Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
1881

My son has applied for a research internship at a local college for the summer. It is a long shot, since they only pick 5 students, but worth trying for. Other than that he is also planning to attend Ole Miss Summer College for the June session, volunteer at a local museum, and spend as much time as possible sailing. He spent all his money on a 40 year old sailboat and hopes to get lots of racing experience so he can sail in college. His college criteria are a school with engineering, sailing and lots of merit aid, which I guess is as good a way as any to narrow down the list.

If he is selected for the CBYX scholarship he will be going to Germany next year, which would change his summer plans, but we are assuming he won’t get that.

1882

@WhereIsMyKindle I know students at Pitt can also take classes at Carnegie Mellon if they happen to have any language classes that would be useful. When we toured CMU they talked a lot about their relationship with PItt and how mutually beneficial it was to have all the extra courses available.

1883

Are we expected to finish our 2016 tax return by Jan 31, 2017 even if we don’t ask for financial aid and only merit money? I think I might have heard of the Jan 31st date from CMU session??

1884

I can’t file my tax return until April because I never have everything I need before then. My recollection is that for schools for my son, date was March 1 to submit tax returns. I provided estimated info for forms when actual tax returns were not available. Later had to update it. I contacted schools with March 1 deadline and let them know I wouldn’t have filed tax returns. They all said provide them when available. Seems to me its not totally uncommon to see people in that situation.

As a general matter, I think people should be able to stipulate they are not applying for financial aid and do not want to be considered for it (won’t qualify or whatever other reason). At that point, there shouldn’t be a reason to submit financial info to be considered for merit aid.

1885

We/I spent 7 hours yesterday researching Arabic programs. We began with a list four pages long, so more than 100 schools.

Dd is looking for a schools with at least 6 classes beyond the advanced level. She focused more on using the language in real life, classes like Media Arabic, Business Arabic, multiple dialects, and Modern Political Thought, instead of classes like Classical Poetry and The Role of Women in Literature.

So the final results (mind you, we’ve already put in 20+ hours of research since August):

Three of the four Arabic Flagships (UT is $$$$ OOS with no hope of merit)
–Arizona
–Maryland
–Oklahoma

Mississippi’s almost-Flagship program

American (visiting spring break)
George Washington (wasn’t wowed when we visited)
Pitt
Michigan State
Ohio State
Indiana
Emory
James Madison (couldn’t locate this year’s classes; dept listing is good)
Miami Ohio (kind of weak)
Wake Forest (kind of weak)
Davidson
Swarthmore (kind of weak)
Richmond (only 2 of 6 listed classes were offered this year)

And then the ones without merit aid at all:
Yale
Harvard
Penn
Tufts
Middlebury
Georgetown, which is perfect for dd and we’d never afford

Now to check Intenational Relations strength, though we pretty much know which schools will fall off the list. And then finances, oy. D needs merit aid. We’ll be super close to full pay for most on the list, but we can contribute $25K max per year.

D will also be applying to our state flagship. She’ll have taken most of the Arabic there before she graduates high school. We discussed last night what she would do if she won one of the competitive full rides there. $25K buys a boatload of study abroad and internship support, that’s for sure.

Sigh. Why couldn’t she have chosen engineering??? :wink:

1886

@SincererLove Has CMU made any changes to its merit aid program? For years, they were criticized for not really having any. Last year they instituted a handful (to my understanding) of pretty good merit awards. Presumably they kept those in place and maybe created more?

1887

@WhereIsMyKindle That is the ride we have been on for the past yr, one of the reasons I was super disappointed that OleMiss only has a Russian minor. Finding enough Russian classes while being affordable has been extremely limiting. At least Arabic has some affordable flagship schools, especially if she is a NMF. I have no idea how the Russian flagships were chosen (Bryn Mawr–too expensive, UWisc–too expensive, UCLA–too expensive, and Portland State–most affordable of the 4, but older population and a suitcase school (and very far away!)

The Croft Institute + the security program at Ole Miss looks interesting for your dd. I hope she likes Ole Miss when she goes there this summer. (My dd really hated the campus, though.)

