Again, I think it depends on if you are applying to a school that is a need blind/ 100% EFC meeting type school. If you are, and you feel that you can comfortably afford your EFC, (and your student is absolutely sure of a school), there is no downside to applying ED. The thing about ED is that it is usually binding, and if you are accepted you have to withdraw applications from all other schools usually before any acceptance decision or scholarship offers. For instance, my dd#1 was absolutely in love with Cornell. We did the calculations and figured out that it would cost less than a state school here in NY (for us.) She went ahead ED, and was accepted. She had to shut down all the other apps. We had no information about how it would have gone with other schools as far as scholarships go..... but if you apply ED the school in question really knows you are serious! DD#2 has similar stats to dd#1, but was not absolutely sure that she wanted to follow her sister. She applied to a number of schools, and lo and behold has been invited to apply for high level scholarships and honors programs. Who knows how it will end up? But it may be equally as attractive (or better financially, or just 'fit') for her to go somewhere else. We'll see where the chips fall. I can only assume that dd#1 would have been eligible for the same opportunities, but she will never know. :) I have no idea how the process works for other schools where you can't figure out what your EFC would be ahead of time. This is a good list to peruse for 100% EFC meeting schools: http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/

The short answer is Yes. If not immediately, then before a deadline if you want to be considered for aid, which is before the admissions decision deadline, if that makes any sense. IOW, the usual sequence is something like: 1. Apply to a school. 2. Apply for financial aid. 3. Get admission decision. 4. Get aid info. Many (but not all) schools use your ability to pay in their admissions decision. If you want to apply somewhere that does not, look for 'need blind' schools. DD has been accepted at two schools so far but has not yet gotten any financial information.

Can you describe what you mean by "setting her up to get great merit aid"? So many schools that have good fin-aid (grants as opposed to loans) are competitive to get into. High test scores, strong academic rigor, good extra-curriculars, and good admissions essays are going to be necessary to get into those schools .... not just ticking off the admissions requirement minimums. I am not too familiar with the schools you highlighted, but a quick check tells me that UNC Chapel Hill accepts only 27% of their applicants, and their middle 50 for SAT Scores combines to about 2000.... give or take. Are the strategies for getting into schools like that the same as setting up for merit aid at schools that are maybe less well endowed or less competitive? (I have one more kid to get into college.... always interested in learning more!) :) LOL. I was writing as Joules was posting. Had I waited I could have just 'liked' her post! :)

Too true. The system is crazy!

Right there with you and Scoutermom. My dd is just going to have to wait for all the results and see where the chips fall. My daughter is doing one thing right that I thought I would share. She is looking at it all from a glass half full perspective at this point. The two acceptances she has so far are not the toughest, most competitive, most well known options among the 6 schools to which she applied. But for now, they are the two to which she has been accepted. She is going over the info for both of those schools and engineering programs with an eye toward finding as many positives in them as she can ... things she would be interested in participating in.... project teams.... peer to peer stuff... etc. That way, no matter how the acceptances/financials fall out, she has positive things to look forward to at any of the schools. If the financials are great at all of them, great! But if not, she will still know that there are good opportunities ahead. (She even likes the CC at this point, so there's still that option, too.) It is a subtle shift of mind ... from comparing what one school has to what another doesn't... over to just drilling into the positives, even if they are different types of positives for each school. I know we'll have to get more into the nitty-gritty later, but for now, with so much time to kill, I think she's handling it well. (Way better than mom.)

I'll *weigh in* on this..... heh, heh...... YES!! It really does matter.... more than the number of keys, IMO. Go for weighted keys. If you are all absolute beginners, you probably won't get to the outer limits of 60ish keys for a little while, but unweighted keys are.... ick! The 'touch' of the piano... it's how you create musicality ... different tones/volumes/attacks etc. You will be much happier if you start out on something closer to that in a keyboard. There are touch sensitive weighted keys which are ideal, IMO, if you really can't fit a piano in your space. (In other words, the harder you press, the louder the sound....) We have a number of keyboard instruments.... a piano, a Clavinova, and a Korg Synth (unweighted keys). Although I love the great sounds the synth makes, if I had to choose one keyboard to keep and one to toss, I would toss the Korg first. The Clavinova feels so much more like a piano. You might be able to find a used one at a decent price. Weighted or non-weighted keys - does it really matter?

