The FAFSA is really no big deal. Takes about 15 minutes. The CSS on the other hand…
Is there a reason your children never even applied to public schools?
They both applied to almost all LACs. Each had a few midsized universities on their lists but no big schools. They just were not what they were looking for.
We never filled out the FAFSA for either kid. We weren’t going to receive financial aid, but both received merit aid from several colleges.
@swimnys D21 applied to nearly all large publics here in CA. Two mid-to-large privates, but D21 wanted a large school. Everyone is different. All about fit.
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Didn’t fill out FAFSA for D19, and we’re not planning to for S22. D19 got good merit and it never came up as an issue.
S22 is further refining his list as the start of the school year nears. He has now dropped all of his California prospects, starting with Pepperdine, U. of San Diego and U. of San Francisco. After participating in an online info session along with DW, he also dropped USC. He and DW are going to DC for a few days early next week to look at George Washington, American and new addition Georgetown, DW’s alma mater. I’m glad he’s getting more enthusiastic about the search – he hadn’t really wanted to do many in-person visits before, aside from our New York visit in April.
NYU remains his first choice. He did a small research project this summer for a friend of ours who’s a law professor there, which she wanted both for actual research help and to give her a basis for writing him a recommendation. He’s also sort of a legacy, as my late father went there, though I suspect any legacy nudge is more about living potential donors than just providing a nice family throughline. Fordham is still on the list, and he’s added Villanova.
@Vineyarder May I ask why S22 decided against the California schools? A number of those are still currently on my S22’s list.
SAT #3 today. D22 went into this one fairly prepared, I thought, and it seemed anxiety would be less of an issue. There ended up being a mis-numbering issue in a reading section though. She had the same problem in the PSAT last year.
Sigh. Had really hoped to get her bumped up 50-100 points as she is borderline for some scholarships. Pretty sure this will be the last attempt though.
We are finally picking up with applications process. D22 was figuring out school schedule and settling back to in-person school (with she loves). College list is set, resume is with school counsellor for recommendations. Seniors at her school will be having meetings with counsellors (which was a surprise) in small groups and one on one soon. We are going to visit in person Purdue and Urbana-Champaign at the beginning of October (COVID permitting) - already signed up for tours. We are all very excited. Her first application will be UofA Huntsville which is rolling decision. The rest will be all EAs. Somehow we are all more relaxed now (even me!!!). Still waiting on National Merit results, but pretty confident she will get it…
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S22 took SAT for second time today. It was at a different high school about 11 miles away. Forgot the form and calculator within a couple blocks of home. Thought reading wasn’t too easy but thinks he “superscored” the math versus the first take. This will be his last time and no ACT. Now back to applications.
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Sorry about the numbering trouble. Hopefully the score bumps up enough regardless.
School started this week and masks will be required again starting on Monday. It has caused quite the uproar in the community :(.
No more applications are done. No essay yet. He did the Alabama app on Aug 1 and we are still waiting on transcripts from the school. We had hoped to be in the first round of decisions after Labor Day, but I am thinking that won’t happen at this point. I wish I understood what is involved in sending them. It seems like it should be easy!
Hoping for official leaks for National Merit soon! I have no idea if the school will share before mid-Sept or not.
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We came back from a college tour, and it couldn’t have gone better. Our visits spanned from touring campus on our own to personalized visits and meeting with the faculty. S22 certainly had strong opinions about all the colleges we visited which is something I didn’t expect. A half of them made his list; the second half is a definite no.
He now has his clear #1 and #2. Both offer guaranteed merit, and he is extremely likely to get admitted to both. He will add a few more schools to the list, as it’s good to keep his options open just in case. There is also Covid to consider, so it will be good to apply to a few universities that aren’t too far away.
This situation isn’t new to us. S20 also fell in love with a major specific honors program in his safety school. Talking to faculty can make a huge difference.
I feel so much better about the entire application process now!
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Transcripts here are 0 - 100 but with decimals. What does the kid enter for a 94.75 when the Common App only allows 94 or 95?
95 would be fair and corresponds with typical rounding.
Agree—didn’t file the fafsa as we knew there was no way we qualified for aid . She still got merit aid from places who give out good amounts.
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He decided they were too far away and would have too many in-state students. He’s focusing pretty much entirely on the Northeast now. (We’re near Boston now and are moving to New York next year after he graduates; he considers New York his hometown even though we moved overseas when he was 8.)
I go back and forth on whether he should apply to Northwestern, my alma mater. So hard to get in now, and his stats are merely excellent rather than extraordinary (3.6 average, 1400 SAT). But he’s a full-pay URM legacy — not sure exactly how much weight all of those factors would have.
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Definitely apply to Northwestern as an URM legacy. My son (white) was rejected (34 ACT, 4.0 UW, 4.7W GPA, National Merit Commended, etc. We are from NJ, which has many high stats kids and he couldn’t even get an interview due to demand. One girl went there from his high school class, AA theater major.
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It can’t hurt to apply if he likes the school. My son will probably apply to my alma mater (double legacy) although his stats are a little below their standard.
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It could be a good idea to explore Northwestern. ED would be the best shot as they fill a good portion of the class in that round and RD has a very low acceptance rate. Our HS sends 25/year there and on Naviance, there are some lower stats kids accepted ED, likely hooked.
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Definitely needs to apply ED if he has a chance. I am a Northwestern alum as well.
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