Mom2CollegeKids did point out to me that UA’s NMF scholarship ends up allowing for $13,000 in study abroad. That is a pretty hefty amt. Dd is going to consider that direction as a possible option if we can’t find a good fit anywhere else that we can afford.

She is also interested in FSU. If she can get in-state tuition and a small scholarship, we might be able to make it work if she took out her student loans. (none of other kids have had to take out any loans.) I don’t think their Arabic offerings are as good as their Russian, though. (It is on our list to tour later this spring.)

1888

@saillakeerie Before you make the decision to not fill out FAFSA, make sure you know the policies of the schools you are applying to. This is one of our hind-sight 20-20 oops!! Our oldest did not receive his university’s merit scholarship b/c we did not fill it out. Even though is was strictly merit and not need-based, they required it to be filed in order to disperse funds. We didn’t realize until it was too late.

1889

@Mom2aphysicsgeek I understand that you have to fill out the FAFSA because many schools require it for merit air as well. My point is just that there should be a box on the first page of the form which allows you to check it and thereby acknowledge you won’t be considered for need based aid. Why force people to fill out the form when they are either not seeking need based aid or won’t qualify it?

1890

@saillakeerie , CMU gives some, we heard, not a lot. Last year, we had a graduate who scored perfect on SAT and PSAT and overall best our school ever produced, except leadership which CS major might not need much
 We heard he got 20 or 30k money, but that would be because that his older sister is also in college. Just rumors
we are also local. I take you are also in PA :wink: ?

1891

Its my understanding that CMU gave out a very limited number of merit scholarships last year (something under 10 I have heard and in the neighborhood of $20k/year). Need wasn’t a factor nor was the number of siblings in college. I am in Ohio.

1892

Is anyone else going on a spring break college visit trip with their kid? Probably everyone else doing so has their trip all booked, but I just realized it’s almost March and I need to start seriously planning this thing. My D is looking for a smaller school with a good engineering program. It happens that a number of those schools are pretty bunched up in MA and NY. Here’s our plan if it works:

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Smith College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Union College, Clarkson University

I’m not even sure she could get into Smith and would probably not receive merit aid if she did. But she’s interested in the idea of an engineering program at an all women’s school and likes the idea of the 5 college consortium.

We’ve only done 2 visits so far and one was to our local U where her sister goes, so that wasn’t too exciting. I’m really looking forward to seeing what D thinks about the individual schools and also how she might change her overall thoughts on what makes the best match.

Good luck to any fellow procrastinators hoping for an informative spring break!

1893

We don’t have any planned for spring break, but my husband is planning on taking D17 to his dad’s alma mater in MA over the summer with his dad (her grandpa), and we have fall break here in late September that we have earmarked for whatever colleges she wants to go see that are not within driving distance.

My husband asked why didn’t I want to go on the MA trip (I grew up in MA and have a lot of family and friends there) and I said if she ended up going to school in MA I’d get to be up there fairly often, and I didn’t want to stress her out on the visit (unsurprisingly, my H and FIL are very laid back and calm-I’m so not).

Late summer will probably be for whatever schools she wants to see within driving distance that are north of Georgia, and wintertime will be for Florida schools (if any), and maybe another trip back to MA so she can see just how DANG COLD it is in MA in the winter ;).

Next spring break (2017) will probably be accepted students trips, but I’m not sure how that works, I figured I’d learn that bridge when we came to it.

It’s a good thing my husband has a lot of frequent flyer/companion traveler miles, we’ll be using them this year!

1894

@saillakeerie I agree, but unfortunately that is not the way it works. That was back in 2007, so I don’t remember the explanation exactly, but it had to do with something about they reported things or kept their records. Ironically, they did send us emails telling us to fill it out. We just assumed we didn’t need to b/c we knew we would’t qualify for aid. That was an expensive mistake.

ETA: not all schools are like that, however. Bama does not require anything to be filled out. (Thank goodness, bc it is at least 2 yrs w/o having to do it.)

