@texasmom18 congrats on the higher ACT and sounds like he has some great options. We have UA on our list still and also at the UA Scholar level - maybe not ideal but I believe the traditional dorm route (vs suites) cuts the first year cost quite a bit so something to consider if that’s his first choice.
Not sure if FSU made the list but with his new ACT score he would likely qualify for the OOS waiver and the Freshman Scholarship getting tuition down to $4100 range - $15,500 COA. This is pretty close to the UA Presidential COA. Similar “college experience” and much higher ranked FWIW.
@TexasMom18 - I think another trip to Ole Miss may be a good idea? A different tour guide/time of year may make a difference. Not sure when you went but some of the schools we visited we probably did too early for my D to really get a good feel for what she wanted at that point. Maybe you’re in the same boat? Now that it’s a more viable option your S may look at it through a different lens.
@TexasMom18 - Congrats to your son for the Dec ACT boost, sorry it didn’t quite get him to where he needs to be to make Bama doable for y’all. So frustrating, DD was short a point on her last ACT try to clear a benchmark.
Maybe you could swing by and pick up DD if you make a revisit trip to Ole Miss? DD has steadfastly refused to get the warm fuzzies for Ole Miss despite them making an offer that makes it darn close to in-state A&M for us.
Hubby and I just had a long talk this morning about what seem to be DD’s top 3 (still waiting on 2 admissions decisions). I have reservations about one of them, hubby says I am over thinking it, he is not wrong!
After thinking on it over the holidays DD has decided to decline…Fordham, Trinity, U of SC, Highpoint, SFA, Ole Miss… She is still not ready to let go of Auburn, A&M and LSU. I am not ready to let go of Loyola Chicago, lol.
Still waiting to hear from UF, FSU, CU, Clemson, UT, “The school that shall not be named”, and CofC (although I think she has decided to withdraw her app from CofC). UF and FSU have not accepted any students from our HS in the past three years, so we are anticipating rejections from them both; UF was a reach for DD too. UT will likely be a bridge offer so that is not really a contender.
@TexasMom18 Re: Bama - I believe they give you lots of additional time, even after you’ve applied, to raise your test scores and qualify for a higher scholarship amount. I don’t remember exactly how long, but it’s into the summer. If Bama is truly #1, there’s more time to re-test.
Texas Tech made a good impression on my S, too. It’s his second choice behind UNM.
It’s good to be back and big congrats to all those who got apps and essays done over the holidays!! =D> I really think that is a huge accomplishment and I send a special shout out to those of you with kids who are now “done” with the application process! What a feeling! :D/
Today is D’s last day of break, and she’s working on homework as her semester doesn’t end until the end of January so she’s had work to do all break, but since she was sick at the start, then family, holidays, travel, etc… she’s been at it a little, but mostly started in earnest yesterday. I have to give her a lot of credit though, over the holidays, she volunteered to talk to visiting relatives about all her college choices, and did a great job showing off all the schools, and not giving away a single hint at her preferences. They all asked, repeatedly, what she was leaning toward, and she expertly put them off with “I’ll let you know on May 1st.” Fortunately, they were also all very supportive, and told her they thought she couldn’t make a wrong choice among her selections. So it all went well. She is in what I am calling the “courtship” phase of this college process, that is, her apps are all in, she’s got her acceptances back, and now the schools are busy trying to woo her. She hadn’t gotten any personalized notes with her acceptances, but they have now started rolling in, she’s received a few very nice handwritten cards clearly personalized to her. But I don’t know if she’s done much thinking about narrowing down her options yet. Things have just been too busy. I’m hoping she’ll let me know soon though so I can book any necessary travel.
She’s got 6 schools she’s deciding between and other than the one I’m pretty sure is sitting at #1 (but without a visit yet!) I have no real idea what she’s thinking about any of them or how closely they are ranked in her thoughts. :-? I figure this will either drag out until May 1, or she’ll just pick one to be done with it. Could go either way at this point.
From a financial standpoint, Ole Miss, UTD, and Tech are all top contenders, though Baylor, TCU, and A&M are ahead of them in his top choices. I think DS is leaning toward Tech and says he would be happy there. He has been accepted to the honors college as well. I am working really hard to find a love for Tech. Many kids from our high school (who couldn’t get into UT or A&M) go there and it has a strong reputation as being a party atmosphere. I realize any college can be that. I guess I am just afraid of the “grade 13” vibe and DS not branching out from his high school friends. He is more academic than they are and although he has been able to stay focused in high school, I worry that he will be more easily distracted in that setting. I love Ole Miss and think it may warrant another visit. Spring break of junior year we visited 5 schools in 4 days and Ole Miss was one of them. It was cold and rainy and the students were on break. DS says that he doesn’t really remember anything specific about it. My only concern with Ole Miss is the focus on greek life, DS is not really interested in rushing. Maybe we need to do a CC road trip to Oxford! I also am still rooting for UTD as I think it may be the best place academically (and financially). DS wants more of a “typical” college social experience and thinks it is too “nerdy” for him. His sister kindly reminded him that he is a nerd I remember a discussion of nerds vs. geeks and he really doesn’t fit either one. We need to visit UTD again too!!
@DiotimaDM The December sitting is the last Bama accepts for scholarship consideration. Ole Miss does accept up to admission. One more point would make Ole Miss just shy of a full ride for DS but I’m not going to ask him to test again.
