We just got the paper tiger mailing! I’m so excited!
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yay! it is cute right? I mean for just a piece of paper I find it charming.
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That is a great idea for using AI; both of those.
Definitely cute! We both agreed it’s one of the better cost/value things that have been sent. And I’m looking forward to maybe hitting the school store for a sweatshirt if the vibes seem right when we visit next Friday. (I was gonna ask the admissions office for a paper tiger, if we hadn’t received it yet, but now we have so I don’t have to be all embarrassing)
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Wait, what??? A paper tiger? My D was accepted EA and that is something we never received!
Coming here to vent for a minute.
S25 is really not into checking/opening/responding to email. I think this is a generational thing but it gives me HIVES knowing that schools are sending him stuff and a) he’s not demonstrating interest** and also b) he might be missing scholarship opportunities/honors college applications/actual decisions.
**also wish colleges would just stop playing this game because I don’t think S25’s MO is uncommon. Could they maybe come up with a different/better way to gauge a student’s motivation?
Or, failing that, could we just revert (by which I actually mean progress) to a nationwide match system + national need-based standardized financial aid award, rendering all the swag, guessing games, extra essays and $500 scholarship applications, etc. moot?
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Which program at VT is your son interested in?
I don’t know how to ask this well, so please extend grace as necessary:
Are any of you taking potential cuts of NIH and/or NSF funding into account as your child chooses a college? I get that our kids aren’t grad students conducting research, but am starting to think through what drops in grad students might mean for undergrad–bigger sections? Decreased opportunities for research? Will R1 institutions be more affected than other schools? I confess this was never on my decision tree for D25 and am not sure if it should be now, or not. Thoughts?
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Building Construction - which is in the Myers Lawson School of Construction within the College of Engineering… but which is NOT an engineering major (unlike the Construction Engineering and Management major, which is, like it sounds, an engineering degree). It’s maybe the only thing within the College of Engineering that isn’t Engineering. And the engineering rocks there, and it’s huge, so I get why the big focus. But there’s the whole other sub category that exists and it’s just felt… overlooked.
At Clemson the similar major is nested within the College of Art, Architecture and Construction Management and the three are basically equal and get equal time. At VT engineering is so big that it just overwhelms. So I’ve really been interested in knowing if the program feels like a second class citizen in real life, or if it’s really as lovely as it’s sounded from the parents of kids in it.
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That’s right, I had seen you talk about this but I couldn’t remember which program. I’ll ask my son if he knows anyone in the program. Good luck with it all…
And yes, engineering overwhelms everything which is a shame b/c there are a number of very, very good programs at Virginia Tech. Good luck, the questions you have all good.
Ask what his favorite non-major class has been. Also, maybe how easy it has been to talk to people in industry.
I feel like the grant funding will make a bigger difference for grad students than undergrads. That said, if the colleges want to keep running the research (as opposed to laying off the grad students and just stopping) AND if the funding cuts are in place (I think the courts have just held that grants awarded awarded can’t be clawed back, but who knows what the next appropriation will have for NIH and NSF in terms of grant funding). If the colleges want to do that then funds will be tight elsewhere. Colleges with big endowments can dip in, but smaller colleges might have a harder time. At this point there are so many unknowns and so many what ifs, that I wouldn’t let this drive a decision for undergrad.
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Check out this thread:
S25 is a humanities kid, so not on our radar. But D23 is STEM all the way and cuts to NIH and NSF are already hitting colleges and universities, undergrads and graduate students - R1’s and LAC’s, everyone will be affected.
As an example, all of the NSF REU’s D23 is hearing from have had a massive uptick in applicants (700 applications for 4 spaces as an example, where last year it was 300 or 400), and some she’s applied to have cancelled due to lack of funding. Huge loss on so many levels.
I’m not sure I would advise S25 differently were he a STEM kid, but it would certainly influence conversations about the particular fields he was interested in. No one can say what will happen, but for now it does not look good.
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I’d love to find some info on that court case. The details matter. Awarded is different than drawn. Lots of these grants are awarded for 5 or even more years, but you submit periodic draws on it to reimburse for expenses already paid/incurred.
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She got the scholarship she applied for! Only 4k/yr but she lives in housing with others interested in learning about multicultural events (yes, still awarded even with the current political situation).
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This is being discussed in the political forum if you’d like to join the discussion there.
https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/impact-on-universities-cuts-in-research-funding-and-federal-grants/3683610/
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I know that we’re supposed to discuss in the politics forum, so I’m not going to discuss, but here’s the decision from today https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court-filings/state-of-new-york-et-al-v-donald-trump-office-of-management-and-budget-preliminary-injunction-2025.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Given our discussion earlier today, I asked ChatGPT to help me find it 
I didn’t read it, so no opinion on what it says. But yes, you are right. Awarded and dispersed are different.
Woo Hoo! Congrats on the scholarship! And $4k isn’t chump change!
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This is definitely on our minds. C25 is a STEM kid who will need undergraduate research when applying to grad school. I’ve been going back and forth between whether R1 is better in this current climate vs. a school that doesn’t historically value research and whose budget isn’t heavily dependent on the government (schools ranked >100).
At the moment, my thoughts are that everyone in the class of 2029 is in the same boat and grad programs will likely have lower expectations when it comes to undergrad research for this cohort. As long as the stduent is motivated and takes advantage of opportunities available to them, that’s the best we can do. We can choose a R1 school but we can’t produce opportunities that don’t exist.
I may change my thinking, but for now instead of focusing on which school historically has the most undergrad research opportunities and the biggest name, we’re placing more value on spending the least amount of $$ on the undergrad degree, since grad plus loans and pslf are both unknowns. C25 knows they’ll have to do the best with what their school offers and hopefully, that’s enough 4 years from now when they’re applying to grad school. There’s too many unknowns to make a good educated decision other than limiting debt.
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Going abroad for a masters might also be a possibility to gain more experience and funding for that is hard to come by.
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If you have instagram, you can see it here: RIT on Instagram: "Bing bop boom boom boom bop bam, our Tiger family is growing 🧡 Accepted students are trophied up with pop-up Ritchies saying peekaboo in their mailboxes 🐯 Got your acceptance? Tag us and use #RITBound #college #admissions #collegeadmissions #RIT #GoTigers #rochester #technology #design #arts #tiger"
We got a big envelope with that tiger and a pair of socks!
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