@klinska Congratulations!! <:-P <:-P
@RightCoaster That sounds fun! Whether he decides to go there or not, it will be a beneficial weekend. I find that I learn something new at each visit that is generally useful in navigating through this journey we find ourselves on. .
Ok, now I feel better about being ok with D having big unis on her list.
A Blount Scholars envelope just showed up at the house. Iâm still a little overwhelmed by the idea that maybe UAâs Honors College+CBHP+Blount=chaos, but Iâll let D take the lead on it.
H and I are working on the CSS right now. Gah.
Congrats to your son on the LAX invite, @RightCoaster. Hope he has a great time. You can always work on that app idea while you wait for him!
Sorry about the disappointing news on the scholarship, @itsgettingreal17, but with 12 more possibilities there is still a lot of hope!
For those applying to UMass Amherst you may need to be prepared for some frustration over delays and poor communication. Our experience with UMass two years ago wasnât great. IMO they canât be relied on for timely portal updates or admission decisions. Perhaps itâs similar in some respects to the UMD CP issues others have posted about. The good news is that everyone I know who goes to UMass (even those who initially said it wasnât their first choice) absolutely loves it, so once you get past admissions itâs all good. As an aside, the food at UMass is pretty darn good. Locally sourced, good quality, etc.
I may have posted this already, but S has not done any overnight visits so far. D15 did three - two were very positive experiences but the third was not. She was fine but it was clear that the school was not a good fit. Last year, as a freshman, she hosted overnight visits for prospective scholarship students and took it seriously. She loves her school and is really proud to show it off. Unfortunately, there were a couple of occasions when they didnât have enough hosts so she and her roommate (who also hosted) sometimes had a very crowded floor!!
@itsgettingreal17 story about the scholarship. Hopefully good news will be on her future and it will be that much sweeter.
@klinska congrats on another acceptance! <:-P
Yesterday was annoying enough with the âextended deadlineâ emails. Todayâs issue was one I have had concern about ever since receiving some of the emails that say click on the link and weâve started your app for you. Such as the kind UNC and Wake Forest send that provide your username/ pw and when you log in your childâs contact info (and sometimes school) is pre-populated for the student. Today S17 received an email from a school heâs shown no interest in. It caught my attention because I could see in the preview it said âDear xxxâ and the name was a girlâs name. It was an invitation to apply to the schoolâs presidential scholar program and provided a login code to access the âspecialâ app. I clicked the link and used the code and as I suspected I would, I found the personal information of the student. Full name, home address, phone numbers and S17s email address. I updated the email address to the admissionâs office email so they can receive their own emails.
Alright, I have a question but I know that the QOTD is already out there so I am going to ask it anyway!
My S17 has been accepted to one of his top choices. We are hoping for merit, but even without, we can swing the OOS cost. I was reading on the college forum that people need to put their housing application in even before committing to the university (it is U of Minnesota TC). I am cool with potentially losing $25, but it got me to thinking.
Are other parents putting housing deposits down to get to the front of the line?
@klinska Congrats!! Iâm getting the impression that schools are very mindful of studentsâ in state public options when awarding merit. sigh
We are putting housing deposits down. Though my daughter only applied to 3 schools (two deposits down so far with one likely in the next month or so). At many (most?) schools the deposit puts you in line for housing priority. So the earlier the better. For the schools at issue for us, you get all but a relatively small amount ($50 or less) back if you do not enroll. Worth it to me to get housing priority. Though I may well have a different view if my daughter had applied to 10-15 schools or more and was looking to put deposits of several hundred dollars down at each of them. In that case we may have picked several strategically.
@jpc763, when Sâ14 was accepted at UM-TC we put in the housing app and deposit. We had neighbors who did not do this and their child got a dorm at the St. Paul campus, but had all classes at Minneapolis. The parents âwarnedâ us and recommended that we send the housing deposit and risk the $25.
He did not attend. Just a data-point.
@Dave_N - Thanks for the info. We will put our $25 down in the next few days. Need to figure out where he would want to live!
@Katniss1, yes, same for us. He received confirmation that his application had been received and that portal information would be following - but has not been received yet. He just received portal info from UMass Lowell yesterday - Application submitted at the same time as Amherst.
@RightCoaster Iâm guessing they got a slew of apps on 10/31 JIT for the EA deadline.
@klinska, Congrats on the acceptance! Thanks for the update on the UMass Portal info - crossing fingers S17 get his today also.
@jmek15, I know all too well about the notoriety of delayed info/results with UMass Amherst. D16 applied RD last year and they were the last school we heard from. That said - she absolutely loves it there - and yes, the food is fantastic!
@jpc763 I put a housing deposit on her safety (state school) because they donât guarantee housing for freshman and you just never know. My D16 ended up at her safety (literally her last choice but she is happy and thriving) so I was happy and relieved we put the deposit down when she originally applied.
All the housing stuff makes my chest tight.
@klinska Congrats <:-P
Random large envelope from UChicago today. Dâs info was not on the ACT. I hope this does not begin a wave of mailings!
(It went directly into the recycling bin because (1) core (2) freaking cold and (3) $$$$ :)) )
So now I am freaking out about housing. We need to do CSU and Minnesota for sure. I started (the payment part) of Minnesota. The dorm and room preference part he will fill in. We will need to start CSU in the next week or so.
This thread is so busy, I have hard time keeping up with everyoneâs posts:) Congrats to all whose kids received their first acceptance letters! I have a question for the experienced parents. Is there a way to use merit scholarships offered by the In-state schools as a leverage in negotiation of merit amounts with the OOS schools?
Regarding housing deposits, I havenât done them for either school to which sheâs already been accepted. UAâs seems very steep and as far as I know itâs non-refundable. I do worry that D2 will end up picking UA and not getting housingâŠ
@NerdMom88, UAâs housing deposit is mostly refundable ($275 of the $300, if you ask for it back by I forget what date)âbut the $200 enrollment deposit youâre required to put down before paying the housing deposit is completely nonrefundable.
@educationfan I doubt it. We have never tried to negotiate scholarship amts, but I donât think IS and OOS comparisons will be helpful since a lot of schools do offer more to IS students than OOS. Even schools like Bama have lower thresholds for IS students.
@NerdMom88 I have not paid a single housing deposit. (We havenât filled out FAFSA or CSS, either.) My ds didnât pay his UA housing deposit until the Jan or Feb deadline or whatever the date was thatballowed students to be pulled in by other students for early registration. He found a couple of other honors students (one a fellow CBHer) who hadnât filled their suite, and he was pulled in with them. No need to panic in November! Parents form a Facebook page with a spread sheet of kidsâ majors, interests, and current roommate selections.
Piping in to say that I know nothing about Alabama, other than to confirm their VERY active and supportive FB groups. A friendâs D is a freshman there this year and she had made many âfriendsâ via the Alabama FB pages. Apparently there are parent FB pages in different categories.