5 schools meant 5 application fees of between $30 and $55.
Ouch.
Five applications for a teen who may not even go to college now and enlist in the Air Force instead.
One day she can't wait to go away to school.
The next day she can't wait to go to boot camp.
The one common thread seems to be the "wanting to leave here" part.
Hmmm.....If I was the sensitive sort I'd take an affront to her wanting to leave us.
Quite the mercurial child, she is.
And no, it's not the alien teen life form hormones at play.
She came out of the womb not being able to make up her mind.
I can just see her now, after making her parents shell out $200+ to apply to schools, and getting into all 5 schools, and she ups and says forget it and joins the military.
After all, she took the Armed Forces Aptitude Test(the ASVAB)that indicates if you are smart enough to enlist and what jobs or career paths you qualify for. The minimum score to join the AF is 36......a 36 won't be flying planes however. ;-)
And she scored a 93 out of 99 on it so she qualifies for about 98% of the jobs in that branch of the service.
So now she's trying to decide between dropping bombs from the plane she is piloting or performing neurosurgery at the US Air Force Academy Hospital for a living.
She still has the physical fitness test to take before she can sign up to be a Jr. Birdman, er....woman however. The getting in-shape part is proving to be the harder side of things.
Unlike #1 son, who waited to apply to schools until Feb.(not one to jump right on a task, is he?), Daughter got motivated to apply to her choices by the end of September. I think it was more of a "let's get this over with and fast" kind of deal with her rather than a 'get up and go' attitude.
And late last week, she heard back from the 1st of the 5 schools.....the University of Pittsburgh(PITT).
She was accepted into their Pre-Med program for 2011!
Not this Pitt....
This one....
It's no Harvard but the freshman acceptance rate is quite low so we are proud of her.
4 more schools to hear back from plus the Air Force keeps beckoning to her.
But if she decides to go to PITT, you can come visit me at my new address--
Sluggy
c/o The Poor House
13 Broke Lane
ArmPitt, PA
It could be worse. Yes, Pitt is a public university but it's a lot pricier than the one #1 son attends. Daughter will still need $$ after we kick in what we have set aside for her education. Crossing the fingers she gets some academic scholarship monies or she'll have a substantial student loan debt when she graduates.
But Daughter has that all figured out too. If she attends college first, she'll enlist after college and get the Air Force to repay her loans for her in exchange for her service in the armed forces.
That's my girl.....always thinking of a way to save money!
Now if I could just get her to fold her own laundry and put it away.....
Sluggy
You are a good mama. We made Samantha pay her own application fees. She ended up only applying to her first choice school...well she said it was her only choice school. That was where she WAS going to go. Fortunately, U of H wanted her without her even applying and they had the bucks to back up the offer.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, did this ever bring back memories! She will figure it out soon I hope before she goes off to school and decides she really wanted the air force. :-)
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, my son (who is a boomerang child and has moved back home) is about to complete all his hours at the community college and has been busy applying to every. single. university. in the area. Yes, lots of fees. But he is paying for them his own self. He hasn's asked us for any help yet. Maybe the free rent and food and cel phone is enough? : )
ReplyDeleteAh, but to have the options! DS applied to 4 schools (which my father told me later was way too few... the same number I'd applied to back in the day) and was accepted to only one - the back-up school he didn't want to attend. LOL! It's been an interesting 4 years from that point - he rocked the first year and almost flunked out of the second, but ended up graduating with honors with a degree that now has him managing a hookah lounge and producing his own comics ;)
ReplyDeleteShe will excel at whatever she chooses, and that's just so wonderful. You must be thoroughly proud!!! 93 out of 99 - hot damn!
Frances--Thanks for the love gal!
ReplyDeleteWe have found that when it comes to paying for stuff or not for Daughter, she is using the argument "if you paid for it with my older brother, you should pay for it for me too".
We are so glad we weren't pushovers paying everything for #1 son now because it would be coming back to bite us with her!lolol
I think kids appreciate stuff if they have "skin in the game"...I should know by now that you share that sentiment as well.
I'm glad the college stuff worked out for Sam and y'all....
Precious--We know she'll figure it out eventually too. But she'll make it a living heck here until that day.lolol
ReplyDeleteLisaPie--I would think that room/board and their cell phone lifeline would be PLENTY enough! Do like Nancy Reagan and just say no!lolol
ReplyDeletePretty--It just goes to show that you just never know how anything will turn out. I think I applied to 3 schools, got into all of them but ended up where I went by default pretty much. I ended up changing majors and getting a degree I never thought I would get....but it worked out because I wouldn't have met DH if I hadn't gone to that school.lol
ReplyDeleteYes, Many options but too many for our Ms. Fickle Puss I think. And she is resistant to any suggestions we make(because when you are 17/18, your parents are dumb as bricks), so she is bound and determined to find out the hard way that what the PR people at the schools and air force are telling her is not the whole story. She'll carve her own path and we'll have to bite our lips and keep the "told you so's" to ourselves. ;-)