SO, OU… 
I’m going to start of with my own impressions because University of Oklahoma made my soul sing. I adored the Cherokee gothic architecture, the gargoyles, and the old-world/ Craftsman style interiors with dark wood, quarter-sawn tiger oak, stained glass, etc.
The office in charge of the National Merit tours operates like a well oiled machine. There were some 30-40 kids plus parents, all with individual itineraries after the initial meeting, and they had everything planned to perfection. They divided us into about 6 groups for the campus tour, and it turned out that the grouping was thematic. Our small group consisted of the four pre-health kids plus one prospective bio major.
Aside from the architecture, the campus is green and lush, and feels very Midwestern. The students had an energetic, happy, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed air about them, and this was the only campus where random students smiled and waved at the tour groups. Not at the guide, who might have been a friend, but at us.
The library was darn awesome, and its lower two floors are hiding a secret! The bottom two floors look 60s or 70’s era modern, with recent renovations to group study spaces that are pretty cool in and of themselves. The 2nd floor has museum quality exhibits of artwork, Kachina dolls and more. But the third floor…Dia lowers her voice …the third floor is magical! It’s full on Hogwartsy and breath-taking. https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1051/3171628501_75be574e32_b.jpg Based on the first two floors, there’s no way I would have expected that on level three.
At the Honors College presentation, conveniently timed for after we’d seen the library, they talked about a ‘night at the library’ stress-reliever thing during finals where small groups can be admitted to the special collections section where they put on gloves and are allowed to do things like hold and read an original Galileo or Jane Austen manuscript. Me, inside: No fair! That’s dirty pool!
I’m a social science / humanities type, so at that point, they had me hook, line and sinker. S, however, is a STEM kid, despite his strong interest in theater.
The pre-health meeting at OU was far and away the best we’ve been to. I took two pages of notes. Unlike the others, which were one-on-one meet n’ greets, this was an info session for all four pre-health students and their parents. The advisor gave everyone an handout detailing various different pre-health tracks, and she annotated each one for the students as she detailed how the plan fits into various degrees and majors. Example: If you follow a certain course progression for pre-med, you’ll be only one credit away from a minor in chem, and you can pick up the missing credit via a Chemistry of Wine-making class during the study abroad program in Italy.
She also recommended that every single pre-health student spend the summer after senior year picking up their basic EMT certification, which would make them eligible for several different on-campus jobs, including in the hospital attached to the med school. Student EMTs also get tapped as in-house medics for sporting events and concerts such as the recent Blake Shelton performance. So not only to you get to see the show for free, you get clinical hours and you get paid for your work.
The dorms were nice-ish doubles, connected across the back by a shared bathroom. The building itself is a 20 floor high-rise with key-controlled access starting at the elevators. Girls on one side, boys on the other, and your key card only opens your own side. Floors 1-6 are tornado-safe, floors 7 and up should report to the storm shelter in the basement. I didn’t ask about tornado safe for how big of a tornado because I knew I wouldn’t like the answer. EF5s will laugh at “tornado-safe” so if my kid were at OU, I’d tell them to head to the shelter no matter what floor they’re on.
The Professional Writing program at the Gaylord School of Journalism & New Media is to die for! I’m not sure if there’s anything else like it in the country. In addition to things like tech writing, journalism, public relations and writing for the web, they also teach various commercial fiction genres such as mysteries, romance, horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Excellent, excellent program.
Study abroad - Wow! They have more than 300 study abroad options, and some 30% of students go abroad at least once during their time at OU. Some go more than once.
Dining hall - another excellent dining hall that rivals a cruise ship buffet in terms of selection, variety and quality. Pizza, pasta, burgers, carving station, extensive salad bar, granola-yogurt parfait bar, Mexican station, Asian, Greek, Chick-fil-A, bakery counter with OMG wonderful Peanut Butter Shudder (choco-pb) cheesecake, made-to-order quesadillas and tons more. I think OU had more variety than either Tech or UTD. I had an herbed chicken breast at UTD that was very good. A similar dish at OU was tough, but I think I was just unlucky. Everyone else’s food looked great.
S says OU came second in just about everything, vs Tech and UNM that were first in come things and last in others. You’d think that would make it a good compromise choice, but S says not so when you factor in the price. OU would average around $8k/year, or roughly $35k for four years.
Re: scholarships - lots of kids told us they got extra scholarship money after their first year, sometimes as much as $5k/year. All of the scholarships stack, outside, too, and OU will even move the money around so outside funds earmarked for tuition and fees don’t go to waste. This may well mitigate the stuff in the paragraph above re: cost.
For me at 17, OU would have been The One. For S, it’s an acceptable third behind UNM and Tech, but since he knows he’ll get into both of those, he may not even apply to OU.
That makes identifying ideal programs a little tricky for sure. He is going to need merit or a school with 100% need without loans to make it affordable. A reach though may cause us to dip a bit more into savings if needed. NMF will help with that if that comes through!