<p>Seattle_mom- good question. I could not figure out how to find new pics other than the monthly digest of updates that got mailed. Or maybe that was new comments. Am interested in the answer too.</p>
<p>Fogfog, The only picture I see of you is your profile pic, which is just a thumbnail one. There are about a dozen of us that have posted pic’s in the “pictures and video” section but there are 40(!) members according to the home page. The home page has an alphabetical listing of all members. I also encourage people to share pictures, otherwise it’s kind of creepy knowing that some of us have posted our pictures and some are just looking. :0</p>
<p>^^ hehe, thought the same thing (about the creepy thing…)</p>
<p>When I was on the photo site, I had to click along the top row, at see pics/videos…something like that. Thought of the 40 CC members, only 23 have pics in their profiles.
I am not clear - I think I added them correctly.</p>
<p>I added them in–2 pics, one of kiddo, and one with prom date. I will check them. I can see them, and they are under an album date.</p>
<p>Maybe the CCers here who know what they are doing on the pics site can give us remedial help… ;o)</p>
<p>fogfog, maybe you put the album in your own area instead of on the shared site?</p>
<p>and 2education, we’re waiting for your pics still. though the winter scene is lovely!</p>
<p>Conratulations AvonHSDad! </p>
<p>But, please don’t leave the ship yet, as there are still many aboard! DD is still on the SS Indecision and is not likely to depart before 4/25 AT THE EARLIEST. She just finished her first of four college visits this week at, today at U of Penn. Love, love, loved it. It will be interesting to see how she feels about the other three this week. DH is with her. Wish I could be along for the ride, but unfortunately I have to work this week…</p>
<p>Also, I wanted to mention that we got back another financial aid appeal today, which matched and EXCEEDED D’s most generous award. So, now all of her four schools are very, very close. I have to say, I had no idea about the amount of negotiation that went into financial aid awards. Unfortunately, IMO this is another reason that students really must apply to many schools. </p>
<p>Anyone else hearing good news on their FA appeals?</p>
<p>Fog, I don’t see your two pictures…? Just a tiny thumbnail one attached to your name.</p>
<p>Momdoc, I was relieved to see the cashed check too. </p>
<p>On that note, we got a letter today from one of D’s other schools that basically said, “Welcome, we’re so glad you decided to join us!” And it had a generic tuition payment information sheet attached. Uhhh… she sent in the card saying NO, not yes. Did they misunderstand or was this just a form letter? I don’t really feel like calling them.</p>
<p>I think the deal with albums on Shutterfly is if you add a new album, or update yours by adding any new pictures, it “bumps” it up to the top. But it still retains its original creation date.</p>
<p>We’re still on the SS Indecision as well. ShawD visited school number two yesterday and today. We met with three students (1 friend of a friend’s child, one child of a business colleague, and one niece of someone whose sister we know – we’re not too plugged in). They and a fourth kid we talked to ABSOLUTELY LOVE the school, despite the fact that one is a gung-ho student council president type, one is a sweet, very pretty but not so proactive kid, and the third is a very spirited engineer who gets leads in musical theater who has lived abroad most of his life). The disabilities office, which was a little snippy at the start, when we explained that we were deciding between schools and needed to know her school was going to be one that would support ShawD, was very helpful (though she’ll give us a decision on what they can do in a couple of days). The biology professor painted a very nice picture of opportunities for research, etc. But, much bigger school with no proactive mentorship; kids said that professors were accessible but they themselves rarely talked with professors. No hand-holding at all. It will be an interesting choice.</p>
<p>So much to say!
Pepper - I love your dad - thank you for sharing that story!
Amanda - listen to your mom’s voice. She’s with you and loves you and is helping you through this!
Congrats to so many folks disembarking- let’s see - Georgetown, NEU, GA, I can’t remember everyone!</p>
<p>My S has decided that the tornadoes in NC during admitted student weekend is a sign that he should choose another school. I guess this is as logical as several other thoughts we’ve had! Tomorrow should receive the last of scholarship news from schools.</p>
<p>For those of you successful with schools increasing financial aid - what did you send? How did you approach this? Just asking for a match to another offer - or do you have new personal information?
