Hi @keepingupkids: I’m also going to jump in here as a first-time poster on this thread. I’m back for another go-round with S23 after just launching D21 after a hot mess of a college search process, due partly to COVID-19, but also in part to our refusal to pay 80K a year for college.
The TL;DR version is that she was a really high stats kid (3.97/4.66 GPA, Full IB, NMF, recruited athlete, etc) which she leveraged for a full tuition merit scholarship at lower T100 LAC. (The other part of the story is that she was very prestige-focused and furious with us for making her go to ‘that loser school’, but happily now that she’s there she’s found plenty of ‘her’ people and loves it). As I have posted elsewhere, I learned a ton about ‘chasing merit’ and am happy share what I’ve learned. And yes, you are correct: the landscape has changed drastically in just the last few years. Don’t trust anything you read that’s more than about two years old. That’s how quickly schools are shifting from merit to more need-based aid for middle class families. There is still plenty of ‘true’ merit aid out there, but you have to go a lot farther down the rankings than you used to get it.
If your D23 is looking at LACs, this thread is good, and there is at least one other good thread embedded in there as well. Or search my previous posts.
Re: S23, I’m hoping the admissions process will be less drama-filled this time around. He’s similarly high stats (currently ranked second in his class and ‘tests well’ so is currently prepping for the PSAT for hopeful NMF), although is not a recruited athlete like she was. He’s a more laidback kid than she is and not as prestige-focused (especially now that he has seen how ridiculous she was and how happy she is now), so fingers crossed.
A related question for the group: How much are you having your '23s prep for standardized tests? We’re making him do some prep before the PSAT (and he took the SAT last week and will probably at least once more), but I can’t figure out how much colleges are really going to care about test scores this time around. I do think that COVID will ultimately be the death knell to standardized testing, but I think it’s going to die a fairly slow death and maybe not completely in time for my kid. I think it will likely still matter for merit hunting which is why we’re still making him do at least some prep, but it’s pretty half-hearted this time around since it’s so hard to know.