(delurking after following this thread for a while)
@ShrimpBurrito Thank you for your report; felt like I was there! Our GC initially recommended Southwestern, but we dropped it over time since it felt (too?) focused on fine arts (we thought our GC had mixed up our S18 with someone else… there were a couple of choices that didn’t feel quite right). Did you feel that the fine arts vibe was pervasive or was the LAC environment they portrayed the more dominant culture?
We chatted with Trinity at a fair some months back and it’s been a darkhorse favorite of mine. The AO for our region impressed me and I do feel that they’re determined to live up to their claims to be the Texas private school just behind Rice. At first I thought it was Texas’ version of Santa Clara Univ. but with a bigger endowment. I’m curious if they have a bit more secret sauce that creates that energy you spoke of. (I keep on trying to find reasons to add this one to our list even though we still need to prune)
@LMHS73 It looks to me like you can just leave the “final” grade and credits boxes blank if your school doesn’t give separate final grades. Credits seems to be in increments up to 10, not sure what to do about that if your school doesn’t match that, but it does seem like a good question for the high school GC. Surely they’ve answered it before.
Alternatively, it appears there is an “N/A” option for the credits as well.
@ShrimpBurrito my DD just submitted her app to Trinity today…it was rather unexpected. I think she is having second thoughts about leaving TX. We have never officially visited campus but have been on campus when n San Antonio for cheer competitions it was nice to hear your take on it. I am wondering if we should take a weekend in September for an official visit? Did they mention if they consider “demonstrated interest”?
DD called University of Mississippi this morning because her portal indicated they had not received her transcript request (although Naviance indicated it was sent back on July 17th) so they checked and said it was not matched up to her application for some reason and to check her portal later in the day to see if it was showing up. So this afternoon she logged on and sure enough it was showing received AND that she has been admitted to Ole Miss!
I mention this because it happened several times with DD’16, the HS school sent the transcript and it did not get matched to the app (seems like it happens more often when the transcript is received before the app). So be sure to check that school receive the supporting documentation and it gets matched to the app!
Regarding Southwestern, overall I came away with Paideia being the biggest influence. It’s not just about Fine Arts, but how can I connect my theater production to this physics project I’m doing? In the Admissions office there’s a huge art piece that resulted from a research project done by an Art major and a Computer Science major, together. It’s about finding those connections between unlikely fields of study, teaching you to analyze, think critically, and see the world as a whole. Yes, it did seem heavier on Fine Arts than Trinity, but our Southwestern tour guide was a theater major so that may have been a part of it. It’s also very close to Austin, and they bring in music or other cultural acts every Friday night. If a STEM kid wants to focus mainly on STEM, yeah, Southwestern probably wouldn’t be the best fit.
Trinity…I wish I could be more helpful. I will say that my D had known about Trinity for a long time. She’d read their mailers and their entry in Fiske guide. It didn’t really interest her until she saw the campus, with the flashy facilities, great location, Cardio Hill (she loved it!), and friendly, athletic vibe. And she only visited as a tagalong with her younger brother. This was supposed to be for S20! Trinity has now skyrocketed to D’s Top 2, she says.
@labegg They didn’t mention demonstrated interest being important in the info session. But, when we first went in, I explained to the AO that we’d signed up under S20’s name, but that D18 would like to be on record as having visited as well, and they agreed that was a good idea, and took down her info. They both got a free tshirt.
I’ve heard here on CC that even though lots of kids talk a big game, in the end most of them choose to attend college close to home. I could see that happening with my D. Those two weeks at McGill were great fun, but it showed her how deep the cultural divide really is, and I think it’s scaring her. Trinity feels very safe and comfortable.
@ShrimpBurrito thanks for your update. My S18 liked Trinity–glad to hear it appealed to your sports-loving D also. We are looking for “sporty” LACs with merit aid. I’m not convinced Trinity is that sporty, but at least the purple hair factor was low when we visited in March (he is opposed to this!)
@Booajo My kids perceived Trinity to be sporty, or at least active, because of:
The amazing athletic facilities (they are almost done with a massive renovation).
Cardio Hill.
The ritual of climbing the tower at least twice during your Trinity career.
Most of the students and prospective students we saw looked very fit and were dressed like athletes (gym shorts, tshirt ). Probably due in part to the soccer camp going on.
@LMHS73 So glad you got things fixed! This makes me tremble for the FAFSA …
Nice college reports, everyone! In retrospect I wish I had taken more pictures on the tours to help keep things straight … I only took some pictures of dorm rooms, lol.
Today is our last essay day until she sits down and starts the Common App. It was nice to have a parent account because we were able to see some of the word limits on the essays. She can add a bit to her nursing essay, but the others are fine with their current lengths.
