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Update: 4/29/09:

After more than three weeks of waiting, Jeffrey Cattel is finally a Northwestern student.

Although the Medill prospie said he was “99.9 percent in the door for NU” for several weeks, he did not receive financial aid information until Friday — giving him only a week to decide on a school.

“That was the only con in the entire process of applying,” he said. “It was so slow on their part.”

Cattel said the delayed financial aid information is due to his parents’ taking longer to file this year’s taxes. While other schools offered him at least an estimate for financial aid, Cattel said Northwestern was the last school to send him a financial aid letter.

During the application and decision process, Cattel and his parents worked with a local college planner to make sure they filled out financial documents correctly and understood the financial aid awards Cattel received.

“We just wanted to make sure we don’t make any missteps,” Cattel said. “Sort of to make sure we’re going through the process correctly, since it’s my parents’ first time.”

Cattel and his parents submitted the tuition reply Tuesday. He said it felt good to be done with the decision.

“It’s nice to think further,” he said. “There’s an end to the SATs, to the application process.”

Cattel, who participated in the National High School Institute Journalism “Cherub” program, said he knows of about 20 of his peers from the program who will be attending Northwestern next year. Having close friends among that group, he said, will make starting college more comfortable.

“You’ve been around the same people for 12 years, so it’s a little scary going somewhere new,” he said. “It’s like starting first grade again.”

Cattel said he is looking forward to having a roommate and taking classes in Medill.

“It’s nice to have a happy ending,” he said.