Tonight I received an email from one of the schools that S24 applied to that a decision was in the portal. I thought that was strange. S24 had a track meet and I debated telling him, but I did and he opened his portal there. He was accepted with highest merit.so far, but COA is about the same at all schools. He has verbally committed to a school, but It’s nice to see the options.
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Right now, our household is grateful that all of D24’s apps were finished in November and she isn’t having to scramble around right now. Having a rolling admission decision in early was definitely a confidence boost for her.
Hope everyone’s app season is going ok so far!
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Funny timing:
- when DD thinks she should have ED1 to a SLAC/wants to ED2, I’m thinking 'No, I don’t think we can afford it/there are more affordable options".
And then we flip:
- today, she’s telling me about what kids got into what ED colleges, I’m thinking, what the hey, it’s only money, ‘You should apply ED2 to the SLAC (hopefully giving you a little boost in acceptance)’
and she responds that she’s glad she didn’t ED anywhere.
She wants to see what money (merit/financial aid) that she’ll get (as she was awarded a Dean’s Scholarship from one state college and some Presidential Scholarship from another state college).
Because she knows that Mom&Dad pays for half (100% up front), and the kids pays us back 50% after graduation.
So her portion = half of state college = $60K total (4yrs) is better than $175K total for SLAC.
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Oh KY! We’ve never been to Center College area. However, we’ve traveled all over KY and lived in KY (closer to Cincinnati). DS24 was born over there.
Depending on where you are coming from, it may be different.
In general, people and places are nice, your daughter should be fine.
It is definitely scenic with rolling hills!
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We’ve close friends’ daughters studying in NKU and UofLouisville.
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D24 just got accepted to Centre College!
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That’s an awesome Christmas present. Congratulations to D.
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$26,000/yr merit scholarship, too!
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That is wonderful! Congratulations!! Much to celebrate this holiday season!
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Hope everyone had good holidays!
Our journey is going as expected and we are happy for that.
S24 has applied to the study abroad program. We need to decide soon on the location (leaning tower of Pisa, I mean Italy) and put in the deposit.
UF decisions will be only coming out in February…it is a super reach at this point.
Decided not to apply for FAFSA as it would not be useful.
Looking forward to the new year!
S24 will be officially an adult 
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Wondering about the successes of all the kids in this thread.
Seems like most if not all are progressing well with the applications and some of them even got merit awards! Impressive.
To be honest, when I attended the high school webinar in spring '23 (last school year), it was eye opening and unbelievable when I saw average GPA for fall 22 was over 4.0 for most FL publics.
Same for SAT/ACTs.
This thread has helped to see the other way and now I can say that there are all the possibilities for B average students. S24 got admitted to 3 FL publics!
Are there any students yet to get any admission?
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The thing about kids in this GPA range is that I think they can skip the “I need to get into a T-20” school craziness and go right to researching “good fit”. Once they find that, it’s more about the school selling itself, rather than the students doing backflips to fit themselves into some mold of what they think the school wants. It’s a much better experience than what the kids with the tippy-top GPAs go through in my opinion.
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I totally agree.
I agree with you 100% This thread has helped me figure out how to help my kids pursue fit and to see how wonderful a wide range of schools can be. I confess my S24 has pursued a path I initially didn’t want for him. I really thought he needed to be in a southeastern LAC, preferably a prestigious one. He doesn’t want that. He wants a big, state school with big football and a big campus. He has great options and he is very excited about his choices. The insight and perspective of this board have helped me let go of what I thought was best for him and let him take the lead. I am grateful.
I also am grateful for this board helping me learn about the benefits of so many schools I didn’t know well. My D24 wanted a New England LAC, an area of the country I didn’t know at all, and where of course the only schools I had heard of were the prestigious ones. Thanks to the wisdom on CC, we toured a wide range of schools, many I previously knew nothing about, and I think D24 ultimately did a great job of focusing on fit over prestige.
Sometimes CC can get a bad rap for being an intimidating, cut throat world of the highest achievers who are HYPSM or bust. I found the opposite to be true. I have learned so much, not just about colleges, but also how to support my kids on THEIR journeys, and to be a better parent along the way. There are days I really don’t know how I would not have lost my mind without this group.
Thank you to everyone who has made this wild senior year so much better! And cheers to a great 2024 for all!
