Maybe you can ask @AustenNut for ideas
Weāre planning on visiting Tulsa & UT Dallas in October. A visit to UAH probably wonāt happen until after admissions decisions are all in. Iāve heard really good things about Tulsa from one of the counselors at school. Our HS has sent a couple of students there in the past, 1 of whom I know for sure was a National Merit finalist. Counselor said that the NMF kid who went to Tulsa really loved it there. It was disappointing that D26ās work schedule didnāt pan out for us going to visit this spring!
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Well, sheās been on a journey to figure out what she wants to study ā started with industrial design, then architecture (definite nope, lol), then graphic design, studio artā¦and has now arrived at some combo of UX/UI/game design. Sheās super artsy and pretty good at math.
Sheās also a hardcore marching band kid (albeit in a tiny high school band of 50 kids), and sheād love to march in college. But sheās intimidated by the giant marching bands that require many hours of rehearsal. Sheās a very competent clarinet player but not a prodigy. She practices enough to get to district honor band, but sheās not interested in pushing herself to all-state level.
She also doesnāt love big SEC football culture. Sheās not interested in Greek life. (We live in Atlanta in the heart of the SEC, and I went to Florida, so she knows of what she speaks, lol.)
Sheās a bit of a conundrum socially ā a gorgeous kid who looks like she belongs on a magazine cover, loves fashion and makeup but mostly because of the artistic/aesthetic qualities ā but sheās also deeply nerdy and socially awkward. She is happiest sitting in bed crotcheting cute little animals while watching YouTube videos about the chemistry of cooking. She retains every fact sheās ever learned.
Weāve toured a lot of schools, and she gravitated toward the ācozyā qualities at Furman and Elon. The tiny marching bands at these schools would also be just her speed. BUT, itās hard to find a quality ācomputational mediaā program (every school calls it something different) that is the intersection of graphic design and computing with a bent toward UX/UI/game design at small schools like this.
Sheād like to be in the south only because she hates cold weather and tends to get cold when itās 50 degrees out. Sheās at a conservative private high school but tends to lean left of that politically, so sheād like to branch out. Sheād also like a school with good diversity (her high school does not have that). She wants to study abroad, at least in the summer if not for a regular semester.
She would love a single dorm room with no roommate ā indeed, I worry about her anxiety and mental health if she has to share a space. And if there is no marching band, she needs at least a pep band, because itās the most natural environment for her to make friends ā I think sheāll struggle otherwise.
She cares nothing about the prestige of the school. I would love to take advantage of any national merit or other merit scholarships, but that is the least important requirement.
So you can see why this is difficult, lol ā a smallish/medium and cozy environment thatās not too conservative and has warm weather and offers a marching band or at least pep band with no giant football culture with happy nerdy kids where she can study UX/UI/game design and live in a great dorm with a private room? Hard to find! 
(Sorry for all that. Iāll msg you about the Alabama band!)
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So my D24 had a list kind of like that. While her major is mechanical engineering, her minor is studio arts. She is taking animation classes and so far enjoys them. She hates hot weather, and has complained about the heat in Huntsville. Her priorities ended up being: her own door (suite or single was fine), being able to live in the dorms all 4 years if she wants, enough credits from AP/IB classes to be able to take animation and language classes, an interesting and pretty campus where she just felt at home, near someone who could come get her within a couple hours in case of emergency, and a good vibe from students. Temperature fell down the list, even though sheās not thrilled with the heat. She had wanted to continue Chinese classes, but that fell as well.
UAH doesnāt have a marching band, but they do have a pep band and my daughter is in it. Itās her speed! They practice weekly in the fall and very randomly once basketball starts. Most game days are long as they are double headers with women playing first and men after. But she enjoys the band quite a bit. Sheād never choose a big marching band with a lot of time involved.
Alabamaās band practices M-F in the late afternoon through fall semester. Often Friday is canceled if there is an away game, as the the pep band will travel to the game. Football game days can be very long with an early morning practice, a 2-4 hour break and then a pep rally and the game. If itās a 6pm game, they are generally gone from 7am to 11pm or so. Everyone marches the halftime show every week, which is a plus to my kid. Heās not a party kid, doesnāt do anything Greek, and has a great time with band friends. He has learned to enjoy football from marching band, but is otherwise not a sports kid at all. There are a lot of types of kids there, not all are Greek of course.
We looked at Tulsa for D24. She was interested in the Computer Simulation degree. She liked the campus and that most live on campus all 4 years. We liked the degree and facilities a lot. We were willing to get her a single room. She competed for the Presidential scholarship but did not get it and it ended up being too expensive. I donāt know if the distance would have ended up being a deal breaker for her or not. But, their marching band only practices 3 days a week and she was considering it since it was less involved.
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I can see why you mentioned Tulsa in your earlier post because she might like it & fit in well there. From what Iāve been able to figure out so far based on their website, Youtube videos, and info on Scoir, for my D26, itās going on the āam going to apply hereā because of several reasons:
- school seems to be, at first glance, a really friendly & welcoming place.
