Jan. 26: Received large white envelope from Wake Forest University, which said that I am accepted and that financial aid and scholarship information will be forthcoming.
Jan. 31: Received large white envelope from Baylor University saying that I am accepted and am being awarded a scholarship amounting to $20,000 a year.
February 3: Received very large yellow manila envelope with a grey 3-ring binder that included an acceptance letter, a FULL++ scholarship award offer as a Dean's Scholar, and lots of other information about the school and area.
February 12: Received a phone call from The Ohio State University saying that I am accepted and should soon receive a detailed letter to that effect in the mail.
February 15: Received an acceptance letter and scholarship award letter ($12,000 a year) in a small white envelope from Arizona. Also, received a letter in a small white envelope from Ohio State saying that I am accepted, which I already knew because of the phone call.
February 20: Received two small, business-sized envelopes in the mail: one from U-Wa and the other from U-MN. The former was a rejection letter :( and the latter was to notify me that the decision on my application was being deferred until later in the application cycle, which is slightly better than a rejection.
February 23: Phone call from Boston University to inform me of my acceptance!
March 1: Small, white business envelope from Michigan containing a rejection letter....bummer.
March 2: Large white envelope from Boston University informing me (again) of my acceptance...also, a faculty viewbook was included along with other typical materials.
Also, today I received an invitation to the upcoming admitted students open house at Ohio State with a special insert for an admitted students day for scholarship recipients. I have yet to hear from Ohio State about any scholarship award, but this makes me optimistic.
March 3: Scholarship award letter from Ohio State in the amount of $10,000 a year.
March 13: After too long a time of hearing nothing, today I received a letter from Boston University's office of financial aid with a $45,000 per year, renewable scholarship offer!
March 14: I spoke too soon when negatively evaluating the probability of my being accepted at the schools that I had yet to receive a decision from...today I received a business-sized envelope congratulating me on my acceptance to USC!
March 19: White business envelope from Chicago...they're unable to offer a place in their class...no big surprise.
March 20: Emailed withdrawals to Baylor and Wake Forest. I couldn't see attending either of them over the other options that I have. More withdrawals will likely follow by the end of this week.
March 26: First a letter came in the mail from USC informing me of an award of $30,000 a year in scholarship money based on merit and need...totally unexpected! This afternoon, I missed a call from Minnesota and then received an email informing me that I had been re-evaluated and accepted at Minnesota. Awesome day!
March 27: Finally gave in and called Penn today because (a) they're the only school I have yet to receive a decision from, and (b) I don't want to make any major decision without full knowledge of all of my options. Sadly, however, I was informed that my application file is "under review"...STILL :(
March 30: Withdrew from Alabama and Arizona by email. Alabama admissions director called within an hour and reiterated their strong belief in my ability to succeed and asked if there was anything they could do to help convince me to attend. Since it ultimately comes down to not wanting to stay in or practice in AL, all I could do was thank them for their kind words and faith in me. We then had a short conversation and she wished me well. I was greatly impressed throughout the application process by the great marketing of Alabama and by how desired they made me feel. All of the Alabama admissions people, faculty, and students that I've met have been so friendly and wonderful...it almost makes me wish I didn't have to choose.
April 3: Withdrew by email from Ohio State.
April 11: I emailed UMN yesterday because I had never received my admissions offer in the mail and also because I wanted to know if they had offered me any scholarship money. They quickly responded that it had been mailed to me shortly after their phone call to inform me of my re-evaluation and admission. I was also notified that I had not received any scholarship award. Today, however, I received a phone call from UMN, who left a message informing me that my file had been re-evaluated for a scholarship and that I had been awarded $8,000 per year! Needless to say, the good news made my day! Also, today I mailed in the seat deposit to BU; I'm definitely not ready to eliminate them as an option and may end up making multiple deposits (unless I definitively decide to go to BU really soon).
April 14: Email from UMN saying that they are raising my scholarship award by $4,000, which makes the new per year total $12,000. UMN definitely is making an effort to make me feel wanted, which I like, of course. Things are getting really interesting.
April 25: Withdrawn from UMN by email...tough decision, but I feel like it was the right one. Now it's down to USC or BU, which is not going to be easy (which I obviously know by now since I've spent quite a bit of time over the past month(s) trying to make the same decision).
April 30: Penn ding letter in small, white envelope. And with that the admissions cycle is finally complete!
May 10: I have decided for certain to attend USC. I only wish I could get my deposit back from BU; losing $200 hurts my broke ass.
