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2015 College acceptances - is this where it goes?


momofkhm

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DS received his first acceptance letter yesterday.  It is for his back-up to the back up.  It is the only state school to which he is applying and he did so because we were told the uni gave generous merit aid.  Unfortunately, the acceptance letter did not have any merit aid or scholarship information accompanying it.

 

We are going to give it a couple of weeks to see if any more information is sent.  If we hear nothing, DS will call and inquire about scholarships and merit aid.

 

DS won't be receiving any other letters for awhile since he is applying early action to his number one school.  If that is a no go, he will submit the remaining applications in January and then we will have to wait for the spring notifications.

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Ds got accepted at the only college he applied to as well.

 

It has been a bit crazy. He applied a month ago and the admission counselor told him he'd know by Sept 15th. We waited a week after that date before he emailed her with a "checking in" sort of note. She emailed back and said they didn't have his application or transcript, but not to worry, it could take at least a week to show up in the system. He replied and explained it had been four weeks. She found the application, but no luck on the transcript. I emailed her yesterday asking if she'd like me to resubmit the documents. I attached a pdf of his transcript and course descriptions. She called him today to tell him they couldn't find his ACT score, the only thing they had been able to verify in their system for the last month :svengo: . He gave her the date and she confirmed the score while on the phone with him and told him he was in. She had the score as "self-reported" and said she just needed it verified. Ugh. I sure hope they aren't this disorganized once he gets there!

 

Drury University - Writing Major.

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wow. we haven't even started the applying process!!!! You guys are scaring me!

 

All the schools that either of my kids have looked at have done rolling admissions. If your kids are interested in schools that make decisions in April, there is no need to rush. For us, earlier applications meant greater chances at scholarship money and first pick of dorms. Both were important and highly motivating.

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I don't have one applying this year, but look forward to following this thread!  Congrats to all who received early acceptances!  My oldest is a sophomore in college, and my hs junior will begin the routine next year.  As a homeschooler it is SO satisfying to get that first acceptance!

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I guess I'm first?

 

DD applied to one college. We had a discussion last spring - why apply to other schools when she has no intention of going there? Ok. So she applied to one college. She got in!!! With a $12000 merit award. I really did not expect to hear so quickly. And they CALLED her! She hit send on the on-line application on Saturday. They called an hour ago. The letter should arrive this weekend. If her grades improve or her test scores go up, they will increase the scholarship.

 

Campbell University -> pre-nursing

 

Yay! Congrats! My grandmother went to school there!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We finally heard about merit aid from the state uni to which DS applied as a safety.

 

He was admitted into the Honors Program and awarded the Uni's Scholars Award.  This award gives him a scholarship for 25% of tuition and allows for him to apply for the President's Award, a full ride scholarship.

 

We are disappointed.  We were told this uni awarded generous merit aid to students with ACT's over 33.  Not so.  :(

 

I don't know if 25% is common for a 2nd level scholarship but we were hoping for at least 50%.

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We finally heard about merit aid from the state uni to which DS applied as a safety. Since he is applying REA to his top choice he was allowed to apply to one public university at this time.

 

He was admitted into the Honors Program and awarded the Uni's Scholars Award. This award gives him a scholarship for 25% of tuition and allows for him to apply for the President's Award, a full ride scholarship.

 

We are disappointed. We were told this uni awarded generous merit aid to students with ACT's over 33. Not so. :(

 

I don't know if 25% is common for a 2nd level scholarship but we were hoping for at least 50%.

Sorry the award wasn't what you were hoping for. I remember that roller coaster from last yr.

 

I don't know if this is something you want to consider or not, but if he is willing to apply to some avg schools, his likelihood of top merit $$ increases. When the dust settled, ds had options from full-ride to costing $25,000/yr to $42,000/yr.

 

Finances drove ds's decision and he is now attending the full-ride option at an avg state flagship. He is in an honors research program and is happy as can be. He has no regrets.

 

Anyway, there are universities which give guaranteed full-tuition for a 33 as long as the GPA matches. If at all interested, here is a link with links to schools with guaranteed merit $$.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

 

Hope he finds a school he is happy with. Good luck with the presidential scholarship!!

