Right now, she's only excited about the opportunity -- attending MIT has not been her life-long dream, so she's not getting carried away. I think I'm more excited by the possibility (ha! I did the same thing when she got the letter from Princeton, although that one wasn't about swimming, it was all about applying to Princeton, and why they felt she'd be a good fit for their school). She's really just starting to think about college, and has a list of about 47 schools she's exploring. Finances will be a huge part of the decision. It's good to know there may be other funding to keep costs at MIT down. She needs to keep costs (out of pocket) down to under $10,000 per year (including all fees, transportation, etc.) Right now, she is looking good for D1-D3 swimming (not Stanford, UA, UT - D1, but a solid middle-tier D1 program). Currently, with the majority of D3 programs she'd be part of the conference team in all but the most competitive schools, and could fit nicely into a number of D2 programs. Her swimming goals could change, but right now, she wants a swimming program that challenges her (room for growth), an academic environment that allows her to maximize her opportunities without debt, and move onto a graduate program easily (and free). She knows that she wants very small to medium sized schools with a traditional campus. Thus far, her top choices include schools like: Princeton (swimming is currently an easy reach). USNA, USAFA (swimming is a reach) Liberty (free, academically -- swimming an easy reach by time, but in looking at the roster, there seems to be a certain "type" of swimmer the coach goes after -- and she's not even close to the height range -- I'm wondering if their head coach recruits based on statistics than the individual) Gardner-Webb (probably free -- swimming is a reach, but they are watching from afar, as they want her academically) Hillsdale Campbell (most likely free) Messiah (would be free) As you can see, it's quite a diverse list. Every swimming letter she's gotten is from small-medium, northern schools in MN, IA, MA, and NY...brrrr At most of these schools, if she were swimming there today, she'd be in the top 3 or 4 in her events (hence, the reason they are going after her). An "easy reach" basically means she'd be in the top 6-10 on their squad right now, and a "reach" is anything where she'd be ranked below their slowest swimmer. She's spending the next year working on her list, and as letters come, adding them to her consideration. Our goal is to have this list down to 20 by the end of her junior year, and down to 10 or 15 by the time she applies. Most of this will be based upon scholarships, discussions with the coaches and math departments. She's visited 10 schools so far, I expect she'll visit 10 more during the summer of her junior year/fall of her senior year. Time will tell! I have so much to do these days though... I thought I'd be done with LEGOManiac, but his gap year makes a bit more work for me. Keeping up with PonyGirl's letters and scholastic choices is getting dizzying... we have to prepare to move somewhere stateside in 2019...homeschool decisions and planning, and running the swim team here. I'm just very happy she has these choices. She's now studying hard for AP exams and SAT2s (trying for those 750 on Biology and Math 2 to keep the MIT dream alive).

As far as I know, Swimming gives a "bump" to otherwise qualified students at MIT. They do have to field a team, and are a pretty competitive D3 team though -- so that usually means some sort of significant recruiting bump is there. DD needs to fill out some forms online, and send an email. I'm more concerned about the academic side. Unlike swimming at most other schools, keeping up grades and swimming will be a bit more difficult at MIT. The other consideration is it would be the most expensive school for her to attend -- bar none. Most of the other schools she is considering would be free, or nearly so after swimming and academics are brought into the mix. Looking at the raw numbers, and our estimated income at that time, she'd be looking at close to $20k a year for tuition/room and board.

Brag away -- I'm sorry there were no additional funds. Glad she made such a great impression!

Not for LEGOManiac, but for PonyGirl. They have indicated an initial interest in recruiting her to swim at MIT (she's a strong student, so her test scores aren't shabby). I'm having a moment of excited panic. This is one of those schools that you put on the list and kind of wish upon a star... but now it seems like that is an application that will be going out. Now, I want to make sure she's doing everything to be as academically prepared for a school like this. Any suggestions for Junior/Senior years? Math-wise, she's taking every MIT online scholars course she can (she should complete all of them currently available). She's taking University Physics (both semesters of AP Physics C) next year (or possibly over 2 years). Pinch me... and bring me back to earth ;) Princeton (and multiple others) have already reached out academically -- but she would still need swimming to get in, and most of those schools are D1 -- she's close, but not there yet, it's a strong possibility the next 12 months).

Can't really say college is going to be a deciding factor there... in-state in VA costs as much (net costs -- not tuition) as it costs for my son to attend 3 private schools out of state (FL, OK and PA). My daughter is already on the short list for recruiting by several schools ($$$ is already being thrown at her), so it will come down to best fit and $$$. Younger son has no clue really, but is currently shooting for Webb, and others are too young to care.