She and I will look at the Common App itself today - maybe start filling out basic stuff assuming our college hour isn’t up, lol. One of her colleges doesn’t upload their questions until August. 15. At this point we might as well wait until closer to school starting on August 16 to confirm recs with teachers… She’s got one in hand - her Spanish teacher let her see it and it’s great - but she’d like either her Calculus or Anatomy teacher to do one as well.
Her Spanish teacher moved to another district so I don’t know if that will cause problems- anyone know?
I also need to check with the transcript lady at the high school to see if she needs another transcript loaded into Parchment due to dropping and adding a class second semester senior year. It’s a semester-only elective so I don’t think it’s that big a deal, but might as well ask.
Two of her seven don’t use the Common App but their own apps are very simple. I guess once we start this for real I better have my credit card ready @-)
Can someone please give a remedial course in common app, naviance interaction. From reading, I think that the school puts transcripts in naviance? Do teachers put recommendations there too? So does one recommendation work for all schools that are applied to through common app? It’s just not clicking. We have not even started the common app or the essay. We are about to head home from a week long college tour of 6 schools. DS starts his senior year on Thursday…oh how I wanted to be further along than this…ugh. In my mind, I’ve pictured having to ask a teacher for recommendations multiple times to apply to many schools, it would be a relief if that’s not the case.
On another note…where does one find a consultant for essays? I don’t have a clue where to look.
@ChattaChia - I can’t help with the common app; my son used ApplyTexas. But, I we did use a consultant for essays. Honestly before a friend told me about her, I had no idea that was a thing. I would recommend asking parents of friends at your son’s school. That’s how we found one for my son. I have to say it was the best thing we did in this whole process! You can also google admissions consultant or college coach. I know there is a great one in the San Diego area, Brian McElroy, who has a very informative website. It might be a start…
@ChattaChia yes, generally the recommendation are uploaded through naviance just like the transcripts. (But it depends on the level of service your school as signed up for, so check with your guidance office). If your school is using Naviance is is a simply matter of checking a box and picking a teacher from a drop down menu.
It appears that my daughter was accepted at Ole Miss. LOL - it was kind of hard to tell because it was such a simple statement on the application status page. It said:
8/4/17 - You were successfully admitted into the following program: B.S. in Integrated Marketing Communicat
I wonder when they send something in the mail, if they do it soon after acceptance, or if they do it periodically to avoid sending that mail everyday.
Do you think she is likely to attend Ole Miss? We have not visited campus, do you have any insights?
I am afraid it will be like USCe for DD, looks great and is a good fit online/paper but in reality she did not like it. It is an 8 hour trip for us so we have not gone. We will have to make a visit if it makes it to the final cut.
It was sort of subtle. DD was wondering why she got an email giving her access to the student portal when she was thinking she was just needing to confirm her transcripts had been received and there it was same, 8/4/17 - You have been successfully admitted into the following program: B.A. in Psychology.
My kiddo says its not real until she gets it in the mail, lol!
@labegg - Haha! I understand that it doesn’t feel real until getting a paper notification.
I will admit that before we visited Ole Miss last summer, I did not expect to like it. It would not even be on my daughter’s radar if it weren’t for the merit money; she didn’t think she would want to go to school in the deep south.
My whole family ended up loving the campus and town. We stayed in a really cool hotel - The Graduate, and sat in the lobby bar while my husband and I had a drink and chatted with the bartender, who was an Ole Miss student. He was a cool kid from the Dallas area, and we learned a lot about the school and town. We were waiting out a rain storm, and once the rain passed, we went out on the square for dinner. Oxford is a charming town. All the meals we had in Oxford were great, and there were a lot of cute shops. I highly recommend a visit. Here is some cool info about Oxford if you go for a visit.
The next day we had a general campus tour and then we had meetings with the honors college and Croft Institute for International Studies. We were super impressed with the opportunities provided to students through both of these programs. The academic programming seemed so much better than we expected, also. In addition, they are currently expanding the student center, and there have been some nice contemporary-style dorms added in the last few years.
It is currently her 2nd choice school – Baylor is #1, but Baylor is only possible if she receives some highly competitive scholarships.
Let me know if you have any questions! I may or may not know the answer.
So glad your common app issues got resolved @LMHS73#:-S
Congrats @labegg and @crazy4info on Ole Miss! <:-P D has 1 rolling admit school on her list with an open app but we’re waiting to do it until we have a copy of her transcript in hand so there are no mistakes. School doesn’t open for another week or so, we’ll pick one up when we go to get her schedule.
Love your Trinity story @ShrimpBurrito ! I think I’ve said before it was a dark horse on her list for a while and I had a real soft spot for it. It wasn’t meant to be for my D but I’m glad it’s in the running for a few on here!
@droppedit: I’m in that boat. My son is supplementing his homeschool education with online GA Virtual classes. I list it separately as a different high school. I also have ga virtual send a separate transcript.
