QOTD - How accurate are the stats people post on “chance me” threads? I keep hearing that people make up stats but not sure the benefit of doing it?
@hadmeathello - I’m not sure I agree with that… DH loves country music and I can’t stand it. 
@jedwards70 …he sounds like my S. A bomb going off in his room made me laugh. I know we catch slack because he is not even looking at Texas schools. The thing is Texas schools want you to hold a 3.5 GPA and with engineering that maybe tough. I think my S can do it however not willing to take the chance and the Texas schools are just okay…in his book. Have you already been to visit Alabama? We are trying to get there soon. Visited OU and loved their campus. If Alabama is anything like that then my S will be just fine.
What is the Blount program? When I looked at that dorm is was one that they had to share a room…right?
@Tgirlfriend …another Texas engineering family looking at UA. D was kind of “meh” about A&M. She has her acceptance and is awaiting engineering review though so at least we have it.
UT is great and all—but competition is straight into major and fierce and then once you are in there doesn’t seem to be ANY wiggle room to change to a different major. From a family and financial standpoint—seems like an iffy investment. Plus…there’s the fact that I HATE I-35. UGH.
People look at us like we are crazy too. Oh well. I’ve learned to keep it shut unless I am with trusted friends.
@endesmom I was thinking of ‘Bothell’ campus for UW that would be directional. Even though it doesn’t have a direction in it’s name. It’s really a satellite campus rather than it’s own school. But I guess they don’t have the name north, south, etc in the name. I guess if you consider something a directional school simply because it’s has a ‘direction’ in it’s name it’s a bit arbitrary and doesn’t really designation a certain type of school.
@dfbdfb You explanation seems to be the most understandable.
CSU “East Bay” is the only one in CA that counts. Northridge is the name of the city. East Bay isn’t the name of a city, but a designation of the area. Except the Cal States are their own system, and aren’t directional from the states “flagship”.
In CA you could consider UC Berkley and/or UCLA your flagship. (take your pick… you could start a flame war about this.). And all the rest of the UC’s directional colleges. (San Diego, Irvine, Davis, Irvine, Santa Cruz, etc) But I think anyone in the administration at these schools might strongly disagree. I think these schools started as directional schools, but these days they really are campuses with their own reputations. I’ve certainly never heard anyone refer to them that way.
@carachel2…I hear you about I-35 not a fun road to travel on. When we went to visit OU we took the Indian nation turnpike…way better. My S visited A&M this summer…I tried to get him to apply and he wasn’t having it. He didn’t care that there were 66,000 students. He would prefer a smaller campus. A&M is a great school just not for my S. I am glad to find others on here like us. :-h
@Tgirlfriend Yes, we visited in September and he really liked it. I haven’t been to the OU campus so I can’t compare it. I can compare it to A&M though and it is prettier than A&M but spread out and in a small town like College Station. The campus doesn’t feel as big as A&M and definitely not as crowded as UT felt. There are some nice restaurants and shops on the strip and the town has a mall and other restaurants a short drive away. Birmingham is about an hour away if you want more of a city feel but nowhere near the size of any of the big Texas cities.
@curiositycat333 Yes, the test format is important. My younger daughter took the last sitting of the old SAT as a 7th grader. Then my D17 took the new SAT in May and the ACT with the return to the 2-12 score for the essay in September. Three completely different formats!
I think I should make my kid apply to Bama because I’m feeling completely out of the loop! 
Congrats to all of you with acceptances and scholarships in hand.
@jedwards70 thank you for the information. We are hoping to get up there soon. We missed the sign up for honors college visit. Already filled on the 1 day we could go. They were super nice and said they would give us a tour when we could make the trip. We still have to fill out the application for honors though.
@curiositycat333 @dfbdfb With respect to “directional” vs. “flagships,” there are no hard and fast rules and states differ in how the organize their public unis.
In CA, for example, you have both the UCs and the Cal States/State Unis. For the most part, the UCs tend to be more research based, while the latter tend to have more applied programs, although, this is not true in all subjects. The SUNY Universities and SUNY state colleges are similarly set up. Neither state has either “directionals” or official “flagships,” but in the case of CA, it could be said that either Berkeley alone or both Berkeley and UCLA function as CA state flagships. The other UCs are regional research universities, and the Cal States (e.g. Northridge, Cal Poly, SDSU) are regional state universities and colleges.
