Re: applying early action, it’s a nice way to get an early acceptance as you are waiting for other decisions. For my D, she applied to IU in October and had an acceptance in hand by November w/ max merit which was a big relief as she waited for her ED decision a month later. So apply EA if the college offers it.
Re: FAFSA, we are full pay and did not submit the form. D will be taking a couple of years of the small unsubsidized stafford loans and her college said no problem turning in the FAFSA later (well after decisions were made). And as others mentioned, all students were eligible for merit scholarships no matter if they applied for FAFSA or not.
This is extremely random but for any of you who already have OOS college students: Do you still have them on your car insurance? Can you remove a student from your auto policy if they are in school out of state (and don’t have a car with them at college)?
There’s usually a price you can pay to keep your OOS kids on your car insurance. It’s called something like “away at school” insurance. We have it for S19. It’s less expensive and assumes the student isn’t driving that much. Just ask your insurance agent.
@ChillyCow Most insurance companies allow you to switch your oos child to “covered, but not driving much” status. You need some coverage on them in case they drive a friend’s car or come home to visit so do not remove them completely.
About a month before your child leaves for college, call the company and tell them they are going oos and will not have a car with them. Most companies will reduce their rate for coverage significantly
We use USAA and the difference they quoted me between now and when he leaves is quite large.
I believe you can get a reduced rate on car insurance if your kid is OOS. We haven’t done that simply because of all the uncertainty this year – we didn’t know if my D20 would be sent home sooner than what we were planning for (if dorms got closed down). We just wanted to keep our options open and have never called about getting a reduced rate. Also, she will likely be home at Thanksgiving and not going back until after the new year, so it seemed like a few months of a reduced rate might not have made too much of a difference anyway. We will probably look into it for next semester, though.
@AlmostThere2018 that was the feeling. My D21 has always been clumped in with the alpha dogs throughout her schooling- the issue is while a gifted student and athlete she does not have the true alpha dog personality. She and I have had a couple of great conversations since our visit and she is tired of the race wants to walk with the beta dogs for college?
She is looking at schools now that are a notch down and even some LAC’s - which is where I always thought she would do best…
Just chiming in that there are no selective living groups this year at Duke…
all group living sections in dorms (whether affiliated with a fraternity or sorority or not) were disbanded with Covid. And the vibe my daughter is getting there is that it’s not likely coming back. Several sororities on campus are already trying to disband even though the nationals are trying to prevent it. Just sharing because I’m not so sure Duke on campus living arrangements in the future will reflect what they were in the past.
One of the things D actually liked about Duke was that one’s SLG or greek affiliation was not the ‘end all be all’ socially. D was initiated into a sorority right before covid closure, but was planning on living with a friend in another SLG’s living section, not with her sorority…and she said that was pretty normal. With new housing arrangements due to covid, the students were allowed to request housing up to a group of 10…her group includes girls from 2 sororities, 3 SLG’s and the others were not in either. My daughter is the opposite of an alpha personality so I had to laugh at that comment above. Getting to know some of her Duke friends, I’d say they are among the most humble, kind, down to earth kids I’ve met. I’m just not so sure Duke is much different than any other college where certain personalities and living groups are at the top of a social hierarchy, but the only students who really give a care about that reputation are those students seeking that as part of their identity…not sure that is the typical Duke student, though:)…
On a somewhat related note, I suppose college spam always sounds this desperate, every year. Yesterday, there was a spam email from Duke that tempted the recipient with “Puppies!!!”
Columbia, U Denver and Colorado school of mines are spamming, not only my S21, but my inbox with multiple emails daily. Very annoying since S21 has never expressed interest in these schools and unsubscribing doesn’t work.
We did a Duke tour pre-Covid and they had a film that showed a former star basketball player making numerous shots…it was fun to see him do it a few times but it seemed to never stop. After four or five, we got it…Then they brought out the puppies and the research into the learning they do with them which is fine but if you look into some of the things that Duke does and has done I am surprised their film was not a bit more techy and more impressive.
I am sure it works well with most but we had just been to GT and my wife and I were much more impressed there. We kept our thoughts to ourselves as we do want DS to make the decision.
We definitely did not come away from the visit feeling that it was very competitive. I am not saying that it is not it just did not come across that way in their presentation.
For D21, its the same… and at least one or two the Ivies, its on a daily basis and some both morning and afternoons. It’s crazy. But I won’t lie, I did like Harvard’s & Yale’s snailmail brochures. And Harvey Mudd’s deck of cards was really cute! While she did not directly reach out to any, she did mark on the PSAT that colleges could contact her so I’m assuming that’s the reason.
Well ED is set for her, application is completed and will submit after she attends the HOME program as she will get a free waiver and I guess needs a code??? She will find out next weekend I’m assuming. I do wish they had an EA option. This stinks but it is her top choice, she fell in love once she stepped onto their campus. And she has LOTs of great options here in California, but nothing has felt as “right” as JHU did for her. She will be the one attending for the next 4 years so she needs to be happy. She does have some great choices if that doesn’t pan out. Great safeties, matches and a few more reaches.
@Aguadecoco OK, now I’m seeing what the difference may be. I just grabbed her MIT one and perhaps its what they picked on their picklist. My daughter got a thick brochure from MIT but on one cover it mentions Biotech, biochemical or Medicine at MIT… then you flip it (it has this cool front/back thing going on) and it talks about all their achievements within those fields. So perhaps if your child chose a different area of study they didn’t have those materials perhaps???
I’m thinking of handing down some of these cool materials cause I hate to just toss them. LOL, she has ZERO interest in the MITs/CalTechs/U Chicago’s types of places. While she is a science/math person… she’s not THAT type. There is a huge difference.
She wants to go into Physics
Thanks @2ndthreekids very helpful info. Thanks as well @yearstogo S has GT on his list, but needs an engineering program that starts out with hands on design and is flexible because he really doesn’t know his major.
@TVBingeWatcher2 I get it. If it wasn’t for COVID many of them “may” have all gone into the trash as well. Couldn’t do that as we missed all our Spring Break visits and our west coast out of state ones as well. It was sad as we had everything booked. So it wasn’t that easy for us. Also, to read different offers of many of the colleges was nice, may not be a fit for her but could be for someone else who may not have received the same materials.
