The marketing emails are getting loopy. What even is this:
“You’re invited to sample a virtual mock class at Hofstra.”
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For those of you looking for merit aid AND checked “no” on the common app question “Are you planning on applying for need based aid”… did you send the Fafsa & CSS anyways to schools where your child applied?
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We didn’t, this time or with previous kids. Still got merit offers previously.
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No, and we didn’t do fafsa/css for D21 and she got merit $ at some safeties, one of them quite significant—brought it down to the cost of in-state school. We have the same plan for D23. If the merit $ is truly merit and does not consider need at all then the fafsa and css are not needed. Many schools call some aid that is based in part on need (and part on merit), “merit-based” and thus require fafsa/css because part of the assessment considers need.
We are lucky to be far too high-income for any need-based aid so it did not make sense for us to do the fafsa/css. However—we had a say in the list and were comfortable being fullpay anywhere, and reserved the right to not allow attendance at a full-pay safety if accepted to a school with better outcomes(ie more worthy of the full pay). This only applied to a couple of schools and we were clear upfront.
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I don’t know about Hofstra but my kid did a virtual mock class at another school when she was applying. It was a good way for her to show demonstrated interest (we knew the school cared about this.) It was a group of applicants participating in an abbreviated lecture and then they separated into break out rooms to solve a problem together and present it back to the group. It was an abbreviated class, but was a good experience for her.
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D23 for her first acceptance yesterday with the highest merit offered. Brings the price down significantly. This is one of her last minute add on safeties but nice to know she is “in” somewhere. Per the question about merit/FAFSA, she did check that she would be applying for financial aid but we have not even submitted the FAFSA yet. Her scholarship was awarded based on her GPA/academic rigor (she did not submit test scores).
This particular school had a question about the SRAR which she had not submitted but her school did send her transcript. Her college advisor seemed to think she needed to do the SRAR anyway so when D23 saw the email from the college last night, she assumed it was something about the SRAR. She was pleasantly surprised to see it was her first acceptance!
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Same - didn’t file FAFSA/CSS and D22 got good merit.
Agree 100% with all your other points.
We have a similar financial situation, and “can pay full price anywhere” didn’t equate to “will pay full price anywhere”.
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We aren’t filling Fafsa/css either. Most schools on son’s list don’t need it for merit. Confirmed this via email or virtual info sessions.
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Important caveat on the FAFSA/CSS merit aid discussion: Some colleges (not most, and more often public ones than private, but still some) do require that the FAFSA and/or CSS is submitted to receive merit aid. Always check with the financial aid office of the colleges you’re targeting for merit money; some will state their policy explicitly on their website, but many will require emailing directly.
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My D18 got 32 first time. Took again got a 35. That increase was worth about 5k a year increase in merit money at Clemson. D21 got 35 and took again to try to get the 36 for the Bama full ride and got a 35 second time as well. Oh and I think she wanted to have a better score than her older sister…lol……
@bgbg4us If your daughter thinks she can do more, let her go for it.
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Not yet, but he has one scheduled a couple of weeks from now. Good luck to your S today! Encourage him to relax and just be himself. Ultimately, it’s just a conversation between two people who are passionate about the college.
Edited to add: Whoops…just realized your S’s interview was yesterday. How’d it go?
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Thanks! He thinks it well and he enjoyed listening to the gentleman’s enthusiasm for the college. DS was concerned was prepared to stereotype the man based in his age (quite old), job (finance) and religious involvement (as revealed by Google) but instead they connected quite well, which is also a good lesson in and of itself. I am skeptical that these types of alumni interviews ever move the needle, think they are more of a way for the college to keep alums feeling involved than anything else, but am happy it went well. The college regional AO is coming to the school for an info session next week, which we are also treating as interview of a sort, though who knows if they ever even take notes or remember the kids from these…
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How are everyone’s kids doing? D 23 has four applications done, 5&6 started, out of 15 total……two bigger/time-consuming scholarship applications done, 2 smaller ones left….arts supplements done…and yet no answers expected on anything for a while. She has “max” courseload 4 APs and 3 honors classes but it is still an “easy” year compared to prior years, so that helps with the time-suck of applications.
Edit: and one interview done! Earlier this week, went very well.
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My kid said that he was the only student attending one of the info sessions this fall, and one of only two students at a couple other info sessions. So it seems that sometimes these turn into an informal interview. He was glad to get the extra time with the AOs for these schools.
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ED and one EA done, three apps with November deadlines in process, not even thinking about the long list of regular decision schools. Had an interview for his ED school. Lots of heavy duty schoolwork and tons of work on the robotics team… phew. Will be glad when it’s over. Other than the ED school we won’t be hearing any decisions for many months.
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Thanks yes given our school size I am sure there will be only a few kids at the info session which is why we are treating it as an interview…
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I’m glad to hear it went well! I think AOs notice and remember kids. I’ve told the story before on here about the Williams AO who remembered my kid from the high school visit. Fingers crossed that your kid receives good news in December!
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That is very true (I was told this by someone I know who used to be a T-10 admissions officer). It really doesn’t factor in to the admissions decision except possibly to weed out applicants with red flags uncovered by the interviewer.
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I agree with that the interview doesn’t factor in much in admission process. However, I think it could help to move the needle in some cases. My D22’s interview with one of the ivy went really well. She was waitlisted from that school, and her interviewer contacted her the next day urging her to accept the waitlist offer. Her interviewer knew that my D22 hadn’t opt in for the waitlist offer yet, and was asking her which school she was going to commit and wanted to convince her to take the offer as if it was an acceptance offer.
My daughter took the waitlist offer but the waitlist never opened up. The interviewer was a chairman of a strong alumni group although I will never how much of a pull that could’ve been.
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I agree with this and also your comment on the other thread: the interview is a tool to weed out applicants who are poor fits.
My kid’s ivy interviewer told her “you are exactly the type of student x wants and would be a great fit” (she got in). But, the interviewer also told my kid she was the first applicant the interviewer had recommended who was admitted during her 10+ years of interviewing.
I don’t know, I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m just encouraging my kid to show enthusiasm and put effort into every stage of this process.
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