- thereās a lot of National Merit scholars there (I think I saw somewhere on their website, in the range of 250 students out of the freshman class?)
- this means that the odds of my really nerdy, introverted D26 finding some of āher peopleā to hang out with and make friends is pretty good
- their honors college has classes that D26 is interested in
- itāll probably be affordable for us
- our D26, like yours, has a ānot coldā requirement. It DOES snow in Tulsa in the winter, but itās not going to be Minnesota (aka southern Canada) level of cold, so D26 said, āI can just wear some warmer clothes for a couple of weeks.ā
- thereās Greek life there, like at a lot of colleges, but it doesnāt appear to dominate all campus life like it seems to at big SEC schools (like Alabama).
- small-ish. 2647 undergrads
- my gut says that the students there are pretty engaged. And nerdy about a wide range of things, which would work well for my kid.
FYI - the school does have a football team & a marching band. Marching band also is the same band that is the pep band at basketball games. No audition required. Student Ensemble Opportunities - The University of Tulsa
In terms of political climate, I donāt know anything yet about what itās like at Tulsa. But I do know that college campuses, even in red states, tend to lean pretty blue unless youāre going to a place like Liberty University, Hillsdale College, or BYU. My D24 attends Austin College (1 hr north of Dallas, 30 min from the OK border)ā¦a very red stateā¦and sheās reported that itās very middle-of-the-road & accepting at her school. I think this is where itās helpful to visit so you get a feel for it. Even Centre College in red state KY that we toured w/D24 was pretty blue.
Tulsa has a Computer Simulation & Gaming major that is a mix of tech & artsy curriculum, which your daughter might want to take a look at ā https://bulletin.utulsa.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=48&poid=7223&returnto=2605&_ga=2.137687801.893103675.1738510554-1262900696.1734412353
Tagging @PresCarsonTulsa - heās the college president there & could connect your family up with folks who might be able to answer questions you guys might have.
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Thank you both so much for all that info! Sounds like we need to look at both UAH and Tulsa right away, lol.
See, D26 is torn when she hears about the commitment for big bands like Alabamaās. She loves the idea of experiencing something so big and fun ā and she takes marching seriously and will nerd out about technique, etc. ā but sheās exhausted just reading about the schedule. I suspect it will be too much.
Iāll add that it does get cold at UAH in January. They got about 4" of snow this year and had lows in the low teens. But itās short lived and it bounces back to the 50s pretty quickly. Many chillier mornings though.
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The time commitment to MB is real - even at a non ālargeā programs. S23 is in an Architecture student (heavy time commitment) and one of the programs he looked at was UT-Knoxville. We sat down with the music director when doing tours and it was pretty clear that beyond Freshman year, there simply werenāt going to be enough hours in the day.
He opted to go to Tulane but even there MB practice is 8 hours/week (Mon/Wed/Fri nights). Add in all day Saturday on game days, one travel game a year and any potential bowl games and itās a lot for sure. Between Academics and MB thatās about it, no time for clubs or other extracurriculars - which is fine with him but might not be for others.
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Thatās not too different from the northern burbs of Atlanta, so itās fine, lol.
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My S25 asked two 10th grade teachers for recommendations. It was against my advice (which was based on everything that Iāve read or heard stating that it should be 11th grade teachers writing the recommendation letters). It does not seem to have negatively impacted his admissions decisions. S25 applied for direct entry nursing and has 8 acceptances and 1 deferral in the early round. None of these are tippy top schools, but two were hard match or reach schools for him (Case Western and Northeastern).
All of that to say, if you think 10th grade teachers would be best, I think itās fine to go that route.
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re: teacher LORs -
At D24ās school (small HS), the counselors kind of decide, along with the teachers, whoās going to write LOR for who. However, the studentās opinion is considered, too.
So, for example, counselor told D24 that they recommended for the French teacher to write a LOR + the teacher that D24 had for Robotics in 9th grade (+ was the Robotics team faculty advisor; D24 was in robotics for a couple of yr in HS). D24, however, doesnāt like the Robotics teacher very much and instead asked her Honors Bio (9th grade) & AP Bio teacher (10th grade) to write the 2nd LOR. Counselor agreed & the teacher agreed, so they all went with that. And she got accepted everywhere (but wasnāt applying to any big brand name colleges).
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S22 came in with enough credits from AP/IB that he is able to go with 4 classes plus band in the fall semester. Itās still pretty busy, as they are all engineering classes. But he takes 5 classes in the spring and moves things around so more labs are in the spring as well. It is a big commitment for sure.
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Yes, my D26 is going to have to do some serious thinking about what she actually wants. Because weāre in-state for Georgia Tech, itās on her radar ā a good number of kids from her high school go every year, including many of her marching band friends.
We know of several band friends who have marched for a year at Tech and then ended up dropping it, because the academics are just too time-consuming.
