Yup - dd has pretty-much same stats as your dd and got around $15k from UMass Amherst (plus a substantial athletic offer on top of that). I did read that their scholarships for in-state students aren't very generous. Our in-state public? She got $3k. ummmm. No. That first child! lol My poor daughter. We learned so much, but truly at her expense in our situation, I'm afraid. :/ We had too many variances and wild-cards that made stability hard to come by (due to several factors - mainly... her relatively late standardized testing, her being a late-comer to her sport, but very talented at said sport...) We cast a wide, but wildly-varying net. Once we realized that in-state schools were not going to be in her best interest, we were scrambling to find schools that would be a good fit for her, but really had very little idea of what was important to dd - and were only JUST beginning to learn the costs of everything and seeing that it's somewhat a "game" and that we needed a crash course in the rules to play effectively! For kids 2 & 3, we're going to do things SO differently. DD2 is going to take another year for high school (she's very young for her grade, so it's always been an option & after watching what dd1 went through... dd2 wants to prepare differently), so for her 10th grade year (this coming year), we are planning at least two cross-country trips to visit colleges she's interested in. When DD1 was 14/15, she hadn't even LOOKED at colleges. Other kids her age were already dreaming of this-or-that school, and she barely knew they existed. My fault, for not making it a thing we talked about... not making that mistake with the next two.

This year was such an incredible (not-always-fun) learning experience for our entire family. One year ago, I honestly had no idea what we were getting in to. I *thought* I'd done my homework, but quickly learned I'd relied tooooooo much on people who had gone through the process 5-10 years ago (and it's an entirely different world now!!) - and a lot of what I thought was true, was no longer applicable. We've made many school/life adjustments based upon what we learned during dd#1s senior year. She, in the end, chose a school that has a lot of the intangibles that really were important to her... it's a relatively expensive university, but with academic/athletic scholarships, she's in a great place. A school we barely even knew existed one year ago (it isn't in our area, and before this year - we were ONLY looking at local/state universities). The shocking revelation for us was how expensive the local state flagship was going to be!!! Their paltry academic scholarship (it was the smallest one dd was offered) was ... eye-opening. :mellow: When compared to Alabama (where she received their automatic full-tuition scholarship), it would have cost more $$ for her to go to the local state U. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that could be true. (assuming she lived on campus, or out-of-the-home, in both cases). INCLUDING travel costs to get her to Alabama and home again! So thankful for this board to bounce ideas and thoughts off of. What a life-saver!!!

Thanks for the info! DD already has a credit card on our account (same #, her name on the card) and I think I'll call the hotel in advance (if it turns out that she needs a hotel room) and make sure that it won't be a problem. I'd hate for her to not be able to check in!! O_O

😂😂😂😂 ok- maybe a better plan is to visit the ikea in a neighboring state sometime this summer. lol I can't handle any ikea drama on move-in week!

I love this idea!! There's an ikea close to dds campus... I think we'll add stopping-by-ikea on our list of things to do when we are there dropping her off! I could see this being really handy!

http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/chacabuco-backpack-32-liters?p=47926-0 http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/chacabuco-backpack-32-liters?p=47926-0 We're looking at one of these two patagonia backpacks for dd. Several of her friends have one or the other for (high)school, have used them for multiple years, and they like them. DDs hauled her friends' backpacks around and liked the balance/padding/straps of both styles. Both will accommodate up to a 17" laptop.

nm

DDs #2-choice school did this! The classes could be registered in advance, and then placement testing was done during orientation. If you didn't pass the testing, then you'd have to reschedule that math/english/foreign lang class. They did have "optional" freshmen orientations through spring/summer, but the only mandatory one was days before the semester started, so freshmen just showed up 3 or 4 days earlier (which makes SO much sense anyway!!) This school has 4 dates. DD can't make one of them, so it's down to 3. All are in June or July.

DD emailed and heard back from all of them within 24 hours. :lol: Funnily enough, while they were all very friendly and excited (lots of !!! and smiley faces...) they EACH only answered the question dd asked, specifically. Ball's back in dds court to extend the conversation further... :p The sound-byte conversations of today's teens. :001_rolleyes:

Thanks for the input! SO helpful!! :cheers2: More info: She can register for classes now. In fact, that's on her to-do list for this week. You can set up an appointment via phone or skype with an advisor and go back and forth as necessary to set up classes. Orientation really sounds like it's just a "here's where everything is," "meet some other incoming freshmen," and placement testing time. The *only* reason I would go is if I needed to be there to rent a hotel room. Sounds like 18 is old enough for that, if necessary, so I would stay home. (just saved $500! Ding!!!) All indications are that the orientation IS mandatory. And dd really wants to go... so we'll get her there. :D I'm just going to make sure we aren't spending extra $ where it's not needed on the trip! So, her checklist for a phone call so far includes: * Finding out if the math testing has to be done at orientation or if she could do that from home or locally somehow (or if they can use her math ACT score as a placement... we aren't positive from the website information). She likely won't go to an orientation until July, so it'd be great if she could do the placement test now so she can pick her Calc class. * If they can pick her up at the airport, or if we need to arrange a service to pick her up at the airport and take her to a hotel/university. * If she can arrive a day early/leave a day late to make arranging flights easier and stay on-campus instead of checking in to a hotel. We do have family abut 4 hours away, so we could also see about having her fly to them... and them driving her up that next morning for orientation. Pay for a hotel room for them to stay in that night, and then they could pick her up after orientation and either take her to the airport, or back to their house to fly out the next day. I hadn't thought about utilizing family til just this minute... hmmm... We are planning to drive up in August to drop her off - arriving about 5 days early, making a vacation of it. Then dd will have plenty of time to drive around, exploring the area and learning where everything is before it's move-in day. So, anything we-the-parents need to know, we can find out then.

