<p>(1) Congrats on getting off OWU’s wait list! Who cares why? There are a million variables that contribute to wait list decisions, and you shouldn’t read anything into it. Understand that colleges are in the <em>business</em> of education. So don’t for a minute get sentimental about whether their admissions office’s decision-making process reflects an emotional evaluation of how much they like or want you. You are the customer–even if you take advantage of FA to be a customer–and you need to be looking past the admissions office to the college itself and apply a critical eye to what that college’s academic and college life will do for you. (2) In that regard, then, while OWU and Lenoir are the only schools that offer exactly what you think you want, print journalism, please create some other meaningful criteria for academic programs that may fulfill you because, as you must surely know, print journalism is a short-sighted goal. (And I say this as a proud holder of a Bachelor of Journalism degree.) (3) If you really “rather go to school in the northeast,” then come on, drop all other regions! Or if you “really LOVE the College of Wooster and Lawrence,” then do a hard evaluation of both to articulate why you really LOVE them so you can see if any of your other schools also offer those factors = LOVE.</p>
<p>I know you’ve invested years and a lot of emotion in this process. It will be hard to let go of some of these colleges, who may now feel like old friends. But you can’t be that person you know and love who goes to a restaurant with a multi-page menu and just freezes. Instead of articulating a reason why you’d like to “order” each college–of course, they all sound good, else they wouldn’t have made it to your list in the first place!–you need to start creating some filters to rule some colleges out and forever off your menu of choices! The lack of sufficient FA isn’t the only filter. There are plenty of reasons on the merits why some are better choices for you than others. Apply them, rank your list accordingly and then make the most of your trip to visit the schools that make the most sense on all counts. If you go with the reasoned spirit “I can see myself at any of these schools,” then the time and emotion you’ve invested will be worth it. You’ll be standing at the finish line with one or more positively delectable choices…and you will know which one is right for you!</p>
<p>I will say I know that OWU wait-listed me because of my SAT scores and just ticked me off that they couldn’t look past numbers when they’re so “hollistic” and Wooster is a much better school academically, but I understand what you’re saying. I’m still going to consider OWU though. </p>
<p>I am not certain what I want to major in or become. I really didn’t make the major a big part of my process because I’m not 100% positive what I want to be. I also know that you don’t have to major in print journalism in order to become a journalist and journalism isn’t doing too hot these days. I’m more interested in arts journalism. I would love to work for a travel magazine. I’m also interested in becoming a talent agent or casting director. I would say becoming an agent or journalist are my biggest aspirations. I would also be interested to work for a US embassy, but I know a lot of international relation majors require foreign languages, and I am not the best foreign language learner. I would love to go to any of the Scandinavian countries. I’ve also thought about becoming a lawyer. Acting has always been my passion. I’ve been acting since I was 6 and have an agent. I plan on double majoring in drama with communication or anthropology (another interest). Holocaust Studies is another huge passion of mine to study. Clark and Hobart have an edge when it comes to this. Clark also offers a free master degree program where I could get a free MBA or masters in communication. I’ve always liked language arts and social studies, but I’ve always hated math and science. Although, the non math science are okay. So, basically I have a BILLION interests. BTW, Ursinus is also a school I’d consider, they just have a strict core curriculum. </p>
<p>I am not cutting any schools off my list until I get the financial aid package. I will start axing them once I have the $$$ factor solved. I already have my top 5, 8, etc. I’m really open where I want to go. Although, the northeast is great, so is the midwest. I haven’t really picked schools based on location (just those in the midwest/northeast). I like Wooster, Lawrence, etc as schools. The location isn’t a big factor for me, but fit is. NYU use to be my dream school actually, and I also thought about going to California for a long time. I’ve been researching since 8th grade. I’ve waited so long for college. I know this process in and out. I just hope and pray I will end up at thee school for me. It’s hard when money is in the way. I know what you’re saying. There are reasons other then FA why some schools are better fits, but I cannot cross them out until I receive a package. Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>Edit- Does anyone know when I should get all my final FA packages? Oh and I looked Hobart up and they got the results in late March last year. :)</p>