I can find everything I need on swimming... between the coaching network I belong to, and what USA Swimming has available, I'm good with that. It's mostly the homeschooling things like you answered (registration; requirements), as well as... Can students attend part time (high school mostly)? Dual Enrollment? Can homeschoolers participate in extracurricular activities with the school (sports, debate?) AP Testing; PSAT testing? Things along those lines. My oldest daughter either has to take AP Physics C (both courses) to get any kind of credit for physics. We had planned to do one each year, so she could focus more on math and swimming. BUT, if the AP Physics C exams are difficult to come by, we need to squeeze them in next year (so, start in July). Also wondering how NMSQT works... she'll take the test in her junior year here in Italy, but if we relocate at the end of her junior year to MO -- then what? Which state is she competing in? Our state of residence when she takes the test, while we're overseas (VA or DoDEA ?) or our state of residence her senior year? We'll have to look into the real estate tax issue -- and compare that with my having a job in IL, and probably not in MO.

I think the title says pretty much all there is. 50-50 now that we'll be returning to the states and moving to Scott AFB outside of St. Louis OR Norfolk in 2019. I'm extremely familiar with Norfolk. Scott AFB, IL and St. Louis, not so much. Thanks! Lisa

My son turned down the competitive 4-year, full-tuition scholarship in favor of the engineering internship and gap year. He will be reapplying to 2 or 3 schools he was accepted to this year (just not the one he turned down), as well as 4 Service Academies, VMI and the Citadel (ROTC). Guess I'll be busy with college requirements 3 years in a row! OY! One school agreed to hold a spot (and the scholarships he's earned) for one year. We just have to send updates and keep the swimming coach up to date.

They actually did very well, all things considered. But, we will not fly in or out of Luton again, especially if we need to ride the EasyBus to get there. That extra stop/change buses/wait in the elements kind of killed us. We would have been much better off going out of Standstead via Stratford on the way home. But, we won't be in London again during the winter, either ;) Having spent enough time in states that don't do snow very well, I was very grateful for the salted walkways and stairs. I do think more people should have stayed home from work, though. Stay warm, Laura!

We swam very well with nearly 70% Personal Best Times, one League Record, and multiple team records broken. Finished 5th out of 16 teams from across Europe. We took the Hop On Hop Off Bus on Day 1, so we could at least go by many of the historic sites (Westminster Abby, go across the London Bridge, see the London Tower, etc), and also spent a couple of hours at the Aquarium. We had wanted to go to the zoo, but the Siberian Wind was on it's way in, and well... it was more than a bit nippy. But, it also gave us a good sense of the city and where things were. We should have planned to eat dinner downtown and go home late -- instead, we got stuck due to weather. Went one way on the tube, than back tracked to another tube, and then finally home (nearly 2 hours for a 30 minute commute). Day 2 of sightseeing was done via Tube and Walking (still a bit nippy, with snow falling heavily at times). We started with the Changing of the Queen's Guard (not the fuzzy hat soldiers, but the mounted soldiers). I was most impressed with the Band... who played while astride horses, and sometimes while the horses actually were walking. I can march and play, I can ride a horse, but I'm not sure I could play while astride a walking horse!! This was at Buckingham Palace. We also went to the Chamberlain Rooms, the Queen's Gallery, and the British Museum (mostly for the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and European History), and then to China Town for dinner. Getting home was much easier on Day 2 -- but it was 8pm at night vs. 6pm. Yesterday was our travel day home. We planned 3 hours for transportation (90 minute trip), to be "safe." Easy Bus was a massive fail on the return to the airport. We arrived early, but the bus was full, and had to wait -- the next bus was 45 minutes late. We stood outside under minimal cover in the -3 degree (celcius), with wet snow and wind -- huddled together to try to keep warm. My feet were numb from the cold. We had nearly given up on the bus arriving, and it showed up. We were just nearly thawed when the bus pulled off at another station and stopped. Apparently, the driver's time was up, and both the 40+ passengers waiting on the bus, and OUR full bus had to wait for another bus or two and then get on that one. Watching our time tick away, we gave up on the bus and ordered Ubers. We arrived to the airport at 2:20pm (we left our apartment at 10:00 am), and ran inside. We quickly used the bathroom, then I went one way with our one checked bag, and my husband went the other way with the kids to get started at Security (it was BUSY). Finally at security, my husband and our kids were just getting to the buckets scanners, the security guard let me pass through the line, as our flight was boarding. Wouldn't you know it, both my oldest son and I got randomly selected for pat downs and full body scans :( I was able to get my shoes on, but LEGOManiac ran without shoes, belt in hand, through the airport (and I grabbed half his other small electronic things). We got down to our gate at the final call. They boarded our kids, while they checked our passports -- kids were being boarded and dh and I were stuck as they got approval for us to plane (our passports expire in April, so they weren't going to let us on -- so we whipped out our official passports which are good through October and our Sojournos which are also good through October, and they let us through -- as we were running through the gate, the passport lady started to demand that they size my husband's bag for the plane, her co-workers looked at her like she had lost her every loving mind, and we just bolted for the plane. Safely on the plane, door shut, the flight attendants announced that we'd be sitting on the tarmac for 20 minutes and then get the wings de-iced and would probably take off in 30-45 minutes. It was 5pm by the time we got some water and food. I was never so grateful for a cheese sandwich in my life. The rest of the trip home was uneventful. And I was really, really glad to wake up to NO SNOW and temperatures well above freezing.