DDs freshman orientation is a 2-day event. The students are supposed to check in around 9 am, stay overnight, and check out at an as-of-yet unknown time (it seems you get the full schedule *after* signing up... so dd will have to call tomorrow to get a better idea of the timeline). So - does this imply that she will need to find a flight that will get her to this city and a ride to get her to the university (they do not pick up students at the airport) by 9 am? Or is she supposed to fly in the day before, and get a hotel overnight (don't you have to be 21 to get a hotel room? Or is it 18?)? If I have to go with her, we have to rent a hotel room for 2 or 3 nights, pay for transportation for two of us, and airline tickets for two. This will turn into a $1500+ trip immediately, which seems beyond ridiculous for a super-quick 2-day visit to a school she's already visited... There are no flights leaving here in time to get her anywhere near the campus before 11 am. :mellow: So - I am obviously missing something here. Give me smart questions to suggest to dd before she calls them tomorrow? (most of the students at this university are from the general area, or at least within driving distance. So the information they provide isn't always helpful for those of us who live a zillion miles from the university! I'm getting used to it, but ... urgh!) :blink:

Me too, if you have a moment? I'd love to compare to what I did with dd#1 before my next two do Bio next year!!

Same thing happened with multiple pairs of Danskos! I pulled out a pair to wear to a funeral, and left ugly black bits of shoe sole all over the white marble entry way of the Catholic Church as I walked in. By the end of the services, it was both shoes. I had reasons to wear "dressier" shoes two more times shortly after that, and both of my other Danskos did the exact same thing even though they looked fine when I first put them on. All the shoes were about two years old but had been sitting in the closet for about a year. The leather uppers were fine! But not the soles!

I would be both annoyed at the last-minute request and a bit pleased that something I'd made in the past had made an impact enough to be requested again. :) (and I would probably email and tell them that I'd already gone shopping for the potluck and wouldn't be able to fit in another shopping trip and more time to cook between now and the potluck, and that I would surely make the requested entree the next time) I'm now craving artichoke, roasted pepper and black olive pasta salad. And I see that the recipe has already been requested and posted, so I know what *I* will be shopping for tomorrow to have later this week! :)

nm

Uh-oh! lol One organization DID get DDs arrival time mixed up with someone else's, so she had to sort through that confusion and go elsewhere at the airport to meet them... But it wasn't that stressful to did since she had *arrived* and there was plenty of places to sit, relax, and wait. :)

Make plans for a quick trip this summer and fly somewhere for a few days! Let her do the navigating, while you are just observing, basically! Have fun for a few days, and repeat the process on the way home! Then it will be a familiar experience for your dd and you won't have the worries! My oldest dd flew at 6 months old - and then nothing until her junior year in high school where she began a remarkable number of solo trips for various reasons. Taking her to the airport that first time was nerve wracking (one flight was late and she had to book it to catch her flight home - but she DID it just fine! Her luggage arrived the next day... lol). Through her flights, other things "went wrong" and she handled each one calmly and with a level head. It was remarkable. I even sent her on a solo trip out of the country over the summer, where all kinds of small glitches happened, and I was a nervous wreck... but she. did. just. fine! She went on a few college visits without us, and they never once forgot to pick her up at the airport. ;)

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This kind of thing drives me crazy. It has happened to us, and the gall of people to ask such a thing just leaves me with my mouth agape. :mellow: It's insulting on many levels (even their assuming that your dd will win is insulting ... no competition is ever a sure-thing! You know that... I know that... but people like this sure never seem to!) LOSING BUILDS CHARACTER AND MOTIVATION, PEOPLE! If you can't handle the losing, don't enter a com-pe-ti-tion. It's really fairly simple. Good luck to your dd!!

:(

I think, if he'd have accidentally elbowed a man instead of a woman, it would be a total non-issue as fast as the news-worthy-ness goes. I can't imagine the US president trekking through a hoard of politicians to retrieve anyone either (he has "people" for that, I assume) - but I don't blame the man. There are stupid "floor rules" in place and he was ready to get started. And Mr Polite Canadian Politician from party #2 is over there playing a wimp's game of Red Rover and unable to get through the people barrier to his seat... Politicians need to show up and WORK. All the delaying tactics and "floor rules" that bog things down is infuriating. It would have been smarter for him to send someone else, though. Less scandalous.

Congratulations!!! Great idea to transform the school room into something more applicable as a way to celebrate the occasion! :party:

DD took the ACT with writing because her schools required the writing portion, but we basically ignored the result, and it seems that the schools did too. Her ACT writing didn't reflect her ACT English scores, AP scores, or essay-writing ability by any stretch of the imagination. We had a good laugh at the scores each time she took it - because it was such a far cry from representative of the writer she has the ability to be. She admits that the essays weren't at-all good - but her rough drafts are always VERY VERY rough. lol She's one of those writers who NEEDS to refine and reign in her thoughts, and her rough drafts shouldn't be up for judgment by anyone and definitely do not reflect what her second-drafts and final-drafts look like. :lol: It's a ridiculous test, but I can't quite think of a better way for them to do it.

:iagree: That is exactly what I would do! :thumbup1:

DD didn't hear much of that until last year when she started her sport. Other girls AND their parents were genuinely surprised that she could go to college since she'd been homeschooled the whole way through (and we didn't use one of the public-school-at-home virtual schools). Last year, I received a lot of "Oh, it's a shame she won't be able to do-this-sport in college..." type comments. Continuing the conversations, each parent would explain that they'd thought homeschoolers just "didn't believe" in college, or "weren't able to go" to college, and they'd passed along this misinformation to their daughters. 80% of the team attend private schools. We just realized that dd happens to have the highest ACT score on the team too. harrumph. My daughter unable to go to college, indeed. :glare: