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JanetC

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  1. So, in olden days there was a low-level admission staffer who had to summarize the application folder for committee review. Think of your college application resume as a self-checkout option to summarize your student for that staffer. Stuff that might not go on a job resume but which would look great on a college app should go on an application resume. Stuff admissions committees look at but which don't make your student stand out (maybe your test scores are only fair) can be left off in favor of your student's strongest qualifications and experiences. Assume you're summarizing your student on behalf of a staffer that really wants to see this kid admitted. I would not put a link to linkedin and assume it would be clicked - if there is something you really want them to see, put it on the resume and don't assume they'll go see it on linkedin.
  2. Run the net price calculators, and if you're not sure how the WA GET money will affect your financial aid package, be sure to ask on the visit. (Private schools like UChicago use the PROFILE, which means they can ask anything they want on the forms and award money independent of the federal formulas.) Brand-name public universities like UIUC will tend to look at out-of-state students as a "cash cow." In general, don't expect too much aid from places like that, and never expect that aid will cover the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition. The normal strategy for "graduating debt free" is to stay in state public, or to look at a little bit smaller school, a little bit lower rankings where financial aid is more generous. But you are less likely to find a big marching band at smaller schools... and the best places to make connections in film/TV are probably in/near big expensive cities like NYC and LA. Think through your wants/needs carefully: There are lots of affordable places for musicians, broadly speaking, if it doesn't have to be a big marching band, and there are lots of places to go to school and be creative if he is OK with it being a long-shot to get into film/TV industry and can make back-up career plans.
  3. On your college application, you do get to list the courses in progress and the things you are enrolled in for second semester "count" -- he won't have a grade yet, but his application will show that he is taking physics senior year.
  4. Taking apps in May is tough (they're just finishing this year's admissions cycle), but lots of state schools will open in August/September timeframe.
  5. University of Arizona isn't WUE, but offers strong entry-level merit aid to compete with WUE discounts and then adds on more for higher GPA's/scores. It was a bit less than in-state for UDub for my kiddo, and the honors admissions advisors were easy to work with when we had questions about things. If you need even more merit aid than in-state public tuition, you may need to keep looking but I thought I'd mention it. Also, I agree that if you need more financial aid than just getting the price down to in-state public costs, you may really need to focus on need-based aid rather than merit, perhaps even zeroing in on schools that will take your special circumstances into account if your affordability issues are more than what the financial aid formulas consider. Need-based aid at out-of-state-publics like WUE schools is going to be hit-or-miss as many states prioritize in-state for their need-based money.
  6. There are also often state laws or state higher education commission rules that affect how they can spend their budgets.
  7. I wouldn't try to plan out their 4-5 year degree plans while they're still in high school or right after high school graduation: Plans. Change. However, it does make sense to explain to your kids what you can and cannot afford, and to let them know if extra time is or is not an option. My kids went two different directions: A private LAC and a large in-state public. Affording a 5th year at the public U would have been no problem, but it would have been a stretch for us at the LAC. The kid at the state U could handle course overloads and did so on a routine basis. The kid at the LAC got overloaded even with a "standard" schedule. Turns out we didn't pay room and board for the covid-all-remote terms, and the kid at the in-state public actually graduated with money left over in her 529, which we could never have planned for. Turns out the small LAC did not have good mental health support and the kid at the LAC burned out hard and barely made it to graduation, which we could never have planned for. She probably would have had to take a leave of absence without a degree rather than do a 5th year... Both kids changed their minds about majors and what classes to take quite a bit through their first couple years. Course offerings change. Favorite professors leave the college. All sorts of things can happen.
  8. Some resources for him to explore: * https://schoolbuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/22-Qualities-That-Will-Make-a-College-Right-for-You-Fillable.pdf * College Essay Guy podcast (see the list at the bottom of the page, there are several relevant episodes) https://www.collegeessayguy.com/podcast * Dataverse https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/
  9. Yes! https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/contact-us
  10. I'm not a business owner and so will not provide advice, but the CSS is a paid service, if you have any questions about the right way to fill it out you should call their helpline.
  11. Think of accepting computer classes instead of foreign language as a rethinking of "what kids should be learning these days given limited number of classes in a high school day", not "these two kinds of classes teach the same sort of things and should be considered equivalent." The more traditional the colleges on your list, the more you should stick to traditional course choices.
  12. If there is more than one community college nearby, visit them just like the four-year schools. Different schools have different "vibes" even at the CC level and may have different offerings. (Near me, they all have the basic transfer degree programs, but each school has slightly different sets of career track programs.)
  13. Have you run net price calculators? In addition to admissions matches, you need to be sure you have financial matches. ETA: Those suggesting out of state public universities: those are great schools, but can be very expensive to attend out of state. I don't understand anyone paying out-of-state tuition for a state U when it will cost the family the same as a private university: The private Us will offer more opportunities for personal instruction and less competition for leadership positions, etc.
  14. Students *have* to apply to more than one school -- because they don't know their financial aid until March, when it's too late to apply somewhere else. More selective colleges can be more conservative about accepting more students than they expect to attend because they can find people off their wait list. Less selective colleges are less likely to be better than the college the waitlisted student's other options. It's another way selective colleges can goose their numbers and move up the rankings, which allows them to accept fewer students and still fill their classes... A lot of the way college admissions works is circular logic.
  15. This. Children of those with "good degrees" (not the for-profit diploma mill stuff that is responsible for so much of the student debt crisis) will still go to college. The would be first-gen kids are the ones who are not going to go to college, and that's sad for our society as a whole. College is more than just job training - you learn and grow in other ways while there! There was a study recently showing that mobility out of lower classes is better when low income people have higher income friends. College is one of the few ways that still happens. The financial aid safety net has so many holes... even with financial aid it is very hard on first-gen kids. There is never a guarantee with any college degree plan -- Even if you pick a lucrative major, you can graduate four years later in a great economy or a crashed one and there is no way of knowing in advance. Families and students risk their savings and their financial future paying off debt for this experience when it should be much more affordable.
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