@BmacNJ , Thank you! She has received at least 5 invitations like that in the past couple of days and from good schools, I did some research on those schools this afternoon. Hopefully, as you said, they will offer some aid and we can use that to bargain with the schools “on list”.
Mines is a great school in a fun location. The two negatives are cost and they don’t use the Common App. My D is not happy about having to fill out a whole nother app!
My spouse has to be in LA next week for work, so we’re all piling in the car and turning it into a vacation. D is planning to roller skate around Mudd, USC, Caltech, and LMU.
We’re hoping to visit some schools in Sept/Oct while there are students on campus, but if classes are all online I doubt we will get a good feel for things.
@dogmomof2 Those are the same 3 our S has been considering for ED. Also wasn’t able to visit. I don’t see ED without visiting, but for our S, I’m fairly sure of rejection without. Tough app process this year. I wonder if ED apps will go down.
We have (refundable) hotels books starting August 20 to see some VA/NC schools and U Del. Not looking so good now! Originally, U Del students would’ve been moved in so even self-touring, at least we could see the campus. Now they’ve moved to all virtual. And all the states are currently on the 14 day quarantine list, so my husband wouldn’t come because he starts teaching the next week! Can’t decide what to do!
Our alternate idea right now is to hit UConn and UMass and maybe find a few others since those states aren’t on the quarantine list. Such a pain!!!
My daughter has three more colleges to see and only one is offering tours at the moment. If a second school adds an official tour, we will for sure make the trip out there. If not, we’ll talk about self tours and see…
@NJWrestlingmom I just cancelled some early August hotels in VA. We can’t do the 14 day quarantine upon return. And unless you’re quarantining in a different house, your husband is supposed to isolate too just for being in the house with you.
D21 and I are also frustrated about visits. We were all set to go to Lafayette over MLK weekend, but she got really sick and we had to cancel. I was thinking that we could go in early August, see the surrounding area, and do a self-guided tour around campus. We were looking at dates when I scrolled down further than I had before on the Admission Visits page and saw this:
Under FAQ’s:
D21 is working this week. Sigh. Couldn’t they at least allow people over the weekend?
More broadly, this makes me concerned about seeing any campus, even if they are only having a small group of students/staff present. D21 is very tuned in to a sense of place, environment, aesthetics. It’s hard to imagine her getting excited about an application to a place she hasn’t even seen. Yet, Lafayette checks so many of her boxes, and I remember liking it when I visited 100 years ago . . .
@3SailAway maybe give Lafayette a call - they went all online too so maybe they’ve changed the calendar.
@eb23282 didn’t even think about that! I was just thinking. I didn’t care about D missing school since it’s only 2 days.
While I was writing the above post, it occurred to me, too—maybe they will extend their walk-through dates based on classes going 100% online. D21 sent them an email, but calling is a good idea!
This sounds like a good suggestion…I’m hoping you get good news about being able to go this weekend.
@TXStuMom We got the one from Mines and Rensselear too and I checked with our CC. She said these offers are legit, and then gave the exact same advice that @kbm770 wrote. I asked if they can condition the merit on giving them an answer by a very early date but she said - I think - the earliest she has seen in the past is April 1st.
Congrats to you whose kids are ready to go Aug. 1st! Mine started essays in June but is avoiding getting back to them (he’s taking a summer class but really could).
I wish I had signed up S21 for an essay writing seminar or bootcamp. He is dragging his feet since he doesn’t know where to start. I’m guessing its too late but if anyone has a suggestion, please share.
@NateandAllisMom , Is your son a Rensselear medalist?
@dadof4kids – How’s your son doing today?
@havenoidea Can you send me a message? I’m not sure how to start a PM! Would love to discuss further!
@flyawayx2 Try getting him the book “Write Your Way In”. I bought it read parts of it and found to be helpful and somewhat entertaining. My daughter told me last night that she started to read it even though I had not bugged her about it. I was pleasantly surprised
Ugh. We are having the ol’ testing dilemma over here. Mr. InfiniteWaves is pretty much ready to bag it. I’m stressing. And S21 is like “just tell me what you want me to do.”
He hasn’t tested at all yet. Five attempts and five cancellations so far. Registered for the August and September SAT. We are pretty much assuming that the August test will be cancelled.
The private schools on his list have been TO for many years: Loyola Maryland, Saint Joseph’s, Goucher, Washington College. So we’re confident they have that system down. And as far as our in-state options go, Temple already had a TO option. Pitt and West Chester are now TO for the 21ers. He absolutely does not want to join his older brother at Penn State University Park and will not be applying there even though it is TO now as well. 
Anyway, I think that Pitt is stressing me out for whatever reason. Like, Pitt, you’re saying TO, but are you really saying TO? I mean, S21 is interested in English/writing/art. Like, is getting that math SAT score super important at this point in the pandemic? Or can he go with just the short answer essay questions which would be a better demonstration of what he would bring to the English department’s table anyway?
Guess what I’m wondering is if Mr. InfiniteWaves is on to something with his assessment to just go TO at this point given S21’s list. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
As far as visits go, S21 has not visited WAC or Temple. All of the schools on his list are within 1-3 hours from home though. So we are not concerned. We can get to those two somehow, some way, at some point.
What I tried with D19 was, write about a Saturday in your life. It didn’t have to be a super special day, just one that you would want to repeat often. She chose the story of the first time she and her friends took the train/subway to the climbing gym on their own. It showed a lot of her personality, how she values her friends, etc. Family came into it too, because we did that day many times as a family before she started going with friends. The “story of a day” idea gave her structure and a place to start.
She used it for a supplement and wrote something else for her main essay, but I really liked this one. It sounded like her, and climbing wasn’t in her application otherwise. Just an idea to tackle the blank screen!
@InfiniteWaves I don’t have any great answers but I totally relate. Hr. Homerdog is way over standardized tests. Thinks she will be fine “wherever” and doesn’t think she should jump through any more hoops.
“Why is our D still stressed out about impressing schools so we can pay them $75k per year?”
If your S is happy with his list and it’s just Pitt you’re worried about, I would say he’s ok with no TO but you’d have to be ok with the possibility that Pitt won’t happen for him. That’s really the crux here. None of us know how TO is going to work out and, ideally, the kids would have scores. D21 certainly has schools on her list where I think not having a score is a detriment. The question is…are we going to look back and wish she tested after we see her results? Maybe but, at that point, it will be about looking forward and no regrets.