<p>@Sally22, I am not sure what route we took to UGA, but I was both surprised and not surprised. I sort of expected that is would be too big and get crossed off the list, but wanted to check anyway. We were originally scheduled to go to an info session about the honors program, but that overlapped with the info session at oxford, so we opted for Oxford. Then that ran long and we didn’t even make it to UGA in time for the regular tour, so it was going to be a self tour. I do think they have a great honors program, but don’t know how it is set up physically. Do they have a true campus within a campus? I was surprised because along the way a couple people said that Athens was pretty, but we didn’t see pretty. Not ugly! lol…but just not what one would generally comment on as pretty, so maybe we did miss seeing the right sections!</p>
<p>Does your D not want to go to UGA, instead of finding someplace like it? Or are you just trying to find back ups?</p>
<p>Oh, and I have read about College of Charleston. I have moved it on and off the list a few times, I can never remember for sure why it gets crossed off, but it has been crossed off a few times. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt is extremely generous with need-based aid if you are in the right income bracket. (We are) Lots of drinking on campus. 'Bout all I know!</p>
<p>Have any of you researched OOS scholarships at any of the following schools?</p>
<p>Ohio State
Univ. of Cincinnati
U Colo Colo Springs
Auburn
North Carolina State Univ.</p>
<p>I know UT Dallas’ scholarship system. It’s easier to understand and pretty straight forward. I also know if a student gets a scholarships, they are automatically considered a resident.</p>
<p>Thanks sbjdorlo, unfortunately we are in the doughnut hole. So we do not qualify for need-based aid. We are hoping for some merit aid as son did very well on his ACT and SAT.</p>
<p>@joe2015 Have you run the net price calculator on the Vandy site? The donut hole varies a lot in size by school. I did 31 net price calculators over a crazed couple of days last year, and tracked net price after grant aid only, adding back any loans and student jobs. Vanderbilt was the lowest of all, $3000 less than the #2 spot, which was Davidson.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo What I know about Auburn OOS scholarships. My d13 got their presidential scholarship which was 15k/yr and the highest automatic scholarship (34 ACT and 4.5 top 5% in class) and was also invited to apply for a full tuition scholarship ( don’t remember what it was called). My s15 is also looking at Auburn and we looked at lower scholarships. ACT 26 is 2k/yr and ACT 29 is 6k/yr. I think these are both with a 3.7. </p>
<p>I think. Ohio State has hood info on their website. We are in state so I don’t know much about OOS. </p>
<p>ahsmuoh, do they only go by ACT? My son’s SAT is the equivalence of about a 33.5 ACT. His GPA is good, too. They are a school that has industrial design, I think. Not sure that my son would want to go to school that far away, but I just wondered. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>My son said no to school in Ohio, so that’s off the list.</p>
<p>Don’t you love it when they just say “no” to a school and you don’t know why?
Shoboe thanks for the information about U of SC. My D ruled it out before even seeing it. </p>
<p>Wake Forest- my D liked it enough to apply and not cross it off her list, but it’s not her top choice. She liked the school spirit, traditions, and class size. </p>
<p>So far her top choice continues to be a Emory. Perhaps I should start buying lottery tickets. I set up a binder with dividers for the 12 schools on her list, and she drew a little heart on the tab that said " Emory." If I could afford for her to apply ED I would, but unfortunately I can’t. Such is life. </p>
<p>2 more visits today, 1 more drops from the list. We’re down to 7 with no academic reaches and only 1 “Institutional Method” (CSS Profile) school. </p>
<p>@sbjdorlo I am sure there are SAT equivalents at Auburn. It is on their website. And yes they do have Industrial design - we had a friensds son that applied at Auburn and UC for Industrial Design. Auburn is a beautiful campus. It is very high on my son’s list. </p>
<p>@twogirls, I know what you mean, about the lottery tickets and the little heart on the tab. sighhhhhhhhh. At the info session for Oxford, where it was easier to ask questions than the packed house at Emory, they said that if merit aid was going to be important for the decision, they recommend applying regular decision. I don’t quite understand that. I know that ED is binding, but only IF finances work out. So I am not sure why it’s best to wait for regular decision. At Emory, they did say that this past year nearly half of their acceptances came from the ED applications and that there was a lot of discussion about that in the office, with the general feeling that 50% was too much, so they may work on that this coming year, which would be good for regular app folks. He said 35% was more industry standard. They also said, when another parent asked, that if a student is rejected during ED, they do not generally go into the Regular stack to be reevaluated. </p>
