<p>momdoc: Same here. That mailman was just teasing me with the early delivery yesterday. Back to 4:00 PM today. And then nothing interesting in my mailbox.</p>
<p>Another Betty Crocker award winner here. </p>
<p>In the mid 70’s, you had to take a test to be selected as the Betty Crocker Family Leader of America award for your school. The test was more of a consumer awareness test vs a cooking/cleaning/baking test. I received a silver heart charm, engraved on the back with the name of the award (not my name!)</p>
<p>Madbean: Congrats! Can’t wait to hear the details when you have them.</p>
<p>AmandaK: We’re working on “love thy financial safety” here, but to be honest, it’s falling a little flat. Somehow, we love the expensive ones more. Perhaps there will be a miraculous mail delivery for us next week, but not counting on it.</p>
<p>Wow! A lot of Betty Crockers here…maybe we’ll see them all on a cook-off show some day!</p>
<p>Man, you Betty Crockers are putting me to shame. Love the story about that award announced amidst all the science and math scholars! :)</p>
<p>Madbean - congrats on USC!! My S received that big envelope 2 years ago and it was a big, huge thrill, followed by complete angst for 6 weeks while he decided (ultimately chose Berklee but boy it was a tough choice). I think he is mulling over USC for possible grad school; it’s never quite left him how much he liked it. I have to say out of the 8 or so colleges I visited with him and 20+ I’ve seen with D over the years, USC is where I most wanted to go! </p>
<p>Nothing new here; in true sports analogy for my jock daughter, her W-L-T (win, loss, tie = accepted, rejected, waitlisted) record currently stands at 4-0-1. I’ll take it.</p>
<p>Best of luck in the coming days to everyone. I’m thinking about that Eagle Scout and hoping college is in his future.</p>
<p>Madbean - congrats on USC!</p>
<p>Well, a big envelope came today-- FA from Baylor–bleak–did they not get my FAFSA!!</p>
<p>46k COA</p>
<p>20k merit</p>
<p>2.6k work study</p>
<p>Seems like things are working out well for most of you. Happy to hear it.</p>
<p>5.5 k loans</p>
<p>advice that we need an outside loan for 20k</p>
<p>Soooo–25-26k out of pocket </p>
<p>She did not really want to go there and the app was free.</p>
<p>Does not bode well for FA for us and we are so poor!</p>
<p>Booked tickets hotels cars & overnite for safety that has rolled out the red carpet.</p>
<p>Waiting on 4 more–not too hopeful</p>
<p>Happy for one solid offer and she is warming up to it( with the dad stipend tendered–bribery still works!) and excited about the overnite in their Honors college.</p>
<p>Hope to hear some more good news from all of you!</p>
<p>The ever changing landscape of our lives…</p>
<p>Madbean - congrats on USC, we really liked it when we visited. LA is exciting.</p>
<p>We did not get an envelope of any size here. Not sure what that means. As much as we like it, S received a mailing 2 months or so ago that he didn’t receive any of the merit awards, so it is out of the running unfortunately. Plus, my D who lived close by moved to SF. I’m glad we weren’t counting on that. The 3 Socal schools are out I think, but I really like them all- LMU & Univ. of SanDiego.</p>
<p>Ds got an invite to visit WashU with airfare on them! What a nice gesture! Not sure we will take them up on it, will wait for next weeks admission results, but really nice to hear as I am sure they can’t do this for everyone.</p>
<p>Madbean, congrats on getting the big USC envelope. We are waiting impatiently here (WA) to see if we get one. Should be here tomorrow, Friday at the latest. The wait is killing us!</p>
<p>Congrats, madbean! Can’t wait to hear what’s inside.</p>
<p>I’m waiting until spring break next week (and a few more answers coming in) to talk about the WL D says she wants to be on. It requires she show some love, basically asks for a new essay on why she wants to be on the waitlist. It’s up to her - she can do whatever job she can manage right now on the essay and take her chances. I think once she hears from a not-quite-so-reachy school she’ll know better how she feels.</p>
<p>But we’re in the same boat with visits - D has never done an official visit there, and I have to cancel the tour we thought we could take next week because of how her school choir trip was scheduled. I’d like to plan another tour, at least show some effort to get her out there, although I really don’t know when. Again something we’ll talk about next week. I hope they can understand that when 1000 miles are involved, it’s a huge issue for families, and won’t hold that part against her. She knew about the school but hadn’t considered applying until she got a much higher ACT last fall. I naively never thought of the waitlist - I figured since we were driving out there (when we had enough time to) I could make the decision at the last minute based on Yes/No. This complicates things a lot, but also if it can’t happen that may tell us that pushing for this school just isn’t right.</p>
<p>Only 1/2 more days of school and we’re on break. We all need it! Although the 2 girls and I are leaving at 8 am with the choir for 3 days right away on Friday. I’m so glad D says she’s looking forward to it (a lot because BF is going, I think). I’m chaperoning with a good friend, so I’m happy, too. </p>
<p>We all miss JD2 already. I hope she e-mails us soon with news of a safe landing. She left extra clothes here so she could pack food for her family in her suitcase. Makes me cry to think of that.</p>
<p>madbean - Congrats on USC! That is great news.</p>
<p>I just have a minute and wanted to rant about the alleged “Financial Aid”. On what planet did an unsubsidized loan of $5,500 become aid??? I am not complaining about not getting grants-we knew after doing an estimated FAFSA we weren’t going to get anything, forget about CSS schools-but what really fries me is getting offered a loan at a lousy interest rate and on top of it being told it’s aid-it’s not aid it is money I am paying!</p>
<p>OK now that I have vented that I just wanted to tell Ren Mom thank you for sharing that poem-</p>
<p>I also am so impressed by this young man who had made Eagle Scout with no help at all. I have family who are very involved with the Boy Scouts and am amazed at what it takes to become an Eagle Scout-to do so on his own speaks volumes about this young man’s potential-I wish I could do something to help. I will mention this to my family member and see if they have any scout-related ideas.</p>
<p>Hey madbean that is great news!</p>
<p>Pepper - ditto on the FA. (I’m thinking the F doesn’t stand for financial). Michigan OOS COA 48K, loans 5.5K so 42.5K/yr on us x 4 = 170K, oh that’s without figuring the historical 5% increase y/y… really?</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone. 
