<p>He's not a geographic catch for WUSTL. They get heaps of top notch midwestern candidates. Congrats on the UC EA. Wowza!</p>
<p>I remembered you and was wondering how it had gone. Congrats on the results so far, good luck on 3/29.</p>
<p>Thanks, all. Will keep you posted. I am not a big poster, but have learned an enormous amount from this site and really appreciate the willingness of everyone to share their knowledge. In our little circle of the world there are not many on the same path.</p>
<p>Thank you for the update, iaquilter. The month of March is a tough one, with lots of mailbox watching. We will keep our fingers crossed. He already has wonderful options, so it is a winning outcome whatever comes next.</p>
<p>Congrats iaquilter - your S can't make a bad decision with these schools as options.</p>
<p>Wash U is known for waitlisiting many of the best qualified students to keep their admissions stats up.</p>
<p>Well, here we are in the middle of April.... My son did get accepted to Northwestern, but not Harvard or Princeton. Sadly, the financial aid was not what we expected. Could probably swing the first two years while my daughter is still in school (she pays for most of it herself), but when the EFC doubles we could not do it. He did not get the scholarship for Iowa kids from Grinnell. They interviewed 15 and gave awards to 5. He is an alternate, so there is still a faint glimmer of hope there.</p>
<p>We visited Iowa State this week and it did not seem like a good fit for him at all. It was supposed to be a "special" visit since he was a National Merit Finalist, but we were underwhelmed. We may have no other choice at this point though but to at least start out there. He is fairly certain he want to go to grad school for something, so I know it would be good to have no debt at that point. I am trying to be greatful for what he has been offered and not look at the things he did not get, but it has been hard. He is just not the type of kid who will do well at such a large school, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Maybe we were just too naive about this whole process. </p>
<p>Oh, and he did not advance in the Presidential Scholars Program either.</p>
<p>Hang in there. At this point, things get pretty anti-climatic, and there are sure a lot of ups and downs in this whole process. Your son has such a strong background, he'll do great wherever he goes, I'm sure. Good luck on making the final decisions.</p>
<p>Aw, I'm sorry the fin. aid thing isn't working out. </p>
<p>If he starts out at Iowa State with the idea of transferring, he can probably get some great merit $$ if he is willing to look at some of the schools my daughter is considering (nice $$ from PLU, College of Wooster, Kalamazoo, and smaller amounts from Lewis and Clark and St. Olaf). She got into Grinnell with no $$. The whole nature of merit $$ is hard to comprehend. Her brother got offered some merit $$ from Grinnell when he was accepted three years ago, but nothing from St. Olaf (he had high test scores, not such great grades, and wasn't even a national merit finalist because of his sucky grades, but he had a couple of interesting things he was doing that showed something, I guess). Anyway, his sister three years later, with better grades, but test scores not as good got merit $$ from St. Olaf but not Grinnell. Just seemed weird to me, how this all plays out.</p>
<p>And on our college visits, (which I just returned from a couple of days ago) I got the impression that a very good education can be had at both Kalamazoo and College of Wooster. A father of a freshman at Kalamazoo described the curriculum there as "surprisingly rigourous" ,and the school offers a lot to students who are not sure what they want to do -- they really work with the individual kids. I was very impressed by both of these schools, which I previously had little knowledge of. They compared favorably, very favorably to UChicago, IMO (my husband and I both graduated from there and have a son who is a current student there).</p>
<p>iaquilter -- Have you talked to the Northwestern financial aid people to go over the award? I've got two in college, and last year had a FAFSA EFC of about $5K (half of $10K). When the award from my daughter's college came, it had set our family contribution at about $15K. </p>
<p>I had a horrible sinking feeling, because I knew that while I could come up with $15K, I'd never manage $30K. So I emailed the financial aid office and asked them to discuss what would happen in the event that my son did not attend college in the fall. </p>
<p>They called back and told me that the $15K was <em>without</em> consideration of my son; they were aware of my son's status, but would not include him in the calculations until receiving verification of his enrollment in the fall -- at which time they would increase the grant. Sure enough, when the college received the info about my son's enrollment, they increased d's package by about $3500 in grant money, about the same amount as the full tuition paid by my son at his public. (Note - it's still not half, but I wasn't complaining because my son supports himself and has been paying his own way for college). </p>
<p>So please -- if you haven't done so already, call up Northwestern and ask them how the aid has been calculated and what will happen down the line when your daughter graduates. Even if the figures now are taking her situation into account, it does not mean that the EFC will necessarily double. </p>
