<p>Of course, I’m lost. HMFR? I couldn’t figure out JMU!</p>
<p>Onesonemom, my daughter applied ED to a selective school. In doing so, we signed a very scary contract stating that we were committed to the school regardless of the financials. They made it very clear that they are not obligated to give you what you expect or what you think you qualify for. In the end, she got a $1K award, out of $54. We appealed to no avail. </p>
<p>ED is a binding, serious contract. If your child has ANY doubts, withdraw that application right away. We were warned (on CC and elsewhere) that if we backed out of the ED contract because of an inadequate financial aid packet, our action could adversely affect future applicants to that school from my D’s high school. You can ask to be placed in the RD pool before the deadline, and perhaps you should do so. But that also may affect your child’s application. Still, it might be worth it.</p>
<p>For my D, ED was the right choice-but she was totally in love with her school. She visited 11 times before she applied. She was a recruited athlete and had to meet the coach, do an overnight, interview, attend games, yada, yada, yada. It was her dream school and even though it’s a financial disaster for our family, applying ED got her in and got her a place on a sports team. I can’t even think about the money she could have gotten elsewhere. She’s happy and she’s learning a lot and we have moved on. But no ED for S!!</p>
<p>ED is no joke. Reread the fine print on the common app and on the school’s website. Talk to your GC. Or visit before the deadline…</p>
<p>University of Denver: S13 got accepted, also with no merit money. We’re out-of-state and have arranged a visit to Denver for next month. We’re a plane ride to Denver, from the East Coast, so the expenses of flying back-and-forth will come into play, besides the obvious distance away from home. We will need decent financial aid money also. Since S13 plays a spring high school sport that starts up the first weekend in March (usually), we probably won’t be able to attend admitted-students events in the spring. We do want to see the campus with students there, which is why we’re going next month.</p>
<p>Ithaca - I emailed them yesterday asking about merit scholarships. The reply was that unless you’ve applied for a scholarship that requires a separate application, all merit awards are announced in a letter with the acceptance.</p>
<p>S is in at St. John’s with a good chunk of $. Being from the south, we really don’t know that much about it. He liked the proximity to the city and they offered his major and a free streamlined application so he applied. Anyone have any info on the queens campus?</p>
<p>Lea,
One of my son’s teammates is at St. John’s. It was his first choice and he forfeited the opportunity to play soccer elsewhere to attend. My S’s school’s playoff games were played there. It’s not leafy and college-y, IMHO. Queens, in general, is not the loveliest of areas in NYC, again, IMHO. But, I’ve heard the school has a good reputation. I would recommend a visit…</p>
<p>HL-Yes, he was pleased to wake up to that news this morning. Would be nice to get all this information at one time to make decision making easier.</p>
<p>NPR - thanks for the info. I think a visit is in order but DH is going to go crazy if we visit all nine schools. I think he should narrow it down to the top 3-4 and then plan a trip. None of his schools are within easy driving distance, of course! We have been to the FL schools and one in NY so that helps a little. </p>
<p>Anyone else planning return visits after receiving acceptances/merit notifications? Personally, I would like more info on curriculum specific to his major, internship opportunities, job placement rates and which companies recruit the school’s graduates. We’ve been able to find some of this online but not to the extent I’m looking for. This would make it easier, at least for me, to make a decision. Of course, DS is mostly interested in the social scene. I really wish I could talk him and his father into a gap year…</p>
<p>My D is begging to return for a visit to RIT - she has accepted and is going, she just wants to see it again in her excitement. The only problem is a 10 hour drive!</p>
<p>Mama duck - yes, that drive would be a drag. It is 6-7 hr drive for us and I think that is one of the things that my son is not thrilled about. All of his other schools are 2 hrs away or less (except 1:RPI which is 3 hrs away).</p>
<p>Nice that your daughter is so excited though b</p>
<p>With my first two, they re-visited their top 1-2 schools fairly late (March/April) either to make a decision or to gain some more comfort with the one they’d made. In both cases, they hadn’t been to the school since late summer/early fall of senior year, so getting a second look in the spring was really valuable. I’d say not necessary if your kiddo is really certain; otherwise you should probably try to do it. (And re: wanting to go just cuz it’d be fun, most schools will have a summer freshman orientation for a few days–that’s something to look forward to.)</p>
<p>My daughter wants to make a visit to one of her top choices right away. We have not visited before because our policy was that visits that require expensive plane rides and hotels happen after acceptance.</p>
<p>But now I am trying to hold off for a decision about financial aid before we make that important visit. She wants to go to Accepted Students Day, but I don’t think we will know the aid situation before that. It is very hard to take her for a visit when there is a chance that the university is not going to fall into our budget. We have very unusual circumstances that make it hard to trust the Net Price Calculator.</p>
<p>Just wanted to followup that it is not hard financially to make the visit at this moment. It’s just going to be very hard for her emotionally if she falls in love more than she is with the college.</p>
<p>Coralbrook- one of the points you can make is that some accepted students can’t make it on those days either, so if FA works out then you can take her on a “real” day where she can interact with more enrolled students. Hopefully the school can arrange for her sit in on classes and meet with people, etc. I actually thought we got a better idea of campuses when we didn’t go on the days they were targeting prospective students. YMMV.</p>
<p>My S is very anxious to visit one of his top choices (Denver) as well-- same situation as coral for her D’s school in that we don’t know FA situation. I did the Net Price Calculator but I don’t really know how accurate that is for Denver. Does anyone know? He received no merit there so I don’t know how great a fit it is. I know several on here have Denver on their list so you might have more info than me</p>
<p>Another related point-- I heard from a parent that when they ran the Net Price Calculator before and after the new year the result changed by a lot-- this was not for one of my S schools so I didn’t check how mine would come out. They had updated their software and that changed the results. Has anyone else seen that at schools you are looking at?</p>