LOL... we're all coming in on different flights into different airports. I think there will only be 2 families on my flight tonight (including mine). But yes, 38 swimmers and their families all getting off the plane is quite an event. When we flew back from Sicily 2 years ago, half the flight was our team. It was something!

For once, I won't get my limited knowledge of several languages confused! I can't tell you how often that happens with Spanish, Italian and French (I don't have that issue with German, though...). It will definitely be easier!

In a few hours, my family will hop on a budget airline to fly into London, then hop on the Easy Bus, the tube and then walk 2 minutes to our apartment for the next 6 nights. We'll be competing in the London Aquatic Center on Saturday and Sunday and then sightseeing on Monday and Tuesday (flying back to Italy on Wednesday). I'm taking 38 swimmers to compete in 230 events, and all five of mine are competing in Championships for the first time. We're excited!

For my daughter, she'll only apply to an Ivy if she's being recruited to swim there, as this will be the only way she gets in (academics are competitive enough, but swimming is what sets her apart for most schools). My oldest son didn't apply, and my younger son probably won't apply to one either.

Most of the colleges mention "complying with" the national date, or use similar language. I haven't found a list anywhere.

Schools who do not subscribe to the Candidate's Reply Date Agreement may force a decision before 1 May (we are in that boat, so I checked this out).

My oldest son has gone through a huge amount of change in the direction he wanted for college. He has always been very strong in math, science and has a talent for engineering. He also has some artistic bents as well. HOWEVER, during his junior year he was sure he wanted to go into a design field. Biggest issue? He does not draw. I mean, not even a little bit. He does not like studying art (he enjoys art -- but doesn't like studying it). I sat down with him and we watched videos (what's it like to be a/an), we read about the majors, we looked into the career paths. And then, I set him up with some friends in EE, Mech E, Computer E, and other fields to shadow. He came home after shadowing these guys and wouldn't you know it, was back to engineering. I was honest with him about what I saw, but I was willing to allow him to go the other direction. I identified colleges, programs, and even set up a different course plan for his senior year, if he *really* wanted it. I didn't tell him no. I had to keep him in the driver's seat, but help him see what the careers entailed. It is now something HE wants and is driving for. He's a bit nervous about the college aspect, but has an engineering internship if he wants to do a gap year -- and really try the field. This child has a HUGE fear of failure -- would rather not try than fail in some ways, but once he's in, he's ALL in, and there is no stopping him. If your daughter really wants an engineering degree, there are standards that have to be met. If it's an issue of not working hard enough it's one thing. If it's an issue of no matter how hard she works, it's just not happening, that's a different story. Career counseling can be helpful, but it can also be very subjective to how one is feeling on a given day. My older brother tried for years to go engineering, but lacked the math chops. He spent 8 years and gobs of money in loans to wind up in a whole different field. I'm not sure he had any guidance, though -- other than "I just don't see it." Help her explore and see her options -- as well as understand that sometimes our talents and gifts take us a different, and surprisingly fun different direction.

This college does not subscribe to the "Candidate's Reply Date Agreement" -- so, in fact, they *can* require a commitment to the school for the scholarship. And yes, I understand that there is no guarantee of being accepted into a Service Academy, I simply said he should go for it, if that is what he truly wanted. I haven't ever indicated that we would either limit his applications to SA, or only work on that route. As I mentioned previously, he has solid offers from other schools. We just didn't go down the SA route initially, mostly due to the now resolved health issue. We've also looked into ROTC (although he didn't apply for the same reasons).

Clarification -- this is an academic scholarship (competitive merit scholarship). This school is D3, so no money related to swimming. His other choices are D3, D2 and D1 schools, with scholarship swimming money related to the D2 schools, but it's the smaller scholarship of what he's been offered (money in swimming tends to go heavily to girls). One D2 school is all grant aid, another D2 is 60% Merit Scholarship, 20% swimming and 10% grant. The D1 schools would be free to attend, not tied to swimming performance at all. He would be required to accept the academic scholarship by committing to the school (paying the $200 deposit). He doesn't have to sign for swimming until April (which is why we thought we had more time).

