Thanks - glad the process worked for her and hopeful for the future!
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My son wants to be in Washington so badly. Weāre from Connecticut. He has applied to Univ of Oregon and Univ of Washington. His stats are low for UW but that is his ādream schoolā. Again he has never been to the Pacific Northwest. LOL
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UW is tougher for some programs than others. What is he wanting to major in?
My son has a few acceptances so far but UO is his top choice at this point. We are in the PNW but originally from the Midwest. He didnāt want to go back to Midwest type winters. 
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I have lived in Seattle for 25 years. Feel free to PM me with any PNW questions.
Many majors at UW are impacted btw.
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He is undecided at this point. I donāt know if I want him across the country but he is bound and determined.
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Thank you! I may take you up in that! He put that he is undecided so who knows if that will help or hurt him.
My son is going into computer science so UW wasnāt even on the list of possibilities for him. He fell in love with UO though. I noticed they spoke a lot about students who are undeclared and how that is completely ok. UO isnāt as strong in CS as other programs but we could tell that it was the place for him. If your son gets in, Iād advise a tour. Same for UW or any other school heās strongly considering after being admitted.
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UO is on his list as well. If he gets in to one or both, we will definitely be flying out and touring. Best of luck to your son.
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My son has all his applications in and itās such a relief! Heās got a few acceptances already from EA schools. With the first one I was THRILLED heās going to college. Now Iām wondering if he aimed too much toward āsafetiesā and underestimated his ability to reach.
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We are in the same boat but having several schools that are affordable is huge (assuming that is true in your case hopefully).
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Does he want to go to a different school (than the ones he applied to)? Why? If it is just for the name, then no, he didnāt aim too low. If there is something at a higher ranked school that would be a better fit for him (and your finances) then it may not be too late to apply.
Donāt do it it just because it is a higher ranked school.
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I wonder this about my kids, too. But at the same time, finances are a consideration for us (a major one) and I know once kids start reaching toward tougher schools to get into, the merit money usually disappears. I donāt want anyone getting their heart set on a bigger-name reach if we arenāt going to be able to swing going there!
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My son only has 1 or 2 colleges that might be classified as āacademic reaches.ā Heās 4 for 16 with academic acceptances thus far. He is submitting his 35 ACT to whatever school will take it to counter balance his 3.4 GPA.
But as he is applying for music, there are no safeties musically. He had to cast a wide net.
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Agreed, totally. Iām not thinking so much about name as strong programs that we just didnāt consider because they didnāt seem attainable. My sonās 2.8gpa seemed hopeless but maybe the holistic review thing is real. I think weāre done though, Iāll let it be.
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My son received his first acceptance at UMaine and received the Presidential Flagship Scholarship which we thought was quite generous. Relieved and proud of him. This has been a rocky journey for sure.
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Fantastic, lots of good chatter about Maine this year!
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I thought Iād give an update.
My daughter has been accepted to all but two colleges she is still waiting for decisions on. The schools she applied to are not difficult for admission, but what is surprising is that for most of them she is getting as much or more merit money as her higher stat sister did a few years ago.
In case anyone is interested, the lowest net price is Rowan University at about $23,000. We are in-state and she got a very good merit scholarship. Stockton Universityās cost would be similar for the same reasons.
Then come the privates: Susquehanna came in lowest so far at about $27,000 in direct costs after merit and a small grant.
Ursinus gave a big scholarship but also a big grant bringing it to around $28,000.
The other small private colleges she applied to will be around $30-31,000.
At this point, D isnāt crazy about our instate public options because they are too close to home. We are willing to compromise a little on cost because our last two kids saved us a lot of money and D23 is our last. I also think D23 would be more nurtured and therefore more successful at a smaller private college. I think we just need to be careful about what the costs would be in the case a scholarship was lost or she needed more than four years to graduate. In that case, we would have a problem. Our experience with the pandemic education is making me think about those eventualities much more this time around.
Since D was offered grants, I also need to find out what happens to grants if financial circumstances change and what will happen when her older sister graduates. It feels a lot more complicated.
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Awesome to get that first one in with a nice scholarship!
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Congrats to everybody who has new acceptances!
We heard from two more schools yesterday. Florida Gulf Coast was a yes with a $4,000 a year scholarship (S23 also has Bright Futures which is full tuition so this would be on top of that) came in the mail which was a fun surprise.
After getting FGCU in the mail I decided to check the portals for U. North Florida because they area so rolling and we submitted that one earlier. Then I got nervous maybe we overlooked something so decided to double (triple? quadruple?) check each portal.
I got to Eckerd (the top choice as of now) and when I signed in to the portal confetti started falling! I felt terrible that I saw it when S23 wasnāt even in the room. They said decisions would come āby Dec. 15thā and I was hoping it might come early but he had no email or anything.
I closed the page, called him in and just said I wanted to check to make sure each school got his SAT scores. We reopened the page together and luckily the confetti fell again - I wasnāt sure if it was a one time thing. 
He got a $20,000 scholarship here plus he would get some credit from Bright Futures and looks like there are two $2,000 grants for being a FL resident.
He wouldnāt commit to Eckerd yet even though it was his top choice. He know says he wants to wait and see the rest and if he gets in to Sewanee (total random last minute application because he saw how pretty it is!) or College of Charleston heād like to visit.
I did see Eckerd sent an email to check the portal at 8:30pm last night so we just got lucky deciding to check a few hours early.
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I could kick myself for not having D23 visit Umaine on our NE tour last month.
At the time it felt too far away to drive during the trip and also she really wanted to be near a city. But then she fell in love with UMASS Amherst and URI which makes me wonder if being near a city is as necessary as she first thought.
Also, in planning the trip when I read a school was āin the middle of no whereā I was viewing that through the lens of the Pacific Northwest where schools like Whitman and Washington State U are literally HOURS from the next small town. As in there is only farmland for hours in either direction and you have to plan carefully around distances between gas stations.
Then we actually toured New England and realized that āmiddle of no whereā is in the eye of the beholder lol.
So this is a long way of asking: Is UMaine ^really^ that remote and isolated? How is the surrounding area culturally? One reason D23 wants to be a near a city is because she feels isolated in our small town . . .
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