My son just got an email from UChicago admissions. He is currently committed to Lehigh (finance major) for the fall. He was on the UChicago waitlist and they had offered him the TO and he accepted it. Now he just got an email from admissions at UChicago asking when is a good time to discuss his waitlist status. I am assuming they are going to offer him admission for THIS fall.
HELP!
He is excited about Lehigh but was going to stay on the transfer list and do a wait-and-see after his first year at Lehigh. He already has a roommate lined up there and he is in ROTC and has the 4-year scholarship and Lehigh matches that with free room and board.
Lehigh also hosts the army ROTC which is very nice.
UChicago army ROTC is hosted at UI at chicago and it’s not really very clear if he would have to go to UI for his ROTC classes or if UChicago has them at their campus. It’s not a deal breaker if he has to go to UI for those classes but if UC hosted army ROTC, he said it would make his decision a lot easier.
We would have to pay room and board at UChicago (which is fine, we can afford it, not a big deal) but son likes the bragging rights of having 100% FREE college. One of the major upsides for UChicago is of course, it is prestigious but it is also known for being VERY academic and my son is a huge intellectual type and being around other intellectuals is pretty important to him.
If he had been offered admission to UC in the first place he probably would have taken it over Lehigh but now he isn’t sure what to do.
What advice do you have? Right now, he is so nervous and has no idea what he is going to do.
I posted recently of a similar situation where mine was emotionally invested in a school he was committed to and then got off a waitlist to another. Someone commented what would he have chosen if he got both offers at the same time and the answer was the waitlist. He did end up switching, but it was unsettling for about 12 hours adjusting his mindset. Sounds like your situation is same as ours, no wrong answer, either is a win.
One other thing in case yours is same, mine also very much wanted strong academic vibe and is a type A planner.
Part of the reason he was invested in first was the weeks he had to dive in and get better acquainted with it and start building community there in a way you can’t until committed.
He lost that period with the waitlist school so wasn’t a fair comparison anymore. He ended up realizing he would feel that same way if he’d had the time and felt his initial reactions were the more accurate gut check.
Yes he is a finance major at Lehigh. If he was to go to Chicago his major would be economics. He also REALLY loves classics and is thinking about a double major or minor in classics.
Commuting to make PT at 6:30am in January won’t be fun. Cadets on scholarship are expected to lead and do extra. I would expect most of the activities would be at UIC if that’s where the detachment is located. Maybe reach out to the ROTC program for more details? Good luck.
Leading in ROTC won’t be a negative for him. He was the batallion commander of his high school JROTC and loved it. He is looking forward to leading in his ROTC unit.
I’m glad he’s looking forward to the challenge but I would want to know the mechanics before deciding. How easy or difficult is it to get to UIC? What are the expectations for activities and time commitment? How much or how little would be at UC vs UIC?
This is a very valid point. It’s not so easy to get from U of Chicago to UIC and the “El” hasn’t been running on schedule since Covid. I would definitely encourage your student to get the details about ROTC.
That’s a good point, the el isn’t the closest to U of C to walk to and then the train time is long, that would be a real pain which makes me hope it isn’t actually a commute there and is on campus.
I would hope there would be a shuttle for the army rotc students to take them to UI. But I don’t know the logistics. I am 99% sure it would only be for 1 class per semester. His PT would be on campus with his unit at UChicago.
His career goal is to work for a big hedgefund or start his own. He plans to get a masters also. Military-wise, he has the option to do 4 years active duty or 8 years in the reserves after college. There are finance jobs in the army he would probably go for if he did active duty.
If Chicago was his first choice and he’s just having trouble pivoting at this point (which isn’t unusual, btw), I would say Chicago. It’s quite a different place/vibe from Lehigh.
Bragging rights aren’t the best reason for choosing a school, but it sounds like Lehigh checks a lot of boxes. Business and economics are different, for example. Having a strong ROTC cohort on campus could be nice. Does having to take the course at UI slso say something about size of cohort?
I would definitely recommend trying to put together a 4 year schedule at each, taking into account all requirements (ROTC, general distribution requirements, major and minor requirements, study abroad plans) and see how attractive each is.
To answer some of your questions, I believe the.ROTC battalion sizes are pretty similar because both schools include cadets from surrounding campuses. It’s just that Lehigh is the host school for their battalion and UI is the host school for the Chicago cadets.