Ds received the one-time award for NMS of $2,500. Dh is recalling that it simply showed up on the online statement as a "payment." His school allowed one to consider anticipated aid when making payments. We never did that - the NMS award was the only "aid" ds received as we are full pay. We weren't sure how it would be distributed throughout the year anyway. Turned out that it was applied in three distributions of $833.33 at the beginning of each quarter over his freshman year. At any rate, we always just paid the bill in full, and then he would wind up with a credit that showed up the next statement. So any incidentals that showed up in monthly statements were kind of prepaid. I hope I'm making sense. We receive three large bills per year, but a bill for other incidentals (copies, bookstore purchases on his ID card, etc) once per month. The three large bills (which cover tuition, room/board, and fees) come a month *before* the quarter starts. The applied NM money hit the account in the month the quarter actually began.

^This.

Exactly. Many students at elite schools who have studied music play conservatory rep level music, even though they do not choose to audition for music conservatories. They might or might not be good enough for a conservatory admission (talk about competitive!), but they are at that level.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/family/skipping-the-college-tour.html?_r=0

My $0.02. I believe students need extracurriculars that go beyond the normal clubs that B&M high schools offer. I think not having the "normal" high school activities would look odd, but many of them don't require much of anything to be able to list them. Within high school activities, I think there needs to be some depth and progressive growth for some of them. I don't think listing "Environmental Club," or "French Club," or whatever does anything for anybody. I feel like outside ECs are what really make an applicant stand out. These require more initiative (and, unfortunately, often times more financial resources) on the part of the student and allow for demonstrating a true long-term commitment. For ds, these were 1) music instruction ($$$), which was multi-faceted and included lessons, competitions, accompaniment, playing gigs, playing in church and for charity events, and composition; and 2) Scouting with an Eagle rank being earned. These outside ECs allowed him to show commitment beyond the three years of high school that are on applications when one applies. Certainly one can show commitment and passion to high school organizations as well and that should be done. Hold offices, win awards, stretch yourself through those organizations. But, IMO, it needs to move beyond just being a member. Outside ECs can obviously really play into the homeschooling wheelhouse as there is great flexibility to allow for depth of interest to be pursued in many creative ways. It can also take a lot more initiative for homeschooling students to find ECs if there is no B&M school connection. I think that speaks highly of homeschooling applicants who have made their own paths in a meaningful way.

Okay, not from either of the two states mentioned but close to one of them. Gotta say these sorts of generalizations get my goat a bit. I absolutely agree that geographic distributions play a role, but one can be from one of those states mentioned (or others in fly over country) but still not be "bottom of the heap" compared to those from CA or the Northeast. Idk what expectations necessarily are, but I don't think ten AP courses (would be 11 if BC Calculus counted as 2 courses if taken in one year) is all that lower than a typical applicant regardless of location. Additionally, a state having a low qualifying score for NMSF does not mean that every student in that state achieved that recognition with a low score. Ds would have qualified with room to spare in any state in the nation with his score. I understand what you are saying, but being from an underrepresented state does not mean one is accepted with lower stats/achievements, etc. On another note, heck, yeah - Quiz Bowl is fun. And cool. You can letter in Quiz Bowl where I live. And qualify for state as an individual player. It's under the same umbrella as athletics in my state.

Um, no. Only he was selected for this particular *office* within this industry. He has classmates working for the same company (and similar companies in the same industry) as he is - just in different offices/locations. So, he certainly isn't the *one*. Sorry if I was unclear or if I'm misunderstanding what you are saying.

Ds has a summer internship in one of the fields where we on this board have had much discussion about whether the school one attends matters. Eight summer interns for this office who will be rising college seniors from the following schools: Harvard Yale Princeton Stanford UPenn - Wharton JHU Berkeley - (2 interns) A sample of one.

Since this was our situation, I'm going to assume it has never come up in college for ds. When he started his small charter school in high school, it was a non-issue as there were several students who had homeschooled (several of whom had grade-skipped, himself included when he enrolled). I would imagine that most students over time develop a pretty good radar about homeschooling questions. After awhile it's pretty easy to discern if inquiring people have a genuine curiosity/interest or if they are just waiting to challenge homeschooling based on the typical stereotypes. I had more patience fielding questions with long-term friends than I did with random strangers. For the latter, I would not hesitate to throw out some snark. We were at a party one Memorial Day, when a woman I did not know who was seated next to me at a long table started in on a line of negative questioning. When she mentioned ds not getting the same social interactions that he would at school, I replied, "Oh, don't worry, every day I steal his lunch and give him a wedgie." She looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and I followed up with, "You really shouldn't worry - me and Bubba learn him real good at home," and turned in the other direction. I thought her husband was going to choke he was laughing so hard. Confession - I might have had an adult beverage or two by that point. I wasn't usually *that* snarky about homeschooling - even to strangers.

I thought Missouri was a very easy state within which to establish residency? Has that changed?

Curious as to why they were surprised? Colleges expect payment to be made from past savings, current earnings, and future earnings (aka, meaning borrowing). One can debate the merits of this policy, but that's how it is.

Not everyone receives financial aid, so for those who are full pay the cost is known.

I'm going to guess you don't live anywhere in the SEC. Lol! It's hard enough living in the backyard of an average flagship. I can't imagine the pressure living in the backyard of a flagship that is also strong academically.