<p>I see Auburn’s non resident scholarships aren’t as good as the resident ones. I’ll run a calculator, but even if my son got the Presidential (which his stats would suggest he’s eligible for, interestingly, OOS students have a higher bar to hurdle), it wouldn’t be near enough.</p>
<p>I see for the invitational scholarships, they want 1490 CR+M. My son’s is 1480. As Maxwell Smart used to say, “Missed it by <em>that</em> much!” </p>
<p>Looks like a beautiful campus, indeed. Oh well!</p>
<p>When we visited Emory we were also told that if you need merit it is best to apply RD and not ED. I think he said the same about financial aid, except I also know that if the aid does not work out you can be released from the ED agreement. In any event she will apply RD and hope for the best. I keep telling her not to have a favorite but of course it is human nature to have one. </p>
<p>I was reading Vanderbilt’s website about letters of recommendation. It said that the best letters do not just rehash all of the activities that are already on the common app, but rather the best letters reveal something about you that has not yet been mentioned - specific examples from the classroom, for example. I am not sure who benefits from this information. Do hs teachers look at the website? I can’t imagine my D telling her teacher how to write her recommendation letter unless she was specifically asked. Her physics teacher asked her to choose 3 or more words that describe her with each having an example from class to back up the description. Her English teacher asked for nothing- but her teacher has known her very well for 3 years. I can’t imagine my D directing her teacher to the Vanderbilt website to get some letter writing tips. </p>
That is a great idea! That might be a good way to approach the brag sheet if you aren’t given any specific instructions. I can see teachers asking the student if the school is looking for anything in particular, or just mentioning to the teachers when you ask them for the letter, that the school likes to see specific examples. I guess it just depends on the teacher, how comfortable a student might feel mentioning that sort of thing. </p>
<p>I usually do not have time to post this early in the week, but . . . we have ACT scores! We are happy and pleased with BHG’s increased score–what a difference a year can make in one’s score. We can safely state she can apply anywhere with her new ACT composite. :D/ Congratulations to the all the ACT test takers. Next up, SAT scores on Thursday. I will try to post that evening, as BHG needs a certain score to validate her PSAT. </p>
<p>Congratulations @bunheadmom on BHG’s great score! </p>
<p>I have seen a few posts on CC now that say the scores mean they can apply anywhere…Does that mean a perfect score?! Or is there some other score threshold (ACT or SAT) that is generally accepted as in range for most/all schools?</p>
<p>D has now taken the SAT and the ACT one time each. She was planning to just take the SAT again in the Fall, but it was really just the math that hurt her on the ACT, so she may consider taking that again too. Using the conversion chart for the composite scores, the SAT and ACT are neck and neck for her.<br>
Do schools look at the individual scores on ACT at all, or really just that composite?</p>
<p>If you are much better in one subject than another, so one is pulling your score down, will it be helpful to go with the SAT so that schools will notice the strong score…“Wow, this wanna-be english major can’t do math, but look at those great reading and writing scores!”…that sort of thing? Does that happen? lol</p>
<p>@ahsmuoh , my D took the ACT with writing and she got her score yesterday. I don’t think there is any reason as to how the scores are released.</p>
<p>@jennie11 I was surprised to see a mention of merit aid from Middlebury, since it’s super-selective and those are almost exclusively need-based only. And sure enough, that’s what it says on the website: <a href=“Common Questions | Middlebury”>Common Questions | Middlebury; There seems to be a lot of confusion around this issue (like much else in this mysterious process)</p>
His GPA is good, too. They are a school that has industrial design, I think. Not sure that my son would want to go to school that far away, but I just wondered. Thanks for the info.</p>
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