My girls and I were all on Armour but then they were bought out by a different company and the price kept climbing. It was getting crazy, especially with three of us on it. We switched to Nature-throid about 6 months ago and it is much cheaper.

Senior

She went in to take M and decided last minute to switch. After she finished E, she glanced through the M questions and was kicking herself, she was far more familiar with the M material :( I don't know why she made that last minute switch.

She's not so happy with her score. She also wants to be done testing and not have to test anymore, haha. She got a 770 on Literature (Lit is a very difficult test so this is great, she's happy with that) She only got a 690 on Biology :( She has no idea what happened because she always scored in the 700's on practice exams. Should she retake? or just hold and not worry.

This has come up several times in the last few months I was just reading an article the other day about how some spouses without a steady income stash away money in a "leaving fund". They don't do this because they want to leave/plan to leave/need to leave. They do it just in case they end up in a bad situation. It feels sneaky to me. I am not sure if I am comfortable with it or not? I go back and forth. What does the HIVE think - yay or nay? For what it is worth, I am not anticipating divorce in my near or distant future. Just thinking through the concept.

Do they have oats or oat flour? Even the oats labeled GF bother me. Just a thought.

DH and DS are riding home from church when an old Nissan Sentra pulls out in front of them. Dh, "Wow I haven't seen a Sentra in years. I wonder when they stopped making them?" DS, "Dad, they still make the Sentra" DH is like "no, I'm pretty sure they don't" That's when DS had to say "Dad, YOU are at this very moment driving a Sentra that is less than two years old" :lol: Wow, just wow. I mean, DH isn't into cars like most guys - a car is just a car but still :rolleyes: ETA: DH was convinced for a moment that he drove an Altima. Bless, he did realize his mistake quickly.

My dd loves hers and it was cheap https://www.amazon.com/HP-11-r010nr-11-6-Inch-Notebook-Processor/dp/B015CQ8SGE/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468971540&sr=1-4&keywords=hp+stream You can actually get the larger 13 inch screen now for the same price if you click on that option. It was more when I bought dd's

I was raised in a conservative area where bikinis were frowned upon. I don't judge those who wear them but that darn little voice still screams no, haha. Now, that being said...I'm always tempted because I really need a larger top and a smaller bottom. Just like full dresses never really worked that great for me, neither do full swim suits.

We don't know about NMS yet. Because the scoring changed this year, there is really no telling. I'm guessing she didn't make the cut off for semi-finalist. She had just had intense surgery and she was still super floaty in the head :( She did well and was in the top 1% but I'm not sure she was high enough for semi-finalist. I think she did better sophomore year than junior year. If that makes sense? She wants to double major in bio and english. If she gets NM then we will definitely look into a school that caters to that. I also wish we could afford some more visits but we just can't right now. We've gone to many of the schools within a 3-4 hour drive of us and we got up to W&L but we just can't fork over the money to visit the ivies, Boston University, Rice, or some other schools that pique her interest. I hate that because I know they take interest into account for some of those schools. I've considered trying to get her to Vandy.

It is mentioned often. We really need to visit Vandy. We really do. I think I will talk to DH about that. Thanks

You know a school that she just loves on paper and when she gets their info she pores over it? Oberlin. Any thoughts on Oberlin?

She's very careful with money so she wouldn't want to go deep into debt for any school. Period. This is why she loves Wake but she isn't setting her heart on it and she is shopping. She refused to apply ED because she wants to look at finances. For some reason, Wake calculates her loan at 7,500 instead of 5,500. They are our second highest NP, just under State. Granted, most people with the price we will be looking at for Wake would be giddy, but there is a reason our NP isn't too high. We aren't poor but we aren't really in the position to fork over money for college. Especially with four kids. That being said, she is competitive for merit aid at Wake and that may change the scenario drastically. DD thinks that taking out the 5,500 a year loan is reasonable. With most schools that means she takes out the 5,500 a year loan and we are left with around 3,000-5,500 to pay. The awesome thing about the schools without loans is that we can just pay our part and she is debt free. That's nice. Wake's loan is higher for her AND they want us to fork over 8,000 a year and that is a stretch for us. I'm not sure we can d that. Again, merit aid might happen and if so....all is good.

I think Wofford would have good aid with her stats? Not sure? Totally just a random thought. I haven't looked into it. UNCC - we hadn't really thought of it. DD did just get some info on the Levine Scholarship yesterday and was perusing it. It might be worth checking into. Thanks

I meant to ask too - is your dd in state for AL? Can you apply directly to the honors college? Is this what your dd did? The NPC is pretty good. DS wants to go into computer science and UAH might be a great fit for him - he's only going into 10th grade though. Thanks :)

Yes, this is why dd will apply - the net price calculations for ivies will be awesome and involve no loans. It would be way more expensive for her to go to State and she would have a loan there too. Not all Ivies have the same aid though. If I remember right, Brown, Cornell, etc all calculate loans into their packages and their aid isn't quite as good. DD will be a first generation college student too and Ivies tend to like that (if you have the stats).