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C received acceptances so far from U of MI both Ann Arbor and Flint. He had a faculty interview on Friday at Northern Michigan. They have had his packet for two weeks so I expect something soon. Alma College's packet goes in this week. We've been waiting on a very important letter of reference that was delayed while the writer was quite sick. He has also decided to apply to Kalamazoo College which is quite competitive so given.that his ACT score from Sept. is good, quite satisfactory but not a 32 either (still suffering the effects of the head injury...both of us are but for him, the timing is especially disadventageous), I think they will be a long shot. Their writing department is very good.

 

But, whew! U of MI is a top school and the extension campus is accredited in journalism and has a strong writing department with the perk of being close to his medical team in addition to being able to commute, we are at least out of the woods with two excellent options for him.

 

If I had my choice, if I could manipulate the future, my desire would be him to land at Alma - also close enough to his medical team- because I really love the school and feel it is perfect fit for him. It will be a few weeks until we hear from them and if admitted, he would need a lot of merit aid since it is fairly expensive.

 

Congrats to everyone so far!

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If I had my choice, if I could manipulate the future, my desire would be him to land at Alma - also close enough to his medical team- because I really love the school and feel it is perfect fit for him. It will be a few weeks until we hear from them and if admitted, he would need a lot of merit aid since it is fairly expensive.

 

 

Alma made my son's top three last year. We visited and really loved it. I could totally have seen my son being very happy there.

 

For what it's worth, one of the reasons it made the top three for my son was that they gave enough aid to bring the total cost of attendance down to what we had decided we could manage. Because we're do far away, it would actually have cost us a bit more in travel expenses getting him to campus and back a few times a year, but the tuition-room-board-books-supplies cost was brought down nicely for him with scholarships and grants.

 

I'll be crossing my fingers it works out for your son. I still feel all warm and fuzzy about Alma. It seems like a great school.

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Alma made my son's top three last year. We visited and really loved it. I could totally have seen my son being very happy there.

 

For what it's worth, one of the reasons it made the top three for my son was that they gave enough aid to bring the total cost of attendance down to what we had decided we could manage. Because we're do far away, it would actually have cost us a bit more in travel expenses getting him to campus and back a few times a year, but the tuition-room-board-books-supplies cost was brought down nicely for him with scholarships and grants.

 

I'll be crossing my fingers it works out for your son. I still feel all warm and fuzzy about Alma. It seems like a great school.

 

Thanks, I feel warm and gushy about the place too! It's a two hour drive from home, but only an hour from his medical team so a good location for him. I love the campus, the friendliness of the students and their interactions, their theater...we have a blast attending plays there, etc. It just has such a nice feel to it, and a good fit for him. But, we'll see how the finances work out.

 

Thanks everyone for the encouragement.

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My ds received his first Admission acceptance to Colorado School of Mines. Still waiting on several others but we both feel really relieved. His response, "Whew! Atleast I know I can go to school somewhere next year".

 

11/14 - we just received CU Boulder acceptance as well. Yeah!

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C's acceptance to Northern Michigan, by the way, was given to us at the admission's office when we were there last week. This one he will be turning down early due to their lack of depth in his major. He does not need to wait to see how his PT goes in order to make that decision. It's nice though to have three acceptances.

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My daughter received her first acceptance and a rather large scholarship this past weekend while touring a school.  It is her "bottom choice" out of all those she applied to, but it was still great to get that first acceptance and have $$ included as well. It will remain an option depending on the outcome of her other applications.  

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My ds received his first Admission acceptance to Colorado School of Mines. Still waiting on several others but we both feel really relieved. His response, "Whew! Atleast I know I can go to school somewhere next year".

 

Wow, and he's only 16 now?

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He is only 16 but will be 17 when he graduates. School of Mines is only about 30 min from our house and CU is only 15 min. Don't know what we will do if he gets into MIT or Stanford.

 

I'm sure he'll be fine. My son is 16 and living on campus about 90 minutes from home. He's doing really well so far.

 

My daughter when to a residential early entrance program at a women's college when she was 12 and lived in a dorm 800 miles from us. There were some bumpy times, but she did quite well, too.

 

Congratulations to your son!

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C has recently had a neurological incident related to his severe concussion which has apparently not healed as much as we thought. There are set backs, and now he needs to scale back his school work and rest more per the neuro consult's orders. We don't know if he'll be able to finish enough work to issue a final transcript by the deadline or not. The top priority is or his brain to heal.