<p>If you have done this and I am inadvertently rubbing salt into the wound by my suggestion - I'm sorry! But I just know that I really was going through the same thought process a year ago -- and the particular award letter I had received last year was very confusing -- I would not have guessed what the true situation was without calling.</p>
<p>With regard to the possibility of going to Iowa and then transferring, remember that many colleges don't give merit aid to transfers. Some don't give need-based aid to transfers either.</p>
<p>Most appreciative of your return to this forum with your update...it really helps those of us with a strong interest in this process (addiction??) to see it come "full circle".</p>
<p>If he likes Northwestern, hope you can find a way to swing it. Since it's a suburban location, it might not be as overwhelming as a city school or the other very large schools on his list. They have a very good theater program...basically good in everything!</p>
<p>I'm curious about the AZ schools...maybe I missed an earlier post. Was it the good weather?</p>
<p>I would guess the AZ schools would be about the NMS money. I think Honors college at ASU is free for NMF?</p>
<p>No interest in this now OP? It sure would be an interestingly different place from Iowa State. The campus is lovely with cactus and palm trees. I've heard the honors program is good.</p>
<p>I just happened upon this thread and am curious abut the Az schools as well.Are they out of consideration? ASU would be essentially,free, for a NMF.D is a NMF grad of their Barrett Honors College and has done quite well.</p>
<p>iaquilter,
recognition as a national merit finalist is a big plus with many schools. d received offers of full tuition or full rides from several colleges. be sure to let them know that your son is a national merit finalist. ask them what are the merit aid opportunities open to him if he were to list their school as his "first choice" in the National Merit Competition.</p>
<p>suggest you contact the admissions offices at the following schools:</p>
<p>university of central florida - honors college
texas tech
texas a & m
baylor university - use their merit aid calculator at their website
university of oklahoma
univ. of nebraska
harding university
tulane
university of tulsa
wichita state university
university of kansas
kansas state university
university of houston
university of texas - dallas
truman state</p>
<p>Northstarmom -- You're right. I keep forgetting. Some schools don't have much to offer transfers in the way of merit $$. But no need based aid? -- that just doesn't seem right, not to give need based aid to transfers. Hope there aren't too many schools in that category. </p>
<p>Good advice, best to do some checking on these things now, if there is any possibility of transferring in a year.</p>
<p>Some don't give housing to transfers either.</p>
<p>iaquilter - Wondering whether it is just the Northwestern finaid package that is disappointing? If so, how are the packages at the other schools? I ask since he doesn't seem to want Iowa State. I have been told by some Purdue folks that, while it is a large school, it "lives" like a small school in many ways. Although my S did not go there, I had that type of experience with them when he applied and was accepted - very personal attention, concern and contact from the admissions folks/Dean of his intended school.</p>
<p>Just a thought, and maybe generalizable, that not all of the large schools will necessarily be a bad fit.</p>
<p>Good luck with this.</p>
<p>Well, here is the situation. Aid from Northwestern and Grinnell leaves us with about 15000 to pay. Chicago left us with more like 20000. I called Northwestern and they said that it would go up to around 30000 when I have only one student in college. We cannot handle that. Grinnell includes 15000 of merit money (indexed) but they too said the need based aid would be gone once my daughter graduates. Which leaves us again with 30000 to pay.</p>
<p>As far as Arizona goes, it just seems like another big state school that is farther away and will cost more as far as travel goes. The NMF award is a flat 20000 and would result in about 8000 left if I remember correctly. I haven't researched how they are as far as tuition increases go, but that would be a consideration.</p>
<p>Iowa State would end up only costing fees, books and personal and travel expenses. My estimate for that is around 4000. I don't think it is a bad school, especially for engineers and my youngest is likely to want to go there.<br>
I just don't think it is a good place for this kid. My gut is telling me to send him to Grinnell and things will work out some how. That is not how I usually operate, though. I want to know everything upfront and am not much of a risk taker, but maybe it is time.</p>
<p>It would be easier if he knew what he wanted to do, but he is a kid who just loves learning. That is one of the main reasons that I think Grinnell would be a good place. Chicago as well, but that is just too much more money.</p>
<p>We're about to re-visit Grinnell. It does seem like a wonderful place for those who love to learn. No one here would advocate derailing your retirement though.</p>