Just to confuse you more, here's a ranking system that shows Davidson above all her other choices. The Forbes list combines research universities and LACs on one list. Each of these ranking systems has different criteria. Please don't fret about this too much. She has great choices. None will be "perfect." NO school is perfect. Idk if you are talking to her about this a lot or not, but I would advise not to. There is no "bad" decision here. Let her know you have confidence in her ability to make the best choice for her. Gently saying, I think you think you all are missing some piece of information that would lead to the "right" choice. You aren't. It's hard, but it will be okay!!! Hugs

Between Duke, Wake Forest, and Emory - no - I don't think the ranking matters much. I would guess that Duke has better NAME recognition because of their basketball team. That, of course, has nothing to do with their ranking as an academic instituiton. It's just that more people have *heard* of them because of the strength of their basketball program. At the level you are discussing, everyone is going to be a big fish. It's going to be difficult to stand out whether the environment is competitive or collaborative. IMO, what you need to determine are your dd's long range goals and which school is most likely to be her best advocate to help her achieve those goals. Along with all the other "fit" issues. I think at lower-ranked schools, smart, driven kids will absolutely stand out. A key to me is whether they can maintain their drive if they are well above the majority of the fish. Some will, some won't. That's tied to personality and character. I definitely think that being in a smaller cohort/honors College/special program can help maintain that drive because you are around like-minded fish. Just my opinion. On the thread about "things one might not think about" regarding college selection, I got flamed for talking about target schools for IB and top management consulting recruiting, Without being overly specific, I will say that my ds has a summer internship in one of these two fields with what is considered a top firm. There are eight interns. Six of those eight are from Top 10 schools. The other two are from schools ranked between 11 and 20. Yes, this is a sample of one, but I stand by my opinion that rank *can* matter for these career areas for *undergraduate* recruitment. Very limited and n/a to your dd's interests. Though it is my understanding that IB is quite popular among Duke students - and across many majors.

I guess the issue is that while your dd could choose to maintain her modesty, she'd have no say in the modesty levels of those around her.

https://www.iecaonline.com/%5C/membership.html Here is an organization that certifies educational consultants. College is one area of specialization. It's tiered.

The concept of gender-neutral bathrooms at a university was hard for me to get my head around until I actually saw one. At ds's school the shower stalls and toilet stalls have floor to ceiling locking doors. Pretty much only the sinks are "shared." Honestly, much more private and secure than in my college dorm (which was a single sex dorm) that had two flimsy curtains for privacy. In the men's dorm at my alma mater, there was no privacy at all. Either shower heads all lined up in a row with no dividers or a single pole in the center with multiple heads all around. I imagine that has since changed. Until now ds has always had single sex bathrooms, but upon his return for spring quarter he was assigned to a dorm with gender neutral bathrooms. Ds's grandfather freaked out at the thought of gender neutral bathrooms. He is 81 years old, however. He seemed to be most concerned about girls drying their hair around the sinks! "I wouldn't want some girl drying her hair next to me!" Which, honestly made me wonder when and where mil dried her hair!

Bumping this up to give latest development. One of my dear friends suggested doing what she did with her folks and in-laws. She knew they all wanted a "visual" of their grandson's college campus, so they chose a weekend that was NOT busy - not parents' weekend - just an ordinary weekend. They all went to visit the ds/grandson. She asked him ahead of time to pick out a couple of his favorite haunts for dining, and they ate at those. Walked around campus and rested when they needed to rest. I suggested this to dh, and he talked to his parents about this yesterday. I *think* they are on board for our all going to visit ds at Thanksgiving - he gets a week off. We'll have more time together as a family, and we can go at our own speed with no requirements of being anywhere at any specific time. We can also attend a football game - my fil played in college and, for a short time in the pros. He was also a college football official for 35 years or so. I think this will be much less stressful and enjoyable for all. And, after seeing the size of the campus, they can make an *informed* decision about graduation.

Idk if they will separate them out (as an aside, Stanford is Restricted Early Action, not Early Decision - akin to Single Choice Early Action). This year they didn't release the number they had taken in REA until they announced the regular decisions yesterday. This year and last they have taken in the 700s for REA. Prior to that it was in the 500s. So they have been extending more offers in REA than they did historically. However, since it's a variant of early action, those offers don't have to be accepted. Last year was also the first year they did not release their yield, though that can be roughly determined from the Common Data Set. It was around 82%. I know two local students who were accepted last year who went elsewhere: one to Princeton (he was a double legacy and was accepted there SCEA) and one (a homeschooler - yay!) to Carnegie Mellon.

WOOT, WOOT, WOOT!!!!! Congratulations!! I truly understand about cost but certainly hope you can swing it! And it is incredible - here are this year's stats: http://news.stanford.edu/2017/03/31/offers-admission-2050-students-around-world/

But, flip flops in February! We did our college visit there in mid October, and the weather was gorgeous!!!

Ds came up with some sort of weighted spread sheet. After he narrowed the list to three, he listed all the factors that were important to him and assigned some sort of factor to them. Really not sure - he came up with this on his own. At any rate things that were *more* important got a heavier weighting. The problem with pro/con lists is that they don't allow for how significant each pro or con is. I'm not even sure what all was on his list of important factors. What is important or annoying to one person might be a total nonissue either way to another. But, some factors might be: proximity to home, access to undergraduate research, class size, cost, difficulty of maintaining scholarships, climate, grad school placements, calendar (semesters v quarters), school spirit, dorms, food, etc. It's easy to see why weighting is helpful - for most people cost will be a far more significant factor than school spirit. For someone with significant food allergies, "food" might be a hugely important factor.

My suggestions are (in no particular order): chocolate, ice cream, or wine. Or all of the above! EVERYONE on this thread deserves prizes! You have done amazing jobs raising your children! Homeschooling takes extreme dedication, and your devotion to your children has reaped huge benefits to them. Academically, yes, but also in many other ways! Happy for all! The college admissions process is NOT for sissies! It's long and grueling. I often said that I got through it with Jack and Jesus. ;)

That's an excellent point!