Wake has almost 5,000 undergrads so it sounds like UAH is similar. She is actually more okay with bigger than she is smaller. She's so nervous about getting stuck in a small school and not having like minded peers. I'll have her take a look at it. Thanks.

She has visited schools more local to us. She doesn't really seem to have a strong opinion on size - she doesn't like super small schools and those are the travel offers she's received. Her preference is probably 5,000-10,000 range of student population. She didn't mind State though and it is larger but she doesn't like Chapel Hill (and it is larger). It isn't the size that she dislikes about chapel hill, it is the amount of students vs the campus size. They are cramming way too many people on a campus that maybe isn't large enough to support it? Just our take away. So she'd be okay with a larger school with ample room for the students they have. If that makes sense?

Ya'll know I'm afraid of that place. I will surely get sucked in and never return :lol: Ok, I'll check it out. If I don't return then I was eaten by the CC monster or it stressed me so bad I didn't get out of bed.

She likes the campus a lot. This girl has no built in GPS but the campus is easy to navigate. The students seem studious but happy. That seems to be a balance we just couldn't find many places. Wake is strong in her majors, being a top school for both Bio and English. They have a lovely literary magazine, and she really wants to work on staff for a school literary magazine. It isn't too small, but not too big. They have a fantastic art program, she loves art. While it won't be a major or minor, she still wants to be involved with fine art. It is the perfect distance from home (less than 2 hours).

She would love W&M but being out of state it will be $$ and it isn't a safety.

DD just doesn't want to be stuck in a small school that is also so frat and alcohol centered. It came up in multiple ways. What is funny is we visited and interviewed the same trip because she liked the idea of W&L so much. Sitting in the waiting room, browsing their own magazine (written to W&L students), we were reading an article trying to answer the question "Why W&L has double the average anorexia rates? Its answer was the fact that everything social was centered around frats, sex, and drinking. Drinking and/or the strong sex culture came up in several ways during the trip. It seemed a bit over-the-top for dd. Again, if the school was larger then there would be peer groups that weren't apart of the drinking/sex/party culture but with such a small school she could feel like a total loser if she wasn't interested in participating. If that makes sense? ETA: She likes it academically and financially it would be amazing.

Seriously get some live traps. We had two little mice try to move in on us and we tried all sorts of things and it didn't work. They have now been rehomed to a park with lots of woods a few miles from our house with this little gem... https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Hotel-Mousetrap-Capture-Transparent/dp/B00KHFJ48C/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1468808108&sr=1-1&keywords=mouse+hotel

First of all, thank ya'll for always being such a wealth of information and help. I'd be lost without you. Seriously and for real. :001_wub: DD is my oldest and we are finding this whole process daunting. :mellow: She will apply to: Wake Forest Davidson (I know, they don't give top merit to HS kids but their need based aid is enough to give dd a competitive price) Chapel Hill NC State Emory Duke (it is a reach for everyone, I know, but she wants to try) Furman She might apply to these reach schools (yes, I know they are a reach for all kids, we get that): Princeton Harvard Yale Someone will ask so here goes... She has taken two SAT subject tests and should get them back this week (hopefully the scores are good) -6 AP course and plans to take 3 more next year. She's had exams for all of these. -strong extracurriculars with leadership positions, etc. -won rewards in writing and research -wants to double major in Biology and English (she isn't sure whether she will apply to med school or go into medical research and writing). -ACT score is a 35. Her favorite school, hands down is Wake Forest. The place just makes her happy. It has that inexplicable right feeling. Her interview there went fantastic. Her interviewer even emailed her asking for a copy of a writing piece that won a gold key and they had a great email discussion about it. Ya'll, she loves this school but financially I am afraid of a lack of aid. So we need to add another safety or two. For a child who loves Wake and Emory? Any ideas? She is applying to Chapel Hill because she was told by someone there to consider it a safety since we are in state BUT she doesn't love that school. She much prefers NC State BUT they have the highest NPC for us of any school. Even higher than Wake or Emory :/ Elon? Wofford? She's stressed about not having enough safe schools. She didn't like W&L or Oxford. If that helps at all? I really want her to visit some schools up north but we just don't have the $$ right now :(

Thank you SO much for all of your thoughts and experiences - very helpful. DD probably won't get to visit before applying so this is a tough decision. I guess she'll need to decide if it is worth it to apply blind. She's probably applying to Princeton, Yale, and maybe Harvard blind already. If she gets in for some reason then we will visit before she commits. She has received a ton of travel reimbursement offers from other schools and one is in Boston but she feels bad using that and scooting through their tour with the real intention of actually focusing on different schools since the school with the offer isn't a school she's interested in :rolleyes: