D23 received her first acceptance (safety, rolling admissions) with extremely good merit package! She was so happy to know that she is 100% going to college - it’s funny because she knew she would be but getting that letter made it real in a way she didn’t feel before receiving it.
This school is one of her top choices so now she is weighing whether she will wait for her other early action decisions to be released or if she will make a decision without all her admission results. The nice thing is this is completely in her hands now…as we said to her - she has til May 1st of next year to figure it out.
S23 received his first acceptance today! A safety and not a top choice of his but still a nice feeling to know he is in somewhere and if nothing else comes through it is a nice option.
So happy to have found this group. My S23 is a 3.0 student, going test optional because he is a terrible test taker. I think his list has to many reaches. He has gotten into WVU already so at least he will go somewhere. He got rejected from Univ of Tampa today. He knew that was probably a reach but it still stung. Sometimes it’s hard listening to all of his friends go on and on anti competitive schools. There is a school for everyone but kids get so wrapped up in the “name”. Excited to follow this thread.
S23 is in at his top three choices! That’s a relief! Now the hard part about choosing where to go. He loves them all. It’s interesting to hear his thought process.
That’s awesome! DS23 is in at his top two. We are currently working on plans to go visit them again. They are each about 5 hours from us but in opposite directions so we will go on two different weekends.
Yes. The funny thing is two of the acceptances came while we were touring one of the schools. He has only done a virtual tour of the 3rd school as it is a school that is very difficult to get to from where we live. All are an airplane ride away.
He loves all of them but they have completely different vibes. They were picked due to his very specific major. He is thinking he will attend accepted students day at all three and then pick where he felt he fit in best with the other students as he can’t go wrong academically at any of them. Now one of the schools is showing him a lot of love and he is leaning that way as he feels as if “the school values him as an individual and not a tuition check”.
Below is what I think is truly the final, final list. I know these are all very different but we are focusing on schools that allow him some music along with other study options.
Gustavus Adolphus
Baldwin Wallace
Syracuse
Loyola New Orleans
Jacksonville U- Accepted
Stetson
Indiana U
Northern Arizona U- Accepted w/9k OOS merit x4 yrs. Tuition down to $17k.
?DePaul?
?Shenandoah?
?U of Redlands?
? Throw in 1-2 state schools?
What percentage of students receive TE at these schoosls? Will they be affordable without TE? You said that your son’s dad is interested in contributing funds now; how has that changed the budget?
If he’d be happy at Northern Arizona and it’s affordable for your family, then he should only apply to any other schools he would like more than Northern Arizona. Would DePaul, Shenandoah, U. of Redlands, or any state schools qualify in that respect?
Congratulations to your son on getting his first acceptances! He knows he is going to college next year.
How many of the schools with applications outstanding require supplemental essays? And how motivated is S23 to write? That was the big stumbling block for both D20 and D23 - they decided early on that they were only willing to do so many ‘extra’ essays.
They both also removed schools from their list late in the process based upon reading supplemental prompts and promptly ‘noping’ away from certain schools. If they didn’t like the essay prompt or couldn’t figure out what they would write for the essay prompt - they decided the school wasn’t actually a match for them.
In the end he needs to decide how far away from home he truly wants to go. I think him applying to DePaul or a state school safety would at least give him an option if he gets to next spring and then decides maybe he doesn’t want to go so far away.
Yes, he would have to decide of Shenandoah or U of Redlands are “higher” up on his list than where he has already been accepted. If they arent, then no, he would not apply.
The final list was chosen hugely based on likelihood of chance of affordability. But yes, dad now being more open to conversations about his financial input does put me at ease about his list of choices.
The 17k tuition at NAU might go down a bit (we have some connections so to speak there thus we let him apply to a non TE school). I would say he has about a 50% shot of getting full tuition award at Jacksonville U.
If he chooses a music major, there are audition supplements to record. He knows this and is working on this with his voice teacher.
I believe Stetson allowed for an interview versus an additional essay. None have major supplemental essays that I could find.
Having an option or 2 that aren’t 8+ hours away would probably be a good idea. Would DePaul be affordable? If it’s not a lock for finances, then I would certainly include an in-state one. And usually state schools don’t have arduous application process, either.
CSU is definitely showing the love. I told him not to read too much into that though because it’s so early in the year that the other schools will probably send stuff out after the traditional EA deadline. UMN also sent an online “book” of all the information he’d need but it was just more of a standard information packet than a big “we’d love to have you” type feel.
Thank you! I’ve loved absolutely everything I’ve seen so far about CSU. D23 has a mental block about it since it’s in the West (sort of haha) and its landscape looks too much like where we live. She’s not terribly outdoorsy and worries about that vibe and also the “Cowboys” there (!). But I’m still making her apply and we shall see!