@3scoutsmom Usually, most kids who end up on CC for the first time end up being scared by those kids with high stats. Your DS likely found CC through Google. Definitely like the rule about not going on the “Chance Me” Threads. I learned the hard way that those threads are nothing but trouble, stress, and anxiety wrapped into one. It’s good that he’s looking up things about merit aid, though. He’s definitely starting to think about the financial part of the whole college process.
@gettingschooled Usually, on the HS Class of 2018 Student Thread, we try to fact-check as much as we can, so misinformation is reduced.
I would just like to say that I fully understand the hesitation surrounding letting your DCs use CC. Like our world, CC has its share of good and bad.
@gettingschooled The lack of football is a MAJOR plus for DS18;-) I really think UTD is the right place for him but I’m also glad that he’s taking the initiative to look into other schools so he’s no just taking my word for it.
Last day of summer job for DD’18. She is off to XC camp Monday morning. Feels like the beginning of the end of summer.
Landed last night only to be greeted with a power outage. Not fun in this heat! Thankfully the power came back on about midnight.
DD has a week of leisure before fall sports start. Going shopping for older kid today and DD wants to tag along, in hopes of snagging a thing or two for herself I’m sure!
Drove some kids to A&M this week( to pick D18 up from a 4 day UCA cheer camp) D16, one Aggie16 and one Aggie17 wanna be. Engineer. We were talking about D18 and potential college options in-state, so I asked from a student’s perspective how the colleges rank among their peers. Aggie16 graduated top 10, #7 I think, and thoroughly researched his options (UT, A&M, Rice, William &Mary) is a Texan at heart and really has no desire to leave the state, before settling on A&M for Honors Math/Classics double major. All in the car were in agreement that UT-A was the pinnacle, followed in order by Rice, A&M, Texas Tech/Baylor, U of H/UT-D/UT-SA, SMU/TCU/Trinity/Austin, UNT but only for Music or some other specific majors and after that places like SFA, Sam Houston and other branch campuses none of which they said were particularly impressive to them or their peers. D18 says she likes Dallas so I quizzed them a bit more on UT-D as it was on my radar as a potential fit for D18. Aggie16, whom I really respect as a truly smart well-rounded and informed kid, said UT-D gets much of the kids who didn’t quite make UT-A for auto admit but are die hard UT (ie can’t bring themselves to be an Aggie). He felt the UT-D academics are great and there are lots of smart kids but the in general the campus environment felt “sad” and “commuter-y” and if you were looking for a traditional college experience UT-D was not the place to be. He and my own D16 said they would choose UT-SA over UT-D even though UT-D has a better academic reputation. It was an interesting car ride. (The consensus in the car was that D18 will end up at “someplace” in Florida, LSU or Loyola. Aggie16, D18’s Latin Buddy, is pushing for Clemson). On the way home D18, who has repeatedly said she hates A&M and will not even consider going there, conceded that it was “not that bad”.
UT Dallas’ lack of football/greek is the major reason introverted D21 gels with UT Dallas. We live 11 miles from TTU and I attend football and baseball games without D21. She does not share my love of “full college” experience and Big !2 sports!.
@3scoutsmom I think your S18 and my D21 would get along well
We are not big football fans at our house either. D16 choose a school with no football team. The only reason we are at games is because D16 was in band and D18 cheers. D18 would be thrilled to not cheer sideline and just concentrate on competitive cheer but that is not an option on HS cheer teams!
I’m not really that much of a football fan either, only watched The Super Bowl this year for the halftime show, but at some schools, football brings out school spirit. At Virginia Tech, they are literally counting down the days until their first game of the season. I may not be a football person, but the school spirit would definitely bring me to Lane Stadium. I’ll probably watch the first VT game just to show my support.
If I were to change one thing about UTD scholarship structure, I would stop giving out cash and force people to stay in college dorms (assuming they are enough slots). I think allowing kids stay home and collect cash for room and board is kind of defeating the purpose.
