anyone from the Northeast?

Indy15
Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:10:35 +0000

Hi XYZMom:

I think the biggest deciding factor for her was the campus visit, when she had one of those moments when it all just felt so right. It certainly wasn’t the money (she received significantly more merit money at all the other schools, and chose USD in spite of that). She was also initially disappointed not to be invited to apply to their honors program, since she had been accepted at almost all of the other school’s honor programs she had applied to. However, USD assured us that if she performed well enough first semester she would always still have the opportunity to apply for the honors program during freshman year, and with an average 3.9 GPA in last year’s incoming class at USD, projected to be even higher this year, she felt the academic rigor would be excellent even without being in the honors program. We visited in mid February, starting at USD, and then flying up the next day to visit Santa Clara (where she received over double the merit aid she got at USD). We had an excellent tour guide, who did a great job of connecting with the kids (and adults) on the tour, but we also met and chatted along the way with other USD kids and a professor. She also has a friend who is a freshman there who she met up with after the offical tour to get more of a true insider’s feel, which further confirmed all of her positive feelings.

So, in a nutshell, it seemed the perfect size (not too big, not too small, good professor student ratio), the perfect academic fit, a student body she can relate to (smart, funloving, athletic, friendly, giving to others), and having all the programs available she could possibly want, all set on an incredibly beautiful campus which is inspiring on it’s own merit. From a practical parent standpoint, I was impressed with their post graduation job and graduate school placement (can’t remember specifics now, but know I was impressed during the post tour info session).

Other schools she was considering attending besides Santa Clara included Miami of Ohio (probably her 2nd choice), Dayton, Marquette, Saint Louis, and Xavier. It was hard for her (and us) to walk away from some of the money the other schools offered, but she wanted to go where her heart told her to go, which was USD.

Good luck with your decision, and maybe our daughters will meet in August!