I was glad to hear that your son got settled in at school and that you were able to spend his birthday with him. It’s nice that he is going to sports games and the like. I can’t imagine Techson17 doing that ever.
Techson17 is settling in. His roommate seems nice; they get along okay but are not really hanging out. He’s making friends in his tech cohort. He is also studying, for probably the first time ever! I am planning to go up for Family weekend and have invited S14 to fly up with me to drive the rental car as I am terrified of driving upstate because the speed limit is 65 in places. If he doesn’t want to come, I will probably take a bus from the airport as I reserved a hotel very close to the school. Techson17 might actually have a crew job at the show that weekend, he’s waiting to hear.
Hi… Nice to see everyone settling in to college & that drop off has gone well.
I’ve been out of the country on a vacation with my husband the past week. Move in for my son is on Sept 22nd. Although my mom has had some serious health issue come up in the past few weeks, so it’s likely my son & I will pack up a week early and go help my mom. My parents live only an hour away.
Feels really odd to be one of the last kids to start school. It doesn’t feel real yet. My son finally found out he’s in a double and the name of his roommate. And we finally have that first bill to pay.
My son’s friend will be leaving for Drexel in a couple of weeks and another friend, who is doing a gap year program, is leaving in mid-October. Other than that, all of my son’s friends are already at college. I hope your mom is doing better.
@eandesmom thanks so much for posting a link to that clamp on surge protector. D had not yet moved in to her dorm when you posted that. We had done the BBB Pack and Hold, and had a regular surge protector on there, but later in the summer found out that her triple had become a quad, so the beds were being lofted and bunked. I looked to see if the BBB by her school had any of the clamp on kind, but they didn’t so I checked the inventory at my local BBB and they had one. I went over and got it before we left and just packed it in my carry on bag. I was so glad we had it b/c D ended up with the top bunk so it definitely was useful!
Could I request that the page number of the thread where the final list starts be stickied or something? I’m always forgetting it and forgetting to bookmark it, and oftentimes want to pass on a link and can’t find it.
Like now.
Once I find it this time, maybe I’ll post back here.
Hi all—looking for some feedback from those who just completed this crazy process–specifically regarding the merit award schools that are frequently discussed here in this group (Denison, Wooster, Allegheny, Goucher, Ursinus, Beloit, etc). D is considering ED to a merit aid school, but i’m a bit concerned about the school basically applying “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” philosophy and possibly holding back on merit b/c of ED, knowing it’s our first choice. The other side is perhaps they are more generous w/merit b/c it’s first choice and they want to reward, etc. Has anybody encountered this situation and, if so, what was outcome? I know there are many variables regarding stats, etc, but just looking for anecdotal evidence one way or the other. Thanks so much!
@CroissantMiser we only applied EA to avoid the dilemma, but perhaps admissions would be willing to tell you the % of ED’s receiving merit aid. It’s really about how comfortable you are with gambling. Another problem with ED is that a lot of times kids change their minds between November and May. IMO ED is a great option if your DC is completely certain that the school is the perfect fit (even if they change their major) and you can afford it even if no merit is offered. P.s. I really like your user name!
@CroissantMiser the general wisdom seems to be that ED lessens your chance at merit. It is an admissions card to play, not a merit one. EA increases your chance at merit but it far less sure than ED. You can, of course, look up the ED/EA/RD stats per school.
Bottom line is IF you do ED…you need to be prepared to be full pay (and be ok with it) OR believe there will be FA offered. Merit to me, in and ED situation, is n ot something anyone can count on. Yes, you can get out if the offer isn’t what you thought it would be based on NPC or other reasons but that’s no fun for parent or child to go through.
@jmek15 and @eandesmom --Thanks for your input. You both capsulized the dilemma we are facing. Personally, I do believe that most schools would not put full merit weight behind an ED applicant and i know many in this forum whose children applied EA and RD to these types of schools and received nice merit. This challenge is convincing my D and my spouse w/o sounding negative. Man, i can’t wait for this process to end! Thanks again.