Football is a big deal for both my kiddos. Neither will (would) consider a school without Division 1 sports. It is part of the college experience for them. My DS18 won’t visit OU because he is a lifelong longhorn (UT). He will consider A&M since they are in the SEC and no longer play UT. Luckily, both schools are within his reach and offer very strong programs for his current chosen field. If he stumbles this year, he’ll have to broaden his list!
@texaspg at least for National Merit they only give the housing allowance if you live on campus
http://honors.utdallas.edu/nmsp
The dorms are very nice and new and lots of on campus apartments too. Their on campus apartments even have RA’s which I thought was interesting.
I didn’t get a “sad” vibe from our campus visit to UTD, more of a “serious” vibe. As for A&M 2 of my 3 will not considered it at all. It may be an option for S20 too soon to tell.
Just got D18 to settle on some test dates! Looks like March SAT, April ACT and again June SAT and ACT, unless she is one and done, which I doubt will be the case for her. She is maybe thinking about May SAT too (but I am reluctant to push that with AP tests)
Football and sports in general are big at our house. Both kids are multiple sport athletes in high school, DS plays a varsity sport in college (albeit DIII) and we have been known to fly in to a city for less than 24 hours just to attend a sporting event 
. DH and I flew across the country to the Rose Bowl when I was 38 weeks pregnant with DS and we always say that he was just as excited as we were when Northwestern scored!
DS opted to attend a school where he could continue to play a sport and forego the big sports atmosphere. But he continues to follow big school sports and road trips to friends’ schools to go to football/basketball games when he can.
DD is not looking to play but definitely wants to experience the big sports atmosphere. In her case, it is the industry in which she wants to work and she has been diligent about pursuing it, developing contacts and finding a mentor from her favorite professional sports team. So it makes sense for her to go to a school with big sports so she can volunteer and make more contacts. But she loves the atmosphere so much that she would still want it as part of her experience even if she didn’t want to go into the industry.
@ak2018 - Google Virginia Tech College of Engineering Open House. They hold it every April and have different talks/presentations/tours you can go on and learn about all the different aspects of the School of Engineering.
Our son planned college visits for this past April and did lots of research ahead of time. He started planning in the fall of his sophomore year and got a spot at information sessions and also contacted people from the engineering departments at each college he was visiting to see if anyone would be able to meet with him directly while he was on campus. Georgia Tech already has a program where you can sign up to attend a class while visiting, but he was able to get personal time with people at a couple other schools - Johns Hopkins and Virginia Tech.
I am chuckling typing this because he spent so much time researching and organizing and getting his engineering ducks in a row and then this weekend out of the blue said he was researching Cognitive Psychology programs.
@RoonilWazlib99 I had actually asked my parents about the Open House and they said they’d rather not have me attend a tour to VT during the school year (VT is about 3 hours and 45 minutes away from us).
I definitely didn’t know that you could ask for a PERSONAL tour from VT. I’ll definitely consider that! I feel like I’d want to be on a tour with a group, but getting a person one-on-one seems a lot better than a self-guided one. THANKS FOR SHARING THAT INFORMATION!
I can definitely relate your son! I’ve actually had a large interest in Philosophy/Psychology for the last couple months now. I’ve been watching Crash Course videos on YouTube. I actually find learning about Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Plato pretty interesting as well.
Not sure what 1500 a semester covers in terms of housing at UTD. However, this is what is uncommon compared to other schools which pay for room and board instead of giving out cash.
@Texaspg The $4K can be used on travel, insurance it could go to housing but it’s not required to go for housing. I’m not sure how common it is but I know Texas Tech gives 100% of COA including cash for travel and stipend to cover incidentals for NMF. I have no problem with giving students cash to cover COA the kid has to eat and live somewhere.
UTD freshman dorm rate is $3460.50 per semester, meal plan is around $2K a semester.