I donāt know that Tech is a great fit for her (itās known to be a grind), but she does like the campus, and they offer a major that would be a really good fit. And itās very cheap for us with state merit scholarships. So she will likely apply ā but sheāll have to think hard about the band aspect.
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One possibility might be Loyola New Orleans. It has about 3200 undergrads and Iām pretty sure it has a pep band. It may also be possible to participate in Tulaneās marching band, as Loyola students can take classes there and use their dining hall dollars there, too. (The campuses are adjacent to one another.) It sounds like the schoolās Interactive Design major might be the best fit, but it also offers a major in CS with a concentration in game programming. I wrote more about the school life here: Colleges with Admit Rates of 60-100%: Schools Youāve Liked and Why (NO REPLIES) - #24 by AustenNut
Two other possibilities were Florida Southern (about 2600 undergrads) and St. Edwards (about 2700 undergrads in Austin, TX), but I couldnāt find anything about a pep band for either, though it seemed as though students of any major were welcome in the musical ensembles they do have.
With the other weekās historic snowstorm in the deep south, a colleague of mine was mentioning how she had worn her ski pants when going out to play in the snow and was surprised at how warm she felt. She realized that she managed cold weather much better than anticipated when she was wearing the right clothes for the temps (which us southerners tend not to do). Just wanted to point this out in case it helped to expand the geographic range.
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Thank you for these suggestions! Iāll check them out. 
Totally agree with you about the weather ā I only mentioned it because I was speaking kind of tongue-in-cheek about my D26ās list of demands, lol. I think sheād get used to the weather if she loved many other things about the school.
But, not gonna lie, she had RIT on her radar for awhile ā and the weather certainly gave her pause!
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Correct - I can say this is accurate. Tulane has a Pep band as well (unsure of Loyola) where those students could play. The Pep band is much less structured - they want to make sure sufficient players show up but itās not a set group of players.
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I would suggest asking 1-2 teachers from Soph year and 1-2 teachers from Junior Year. I had my D24 fortunately had the same teachers in 11 and 12 grade for English and Math. But she asked a teacher who was her 12th grade teacher in Seminar who was the faculty advisor for her club she was President of. So he could write on both experiences. Maybe consider seeing if the 10th grade teacher is an advisor of a club your daughter can join and so give an excuse to the counselor? Just some thought.
Although they can be important, I have noticed colleges request less and less LORs. My S20 could submit 3-4 at his schools. My D24 could only select 1-3. Moreover, the counselor has to write a letter of recommendation too. You donāt want to get
on their bad side. Want them to write a stellar one.
Also, give more than your resume or brag sheet to the recommenders. I would also give my essays. That way the teacher and counselor will know you better and also maybe tailor their LOR with your story. Just a thoughtā¦.
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Do you mean the college essay? Ours get done as part of junior year English (and I think my kid is going to ask their English teacher as one of their recs, physics the other). I canāt imagine our swamped counselors will have time to do more than a brag sheet. (I know this post wasnāt aimed at me but Iām taking your post was also meant as general advice.)
I have noticed some schools on our list donāt want letters of rec, including a reach for C26 ranked in the 30s by USNews, and that most of the others only require one. But policy at our school is to ask for 2 - and I think most that require one will accept another. Weāll dive deeper into that as application season approaches.
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At our school, since seniors have a smaller course load, some of them opt to be TAās for teachers during the 1st 2 trimesters of the school year. D26 is going to ask her AP USH teacher if she can TA for him next year. Heās her #1 favorite teacher.
Today is the āsenior walkā at school. All the seniors put on their caps & gowns and walk through the school while all the other students line the hallways and clap & cheer for them.
1 year from now, MY kid is going to be doing the senior walk! OH MY GOSH.
Tomorrow is the end of trimester 2. Saturday is 2 more practice AP exams at school: AP USH & AP Psych.
We attended an online info session about the UT-San Antonio honors college yesterday. That was fine. Standard honors college info that lots of other public universities have.
Learned that Univ of Tulsa has this āTulsa Undergraduate Research Challengeā program. D26 thought it sounded pretty coolā¦
- includes a paid summer research stipend of $3000 for 200 hr of research & 20 hr of community service. Summer students are eligible for a summer housing discount.
- summer students also can, if they want to, expand their participation to full time during the summer, can also get academic credit without having to pay for the tuition for that during the summer.
- OR you could do it during the reg school year for a $2000 stipend ($1k/semester). Requires 133 hr of research & 13 hr of community service.
- they have a big list of research projects on their website and thereās a whole range of topics across multiple different majors
In the meantime, weāre going on a U of A tour later this month! Am looking for a fun restaurant near campus for us to have dinner at after the half-day thing weāll be doing there.
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It is all going by WAY too fast. I remember this stage with S24 and not wanting to wish away the time, but also feeling the stress he was under with college lists, applications, SATs, etc. Now we are here with D26 and I keep reminding myself it will be behind us in the blink of an eye 
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