Another Texas family here. We were not high on UTA or A & M for engineering and DS felt at home at UA. He filled out his profile as neat but his clothes feel right at home on his floor as do all his books, papers and homework. Not sure neat is the word I would have used. He has been too busy with his AP classes to even peek at his matches yet. We have been impressed with the flexibility available at UA if he decides engineering is not for him.
@Tgirlfriend – @carachel2 posted a great review about UA in early September if you want to take a look. It was spot on.
UCSD, UCLA, UCB, UCI and UCSB are all in the top 50 national university usnwr list.
That why I’m skeptical anyone would consider them regional or directional.
We are not a Bama family, sadly, because D17 has ruled out anything that far away from home. I made the sales pitch! But truth be told, I don’t know how well I’d deal with her being that far away either. I mean, I know I’ll cry like a giant baby when she goes as it is. :((
New York doesn’t have “directionals” either - we don’t even really have a flagship, so much as a few regional university centers (Binghamton in central NY, Buffalo on the Lakes, Albany in the capital district, and Stony Brook on Long Island) with lots of smaller colleges (some with specialties) scattered throughout the state. D is applying to Stony Brook and either Binghamton or Geneseo (“the LAC” of the SUNY system) as her in-state safeties.
I’m gearing up for our major LAC visit this coming weekend - Vassar, Swat, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford on the plate. Swat is such a long shot, but she wants to look at it anyway. Honestly, Haverford and Vassar look reach-y too for unhooked white girls, the more I investigate. Thank goodness she’s interested in some of the women’s colleges where her being a girl is not a competitive disadvantage. This whole process seemed much easier when she was thinking about engineering!
Also set up an interview later this month with reps from RIT who are doing a traveling road show that hits close enough to our area to make it to. Thank you @CT1417 for tipping me to check into the “interest” factor for D’s safety schools, and letting me know about these types of road show opportunities! I figure having her do the RIT interview first will be good practice, as they seem like they may be pretty important to some of her reachier LACs.
@jedwards70 …Thank you I will try to find that review.
@curiositycat333 UW Bothell, and Tacoma, are I guess in some ways both. Locally I can tell you they are (to a large degree) considered more along the lines of a CC. Either a commuter nighttime older student school or a stepping stone to the “real” UW either for cost or grade reasons (or WSU Vancouver and wherever their other branch campuses are). Very functional but zero personality or identity of its own.
They are limited in scope in terms of majors and programs in comparison to the flagship and to the directionals, but it’s a really good school for what it does offer.
The “directionals” at least as WA kids/parents define them are very much their own school, own history, own campus, own sports or feature program’s, own location and very much their own personality/reputations and while UW is certainly the flagship many in the state would argue that Western is a better school than WSU (and harder to get into).
Not that either are hard, it’s really an apples to oranges comparison but the point is that in this case, the directional is definitely not thought of as “lesser”, even in comparison to the flagship as it simply offers a very different experience that for some, is vastly preferred (i.e. no greek, no football, smaller campus). So…given that, I think it’s really hard to make any kind of blanket statements for any state, certainly the directionals here have their own perceived rank order, as I am sure do the Cal State locations.
@LoveTheBard, right, that’s pretty much what I was saying—there are general rules of thumb people use, but it (“directionals”) is a social category without any actual real meaning.
Well, we are heading this weekend into a hurricane for one of the last college visits. Hoping it decides to turn out into open ocean instead of going up the east coast.
I just received an email from Case that titled my D’s application. The email is to let me know that they are pleased to receive her application and will be reviewing it in the coming weeks. I know this is a marketing tool of the university but it is a nice move on their part. I felt pretty special :))
I had never heard of the term directional U until I started reading CC posts several years back. Much to my surprise, I learned that we have three directional universities here in CT, all with a direction in their names. This surprised me as CT is not a huge state.
The state flagship is U Conn Storrs, but there are a couple of smaller U Conn campuses where some students start out if they are not admitted to U Conn Storrs or if they wish to save money and commute from home.
Having just googled this, I now know we also have 14 Community Colleges.
According to Naviance, a few from our HS attend the local CC each year and 10-15 attend U Conn Storrs. Another few attend one of the directionals each year. Learn something new from CC every day!