<p>We are still waiting for financial info from Chicago, but didn't really expect the scholarships. She doesn't have the uber high stats, has the high solid ones from a demanding school. Partly this is because she is insanely booked up with sports and many leadership commitments--seems to do as well when spreading herself thin as not. However one always can hope; Chicago emphasized that they give this merit money based on the entire application, it is not grade and score driven. So for merit, your essays, your EC's and your recco's--everything that got you (and your class) in-- will be looked at as part of the award. This does give me hope that she will be considered as I think she is a bit unusual for Chicago, and also she has a killer hook. Now she has some super competitive schools to consider as well.</p>
<p>texastaximom-thanks for your good wishes. Glad it worked out for your oldest. Not sure kids always see the debt issue as significant, but it surely is! "the lettuce"..cracked me up!</p>
<p>ohio_mom-LOL about the mail. The mail as well as everything else in Maine wants to stay right there! </p>
<p>anxiousmom-no we have not visited, but I think due to some other factors, it is out of the running at this point. </p>
<p>evitajr1-Amhurst is a great option...I know as is WashU. It's nice that we have choices!!! Good luck!</p>
<p>geena-I think your post was a help. I have kind of always liked WashU better as they are a bit less intense it appears. I am very concerned about the ability of my S to get to do some of the fun stuff and not to always be the one at school scraping for extra cash. Point well taken..thanks!</p>
<p>yulsie-congrats on the money from Chicago! We are in the IT industry too (with an ex-WorldCom connection, I might add). It does make you much more skitish and rightfully so. </p>
<p>The WashU weekend (actually 4 days) is focusing on their specific interests so that should be a real help. They will see programs they are interested in, meet other kids similar to them that are being considered, stay with freshman scholars, do some fun stuff, interview and then come home. It sounds like good timing for that to me. He is interesed in grad school as he wants to do research and be a prof in his area of interest.</p>
<p>best of luck bettina.. does your D have a strong preference for a particular school?</p>
<p>When talkin gFA at UofC, do they give school grants and loans, or just merit aid and loans?</p>
<p>kdos. I understand where you are coming from as we hoped for money from Chicago last year after receiving full rides from other top 25 schools but eventually bit the bullet and sent him to Chicago which he loves. You can only do what you can do and obviously Wash U is a great school. If we can be of help to you in any way let us know.</p>
<p>Kdos:
Our D2 got a full-tution Moog scholarship to WashU last year, accepted it, and is having a great time there. I'd say go for WashU. Oh, and if I remember correctly, about a third of the finalists for the 35 scholarships there get full<em>tuition awards, the rest get half</em>tuition (but this is subject to verification).</p>
<p>thanks grasslands..</p>
<p>optimizerdad-my S is going for the Lien. Did he enjoy the interview weekend?</p>
<p>Kdos:
Yes, she did. It was not a high-pressure deal, she talked at length to other scholarship winners from past years and was able to form a good picture of what life at WashU would be like.</p>
<p>OK...the problem is this. We were just SURE he would get merit money from Chicago ....just SURE!</p>
<p>And so were we when my son was admitted to Chicago some years ago, with stats that were nearly identical to those of your son, debate championships, etc. Chicago does not give many of those "merit" scholarships (especially the big ones). The winners were definitely special, so in that sense we thought they'd chosen well.</p>
<p>But my son chose Chicago anyway, and thrived there, made many (so-far) life-long friends (class of 2000), majored in economics, junior year in London, graduated with honors, excellent job right out of college, now using his college-learned skills and life-long avocational interest in stats and baseball and writing to develop an interesting and remunerative career.</p>
<p>If you can find the way financially, and if your son sees the value of being both at and in Chicago, I encourage you to go for it. There are few places where he might get a better education.</p>
<p>optimizerdad-I'm hoping the weekend goes well. It's hard for him as in his mind he has kinda been in Chicago since Dec's EA packet. We were unrealistic I guess about scholarship money and it biased us a bit in that direction. I am frankly surprised my S got in to WASHU as they are rather quirky and unpredictable, much less that he was invited to the scholarship weekend. I guess ith the college admissions game, you just cannot truly predict!</p>
<p>mackinaw-it sounds like your S had a great experience! I think the questions for us not only is, could we do it financially, but if he gets the scholarships from WASHU, why would we put ourselves in to so much debt when WASHU is a great school as well?</p>
<p>kdos, the way we looked at it was that because the difference in funding from Chicago and the alternatives was relatively small (though certainly would add up over four years), we'd go for it because my son had a strong preference to be in Chicago, not only at it. WashU wasn't a school to which he had applied, and so he had only one school that was in a "major league city" (and I mean major league sports as well as a great city in other respects). All of the alternatives would have been excellent schools, with different combinations of attractions (and a couple with major merit aid--Carleton, UMich, though none from Williams). But since we felt that we could get through the 4 years at Chicago without "too" much debt, we encouraged our son to go for it.</p>
<p>kdos --</p>
<p>I understand the financial question completely -- "Why would we put ourselves in so much debt when WashU is a great school as well?" While every family is different, we asked ourselves the same question in "What if?" form many times last year. My advice (for what it's worth): Take the WashU money and run. There's always grad school at Chicago. That said, I still think you may hear something from Chicago. I haven't seen any posts about EA applicants receiving a scholarships. Still, if it doesn't come to pass, WashU is a wonderful, wonderful option.</p>
<p>sillystring-my rock as usual. Almost the saddest thing to me is that after supporting us behind the scenes for at least a year, we would not meet you and your wonderful daughter. :-(... I want to publicly thank you for your support, optimism and friendship (and Amazing Race conversation)! You are a doll! (and VERY smart and realistic about the college app process!!)</p>
<p>mackinaw- <but since="" we="" felt="" that="" could="" get="" through="" the="" 4="" years="" at="" chicago="" without="" "too"="" much="" debt,="" encouraged="" our="" son="" to="" go="" for="" it.=""></but></p>
<p>I am thrilled it worked out for your S. It sounds like you had many other interesting options as well. </p>
<p><now using="" his="" college-learned="" skills="" and="" life-long="" avocational="" interest="" in="" stats="" baseball="" writing="" to="" develop="" an="" interesting="" remunerative="" career.=""></now></p>
<p>I was a basketball statistician for 20 years at a Big Ten School, so this interests me. What is he pursuing?</p>
<p>Without giving too much away, he's one of the principals here: <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.baseballprospectus.com</a>. He also has another major source of earnings.</p>
<p>mackinaw--looks interesting, thanks for sharing. I love it when someone has interesting passions that they creatively combine for a job. How fun is that! I can see why he wanted to be in a major league city!</p>
<p>kdos -- Thanks for the kind words. I am confident we will one day meet. Also, in three years we will see how smart and realistic I am about the college application process -- my son is a HS freshman and he is very different from my daughter. Where she was smart and driven, he is smart without the driven. :)</p>
<p>A story. At the end of his first year, when I drove to Chicago to bring him home for the summer, I first asked about his choice of major ("probably economics," "maybe political science") and his grades (dean's list); then I asked him about baseball. "How many games did you go to?" "Oh, about 10," he said. "Ten??? Did you ever skip class to go to a game?" "No. . . . Well, yes I did, on opening day." "Which opening day did you go to, Cubs or WhiteSox?" "Both," he replied.</p>