I am not sure... I think lots depends on which courses you are talking about. They have been time consuming here at our house. Maybe we spend too much time on them? Last year my dd#2 took CalcBC, PhysB, and EngLang.... that was the limit. Maybe over the limit on some days.... :oP She had other things that needed attention.... other classes, work, a band, TKD...... so yeah. 3 was enough. First year out my girls both did one class... Biology.... and I thought it was a good way to start. It was a challenging course and time consuming, so they got a feel for the pacing and expectation. If they had started with something less 'demanding'... like the Stats course, which some schools do in one semester, they may have had an unrealistic expectation of how many they could take the year after. (BTW, the stats course is great.... just not nearly as much time spent daily as some of the others.)

How come I can't like things twice?? Congrats!! :hurray:

If you pm me your e-mail addy, I can send you a scrubbed example of what I did.

Thank you!

Lisa or Kathy, would you mind linking to the Microecon schedule? I tried searching it, and there is a link, but it takes me nowhere, :( Thanks! Jen

Connie.... sort of an aside.... I was a music major and so many STEM folks participated in our classes and ensembles.... it was great. :) And then I married one of them. :) Right now, I sit in with the Wind Symphony at the University of Rochester... not at Eastman, the conservatory side, but the Uni side. It's wonderful to see all these future engineers, drs, mathematicians.....etc... enjoying music together. I love that they are keeping it up!

Ayup. I was surprised by the amount of Chem in APBio when dd#1 took it. We've always done Phys Science in 8th, HS Chem in 9, and then on to the AP Sequence. I do think by doing that they missed a strict academic overview of Biology like I remember it as a kid.... biomes, and body systems, and classification.... stuff like that. But they read a lot of science and watched a lot of Nova, and I don't think they are really 'missing' it. It worked out fine to do it the way we did. My $.02.

Hope44, has your son seen the AMC prep materials available for free on the AoPS website? There are even videos covering the 'final fives' for the last few years. https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Videos/index.php?type=amc HTH

:seeya: My son will be taking the AMC10B at the end of the month. His personal goal is to break three digits. :) We'll see. I am just happy he's interested in trying.

Yes! If you want him to be bored, he can start with a drum pad. If you want him to love you forever, he can start with snare drum. :) (says the woman with a full drum kit in her basement......)

Yes, complete with a recorded welcome message from the Pep band. :)

The universe heard me whining yesterday and rewarded me with a big envelope from Clarkson, sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for dd to get home from work. :) Still waiting on 5 others. ETA: 1/31 I was wrong --- heard from UBuffalo today.... accepted. She was actually at UB for honors college/pres scholarship interview when the letter came. The honors college was very impressive... I hope it comes to pass. 2 down, 4 to go.

:lurk5:

We're still waiting, and I have a feeling we'll be waiting a solid month at least before hearing definitively from 'the safety.' We can't be alone, are we? She applied to 6 schools (the College Board would approve..... ). She has been invited to apply to a couple of honors colleges, for a Presidential Scholarship (invited for interview this weekend *biting nails*), and got what looks to me like a 'likely letter' from my 1st choice. So I am pretty sure she's getting in somewhere, lol. Anyone want to commiserate? *insert pacing emoticon*

Loved this so much I made my family watch it with me. :) Also looking forward to watching this film about Grace Lee Boggs the second I can get my hands on it.

As a card holding member of the slob-for-a-lifetime club, I endorse articles such as this one completely. Fourth paragraph from the bottom has the key findings. I may have to steal the hula hoop idea for myself! :)

My girls have enjoyed perusing The Fiske Guide to Colleges. It's by no means the first or last thing you should look at, but it seems a little more objective than the glossy stuff that you get in the mail. I like Regentrude's and other pp's advice to contact the department of interest directly when you narrow things down a bit.

While we are throwing around potential reasons for the adcoms' decision.... were they planning to major in the same thing? Perhaps the girl was applying to a very popular major and the boy to something more obscure? There are universities that have differential admissions, depending on the college to which the kid is applying.

My daughters both found Calc BC through PAHomeschoolers to be very thorough preparation for the AP Exam. However, the instruction is asynchronous, so there's no class meeting. The teacher and teacher's assistants are available to answer questions via e-mail, though.