@STEM2017 While I feel your pain (my D is the same way) I think I do understand from the kids’ POV - they know how to crank out a 5 page school essay. They’ve done it before, they know what it is generally supposed to look and sound like. I think a lot of kids have a lot more trouble writing something like a personal statement because all of a sudden it feels like a spotlight is on them and that makes it awkward/difficult to know what to say.
@STEM2017 He is just improving his “working under pressure” skills. 
@kt1969 Have you run Net price calculator for Knox?
If your family contribution comes out more than COA minus 20K, it’s unlikely you will get any additional need based aid.
Congratulations on the merit aid! <:-P <:-P
** Non-College QOTD: ** Anyone here hosting Thanksgiving?
I am.
Pretty small, though. There will probably 10-12 of us depending on who drops by. I do all of the cooking (and none of the cleaning). Very traditional…turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cornbread, veggies, and all the fixins. Guests bring desserts - I insist on homemade. My favorite holiday.
ETA: Wine
@payn4ward Thanks, that’s what I thought.
@Stem2017 We celebrated Thanksgiving 2 weekends ago so that we could celebrate it with dd. Cooking for 14 is my normal weekend and holiday number. 
(Ds and his family join us for dinner most Sundays.) I don’t even think of it as unusual. (Know what will be hard? Relearning how to cook for 2!)
Thursday is looking like salads and subs and all day board games. (I suspect there will be several Civilization, Catan, and Dominion championships being played.)
@Mom2aphysicsgeek My grandmother never did learn how to cook for 2 or even just herself. She raised 7 children with my grandfather, then after his death, married a widower with 7 of his own. Sunday dinners (or rice, cocoa and cinnamon rolls after church) entailed tables placed end to end from the walk-in porch, through the kitchen, dining room, living room and into another porch. Some of my best memories. She was still cooking for at least 10 when she lived alone later in life. Generally, a few grown kids and grandkids, along with whatever number of priests were in the area, would stop in for lunch or dinner, but if it was just me and she knew it was going to be just me, it was still a full ham, pounds of potatoes, and a couple of vegetables. Just in case.
@picklesarenice @Collegecue @kt1969 congrats on the acceptances
@BlueAFMom congrats on the scholarship
@STEM2017 I hosted last year. This year is at my moms. I split the cooking with her though. It’s one of my favorite holdays too (Passover is tied)
@STEM2017 Thanksgiving: I will be preparing our traditional dinner; turkey flavored with rosemary & thyme, sage stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes swirls with praline topping, cranberry sauce, pumpkin & apple pie for dessert - homemade everything. We get together with extended family every other year, and this is our stay home year. Still, I will bake, prep, and cook for 2 days to put on a nice meal. Feeling very thankful for all our blessings. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday with loved ones.
For those not on FB, we made a quick trip over the weekend to Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Did a drive-by of Case for the old lady 
(who had not seen it), and stayed with friends. We spent Sun-Mon in Pittsburgh to visit Pitt again, at their kinda-sorta-weird-request. Great trip, learned a lot. Nice 1-on-1 meetings with HC, advisory, admissions, study abroad folks. Expected maybe some sort of overt or obtuse offer of MAC (no longer thinking of the ‘big’ version), and we got zero, zilch, zip, nada. Don’t know what to make of it, but came back home to read all the Pitt posts last night and I feel a little bamboozled. Not giving up hope on something, but the hope is fading. Fast. One of D’s favs, despite the necessity of pants. /rant
@STEM2017 – not hosting this year, but taking a couple of sides to friends’ home. Am enjoying the Thanksgiving sides thread (and glad to see brussels sprouts-done-right are so popular nowadays). Some years when we don’t host, we still end up making a mini-dinner here with small turkey and all the fixins here just so we can enjoy the leftovers – yummy without any pressure!
Congratulations on the acceptances and merit $$! <:-P
We have invited only one friend’s family over but will cook whole traditional dinner. Hope S19 still enjoys cooking as I will need his help. cornbread, green bean casserole, potatoes, etc. Except turkey will be store bought and heated. There will be lots of left over.
@showmetheMAC I am not sure where I read about Pitt reducing their merit offerings this yr, but this thread seems to affirm its truth.
Did your dd receive a “yes” envelope from USC? Waiting for today’s mail.
Oh, sure @Mom2aphysicsgeek just drive the other nail in! =)) No, nothing from USCar either. Oh, wait, we got that nice handwritten letter from her rep for attending the Top Scholar dinner. So, we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice!
I just looked, and she had her app in on August 21. First app.
LOL! @showmetheMAC Well, I’ll consider dd in good company then since it seems like a lot of people have already heard!!
(And I quit Facebook. I didn’t like the way it threaded and it was just another time waster. )
**QOTD non College **
yep, hosting.
Looks like 20 at last count, it keeps growing which is supremely annoying (only due to the size of the bird…23.72). It was 15 when I got the turkey. Classic with my family though and I’d have gotten larger if I could have found one. Totally blew it on the pre-order at the butcher. Too much work and other travel. I may go buy an extra breast.
I will make an Herbs De Provence Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Chipotle Sweet Potatoes, Berry Pie, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie and a Pumpkin Roll for us to have that morning.
Other folks will bring the rest. Rolls, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Salad, Black Olives, Appetizers…and whatever else they feel like bringing.
And drinking. We learned long ago to have everyone bring what they’d like to drink…or we’d go broke!
I could tell you quit FB by the name change @Mom2aphysicsgeek . I still have trouble navigating, but it’s fun posting pics and swearing
Mail just came. YES was there. :D/ Now I wish we knew the actual $$ numbers. Also, they say that they will let TOp Scholars know in Feb. That is a change from last year. I am pretty sure I read on the USC forum that they let students know in Dec last yr b/c they knew they had been accepted to the HC before HC announcements.
Congrats @Mom2aphysicsgeek!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek You read further than I did. :)). I’ve always had Top Scholars invites on my spreadsheet as going out in February.
In any event, congrats to your D!!!