I just did Kenyon’s NPC at CB with no problem. I did not sign in to my student’s CB account…could that be the issue?
Building a College List for Creative Writing/History Major [VA resident, 3.9 GPA, 1420+? SAT, <$50k]
Weird! I tried doing that for other schools. Not logging into CB. Maybe I’ll try another browser. Thanks for the heads up!
Update: I tried on another browser. Same issue, it gives us a message saying the server is down. Weird that you were able to access it without problems.
the issue with the NPCs is time. If they’re down, they come back up hours later.
The My Intuition is simple and I think you can save - but yeah, it’s not good.
I would make sure to do the NPCs before you go on tours.
It was discussed earlier in the thread how you can guestimate who will hit your # - I see a long message I posted #34 but there were some earlier.
In the end, if you have a price point, you have to build a list to hit that price point.
The NPCs will give you the better view but you can glean from some of the above posts - what will likely come in a good place - at least from a merit POV.
I know you went from not getting aid to getting need aid - so that impacts things too.
Did you get to Washington College - ? You had noted some recommendations for the school. I think that’s the kind of school that needs kids - Allegheny too - fine schools that likely push costs down to win students. You had mentioned UNCW too - are you planning a visit there? Public OOS with merit - you can zero in on a likely price pretty easily.
Thanks, I don’t know why we get the “server is down” message but @Mwfan1921 was able to run the NPC through CB just fine. I may have my student log in to his CB account and see if that works.
I will check that message #34.
Yes, I guess for these private LACs, we qualify for some need based aid which is awesome!
Washington College is too small for my son. Yes, he has added UNCW to his list - their CW program is a B.F.A. which he likes plus their opportunity to get a certificate in Publishing & Editing is a nice bonus. We will run their NPC and get a visit in. Thank you so much!
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UNCW will be easy. Currently (so assume inflation) -
OOS tuition + fees is $25,420
Room and Board is $15,406 so you’re about $41K - for tuition, room and board.
Then there’s merit aid. I would assume no need aid as it’s an out of state public (not named UNC). Some get need aid but I wouldn’t assume.
So they don’t have auto merit - as they note:
Meeting the minimum scholarship requirements does not guarantee that you will receive a scholarship award.
But we know from the CDS, we know 348 kids of 2,694 got merit, at an average of $3457.
So for this exercise, I’d go with the $41K - and hope for better. If that works, then great. If it’s too much, you can still try (like a Kenyon), but put it in the unlikely to make cost.
In the end, you should find (my opinion) a school that will 100% make cost - without scholarship. That’s most important.
Relying on need or merit (short of an automerit school) - is taking a chance - hence whether VCU or CNU or wherever - you need to have one that’s all good regardless of aid. Maybe that’s UNCW…
Good luck
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Thank you. It’s interesting, our in-state option (Va Tech), while we don’t qualify for need based scholarships, cost just $3,000 less than U of R for us - Va Tech without taking student loans versus U of R taking student loans on top of need based aid. I have a feeling we will come out better choosing our in-state public options which we duly noted on his list. Now if only it wasn’t as competitive here in NoVA…sigh…but I guess you’ll never know unless you try!
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But it comes down to - Va Tech you know your cost.
UR you are estimating your cost based on an NPC. We read tens, if not more, posts every year where the NPC was wrong. Maybe someone didn’t enter something in correctly or assets increased from when they did the NPC to when they submitted docs through IDOC, etc.
And then both are admission question marks - so I’m not saying he has to go to UMW - you said he’s not interested - but - that’s what he needs (give it another school name) - because he may very well have to fall back into that school - whatever it is. In many ways, it’s the most important school on the list.
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I know I’m getting in.
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I know I can afford it - 100% - because either it makes my cost or with an auto scholarship - I have this GPA so they are giving me x $$. That’s why I said MW - it can be any school that has.
Has he looked at Radford? They have a creative writing concentration. Va Tech is an admission question mark…Radford is not.
Radford is showing $39357 tuition, room and board.
It shows cheaper OOS tuition than in state so something seems odd…but.
Hard to tell if they have merit…their costs and aid section are…hmmmm…leave a lot to be desired on their website. But it’s another Virginia public.