1895

Re: FAFSA, and I’m certainly no expert in it since I’m a first-timer, is that it will be using the prior-prior tax year when filling out, so when it opens (Jan 1?) you can use the tax information from taxes filed the year before. So, starting 2017 you should not have the issue with late or rushed tax filing, you will use 2015 tax year information.

As others have said, it is necessary to be considered for merit awards at some schools. I believe, also, it may be necessary for government loans, even in the future in case your finances change (loss of job etc.)? Something to look into


1896

@snoozn If she likes Rensselaer Polytechnic, and your looking for merit, look into the Rensselaer Medal award/scholarship. You need to be nominated by your HS to apply for it. Not sure exactly how this works, but your D can speak to her guidance counselor to see if they participate.

1897

@2muchquan Is that a change to the FAFSA procedures? Because I know last year (so Jan/Feb 2015), the form was completed on 2014 taxes. If you had not filed your 2014 tax return, you checked a box so indicating and completed the form on an estimated basis. You then had to go back and update the form once you filed your 2014 return. But maybe they changed it this year (or next) so you will base your form off the year before the most recently ended year (so last year I would have used my 2013 return)?

And I agree that being able to skip the form isn’t the way it works for just merit aid. I am just saying I am not sure why that is the case. If its true merit aid, the financial resources of the parents and student should not be relevant.

1898

@saillakeerie FAFSA is changing for 2017. Here’s an article that explains it a little

http://www.examiner.com/article/new-fafsa-timeline-could-result-major-changes-admissions?CID=examiner_alerts_article

1899

@saillakeerie Yes, Prior-Prior year is a change for the Class of 2017 FAFSA.

Yeah, I don’t know why that is, although I would guess it is so they can capture data on their incoming class, for reporting purposes. Some SES information is reported on, both internally and externally. Just a guess.

1900

Just catching up on the thread. Y’all have been busy! Can I offer a little perspective, since we’ve been through this process before? It’s easy to get caught up in all the AP’s, the testing, internships and LORs. What I’ve learned is that it’s far more important to gauge where your child will be the most successful and happy, rather than shooting for “excellent” schools.

Your kid will most likely change their minds about location, majors and minors at least once. And usually between the time they apply and are accepted. They will get into the right school if you cast a wide net and closely examine the factors that matter: Retention rates, graduation rates, the strength of their chosen department, the ability to move laterally when the major they loved, they now despise, opportunity for social development. The top schools are not always the best. Especially if it’s not the right fit for your student.

Really look at the kid on the couch. Find the fit for that kid, not the kid you want them to be.

Our oldest DD14 attended a private Catholic high school that doesn’t offer a ton of AP’s and requires honors classes prior to AP. She graduated in the top 7% of her class with 6 or 7 AP’s, a 3.89 uw GPA, 30 ACT & 1970 SAT. She is a STEM kid and wanted to be a big fish in a little pond. She applied to 6 schools. Denied at Stanford, waitlisted at UChicago, (these were a lark, she never thought she’d get in and probably wouldn’t have gone to either) accepted at Whitman, Gonzaga, Oregon State and Occidental College.

She’s a Portlandia semi-hipster who loves the PNW and was not a fan of sororities, Los Angeles or heat. But she chose Oxy (Occidental) - where she receives merit aid - because it is one of the LAC’s with an outstanding physics program. They have a 3-2 agreement with Caltech and Columbia.

As a sophomore she’s now a big fish in a small pond that has dwindled quite a bit. More than half were weeded out or dropped the major. She joined a sorority and is now an officer, has an on campus job, is an RA, and was chosen for an internship last summer as a freshman over many other upperclassman. She’s double majoring in physics and math and minoring in 2 other others subjects. Is she the smartest person on campus? No. Did she have the highest test scores, most AP’s, research in a lab, SAT ll tests, overseas volunteer trips, special camps? No.

What she does have is the drive (it’s extremely rigorous), the capability and the desire. But I knew this about her. And understood on which kind of campus environment she’d thrive and be happy.

DS17 is a different kid with his own interests and strengths. We’re adjusting accordingly.