If he went to School this fall, and competes for that school, most likely he won't be allowed to transfer to a different school in fall of 2019 without being red-shirted a season (train, but not compete for the school -- there are circumstances that can be waived, but we need to actually speak to someone with more knowledge on the subject). If he takes the gap year, he can still compete in our league here and retain all of his NCAA eligibility. His current trajectory would have him competitive for trials in 2020. Actually making it... well, competition is stiff. Coaches at three of the schools (one he's accepted to, with solid academic, swimming, and grant aid, and 2 of the service academies) have programs that would get him there. The one he's under pressure to accept does not. He would attend as their fastest swimmer on the squad just walking through the door. I've told him that the biggest factor in reaching his goals is HIM, he can grow and achieve wherever he is (but, it would be easier if he were training with swimmers who had similar goals and with coaches who had (a) been to the Olympics themselves (b) coached Olympians or at least © coached swimmers to trials. When you're the top swimmer in a program and a conference, you have to be incredibly self-motivated and driven to go way above the pack, which can get exhausting (not impossible, but there is a reason swimmers like training with the best competition they can). We aren't in any danger of getting too much aid (at this point). There is another major scholarship award that could be used for any school that he attends, but we won't find out about that one until June. Honestly, his chances at that one are also pretty good. The average award would nearly put him at our "magic number" We are asking for judgments at 3 Universities. The other schools he applied to, he no longer is interested in attending. One of them is the school in question. I've been speaking with my Navy friends all over the world the last couple of days as well. Some have worked on the admissions boards, some haven't. Getting some good food for thought I've passed onto LEGOManiac. I let him chew on it, and then we talk a bit. It will be Tuesday before we can speak to anyone at the college/financial aid office. In the meantime, I'm just trying to help him understand that (a) not taking THIS scholarship only means a "no" to this school. All of the choices he has are GOOD choices. There isn't a bad one really in the bunch. (b) if deep down you feel like you would be happy at this school, and it's where you want to go, say yes. We can work on extra scholarships and finances for the next 6 months. © if your feelings have changed, and you really, really want to go to the service academy, and become a Naval Officer, say "no" and go after that dream with everything you have.

2020 Trials. 2024 would be unaffected, but losing a year of competition from 2019-2020 would kind of kill his chances.

We started the professional judgement route in December, although it's taken us about 6 weeks to gather all of the information (and complete this year's taxes, which they want to see). Agree that if he defers, he should really be planning to attend THAT school. GAP year would be different, as he'd have to reapply -- but no guarantees of anything. The current cost is based solely on scholarships (academic and/or swimming), not need-based, grant-aid, loans or work-study. I've included insurance in the fees as needing to be covered, although his insurance should be good at either school (based upon what we've been told), but I tried to go with worst-case scenarios for monetary reasons. Our FAFSA doesn't really give us any grant aid, hence the professional judgement (with how they figure this while we're here, they say family contribution of $37,000. Using the figure for how our income is calculated back in VA, our EFC changes to $8,000). We've spent nearly $60,000 in medical expenses during our 4 years in Italy, and we still owe $16,000 from last year. ) One school we haven't even gone back to yet (and we need to), as all money is grant aid, and it matches our EFC exactly....lol Just a ton of pressure to decide all of this now. We were thinking we still had 6 weeks.

His affordable option this fall, is to take the paid engineering internship, defer attendance for 1 year, save some money, while keeping at least math and physics fresh through MIT Scholars online. He has to call the financial aid office to discuss other need-based aid, as our FAFSA doesn't reflect our actual financial picture (as it counts our housing allowance as unearned income, and then we have some rather large medical bills we've been paying back the past 4 years, last year we paid out $20,000 in medical, but we aren't done yet, and won't be until sometime in 2020 with the current bills). It is possible the university could come back with enough to push him over the finish line, so that with work and 5,000 in loans, he'd be okay. His dad and I would pay for his phone plan, and travel back to his grandparent's house and back to Italy once, as well as probably send the school a bit, too. The Service Academy route is a mixed bag. On the positive side, he can show really good reasons (medical regulations, internship, a year of maturing) why he waited to apply. One SA does want him for swimming, and he's been in regular contact with that coach. The others, he has to make contact with, and has a short time to do so. A friend who worked on the Admissions board said nothing would come up as a red flag, but that his plan would be highly unusual (which could be seen as either good or bad, depending upon who you're talking to). This is NOT the only school he's been accepted to, and has significant aid from another school (cost to attend would be the same, but the swim program is much stronger, however it's a bit further away). I think if everything went bust, he would enlist and delay entering college.

It's after loans and summer work. Part of the reason the gap year was so appealing, he could earn enough to make up the shortfall for 2 years, which should put him in a timeframe to get paid internships before his junior and senior years, which would help cover any remaining gap.

He's still $8,000 a year short on cash to attend... I guess I should have mentioned that. Oh, and swimming for this school would cost him a year of eligibility at a crucial time in the run up to Trials.