Program: English, B.A. (E, A) - Radford University - Modern Campus Catalog™
Update: hi everyone! S26 finished his junior year with a 4.4w/3.9uw! He managed to pull that B in AP Calc AB to an A. He took the June SAT to pull his score above 1420. He’s leaving for Kenyon for their Young Writers Workshop this weekend already! We’re going to swing by Denison on our way to check out the campus. His experience at the Kenyon workshop will inform him if Kenyon is for him or not and we’ll go from there.
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Congratulations to your son. Job well done. 
Consider visiting Oberlin while you’re in Ohio. They have a Creative Writing major and offer merit scholarships.
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Denison’s campus is beautiful and Granville is a perfect little college town. Denison also has excellent history and creative writing programs, as well as an innovative journalism program, so it might be worthwhile contacting Admissions to see if they can meet you or introduce someone who can talk about these areas. (My son graduated in 2023.)
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Congratulations to your son, especially for pulling his calc grade up but for his overall work and results 
I wish him a great time at Kenyon’s Young Writers Workshop 
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S26 is at Kenyon and will be there for 2 weeks! So far so good, he said he’s having fun! We were not able to visit Denison and Oberlin when we dropped him off and unfortunately we will not be able to visit when we pick him up either. We’re not 100% sure if we can visit Denison and Oberlin in the summer, but does anyone here know what the vibe is like at Denison and at Oberlin? Are they similar to Kenyon?
What about the vibe at Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, Lafayette, Binghampton? Those are the schools on S26’s list. We are looking to see if he can whittle it down from 14 schools to 10.
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Oberlin’s vibe is quite different from Kenyon’s. Oberlin is more of a fit school, and a visit before enrolling is a must. I hesitate to recommend Oberlin for a non-LGBTQ non-recruited athlete male, don’t know if that describes your S (and not talking conservatory here.) Oberlin’s creative writing major is also competitive…everyone is not accepted and it can be quite difficult to get any creative writing classes in first year, which in turn makes it difficult to complete requirements to declare the major. There are many horror stories on the parent Facebook page. See these links:
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Thanks for the info. S26 is not LGBTQ but an ally and not an athlete either. What do you mean by Oberlin being “more of a fit school?”
About the competitive nature of their creative writing major, S26 was going to ask if the application is just a one and done thing or if he can reapply if not accepted. He’s definitely not going to apply if he will be unable to reapply. But now that you bring up how it’s even challenging to get into any CW classes in the first year, it gives me pause. I will let my son investigate more. Thanks for the insights!
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Generally when I say a school is a fit school it means that, IMO of course, a healthy proportion of students might not find the school to be suitable/a good fit for whatever reasons. Said differently, I generally believe many students would do well at many types of colleges, but a fit school may have qualities that make it less suitable for a relatively higher proportion of students.
For a non-LGBTQ non-recruited athlete male, one of my primary concerns at Oberlin would be a male fitting this profile would have a fairly small dating pool because Oberlin has a high proportion of LGBTQ students. Oberlin is also more progressive than many colleges. There is also an athlete/non-athlete divide that is deeper than at any LAC I know.
Lastly, I generally guide students to enroll at a college where there aren’t barriers to entry for their major (so in Oberlin’s case creative writing, but also schools with competitive entry to the business school in year 2/3 and other things of that nature.)
Just some thoughts, but yes, I encourage your S to do more research, there’s lots of info on the web, and he could try to navigate in to some students as well.
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We visited Oberlin twice (with both kids, 20 and 26 high school graduates) and found the vibe pretty similar to that of Kenyon (which our older ended up attending). The conservatory is one big difference, of course. Oberlin struck us as a little more self-conscious and performative than Kenyon back in 2019 but less so when we visited it this spring with our D26. Overall, we liked it a lot both times. Cannot comment on Denison.
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Interesting! I’m curious what you mean specifically by this divide? Wondering if this was true even in the 80s when I went there for 2 years. I remember sitting around with my (non-athlete) friends and wondering whether Oberlin even had any sports, because we never interacted with any athletes. Do they house them somewhere else?
IME it manifests in a few ways…athletes and non-athletes don’t mix much, and there is low school spirit with mostly athletes supporting other athletes at games/events.
Athletes are not housed separately although many do room together.
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Thanks for sharing! This goes to show that it’s best to visit a campus in person for our own perspective! 