<p>There will usually be <em>something</em> relevant/interesting for you to sit in on on any given day. In our experience, many colleges can set something up for you on a same-day basis (show up and ask if there’s anything you can sit in on) and others need a day’s notice. I don’t think anyplace we visited needed more than a day, especially if you are flexible about what classes you want to sample. So, I would say just call now and say you will be visiting in April, and ask: if you wanted to sit in on a class, what would you have to do to arrange that and how much lead time do they need. I think doing that will help you relax because you’ll see that you don’t need a huge amount of advance planning.</p>
<p>As to when you’ll get final financial aid packages, the answer is “it varies”. Check the schools website to see if they say when packages are sent out, and if not, ask on the college-specific boards here to see if anyone can tell you. I looked at a few of my son’s from last year and they are dated 3/23, 3/12, 2/22 (!) and 3/31 – the latter from a school that also announced admission decisions on 3/31. 2/22 was a school with rolling admissions where he’d been admitted in November with Feb 15 deadlines and I think we got them everything but Feb 1 because other schools had deadlines that early. I would say, if your dad can get his taxes done any earlier (and, yes, I know how hard that is for a self-employed person) it could help. Some schools may send out the offers on a rolling basis based on whose info they got first.</p>
<p>As for leaving a bad visit, we did leave one visit. It was a pre-application visit and when we got there, everything just did not fit. The kids were drones, no one was enthusiastic, and the academic advisors for my son’s interests were hyper-enthusiastic but kept trying to shoehorn him into programs that didn’t make sense. There was such a clear contrast from other better-fit schools we had just visited. Luckily it was the last school of that trip, so we just went home early. It was a wasted hotel night (could have just driven home the night before) but not the end of the world. </p>
<p>If a school is definitely a poor fit (say, worse financial aid package and you like it a lot less than somewhere else you already visited) and you’re sure nothing you see could change your mind, then leave. If nothing else, it will allow you a few hours of relaxation on an otherwise grueling trip. If there are no other schools on your list nearby, you could drive to your next destination early and maybe do a little pre-checking-out of the next school(s).</p>
I agree … this is why I recommend having extra schools in mind near each school on your list and on route to each of the schools. With my oldest we bailed on 2 half-day visits we had planned … and instead headed off to check out other schools … reading about Barnard is had many strikes against but in person it was an obvious best fit; never would have been picked without a visit.</p>
<p>PS - I’m going to make another plug for visiting multiple schools per day … with my oldest on day 3 we headed to NYC to visit Columbia which was my daughter’s first choice at the start of the tour … rather than spend a full-day at Columbia she spent about 5 hours at Columbia (and the evening before in the neighborhood) and spent the afternoon across the street at Barnard. Fast forward a few months she applied and was accepted ED to Barnard … if we had been on the 1 school a day plan she never would have checked out Barnard.</p>
<p>whoops … too late to edit … the last line of first paragraph above “reading about Barnard …” was supposed to be the last part of the last paragraph</p>
<p>Thanks. I will call the schools and ask about campus visits. I guess I will only take a class at the schools that are top choices. But does taking a class really help you decide if it’s the school for you? I feel like I would base my impression on the school by the professor. If I see some students text in class it may be just those students and not an overall impression on the school. I think students will text in class every where. I really just do not want to waste time taking a lot of classes when I could move on to the next school. Also, would it be possible to just stay for part of a class? It will be time consuming. I do like the fact I’ll get the glimpse of what type of students go there, but I could always do the same thing by walking around campus and talking to various students. </p>
<p>Did you ever get any estimated packages from the school before the final packages? Or do schools tend to just give you final packages. I’ve gotten estimated packages with 2010 numbers, but that’s without the FASFA/Profile. I’ve been telling my dad over and over to do his taxes, but my dad does everything last minute. </p>
<p>Since this is an <em>acceptence</em> college tour then I can’t go visit another college close by unless I was accepted there too. Only a couple of these schools are actually by each other. I do agree that multiple college visits on some days may work depending on how far the schools are.</p>
<p>My son felt that he got a good idea about the school (or department) culture around academics by attending classes. Yes, you get a snapshot and not the full range, of course, and you need to keep that in mind. But if a number of students are texting in class, to me that says something.</p>
<p>For my S, at one school he felt that the intro class in his major was too elementary, especially considering it was set up not to be something a student could test out of. He discussed his concerns with the prof, who was very nice and spent time trying to assuage his concerns, but left still concerned. At the school he ended up attending, he was impressed by the quality of instruction – he attended one class he knew he would place out of with his AP class and they happened to be learning something he already knew, and said the prof explained it way better than his HS teacher. He attended 2 classes, and was ok with the size (even though both were large lecture classes) and happy with the fact that students were engaged, paying attention, participating, etc. And he’s a CS major where that is somewhat less important. If you’re going to be majoring in something where class discussion is a bigger part of the equation, you want to get an idea of the quality of the contributions your peers are going to be bringing to the table. </p>
<p>The only school we got an earlier finaid package from was the 2/22 school and it was only changed because my son’s merit scholarship was increased because of some additional information. If you’re not sending your tax info in until Mar 1, I wouldn’t expect to hear from any of the schools until the end of the month. I think they will typically only do an estimated financial aid package if you are still in “will file” status as of their deadline, and they can’t get you a final package in time for you to make your final decision (end of April). (Unless you apply ED, then they will send an estimated package with acceptance, usually.)</p>
<p>You do not need to sit in on more than one class per school. That is overkill You want to get a feel for how engaged the students are. You don’t need to do an extended survey on all the faculty.</p>
<p>early_college, I seem to recall that you have some special soncerns regarding FA. Have any of the schools from the profile requested your verification? 3 did for DS and they required copies of tax returns. Your father may need to really jump on this. Your FA results will take longer to be final if you don’t have the final docs for verification.</p>
<p>Class visits really do need to be arranged in advance and are cleared through the visit office and usually the individual professor to be sure that visit does not fall on exam day etc. One wouldn’t want to bail on an arranged class visit (in my opinion) because a fair amount of work goes in to setting those up for you. Different schools have different rules about what they allow students to do on any given day and depends on your grade and admit category. Most have a color coded visit calendar on the web site detailing available activities with times etc. on any given day. Different options are offered on weekends and be careful about spring break and final week.</p>
<p>D really values the class visit and opted out of an admitted students day yesterday to attend classes today and tomorrow at one of top choices (merit aid but no complete FA package yet). Our thinking is that once the packages come the more information she has to measure the value proposition at each school the easier it will be to assess FA and cost vs benefit. Benefit can be very subjective.</p>
<p>On the flip side, though. She did walk on to some campuses and just feel “this isn’t it.” Some of those we followed through with all planned activities anyway because staff was nice and seeing what you don’t like is sometimes just as valuable and informative as seeing what you do like.</p>
<p>Instead of sitting in on classes, we made arrangements with my son to talk to the chair of his intended department. This proved to be really helpful. This is also the reason to go to the accepted student day events. Yes, they are slightly artificial but it’s also the easiest way to meet the prof’s and the students and potential classmates and the logistics is easier at the colleges.</p>
<p>We did bail on one planned class visit but it was kind of a special situation, and we did let them know as soon as possible that we wouldn’t be coming. </p>
<p>In our experience, as with just about everything else, different schools handle classroom visits differently. Some have a list handy this time of year of classes to which visitors are invited; others will set something up special for you if you ask. That is why I said it is worth the OP calling schools now to find out what is involved, so he can plan accordingly.</p>
