College Discussion - View Single Post - Overview of University of Cincinnati: College of DAAP Part I

taxguy · 12-24-2005, 07:14 PM

I should note that University of Cincinnati is quite funky in a number of ways that I never mentioned in my original post. For the most part, I will be addressing admission to the school of Design, Art, Archtecture and Planning since that was the program that my daughter applied to.

1. They sent us scholarship information in which we were asked to fill out a special application in order to qualify for their "Cincinnatus Scholarship." What made this funky, is that we had to spend time on this application, which took about an hour, but my daughter wasn't accepted into the program that she applied to. In fact, at the time of notification, few were notified of their acceptance. In point of fact, my daughter was denied admission to the DAAP program. UC argued that the admission and scholarship information is handled by different departments. I guess no one communicates with each other.

2. For most art and design programs, you need to submit a portfolio of your work. Cincinnati is one of the few top design schools that not only doesn't require any portfolio but doesn't even look at it if submitted.

3. Most schools want kids that attend magnet programs and top, competitive high schools. This is actually held against you at Cincinnati. Yes, you read that correctly.

In the School of DAAP, they want kids in the top 20% of their class or a minimum SAT score of 1320. The class rank requirement might be fine for your typical high school,but what happens if you attend a magnet school or a high schools that is reknown to be very competitive? The answer is tough luck! They make no allowance for this situation.

.3. Most colleges want kids to take the toughest course load possible. This is NOT true of University of Cincinnati, as strange as it may seem. They want an undergraduate, unweighted GPA of 3.75 for early acceptance and 3.5 or more (preferably more for regular admission to the DAAP school).

My daughter had an unweighted GPA of 3.45 but weighted GPA of 4.0 due to her taking almost all honors and APs. She even had actual college courses with almost a 3.7 in the 5 courses that she took. However, she was rejected. Normally, I wouldn't complain, however, I met someone who had a 3.6 unweighted GPA and took very few honors and AP courses who got accepted and had a similar SAT as that of my daughter. Huh?

4. When my daughter was rejected, the web site noting this was strangly worded. It actually started out saying, "Congratulations, you have been accepted to the University of Cincinnati." However, it then went on to not that she wasn't accepted to her first choice of major but was put in an "undecided major" in the school of Arts and Sciences, as if we would accept that.

5.Also, it wasn't the essay or the lack of ECs or quality of recommendations that caused her to be rejected. She was recommended by the former head of the alumni association, had great ECs and wrote an essay that her English teacher thought was terrific.

As I said, UC is a bit bizarre in a number of ways. I am not sure if this reflects what normally goes on at the university,but from their admission criteria, to the handling of various items, such as scholarship information , to even the the way they notify kids of rejection leaves a lot to be desired!

If you do apply to UC, keep in mind that I warned you of this.

12-24-2005, 07:14 PM	#8
taxguy Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Rockville, Maryland Threads: 277 Posts: 4,269	I should note that University of Cincinnati is quite funky in a number of ways that I never mentioned in my original post. For the most part, I will be addressing admission to the school of Design, Art, Archtecture and Planning since that was the program that my daughter applied to. 1. They sent us scholarship information in which we were asked to fill out a special application in order to qualify for their "Cincinnatus Scholarship." What made this funky, is that we had to spend time on this application, which took about an hour, but my daughter wasn't accepted into the program that she applied to. In fact, at the time of notification, few were notified of their acceptance. In point of fact, my daughter was denied admission to the DAAP program. UC argued that the admission and scholarship information is handled by different departments. I guess no one communicates with each other. 2. For most art and design programs, you need to submit a portfolio of your work. Cincinnati is one of the few top design schools that not only doesn't require any portfolio but doesn't even look at it if submitted. 3. Most schools want kids that attend magnet programs and top, competitive high schools. This is actually held against you at Cincinnati. Yes, you read that correctly. In the School of DAAP, they want kids in the top 20% of their class or a minimum SAT score of 1320. The class rank requirement might be fine for your typical high school,but what happens if you attend a magnet school or a high schools that is reknown to be very competitive? The answer is tough luck! They make no allowance for this situation. .3. Most colleges want kids to take the toughest course load possible. This is NOT true of University of Cincinnati, as strange as it may seem. They want an undergraduate, unweighted GPA of 3.75 for early acceptance and 3.5 or more (preferably more for regular admission to the DAAP school). My daughter had an unweighted GPA of 3.45 but weighted GPA of 4.0 due to her taking almost all honors and APs. She even had actual college courses with almost a 3.7 in the 5 courses that she took. However, she was rejected. Normally, I wouldn't complain, however, I met someone who had a 3.6 unweighted GPA and took very few honors and AP courses who got accepted and had a similar SAT as that of my daughter. Huh? 4. When my daughter was rejected, the web site noting this was strangly worded. It actually started out saying, "Congratulations, you have been accepted to the University of Cincinnati." However, it then went on to not that she wasn't accepted to her first choice of major but was put in an "undecided major" in the school of Arts and Sciences, as if we would accept that. 5.Also, it wasn't the essay or the lack of ECs or quality of recommendations that caused her to be rejected. She was recommended by the former head of the alumni association, had great ECs and wrote an essay that her English teacher thought was terrific. As I said, UC is a bit bizarre in a number of ways. I am not sure if this reflects what normally goes on at the university,but from their admission criteria, to the handling of various items, such as scholarship information , to even the the way they notify kids of rejection leaves a lot to be desired! If you do apply to UC, keep in mind that I warned you of this. Last edited by taxguy : 12-24-2005 at 07:21 PM.