Had to chime in after seeing the NMF talk here. Bama sweetened their NMF package today to include a full four years of housing (up from one year … and they already have the best dorms of any college we visited). D18 is at the 95+% level on going there.
@DiotimaDM, myDD18 sounds like your son in that she didn’t want to deal with a lot of stuff when it came to this whole college application stuff. She picked out the 1 school she wanted to apply to, she applied by early October, and she was done. Just one! I had to beg her to apply to a second school just as a backup, which she obliged only because it was on the common app but she didn’t even submit the extra essay to the second college for honors because “that was extra work and she didn’t plan to go there anyway”. I didn’t really think she might not get in to her school of choice and with her stats there was no reason she would not be accepted, it was not an ivy or a reach school. She’s not lazy at all, she is taking 8 AP courses this year. She just didn’t want to be bothered with extra stress over having 8 colleges to choose from, not that that is a bad thing, it just wasn’t her thing. She knew exactly what she wanted.
Her plan worked for her. It was low stress. She found out she was accepted before Thanksgiving. She accepted her offer of acceptance as soon as she found out she had been accepted. So it was signed and done by December 1. She just really, really wanted the whole application process to be done and behind her. She found out she was accepted in the honors program in January. At first her merit aid wasn’t all the high, but when she found out in February she was a NMF, then she got a lot more merit money. They have a fantastic NMF scholarship (full tuition, fees and room for 4 years). They also gave her a $6k engineering scholarship on top of that (freshman year only), but she didn’t get that letter until March so that was exciting. And now she is just super excited to start college!
DD16 had only applied to 3 schools and then added a 4th very late in the process (in January) because of their NMF scholarship package (UTD), which is the college she is now attending because we just couldn’t pass up that scholarship and because we really liked the campus when we visited. Also, UTD really gave her the most personal attention and the most personal one on one visit, we had not had that experience with any college. We couldn’t believe a college would do a personal all day tour just for one student like that, the one on one time time the NMF dean spent with her was amazing. They really courted her and actually made her feel like they wanted her. All the other schools made us feel like a number. That made a huge difference in her decision.
I’m not sure what I will do differently for DS21. I’ve started asking him what his major will be in college and what schools he wants to visit. He doesn’t know yet so I’m not pushing it. He can think about it for another year until end of sophomore year.
@DiotimaDM DD had no interest in Nevada. Her brother is Alumni, she grew up thru 7th grade in Reno and was not interested. DD also had no interest in NMF and even tho she had the stats she refused to partake.
Also, Nevada will not give merit following a gap year.
@droppedit did you ask Bama for that or was it offered randomly? Had D18 already put down a deposit to get in line for Housing? We did that although my S18 has not decided yet. It is his safety.
Couldn’t seem to find a thread regarding Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. Just looking for any type of information regarding student interested in Neuroscience on a pre med track and Public Health. Coming down to Tulane vs Millsaps. Help please!
@ChattaChia – it’s their new deal for every NMF. We put down a deposit for housing a couple of months ago.
S18 is Aggie Bound! He is so happy with his choice and we are ready for this process to be done. A big factor in the decision was him changing his major to Applied Mathematical Sciences, and A&M has a very strong Math department. Strength of major, combined with cost, fit, and location (2 hours from home!) made it the best option. Actually the only factor on the “con” side for A&M was the the large size, but everyone says that as long as you get connected, it feels like a big, happy family.
Accepted with Merit (Annual): Clemson Honors (15K), Alabama Honors (25K), Mississippi Honors (26K), SMU Honors (39K), TCU Honors (20K), Baylor (24K), UTD Honors (23K), Texas Tech Honors (10K), Texas A&M Honors (4K).
Yes, we were chasing merit and isn’t it funny that we ended up at the one with the lowest merit aid!! But to get any merit from TAMU is an accomplishment, and it also has the lowest cost of attendance. DS has already gotten an additional 4K in local scholarships. We are still waiting on the “big” one and several smaller ones so it is definitely within our budget without taking out loans.
Big weight lifted.
S18D20mom. Whoop! Even though I am not supposed to say it!
@S18D20mom Congratulations. It is go great to be done. I have a decision as well but I wanted to know how you changed your avitar to TAMU logo as I would like to change mine to my daughters choice of college
@burghdad Go to your name on the top right corner. Click on Edit Profile/Preferences. Then there is a menu on the left that will allow you to change picture. It’s just click and drag or upload.
Thank you
Whew! I finally caught up. I don’t post here often, but I have been following all along. Congratulations to everyone on surviving the ordeal! We still have a bit of an ordeal going on, and I need to vent. Our basic situation right now is that our kids had excellent admissions results after a long and stressful process, and right in the middle of the final decision week my husband suffered a major medical crisis that has turned our lives topsy-turvy and wreaked havoc on our income (he is self-employed, so no work means no money). He is doing OK, but he won’t be able to drive for some time, among other issues, and much of his income right now depends on him getting to some locations where I cannot drive him while keeping my own job. He is working on getting a driver to at least go to those places enough to keep their business, but that will be expensive and there are other difficulties I haven’t mentioned. My own income doesn’t even cover our basic expenses. The colleges of choice do say they meet 100% of need, and I have been in touch with them about the situation. I just hope they can come through with enough extra help.
Oh man, @twinsmama, I’m so sorry to hear this. I hope he has a quick recovery and that the colleges can cut you guys some slack.
We are off the admitted students visit today. It should be fun!
@twinsmama I’m so sorry to hear that. I think it’s very smart of you to reach out to the schools.
I hope your husband feels better soon and the whole college situation works out too. Feel free to vent here!
@Toeupwms sorry I am not familiar with Millsaps College. It seems like a very small school (800 undergraduate students).
Are there any hospitals nearby? Did your D talk to someone in the neuroscience/premed department there? Would she be able to do research?
To me, a bigger research university seems like a better choice for her major.
Did she compare the neuroscience department at Tulane with Millsaps?
Does she have any other favorites?
@mommdc
Yes, 3 hospitals nearby. One is the med school, UMMC which Millsaps works closely with. Met with the premed; however just doesn’t seem to compare to Tulane. Guess I was looking for something I might have missed during our visit!
@Toeupwms A small school can be a good thing or not. It does seem that Millsaps has a good track record for medical school placement.
It definitely has small class sizes and close relationships with professors should be possible
The freshman retention rate is lower than at Tulane, I guess one would need to know the reason for that.
I guess it would depend on whether your D could see herself there for four years, what kind of environment she wants.
She must have had a reason for having Millsaps as one of her front runners.
Did you get good aid there? How does the net price compare to Tulane?
@twinsmama That’s sounds very stressful. I hope everything will be okay with your H’s medical situation and work, and that you will get an answer about financial aid asap.
@1917souci Congratulations to your daughter! I pushed hard for my son to study for the ACT hearing that all kids who meet the ACT criteria got the award. He was interested in OSU and wanted to ensure he at least got the Buckeye, so he worked his butt off. OSU disappointed us because even with a 32 on the ACT and 93 GPA they gave the Buckeye scholarship to students with lower ACT/GPA’s from our HS and told us this year they weighed transcript and GPA over ACT (sounds like a bunch of BS to me). At this point, he doesn’t know where he wants to go, and we’re down to the wire.
I wish your daughter the best!
@twinsmama I hope that your H makes a full and speedy recovery - how stressful on so many different levels for all of you. Hopefully the universities can help with the impact this event has on your families financial state - I know any impact on family resources worries is a big worry to all of us with kids entering or in college. Sending positive wishes to your family!