For D17 I kept all mailings related to her acceptances. All the other stuff for schools she ended up not applying too I just tossed. It’s not much. I’ll give it all to her in a few years.
Almost everything we have is electronic. Mailers for schools that are not desired get tossed immediately. Official acceptance letters get saved - possibly forever!
I’m not throwing anything yet. DS had 2 major shifts in thought about where he wants to go in the past 5 months so anything could happen. We only have stuff for 5 schools though and the stack of mailings is really pretty small. I just cleared a shelf in a kitchen cupboard for them.
@Momofmanytoo D20 applied to 10 schools so we had a mountain of stuff. She was accepted to her ED choice in mid-December. The pile was tossed when we paid the deposit and then she had to start contacting the other 9 to withdraw her applications. I think once a decision has been made, the pile can go. She did save a personalized and signed letter from the Dean at her potential ED2 school that mentioned specifics about her interview, since she thought not many students got that.
Schools are getting desperate. I have a voice mail and a couple missed calls from a university trying to get my daughter to apply because she “has qualified for a scholarship”. She has shown no interest in this school at all since it would not be a good fit. It has also sent us much snail mail. I knew there was a reason we used my phone number rather than hers on all except actual schools applied to.
Is anyone else struggling with decisions?
There are so many unknowns in decision making.
- How hard will the school be?
- Can she maintain the GPA required to stay in her program?
- After spending all that money, will she stay in the major or change her mind?
Currently her two top schools are $14K per year different in COA after scholarships. The more expensive one has a considerably lower GPA requirement to remain in her program of study, adding significantly to her level of comfort and most likely ability to not be completely stressed for most of her college experience. But… is that worth $60K over 4 years?
How do you make these decisions. I’m seriously considering purchasing a dartboard.
I’m lucky because my D20 loves her list and is really happy to go to any of the schools and has her eyes firmly on the limited/no debt line.
60k that you can cash flow is extremely different from 60k in loans…
@MuggleMom I don’t envy your position at all. But only you and your family can make the best decision for your kid. For our family a difference of $14k would be a no brainer. But our family and situation is different from yours. I’m sure with some time and lots of discussion your family will make the decision that is best for you/your daughter. Best of luck.
We had something new yesterday. A senior in the same major in a school that has accepted S20 called on the phone yesterday. They talked for a good half hour! I thought it was strange, but S20 really was convinced to go there.
OK, I have a question about health insurance. For those of you who have been through this rodeo before, if you have sent your kid OOS for college, what have you done with health insurance? The time for renewing our insurance is going to be within the next month and we are trying to decide what to do. Do we keep our HMO with my dd20’s primary care dr here, which will still allow for emergency coverage out of state? or do we look for networks that will allow us to select a new primary care dr for her OOS when the time comes that we select her new school? Or do we just leave things as is and cough up the couple thousand that her school will require that we pay for health insurance?
@MuggleMom - My son is really having a hard time with the decision as well, but as far as I know, we’re not looking at a cost difference like that. If we were, that would make it easier honestly. We’re visiting both his top choices again in February and all the financial aid should be in by the end of February as well. I’m hoping he can make a decision in March and be at peace with it. I know what it’s like to be constantly second guessing a choice.
I wonder if I could get some advice. S20 is my first. Does everyone go to admitted student days? Do you only go to your top choices? Do schools allow for absences related to it?
Advice is appreciated!
We were lucky that our health insurance had providers near my DS16’s OOS school. We just had to show proof of insurance to get the school insurance option waived each year.
Yes, we will be attending admitted student or scholarship weekends at DD20’s top 2-3 choices. Her school does excuse those absences but they have to be notified of them in advance.
I agree that making the decision must include consideration of a variety of factors. Each family has to weigh those factors most important to them and their student, but remember that by the time you narrow it down to 2-3 they are likely all good options.
@Cheeringsection Thanks - all good info.
@Octagon - We’re going to Admitted student day at one of the top choices, but the itinerary really was not that special. It’s literally a 40 minute talk about “what’s next” followed by another campus tour. The whole thing was only a couple hours long. We had them add a bunch of other stuff for us special that day (an appointment with a professor in the major he’s interested in and a tour of the labs). They have admitted student days there several times a week, so we picked a date that DS didn’t have school to go.
The other school we’re not going to an admitted students day, but were invited to a Saturday for scholarship students that is packed full of stuff.
@cshell2 Wow - we are campus toured out! Thanks for the tip. We will work to make it a more useful experience.
Daughter gets 2 days of excused absences both junior and season year- we are going to her #1 choice in February and it’s specific for kids who got into the honors program. Normally she would have to miss two days of school but it’s on Presidents’ Day so it’s only one. Hopefully no snow…
@MuggleMom – We are a merit seeking family. Here are our choices so far with the total costs of tuition for his 4 years (pretty much guessing R&B is similar wherever so that’s not part of our decision right now): $0K; $8K; $19K; $40K; $52K; and $104K. They all offer his engineering degree. I’m pushing for the first 3 schools. 
It’s a hard decision to make because there are so many parts to it. For us, the $52K school is not in our realm right now; partly because we have 4 kids. Good luck to your daughter with her decisions.
If #1 doesn’t come through, we will go to one or two admitted student weekends at #s 2 and 3. Otherwise D20 will be done.
@MuggleMom Is the GPA to maintain higher than a 3.5? Is it higher than her HS GPA? Remember, they will have twice as much time to study in college. So, if she stuggles, she may have to cut back on ECs for a little while and study. Somehow I feel like she’ll be fine. Once she builds some buffer, and some confidence, she’ll be fine.
If she has struggled with stress in the past, however, then I would definitely take a long hard look at that GPA requirement.
Our health insurance is nationwide. I’m not sure if they cover all the providers in the area around the colleges, but I checked several and they were in the network.