Congrats to your D @Mom2aphysicsgeek! I was ready to have D check with her rep, but will hold off another day or two.
Merit and need-based aid: @kt1969, from looking around schoolsā financial aid sites the past couple years, most explicitly say that need-based aid offsets merit aid (so your $20k merit plus, say, $5k need-based would still total $20k), but a few stack them (so youād get $25k) or partially stack (so they might split the difference, giving you $22.5k). Stacking is rare, and from my utterly nonrepresentative sampling seems to be most common amongst what I conceptualize as low-second- and high-third-tier schools looking to move up by attracting a particular subset of students (namely, the highish-stats ones who are sensitive to finances over status/reputation). Donāt know about Knox specifically, though.
Hosting Thanksgiving: Weāre bringing half the food to the family weāve had Thanksgiving with every year since we arrived in Alaska. Iād really, really, really like to host, actually, but my wife likes not having the cleaning up to do (it was the deal we made when we got marriedāI do all the cooking, she does all the washing up, and we both think we got the better end of that), and I canāt begrudge her it, I suppose.
@eandesmom, I make an Herbes De Provence Turkey as wellā¦still use a Williams Sonoma recipe from 10-15 years backā¦still love it :x
Congratulations @Collegecue @Mom2aphysicsgeek ! <:-P <:-P
@Collegecue Congrats on USCar acceptance!
One reason not to submit a RD app early is that if wait long enough you might get a fee waiver. Do a google search ācollegename fee waiver college confidentialā and see if people got fee waiver emails from that college at some point in the last couple of years.
We are driving down to my Brotherās in NC. Iāve never liked turkey so I always cook something I like to compliment the main dish. Iāve done things like a rib roast when at home but Iām going to try to do bistecca alla fiorentina if I can get some nice dry-aged porterhouse tomorrow from the butcher.
Yay @Mom2aphysicsgeek <:-P Long wait to February, though.
Iād quite this site in favor of the fb group. I really hate how this thread contains all the discussions. Love you all but I donāt really want to read through the 80 bazillion Naviance posts :))
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - Congrats!
QOTD - Not hosting Thanksgiving. Iāve only done that twice over the years and letās just say I donāt have the level of multitasking skills required. I admire those who do.
It sounds like some of your kids have school this week. All the schools take Thanksgiving week off here now. It is supposed to be Dās essay writing boot camp time, but itās going a little slow so far. She has a scholarship app with five essays due in a week. Hopefully, she will hit a zone.
@STEAM2017 Itās because it was due tomorrow. My S17 has had hard time getting anything done BEFORE deadline. Sometimes can can harness the anxiety/stress and put it to good work. Also writing a personal statement, is much harder for S17 than writing a school essay.
Itās why S17 is working on those UC Insight Essays this weekend. I knew it wouldnāt happen until now, so I just planned & kept our Thanksgiving open.
** QQTD Day -Hosting ** YES but your idea of smallā¦ would be large for me. I am making Thanksgiving Dinner, my IN-laws are coming. There will be 6 of us. A bit sadā¦ I do like it when we go to my parents and have 10-12 at the table. I donāt have any local relatives, most of my friends are doing other things. And we needed to stay home both for S17 to finish his apps & because Iām working crazy. (Just wasting time while for an email backā¦ & phone call from college whoās on a plane.)
@STEM2017 it is just the 5 of us this year, which we really love. All the usual food followed by some Black Friday planning:)
@showmetheMAC D hasnāt heard anything either. Congrats to everyone else who got into UofSC. It is just like Clemson some have heard and some havenāt. Drives us crazy! If D didnāt have the stats, it would be different.
Why canāt my son just get a 500 word essay done??? My daughter can get a 12 page paper finished in the time my son can get a 500 word essay started. :((
We go to my visit family for Thanksgiving. This year (and most now) a cousin hosts. We have about 15 people. Everyone brings a dish or two so all of the cooking doesnāt fall on one family. Plus we all have our favorites, like the chocolate pecan pie! 
@jeepgirl I am under the belief that people make mistakes. I have already seen them related to our application process (e.g., we continued to receive emails from USCar that our app was not complete, which, in fact, it was) as well as othersā on this thread (hello UMD). There are other things besides stats or essays that can keep kids from being accepted, and there is no visibility into some of the ādecisionsā that are made. It could just be someone āscrewing upāā¦who knows. So, Iām going to be pessimistic from here on out. 
@vandyeyes that sounds good! Mine is a tried and true Giada recipe, interior stuffed with citrus, onions and herbs and then the breast rubbed with the oil/herb mix. We switched to it many many moons ago after years of a variety of stuffed birds and have never looked back.
Plus this way I can assign stuffing and itās a different thing each year which works out well!
Thereās a Facebook group? How does one get into that?
UofSCās acceptance came in todays mail. Waiting for D to come home and open it!
Wait, we just got an envelope from USCar with a big āNOā on it. What do you think that means???
Congrats!!! @jeepgirl
Means someone isnāt going to prom.
I donāt know about yaāll, but I need a JOTD: