<p>A financial aid office admin sent an email this morning to us asking to schedule a phone appt. with the head of financial aid. We are running through all of the possible reasons for this. I mostly feel positive about it...that perhaps they're checking to see if we can eek out another little bit to contribute. However, I remember reading somewhere on this site that an admissions officer called a parent to say they wouldn't be able to offer sufficient aid, and would the parent prefer they reject their child outright instead of admitting with insufficient aid. I would prefer the latter, but of course I hope that this isn't the reason for the call. Thoughts?</p>
<p>My guess is that they want to go over some details of your financial situation and yes possibly ask if you could contribute more than you indicated you’d like to. I think it’s a little too early for the second scenario you described. Besides, that shouldn’t need an appointment should it? That’d be more like a quick message plus a question that needs a yes/no answer. Good sign anyway, from the perspective of admission chance. Good luck!</p>
<p>pom_pom:
We just received a FA call from a school moments ago- they wanted more details- I can’t imagine they would call if they weren’t interested in her as a candidate… I agree with Benley- it’s too early to get calls about FA awards/denials</p>
<p>pom_pom: We experienced a form of your second scenario, but it occurred just a few days before M10. Two schools called to tell us that they could not offer FA as they felt our financials indicated we could be FP. If there was any way we could be FP, they would be happy to admit him but, if not, did we prefer an outright rejection or an acceptance with no FA. Again, I agree with the above posters that it is too early for this scenario.</p>
<p>@pom_pom, did you end up connecting with them? Hope it went well.</p>
<p>We received an email from a HADES school asking if it was our childs first choice. What does that mean? Why do they ask that? It is our first choice but I do not know how to respond.</p>
<p>@buddysmom I have no experience with BS but here in NYC some schools want to know if they’re your FC …some actually ask for (require) a FC letter so they know they won’t be wasting an admissions offer on someone who doesn’t consider them their FC. With that said, I’ve known people to write these schools and tell them that they feel it’s a great fit for their child and if offered a spot, they gladly accept. </p>
<p>Did they directly ask that question? It sounds like a violation to the agreement released by TSAO. <a href=“Ten Schools: Letter to Parents”>Ten Schools: Letter to Parents;
I’ve seen various forms of implied incoming admission, some of which seem out of necessity, for example, further inquiries on financial information, but a direct question like that doesn’t sound right to me.</p>
<p>I just had a Skype interview and she asked me if I had a first choice. I said what I love about her school and pushed the topic out of the way.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Yes, it was a direct question but this is probably the wrong forum because we are not asking for FA. It just caught us out of the blue because once we submitted the applications we have hardly thought about March 10. I am hoping that it means my child has a good chance.</p>
<p>My friend got such a phone call some years ago from Choate and basically her DD would be accepted but for the financial aid, and she was given the opportunity to withdraw the request. She did and her DD went and graduated from Choate, but she did not get financial aid which cost the family plenty.</p>
<p>Also, I just read the agreement by the TSAO referenced above, and they did not ask for a commitment, they just asked if the school was a first choice. So, I don’t think it was a violation.</p>
<p>Buddysmom, if it’s your child’s first choice, your first choice, and you can afford it, then reply “yes” to the email. </p>
<p>If you do this, of course, you can’t tell other schools they’re your first choice. And, I would feel (if it were my family), that the child would be obligated to attend, barring a truly historic level of freakout at revisits.</p>
<p>I would say that personalized contact at this point, less than 3 weeks from March 10th, from the admissions office is important. (Not form letters or emails sent to everyone.) However, as everything is decided by committee, who knows how it will turn out? </p>
<p>It is all the “commitment” the school could possibly get at this point of time, which is a verbal one. Regardless, it’s great news to your family since it sounds like it happens to be your first choice!</p>
<p>what is the norm with acceptance and FA? Do they say yes but no money or just reject? I’m hoping if we don’t get FA then we get a rejection. It’ll be easier that way. </p>
<p>@ItsNotHogwarts, I completely agree with you. If we got an acceptance without enough aid, we would be devastated. I’d so much prefer a flat out rejection.</p>
<p>@booklady123, I feel the same way. I think the school Moosieboy applied to (yes, only one) flat our rejects if there’s no aid available, but I’m not 100% sure. We are way within the threshold for full aid, so I’m sure they’ll take one look at our PFS and either agree that my son is worth four years of full-aid, or they’ll flat out reject it. There is very little on the way of tuition that we could actually afford. And my son is ready for that rejection. What he’s NOT prepared for, however, is to sit there with a partial FA offer that is still not enough for us to be able to send him there 
That would be heartbreaking both for him and for us as parents…</p>
<p>Same here. “You got in but we can’t send you” is my worst nightmare. </p>
<p>My son also only applied to only one school, and I believe that AO only knows yes/no if candidate is a FA applicant, but not level of aid needed. @twinsmama, this is what you heard in the FA online chat, right? That was the way I understood it as well.</p>
<p>@booklady123, yes, that’s what they said.
I’m against the majority on this one; I think I would rather see an acceptance without FA than a rejection. We know we don’t have money, but it would kind of validate the whole process to at least know that the kids were good enough candidates to accept. If we get all rejections, I would rather know that it was about money, not merit.</p>
<p>However much I would like to know that my child ‘could have’ attended, I would rather not have her come face to face with a decision based on our inability to pay. I have never been accused of being over protective, but in this case, I think I would pass on knowing</p>