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D24 got into Southwestern!
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Is she starting to have a clear favorite or still looking at all the pros and cons of each? So exciting she has so many great options.
Nope, wants to see what financial aid comes back with.
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We had a small family conference about this question a little earlier today.
Some things we discussed (‘we’ = D24, DH, me):
- ASU is not in the running. D24 won’t be attending there.
- U of A is still on the list, but a fair # of their classes are a ‘hybrid’ model, where some sessions are online and some are in person. Sometimes, that means that all of the lectures are pre-recorded and online and the only time you go in person is to take a quiz or test. Therefore, you get pretty much NO interaction with students in the class. Or even the professor if you don’t specifically seek him/her out in office hours. This is, honestly, the worst kind of class for D24. This is what a lot of 9th grade was (everything, including tests, being online) and her grades suffered a LOT from it.
- The 3 private schools all guarantee that you’ll graduate in 4 years.
- The 3 private schools also all guarantee that you’ll be able to get into all of the classes you need for your major & minor in the timeframe you need it. And you meet regularly w/your faculty advisor on all of this to make sure you’re on track. At all of the public schools on D24’s list, you’re kind of on your own with this and sometimes, your ability to graduate on time will absolutely be dependent on availability of that one or 2 classes which are only offered every other year.
- D24 said she’d prefer to not go to college in KY, would be happy to go to college in TX.
- Austin College & Southwestern are both within an hour of an airport that is a direct flight to our home airport (Phoenix). D24 considers this a plus.
- We expect that Southwestern will be more expensive than Austin College.
- D24 thinks that for her Physician Assistant career goal, Austin College is clearly a better option than U of A, UNM, NMSU, Southwestern, or Centre. DH & I were relieved to hear this.
- Austin College is definitely in the affordable realm for our family.
- Austin College pairs up freshman roommates based on everybody taking the Myers-Briggs personality test. Apparently, it’s worked out so well that many students end up choosing to be roommates with that person for the rest of college. D24 really likes this.
there’s more, but will post more later.
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some CON’s that we talked about re: Austin College:
- she’ll have to fly home on breaks instead of us just driving to Tucson to pick her up, so travel expenses will be more. BUT I don’t want her coming home for a visit for at least the 1st 6 weeks of college anyway regardless of where she attends.
- there isn’t a lot of stuff w/in easy walking distance of the school, unlike at U of A or Southwestern. BUT the parking fees are only like $100/semester or for the entire school year (it’s incredibly cheap), so odds are high that she’ll end up meeting people with cars. This is what I ended up doing in college for the 1st 2 years (bummed rides off of friends).
- there’s no on-campus pharmacy, so if she gets sick and needs a prescription filled, she’ll have to go off campus to a CVS or something. She could use Uber/Lyft or bum a ride off somebody in her dorm though. Probably when she’s a junior, we’d let her have a car at school.
- D24 is a little concerned that it might be “boring” on the weekends, but there’s a movie theater in town and the college does organized activities on campus & out in the community to keep students involved and plugged in. So I don’t think that this will be as big a deal.
PRO’s of Austin College (almost all of these apply to Southwestern, too):
- smaller class sizes
- all the classes are in person
- much easier access to research experience & internships
- really good pre-health advising
- it’s affordable (I don’t think Southwestern will be affordable though)
- Austin College has this cool pre-health student May Term trip every year or every other year to Ghana for 3 weeks where you do public health work in the field
- lots of student support on campus (this is true of Centre, too)
- lots of organized activities every week (but every college everywhere has this). The 3 private schools she got into seem to promote it more though.
- not allowed to rush a sorority or fraternity until the spring. D24 isn’t interested right now in Greek life.
- on campus housing guaranteed for all 4 yr (true of Southwestern & Centre)
- guaranteed interview to Austin College’s PA grad program if you start there as a freshman & maintain a 3.5 GPA. Plus, admissions to the PA grad program doesn’t require a standardized test (like GRE).
- preference in admissions to their PA grad program if you start there as a freshman
- guaranteed interview to Oklahoma City University’s PA grad program if you maintain a certain GPA (don’t remember what the GPA min was though).
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If so, you’re only 30 minutes or so from the northern suburbs of Dallas, which collectively contain everything that it’s possible to do in the known universe. 
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