 

We don't know what this means.  He was accepted to all of his colleges, NMU, Alma, Western Michigan, and U of MI Flint and Ann Arbor campuses. The only one that could still be in the cards is Flint because he simply will not be able to be away from his medical team next year. It's possible he could transfer after that if he really wanted to do so. What they would do about fall admissions if he was still working on high school work in the summer to make up for time off now is an unknown.

 

I may not be posting much in the next few weeks. We also received news yesterday that dd needs another surgery. Despite being on meds to control her hormones, she has another chocolate cyst of significant size and this time one on each ovary. She'll need care, and be off work. She's pretty scared. They weren't ready to start a family, but the doctor said IF he can save her ovaries, it's now or never once she's healed because her fertility window is going to be very short. He thinks this will continue to happen until they are removed. We are reeling here. I imagine I will be in New Jersey for part of December to take care of her for the surgery and immediate recovery time, but I also have to have someone here keeping an eye on ds in case there is another incident. Dh is working really long hours, and that doesn't look like it will let up until the week before Christmas, so once we have a surgery date, I have to figure out how to juggle the needs of two children, and a terrified son in law.

 

At any rate, college plans are not a priority at present. Somehow I just have to get my family through the next few months.

 

I know college acceptances for many of the students will be rolling in soon, so I wanted to post a general congratulations and best wishes  since I will only be occasionally in and out and want to express my support to all of you.

 

 

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Oh my goodness, so much ... faith ... :grouphug:

 

With respect to your son, is deferring acceptance due to these medical issues a possibility?

With respect to your dd, is freezing eggs a possibility? There are clinics now that are willing to fertilize one egg at a time so that there won't be issues with "extra" embryos.

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Oh my goodness, so much ... faith ... :grouphug:

 

With respect to your son, is deferring acceptance due to these medical issues a possibility?

With respect to your dd, is freezing eggs a possibility? There are clinics now that are willing to fertilize one egg at a time so that there won't be issues with "extra" embryos.

 

Their insurance is pretty crappy when it comes to fertility issues, and with his student loan bill - a cautionary tale about getting involved with art schools who have corrupt financial aid offices, lack of parental guidance, not knowing anything about legalese, naivety, etc. - I doubt they could afford it.

 

We'll be paying for their rather large deductible on the surgery just to help them out. Daycare is $2000 a month for infants at any place with a decent reputation, so it would take 3/4 of her take home pay, and their insurance is through her work so she can't quit. His insurance options are TERRIBLE with his job. They probably need to move back to Michigan so we can help more, but there aren't any jobs here. None. And especially in his line of work too. His family lives in Pennsylvania, but are not in a position to help in any practical or financial way. Zip. They'll pray, call once in a while to check on her, might visit once, but that's going to be it. They have two foster children in their home who right now take every bit of energy they can muster so dd and son in law see very, very little of his parents.

 

They can't afford a child. They can't afford to not have one IF her ovaries are still viable, and they don't make enough nor will make enough in the next few years, to consider adoption. They are just crushed right now. My momma heart is crushed for her, though at the moment, my bigger concern is just for her health in general and trying to pull ds through the upcoming months and his own version of crushing disappointment. He's headed to counseling to try to head off some deep depression. I think I need it, but there simply is not going to be any time. I can't be in NJ with one sick child, juggling the needs of an injured child in Michigan, homeschooling the other two kids, and manage a lot of appointments of my own. So, I guess I'll deal with it later.

 

Anyway, thanks to you all for your support. I need to go get the two healthy ones going on some projects, and check ds's pain levels. He's trying so hard to tough it out because he is worried about addiction, but the weather dropped significantly last night, and his leg is just a screaming ache. This is going to be a long winter. I am beginning to wonder if we need to scrap even his commuter safety for next year and re-apply to schools further south for 2016. I am not certain how much healing there will be in terms of his ability to endure cold. We see the ortho next week in the hopes of some better answers to this question along with many other concerns.

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(((Faith))) - I am so sorry to learn all this news. So much to handle at one time. I will pray for strength and endurance for you and healing for your ds and dd. The physical conditions are enough on their own, but how much harder to throw in the emotional aspects on top of them. Please take care of YOU, too.

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