I listed 10 of the schools my D22 is applying to, and when processing was confirmed, edited it to remove some and add the other schools so they all receive it.
Am I missing a reason to send it to school not being applied to, and not sending it to those that are?
Fwiw, a rec letter from a parent seems odd to me.
I agree- never heard of this request from parents/guardians. But if I recall, Dartmouth asks for a peer recommendation, so I guess they each have subtle variations on the process.
Thanks, @RichInPitt. Regarding sending a FAFSA to a school that D22 is not applying to, it is because she has answered āwe are not planning to apply for fin aidā when asked by schools she is applying to - so these schools might be puzzled if they receive a FAFSA from her.
And first two college applications are finally off! 11 more to go.
I think saying you are not planning to apply for aid is appropriate when you know you will not receive it. If the schools see a FAFSA, it will just confirm your ineligibility, but also meet any requirements they may have in order to be eligible for pure merit awards.
This discussion has been helpful, as we arenāt doing a FAFSA thus far. We wonāt qualify for financial aid, but now Iām checking schoolsā policies with regard to how merit scholarships are awarded.
I see. Thanks, @songbirdmama.
Good thought. Thinking weāll stick with not doing a FAFSA. S22ās top choice, NYU, says it offers almost no pure merit scholarships. Heād qualify to be considered for one at Fordham via the National African American Recognition Program, but I donāt think a FAFSA is required.
Re FAFSA, we havenāt started it yet, but will do it. We will not qualify for need-based aid, but there is a merit scholarship at one of D22ās schools that is tied to it. And one of the other schools gives you $500 for filling it out.
My D20ās school compelled us to fill out the FAFSA. We did it in spring 2020 but got no further aid. It seems like the school encourages students to fill it out in case the student qualifies for federal aid, work study, etc. A friendās kid received additional grant aid after filling it out. Maybe theyāre in the $100K to $125K range.
We completed the FAFSA. We will not qualify for aid but some schools require it for merit aid and we arenāt going to risk missing out on anything. It was pretty simple. It took maybe 15 minutes to register and complete. In Texas it is a graduation requirement to complete the FAFSA (or go through an opt out process). I think it is a very strange graduation requirement. But when in Romeā¦
I definitely see the logic of doing so, I guess I am still struggling with revealing such private information about our family, especially since weāll still be full pay.
RE: GPA. I know you posted this awhile ago, but I hear you on the GPA issue. Posted Stats are difficult to compare because GPA calculations vary widely from district to district. Canāt compare unless itās the same scale. In Keller ISD 100=4.0, 99=3.9ā¦90=3.0 and so on. For AP it is bumped up to 5.0 scale. For Dual Credit only 4.5. But in order to have a 4.0 unweighted GPA you would have to have a 100% in every single class. If you had a 90% in every class you would only have a 3.0. Anyway the colleges recalculate GPAās anyway. For example Arizona colleges take all the grades for the core courses and assign 4.0 for 90-100 , 3.0 for 80-89 and so on and average. To get the full tuition scholarship at UofA you need a 4.0 but that is only 90% and higher on all core classes. It isnāt a 4.0 on Keller ISDās scale. My daughter has a 3.5 unweighted on the keller scale, 3.9 weighted on the keller scale, and a 4.0 on the Arizona universityās standardized scale because she has gotten a 90 and higher in all her core courses. I havenāt looked into how each college she is applying to calculates it but Arizona publishes theirs pretty clearly so Iām not worried about it at other colleges. They probably do something similar.
Wow @RichInPitt , super impressed!! Congratulations!!
Yes, all over the map. Our high school has breaks for 4.0 at 93-100, 3.7 for 90-92, 3.3 for 87-89 and so forth. Your daughter averages a 95 in all classes which is phenomenal with a good amount of rigor to add 0.4 points in the weighted calculation. I believe our top 10 students are in the 4.7+ GPA range and top 10% is at least 4.3+.
I believe Iāve read that class rigor is one of the most correlated factors with success in college. Of course, the grades in those classes matter quite a bit. Itās like the studies which have shown that the top colleges one applies to is more predictive of future success than where the student ends up enrolling. One should give a boost to studentās applying for honors programs at state flagships.
Activities hours: D22 is in a sport where they practice about 16 hours a week. Then every competition is either 2 to 3 days (travel, hotel overnights, competition, then travel home). So does he actually enter 48 to 72 hours for the competitions plus the 16 hours of practice for 64 to 88 hours a week?!? I mean, itās the actual amount of time he spends, but seems like it would sound ridiculous. But it is also the amount of hours he cannot do school work/misses from school, etc. Which might explain some of those B grades? Thoughts?
Iād add up a yearās worth of competitions and count time where sheās performing, travelling, waiting, etc. and canāt possibly study. Not sleep or communal eating time. It sounds like at least 30 hours a week. My D20 ran track and the coach wanted everyone on the team to come regardless if theyāre performing or not. These events rarely required an overnight stay but started early and ended late with little studying time.
Wasnāt planning on completing FAFSA as wonāt qualify for aid, but am hoping for some merit aid. What colleges want FAFSA for merit aid?
Your best bet would be to check with the individual schools that your student is considering.
@tristatecoog Thank you very much for your thoughts on this. You are so right about not counting sleep and eating time. Everyone has those hours when they arenāt doing school work etc. So Iāll add up the entire actual season and divide by weeks to get a more reasonable average.