Car may be down for the count - it is worth about the cost of the repair - big decision when my job / pay is uncertain. We are on the SS Indecision in more ways than one!</p>
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<p>From what I have seen, you either have to show a change in circumstances OR a higher award from another college. Some colleges specify which colleges they will consider competing awards from. In our situation, there really was no change in personal circumstances, so all we had were higher awards from other colleges.</p>
<p>puma-- we did have a change in circumstance so there were detailed requirements to fill out and info to gather and send for each school.</p>
<p>'10 parent here, like many, following this conversation to get ideas for the next one in line.</p>
<p>Just wanted to congratulate everyone. I remember how nice it was to get to the end of April last year- to have a decision made and be able to move forward.</p>
<p>puma12- I don’t know if you remember me, but I wanted to say that I am sorry your son was waitlisted at CMC. Unfortunately they had a ridiculous admit rate at 13.8%. RD was brutal. Still, congratulations on all of his wonderful choices! It looks like the tornadoes spooked your son as far as Davidson goes, but then I remember reading that he was thinking closer to home by now anyway (which is very common). Do you think he will end up following in his brother’s footsteps and go to Whitman? We recently visited with our son and I have to say, I thought is was different from what I know of the rest of your son’s list. I’m sure he (and you) must know Whitman and Walla Walla very well by now and can be very comfortable/happy with that choice. No big surprises! If you are asking for a match to the Davidson offer, that could be a problem, unless you are talking another no loan school. Good luck…the finish line is in site!</p>
<p>Camathmom, did you call or email to negotiate? We received an unexpected increase today at Pitt which has placed us back on the ship indecision. Would love thoughts on secrets to get more money.</p>
<p>Puma - hate the tornados were a sign :). I know my kiddo is looking for anything that will point him in a direction. It is very hard to make the decision to go cross country when you have other great options. Best of luck. When the original FA offer from one school was lower I called and asked them to walk me through the info they used. Turned out they had made a mistake and corrected it immediately. </p>
<p>Laxmom- nice surprise from Pitt!</p>
<p>So, new wrinkle here… DD has decided she does not want to attend the school she had chosen - or ANY of the other schools she applied to! As crazy as it sounds at this late date, I am back in the college search mode. One of the big drivers is location… we’re in the Midwest but my family is in Texas and she had expressed some desire in going to school there. I just didn’t realize she was serious and she just didn’t push because she thought I was dead set against the idea. (I barely remember this discussion but it apparently had a big impact on her and caused her to just accept one of the options she had in-state.) As her friends have made their choices and been SO excited, she has come to recognize that she is just not excited at all. That led to her finally telling me that she wants to look in Texas.</p>
<p>ANYWAY, I’ve been dealing with this for a few days now and I’m just not sure what to do. We talked about it for a long time over the weekend and I agreed to help her look for a school. Obviously, her choices are significantly limited because we’ve passed everyone’s deadlines but we’ve found a couple of schools and she’s applied to them. I spoke with their admission offices and they do have spots available. My concern is whether this is the right thing to do. I don’t even know if any of you on this thread can relate since you seem to have done such good jobs with your kids’ searches. I just really wish I could have a big do-over… she would have had some good-to-great choices if we had done this earlier…</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I’m asking whether you would do this OR whether I’m asking for recommendations for schools in Texas! I’m just at a loss but am doing the practical things I know need to be done “if” this is going to happen… looking at schools, applying, etc. I don’t even know what to do about the school she had committed to. I’m not so concerned about the deposit we paid there (it wasn’t big) but I don’t know if we can just wait until we know what’s going on with the TX schools (certainly after May 1st) and then notify school #1. I assume that I am not liable for any further costs there until she at least would register for classes (scheduled for late June).</p>
<p>Wonder if this sets a record for most last-minute, dumbest ideas ever on this site? Any advice you have is appreciated. I’l just be here, having a quiet breakdown.</p>
<p>proudmom2 - Welcome back onboard!</p>
<p>I don’t envy your situation at all but I can emphasize with it. Last weekend at an accepted students day I saw another school that had been on long list but I had discarded it without mentioning it to my son because I knew it was a slight reach and the chance of merit aid was lower because of that. Turns out, he probably would have been accepted and the one that we were visiting would have been a good competitor for a merit aid appeal. Oh well.</p>
<p>I can’t help you with the Texas schools at all. The only two I’m only (very) slightly familiar with are Rice and SMU.</p>
<p>I would suggest finding the schools that look like a match or safety in Texas and calling them, explaining your situation and see what they say. If there is no encouragement, then I would strongly encourage your daughter to take a gap year and apply EA in the fall to a school in Texas.</p>
<p>Financial aid appeal - We’ve been partially successful by doing just was suggested above, i.e., writing a letter explaining why the EFC is not realistic, mentioning improved grades, and higher awards from what we think are competing colleges. We were blown off by one school (that was either #1 or #2 depending on the day), but got another $1k a year from what has always been the favored school. We only appealed aid from the schools that son really wanted to attend, not the ones that were okay, but not favorites.</p>
<p>Proudmom2 - try St Edwards in Austin, small Liberal Arts, great area of town, well respected. The only one we tried to talk DD in to - she wanted OUT of Tx! Loved the Admissions people at the Senior visit days. Sent us mail last week saying still time to apply.</p>
<p>Proudmom- Ugh! My thoughts are with you on this one. We too found that what D thought she wanted and what she ultimately decided were very different. </p>
<p>Avon - Congratulations on leaving the SS Indecision - I believe there is a margarita waiting for you at the bottom of the gangway! Salt or no salt? Frozen or rocks?</p>
<p>puma - we also encountered tornados as we visited on an accepted students day! Who would have thought at the outset that would even be a factor in the process. My D took it as a sign that she should not attend. We also encountered a very sexually explicit situation on Bourbon Street (outside the realm of what you would expect to see in the French Qtr) that she took as a sign that she would not go to school in NOLA. Fine with me.</p>
<p>That is a story for another day when it is slow on the boards…</p>
<p>
Trust me, there are a number of us, me included, that in hindsight have recognized this weak spot in the college process. D just could not get her head around finding what was right for her so I took a shot in spring of her junior year taking road trips to likelies (none of which she liked), and we never found safeties that she liked/loved- lukewarm at best. Then when she came home from Italy in the fall she said she wanted to stay local for college which reduced the pool even further. I “pushed” her to apply to Hampshire because of some things I read about it that seemed to suit her- even so far as letting her dictate two of her supplemental essays so she could be more creative and then transcribe them. Now even though it is 90 minutes away, it is now at the top of her list. </p>
<p>We do the best we can, and we just have to let it go. We are not all on top of things as it might appear. Hang in there. I read elsewhere on CC NACAC comes out with a list the beginning of May of schools with openings and still accepting applications. That might help too.</p>
<p>Proudmom, what are you looking for in a Texas school? Public or private? If private, larger with sports or LAC? Possible major or other interests?</p>