<p>I have been looking forward for this trip for years. This will be the biggest decision of my life thus far. In some ways, I think I will be able to tell immediately if a school if for me or not. Did your kids get that “feeling” when they knew that was the college for them? Everyone at my high school thinks I picked random colleges from around the country. Most people here have never even heard of Holy Cross, lol. But honestly I picked every college for a certain reason. I’ve spent years searching and been through many different types of lists. I’m kind of excited to see how rural/suburban/urban some of these schools are. I’ve seen all types of rural. I’ve seen North Georgia rural from Wyoming rural to a small village of 99 people in Picardy, France. I grew up in Palm Beach (FL) and the Atlanta suburbs, but northeastern suburbs may not exactly be what I’m use to either. I really don’t know what to expect with some of these schools. I don’t know what PA “rural” means just yet. I may get some culture shock wherever I go, but that’s fine with me. If I went to Lenoir or Flagler, it would probably be an easier adjustment. However, my parents (and whole family) are from New York, so I’ve always had this NY persona to me. </p>
<p>Earlham just emailed me informing me that my financial aid for the 2012-2013 Academic Year is complete. But I cannot access their financial aid portal. The login and password they gave me does not work, so I’ll have to call them tomorrow. It didn’t say this was an estimate award, but we never updated my FASFA yet. It still says “will file”. I do know Wooster says they’ll tell me later this month too. Holy Cross and Lenoir both require the IDOC, which I find weird for Lenoir since they didn’t require the Profile. I got something in the mail from Juniata that my fa application is incomplete and that they need my 2011 tax returns. Wheaton asked for my 2010 tax return and my dad has to send two more things in and my application will be complete. I’m pretty sure all the other colleges do not require them, but then again I had no idea Wheaton or Juniata did. I never saw it on their website. So, I’m also going to call all my schools tomorrow and ask the status of my financial aid award and ask if there is anything else I need to send in. </p>
<p>I also wanted to ask if you guys thought this was a big deal. On the Profile it asked what the equity was in our home. We have no equity and house is upside down in this market. However, the Profile wouldn’t let me day put $0 so he put $3,000 because it wouldn’t submit if he didn’t answer this question. College Board says we will have to mail each college with corrections, but is $3,000 in equity a big deal? I’ve bugged my dad to do it for me, but he keeps on telling me that it isn’t much equity and won’t have much affect on our package. What do you guys think? </p>
<p>I’ll try to contact admissions tomorrow and ask about visiting classes as well.</p>
<p>Not really. Like I said, he figured one place was a poor fit pretty quickly, but of the ones that were decent fits, there was no “love at first sight”. That said, the place that he eventually chose, I could see that he was “interested” from the start. A few things that were mentioned really made him light up. But I really think it was the full experience that sealed the deal. The tour (including a number of things the tour guide mentioned), talking to student ambassadors at lunch, the classes he sat in on, etc. </p>
<p>Your Dad is right that the equity in your home is not a big deal. If a school treats home equity as an asset (and some schools subtract a certain amount first) it will increase your family’s expected contribution by at most 5.6% of the $3,000 which would be $168. That said, spending an hour to correct it and save $168/year for 4 years may be a good investment of an hour.</p>
<p>Okay, so I finally got into Earlham’s aid portal. Here is my award: </p>
<p>Federal Direct Stafford Loan: $3,500.00</p>
<p>Federal Direct Unsubsidized Ln: $2,000</p>
<p>Earlham College Grant: $14,950.00</p>
<p>Federal College Work-Study: $2,320.00</p>
<p>Lilly/LEAP Endowed Scholarship: $3,000.00</p>
<p>Federal Perkins Loan: $1,500.00</p>
<p>Presidential Honors Scolarship: $10,500.00</p>
<p>Total Financial Aid Award: $37,770.00</p>
<p>Which leaves $14, 660 a year for my parents to pay. WHICH IS TOO MUCH! Ugh, now I’m getting worried. Holy Cross’s estimator said they would make us pay 6k per year. My parents cannot afford almost 15k per year. I wish they would have given me more in loans, they gave 7k per year in loans. My EFC is def not this high. I guess I can cross Earlham off my list now :(</p>
<p>Edit- now that I think of it, 7k per year in loans is too much. I’m sorry I forgot to add it up, lol. When I did Clark’s estimator I only had to take 5k in loans each year.</p>
<p>I think it was around 12k per year, which is still pretty close to what they gave me. They didn’t use the CSS Profile. I just hope Earlham isn’t known to give good aid.</p>
<p>My financial safety is Valdosta or West GA and I’m not applying until April IF I don’t get any affordable schools. The deadlines aren’t even until June. But I am not going to panic yet because this is only the first fa award. I have 12 more to hear back from (not including Hobart or Holy Cross).</p>