Still grinning (and staring at that unopened package!!</p>
<p>Yes, USC is S1’s school, and since my DH is a UCLA alum (and I teach there part-time), it was rather a huge deal 3 years ago when S1 got into his dream program (Film school-interactive media) at USC and also got the Trustee–full tuition scholarship. Well, he absolutely loves it, is in their TO honors program, is studying abroad, and it’s been a perfect fit for him. A great outcome. (Just to give you all the old gossip–That year (2008) S1 was also admitted to Duke, WashU w/full scholarship, Carnegie Mellon w/1/2 scholarship, Vassar, UCSD, UCSC–rejected at Yale, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley.) Since he was so focused on the Game Design major (USC ranked #1 for this) in their awesome film school, and was accepted to USC in January, there was only mild suspense as the rest of the letters came in.</p>
<p>Fast forward to this year and S2. The suspense has been much fiercer! And the expectations while watching the second one go through a process we’re now familiar with make the outcomes more loaded. For instance, we know how important the merit opportunities are and as they blow past us, ah… well. C’est la vie! But those missed awards will have a huge potential impact on where S2 will be attending.</p>
<p>I’m so happy that S2’s hard work and talent has been recognized so widely to this point. I fully expect admissions to highly sought after programs to be a lottery. We’ll all celebrate tonight (particularly when we know which program/major it is he’s being admitted to). But I cannot predict where he’ll end up attending as the FinAid part of the equation is so key to this decision. I will save that “Arg!” for another day.</p>
<p>And next week, as many of your kids are hearing from the big cats (ivies and others), I will be so happy to cheer loudly for the wins, and curse loudly for any losses at your sides all the way.</p>
<p>Congrats on your son’s admission and the careless mailman, madbean!</p>
<p>I am laughing about those who shared my Home Ec misery - In 8th grade I exhibited about the same amount of talent for homemaking as I have now, which is NONE, lol. I remember sewing the top of my apron pocket closed by mistake, and my home ec teacher looking at me, very disappointed, while shaking her head sadly. </p>
<p>I liked shop much better. My mailbox duck with the whirling wings was really fun to make! And I loved soldering my metal box together. </p>
<p>One of my favorite classes in school was art. I didn’t really have a high degree of talent, but liked photography, ceramics and printmaking a lot, and the teacher was really nice. I think because I spent so much time in the art room during free periods, I received an Art Scholarship award of $250 at graduation! I was very surprised, to say the least.</p>
<p>I’m with Pepper on the loans schools try to pass off as “aid”. Some of you might remember that D2 desperately wanted to go to Penn State - was accepted but OOS was $36K and we had to say no. This morning, she receives an email with instructions to check her Financial Aid on their site. Well, she’s abroad so I wasn’t around to tell her in advance that it was surely going to be …loans. Aaagh.</p>
<p>Here in Ohio, we are dealing with the last vestiges (we hope) of winter. Highs in the 60s today and then in comes a front with rain, hail, wind and a big drop in temperature. I hear tomorrow’s high will be in the 30s with some snow in the morning. Aaagh, again.</p>
<p>Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you who are waiting for big news over the next few days!</p>
<p>It’s so intense watching all the excitement and disappointment coming one after the other. I’m happy for everyone who has good news, optimistic for all with bad, and glad for all of us that it won’t last much longer.</p>
<p>RenMom – thanks for sharing. Awesome poem!</p>
<p>oregonianmom – I think D will not go on the WL at Macalester. I need to check in with her when she gets home from school. She hates being asked college questions. But her reaction was so mild; I really do think her head and heart are in the Pacific Northwest. She really likes that other school that both our Ds applied to ;). I honestly think she has been ready to go there since December, but we’re strapped in for the ride and we’ll see where it takes us.</p>
<p>I wonder if our Ds will go to school together? Does your D have a clear first choice?</p>
<p>Seattle_Mom, I am PMing you.</p>
<p>madbean - congratulations on the big envelope. Interesting how your S had Rice on his list as well!</p>
<p>I will talk to D tonight about going on the waitlist at Rice. A friend mentioned that last year they knew of someone who came off the waitlist (coincidentally at Rice) a few days before May 1st! I thought they didn’t go to the waitlist until after May 1st ??</p>
<p>My sympathies to those who are dealing with financial aid issues. Having read about this for the past few years, it seems that although you are aware that they meet a large part of your need with loans rather than grants, it is always amazing to find out how much they think you can afford to pay 
Who runs these calculations!</p>
<p>About the young man who’s an Eagle scout - that’s a great accomplishment, but without the help of any family - that’s just amazing. There are a lot of schools that are still mailing D cards/emails asking her to apply - so I am sure you can find colleges to apply to - finances will probably be the biggest hurdle though. In that aspect, community college might be a better bet.</p>