@labegg You and your hubby sound like me and mine. We’ve discussed ad nauseum and I’m so ready to be done. Jealous of those that have a decision and know where they will land.
^^ @mom2collegekids Has there been a change in the last date for submitting test scores to Bama to increase one’s scholarship amount? I thought you could submit them after your initial award to get a bump in your offer? If that’s still going on, how long does the student have?
"What are the last ACT and SAT test dates that you accept?
The national December ACT and the national December SAT of the student’s senior year are the last college entrance examination results accepted for students who want scholarship consideration."
Not trying to be difficult about Bama. I’m just sure I read that you could raise your amount after initial consideration by submitting a higher score. Maybe I’m wrong (or maybe they ended it), but the poster I tagged will know for sure.
TexasMom18 - Have y’all visited UAH? I took DD to UAH in November, she is anti Tech, UTD, TX State and UT was too spendy plus she is not an auto-admit and is adamant to leave the state of TX. She was actually surprised at how much she liked UAH. The campus is quite nice, the dorms are awesome and while its not the size of Bama, its not a postage stamp sized school either. Huntsville has a modern vibe to it - all in all, we came away with a completely different impression than we entered with.
I know you said your DS wants the bigger sport school of Bama, my DD is the opposite, she hates the sports culture, she spent 4 years in high school as an athletic trainer and she just hates the whole culture.
@SnowflakeDogMom No we haven’t visited - even though my MIL lives about 1.5 hours away. MIL has the impression that it’s a commuter school. And it may be but I do keep reading about the dorms and such and it doesn’t seem to be as commuter as maybe it once was? I do know that part of his issue is he wants to continue with marching band. But then I don’t know how difficult it is be get into UA marching band either. Whereas the Ole Miss band director told us they love “Texas band kids”.
Speaking of Ole Miss band just received an email from the band director to schedule an audition and explaining the potential for more scholarships on top of the academic. sigh
@TexasMom18@mommdc
UAH now requires all who live more than 30 miles to live on campus for the first 2 years - they HIGHLY encourage their students to live on campus and their scholarship offerings at the top level include housing. Yes, all dorms are a single room within a 4 bedroom, two bathroom, 4 sink suite. They are building a new “Charger Village” for upperclassmen housing.
While its not a heavy sports school, they are a heavy club school - they had all sorts of clubs to keep everyone busy and they are the only DIV I Men’s hockey in the Southeast. DD likes hockey just not football.
UAH will reevaluate scores and GPA’s up to August 1st and will upgrade the offers accordingly. We are very lucky, DD is a great test taker and an IB student, she had the high GPA and a 34 on her ACT, she picked up the Charger Excellence award (housing/tuition).
I think until we visited she felt she was settling from her “dream college experience” whatever that is anyway, but due to a whole slew of circumstances, we are very limited on what we can pay annually and we will not allow her to incur via co-signing, any debt beyond that which she can get on her own (Fed Loans) AND we don’t encourage that either. We really want to keep her as low in debt as possible. When it all boils down, UAH offers a good education at a price tag that we cannot refuse. Alabama may not be where she “pictured” her college experience but it is what she is getting and until she actually met some of the student body and toured the campus, I think she had visions of a backwards, country school where no one could read or write, with outdoor plumbing and only a handful of students. (exaggeration yes, but not too far from her mental image that she made for herself). Her impression upon visiting completely changed her mind and mental image. She met smart kids from all over the country, she actually said that the student population reminded her of the IB population at her high school and that’s a good thing.
Only one of DD’s friends pursued band, he is at TCU and having a blast! He in his words “followed the money” and picked up a generous package to be in the band. He came out of a state champion level high school band.
@MomOutWest a bridge offer is a program that guarantees transfer acceptance.
At UT there are two programs (CAP) and (PACE). CAP is a transfer after a year at a UT affiliate/branch campus such as UT-D, UTSA, UT-Tyler; PACE an offer to start at Austin Community College and “transfer”, (although technically you do not have to apply for transfer) to the main campus after one year, you take one class a semester on campus at UT.
TAMU has similar programs called Blinn Team and PSA.
I believe it is the State of Texas’s way of dealing with the auto admit policy. Generally, there are kids who are better prepared to be successful in college who do not make the top 6% - 10% auto admit cut off because they are at very competitive HS. UT and A&M would like to offer them admission but can’t because they are at capacity with the auto admits, some of whom have lower GPAs and test scores and are not as prepared for college, therebut do meet the auto admit requirements. Sometimes those kids do not make it through their first year and drop and then there are kids who drop for other reasons and space opens up…so it is sort of like a holding pattern, particularly in reference to PACE & Blinn Team.
Clemson and theOSU have similar programs I believe.
Two big scholarship applications finished yesterday. I swear they were both more involved than the Common App and FAFSA 8-}
Several smaller scholarship apps to go - if we counted right, 9 not including a few college-specific ones. Most require just a tweaking of existing essays and/or personal statements.
Two things we did that have really helped: Having a resume and keeping track of volunteer hours since freshman year. Several of the applications asked how many hours per week/month/year you worked in various organizations and it was pretty easy to add up that way.
Up next: My freshman goes to get her learner’s permit :-SS
I remember a discussion of nerds vs. geeks and he really doesn’t fit either one. We need to visit UTD again too!!