just a FYI.
Yes, @Knowsstuff - many schools, if they really want a student will spontaneously sweeten the pot (have seen it with Miami of Ohio, Goucher and other schools I can’t think of at the moment) or will be open to a discussion of increasing FA to attract the student. But, IMO, if it is primarily the student who wants the school, they need to be prepared to honestly say they will attend if the FA reconsideration is what the applicant needs.
^ makes sense, but if she is admitted they’ll have time to figure all those things out.
@KevinFromOC does your daughter have any preferences or opinions at this point, given the recent round of acceptances/merit? Kudos to her…she has certainly done a tremendous amount of work.
I expect to get “yelled at” for saying this, but I suspect that the family will pay for Princeton if she gets accepted, even if older D doesn’t attend college. My impression is that dad really wants her there…if accepted.
Not judging. I am rooting for this student to be happy.
It’s a free country yay! Congrats! You go Kevin!
Wow! This is one of the most interesting, useful threads I’ve come across. Now that all of my daughter’s admissions are in, it’s time for her to schmooze, as discussed a number of pages back.
Thanks so much for such a thoughtful thread!
So 23 applications? Which means like 75-100 essays?
Presumably this kid is currently being treated for post-application stress disorder.
Seriously @northwesty ? Many/most essays can be slightly modified to fit each school. For those students chasing merit or need based aid, 23 schools may be necessary. My D applied to 32 med schools and did secondaries for most of them. No post application stress disorder.
No need to mock the choices of the OP’s family.
Probably about 50 or so total essays. And her needle is currently down to about 1/8 tank away from burnout.
It would be interesting to go back with her and rank the difficulty of each application (but that ain’t gonna happen). Some really good schools were surprisingly “easy” - several only required the common app essay or maybe one other short one. Some had overlapping essays so that, once the first one was done, it could be used for a few other schools with minor modifications. And then there were some that had 3 or more essays that had very unique and/or difficult topics.
There were several schools that she applied to only because the essaying wasn’t too bad, and then there were several on the original list that we had to let go because their essay requirements were overwhelming with everything else going on.
But yeah, she worked her butt off, all while putting in 15 hours or more per week for field hockey and ice hockey, and she still managed to get all A’s in her classes (1 honors, 3 AP, and 1 post AP class) (sorry, sometimes I get a little braggy about her). And all that work should allow her to go to a good school with no loans for her (or us) at all to pay back - she realizes that it’ll all be worth it in the long run.
With all due respect, many, many very strong students work their butts off and write many essays for many applications while doing their extracurriculars and maintaining their high academics. Because thats what it takes when applying to the top schools, and especially when chasing FA.
She has worked hard and has many great options. Many of the top students have worked just as hard because that’s what it takes when chasing that golden ring. Am not at all minimizing the hard work she has done. Just pointing out that she is in good company; many others deserve the same bragging rights.
I agree with you jym. Sometimes it’s hard to fully comprehend just how many superstars there are out there …until you step foot on a college campus and see it for yourself. It’s really a humbling experience.
And not just at Princeton and Vanderbilt. There are very strong …equally strong students …working their tails off to obtain merit money at schools that give it.
My kid applied to about the same amount of schools, including UC’s and CSU’s. We just weren’t sure, at the time, where she wanted to go, what the right fit was, and what to study when she got there. Ultimately, she found a wonderful college fit and a great major (and minors).
There’s plenty of time to “gas up the tank.” And when all the kids are flipping their grad hats in the air (our public school allowed it), it’ll all be worth it. Enjoy the process! You’ll miss it one day. 
There are indeed! And I hope their parents also sometimes get a little braggy about them too. I am in no way even remotely implying that she is one of only a handful of students with the stats and work ethic that she has. I fully realize that there are thousands of kids out there with stats and ECs that would blow hers out of the water!
I am sure you and your daughter are worn out from the process you have been through (and congrats to both of you) but if you get a chance to post which schools are super easy to apply to it would be very useful to kids like DS that will be going through this process next year.
I think I recall you indicating that University of Alabama was a 15 minute app? That is super helpful as an option for DS as it could be a great safety for him and not take too much time. I would love to see him have some great options like that under his belt before he spends time on his many reaches.
Congrats and good luck on the final stage!