Happy Rosh Hashana to all who celebrate and happy (?) end of summer to everyone -
Techson17 is enjoying school except for his drafting class. He HATES it, but it’s a requirement for his major. I completely understand as it was a required class at my HS and I barely passed and I think I hated it more than geometry, if that was even possible. The school must recognize that it’s hard as you need only a D- to advance to the next class. I told him that, but I also told him I hope that he does better.
He’s enjoying his other classes, but might drop his second gen ed in order to have more time for drafting. He is going to wait until after the big test next week. If he doesn’t get at least a B, he will drop the class. He’s currently taking 17.5 credits and he came in with 9, so he’s still well on target.
Other than that, he is getting on well with his roommate and suite mates, except for the one who never comes out. They actually did call the RA after failing to see or hear from him for three days. It turned out he was ok, but still…
The food is okay and he actually has meals left over each week, so we are going to downsize his meal plan next semester for a small monetary savings.
Hope to hear updates from everyone else and that the kids (and parents) are doing well.
@CroissantMiser Colleges have zero incentive to give extra $$ to ED kids. Zero. ED is binding, they don’t need to “pay” you to attend.
So to me, unless you are truly willing to be full pay or the NPC shows you an FA package that works for you and so it does seem affordable…then ED is not worth it for most if $$ is a concern.
If it is a school that gives straight merit based on stats then you should be able to have a good idea of what will be offered and the NPC ought to give you a good idea as well. If you want to share the name of the school, folks here can weigh in more specifically.
If the admission advantage is worth the extra cost and you can afford it (but would just prefer not to) then go for it but around here (all of CC, not just this group), almost no one is successful with an ED admit, in getting the offer improved. Bowing out if if the $$'s do not work (and it was clear before application it would not) is disngenious at best.
There are definitely cases where the NPC “promised” something that the actual offer didn’t deliver and to me that’s a good faith exercise and fair reason to pull out but it is a binding contract and mentally for the student, pretty awful to go through if parents get cold financial feet.
I was under the same impression about ED and merit, but D was insistent that she wanted to apply ED. She ended up being offered the highest merit amount they give outside the full ride that requires a multi day competition. Shocked me to no end.
@Amkngk —interesting and thanks for that info…don’t want you to divulge school, but would you mind indicating whether it was larger university or LAC? Unless it was Syracuse based on your pic. Thanks!
@techmom99 I’m glad to hear your son is doing well. He will get through the drafting. I’m sure you tell him Always have to do something you don’t want.
I just got back from taking my son to university. And a long weekend with my parents, my mom’s not doing very well and they needed my help.
He start classes tomorrow Thursday Sep 28th. Although I have no idea if he has any tomorrow as only labs are on his schedule. He didn’t want much help moving in so I don’t know many details yet. I’ve told him I want to hear from him at least once a week but that I won’t bug him too often so I won’t call him till the weekend.
Apparently, the entire class is suffering through drafting. I somehow occasionally get a messenger account on my phone (which used to be his) in which his cohort is complaining about drafting. He got a C and a C- on the first two projects. They need a D- to progress to the next level, so the school must realize it’s difficult. I failed this course in HS and shared that with Techson17. He and his friends have 24 hour access to the lab so groups of them are working together.
I hope that your mom improves. My MIL is in the hospital, about to go to rehab for orthopedics.
Yesterday evening I organized an informal gathering at a wine bar for moms of our local HS Class of 2017. Most of our kids have been in college about a month now (with one graduating from USAF basic training next week), so it was fun to compare stories. Several of the women are now empty nesters, so they’re navigating that transition. Others, like me, have just launched our oldest. I organized it through a FB invite and welcomed people to invite friends, so some of the women I had never met before, some of them I hadn’t talked to much since our kids were in elementary school together, and some of them are my close friends. We had a good enough time that we decided to do it again in early December.
I have a group like that but we are not just class of 2017. There are 8 - 12 of us, with a core of about 4. It’s so much fun to get together with them and share notes. Most of us have our kids at SUNY schools, which is sort of unusual in our “affluent” area so we also serve as a support group on that end as well. Our next get together is in October.
