@xpd600090 another thing I was impressed with at UTD is there is tons of free tutoring available if needed.
@xxluvforeverxx no doesn’t matter.
UTD has a transfer out rate of 19 percent. I understand that this school is not for everybody, but it is still very high.
Anybody has any idea why this is so?
@3scoutsmom Thank you so much for your detailed report about the UTD NM Preview! It sounds like they’ve got a great program and a great school overall. I’m excited for you, @traveler98 and @LMHS73 (and honestly, just a teeny tiny envious too!). UTD hit all the high points for my DS – he wants to study engineering and it has a great program, he doesn’t care for sports so lack of a football team isn’t a big deal, and now that he’s officially NMF the price can’t be beat! Plus, we have family in Dallas he could visit during the weekends and stay with during the holidays! But oh no, he wouldn’t apply! :(( I suspect he was afraid that we’d make him go there. I wouldn’t - really! But it would have been nice to have the option.
Congrats re: all the acceptances and hugs to those who didn’t receive the news they wanted. I don’t post often, but do try to keep up. And I always appreciate the info and support from this community.
Any student who is offered CAP by UT Austin will start at one of the UT system colleges (UTD, UTSA, UTA, and so on) and then transfer to UT Austin after one or two years. Some students who might not have applied to UT Austin or TAMU, or applied but not offered CAP, will have reasons for starting at UTD or one of the other Texas directionals when the ultimate goal is to graduate from UT Austin or TAMU.
@3scoutsmom, thanks for the tips and the heads-up on the driving situation. I’ll keep an eye out for those aggressive drivers! In the distant past, I made the daily commute (by car) from Long Island into NYC - so I know what it’s like to be surrounded by aggressive drivers!!
@xxyyzz00 UTD is not a selective school I suspect that some kids on the lowered end and even some that are coming from CCs are not ready for college level work and transfers to less demanding schools.
@traveler98 - From researching the UT system (we are not from Texas), my understanding is that UTD is not part of UT’s CAP program. The participating schools are listed here:
https://admissions.utexas.edu/enroll/cap/prospective-students/uta
@xxyyzz00 - Did you find an average transfer-out rate? UMN is 14%, Texas A&M is 15%, UC Boulder is 20%, UT Austin, Oklahoma, and a few other schools I checked didn’t report. I found the data under “Retention and Graduation Rates” here:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+of+texas+dallas&s=all&id=228787
Thanks for the corrected info @chercheur. So the students starting at UTD with transfer in mind won’t be CAP students but would have other reasons for starting there.
Of course I’m not trying to say that the only transfers are students who never planned to stay at UTD until graduation; of course there are students who start out thinking they will stay at UTD for their degree but change their minds later. I guess I’d just expect the Texas directionals to have higher transfer-out rates than the flagships because any directional will have a larger percentage of students who plan to leave the directional after a year or two.
UCF has a transfer-out rate of 4 percent. There seems to be a dynamic that is present in UTD, but not in UCF. All the explanations offered in the previous posts are plausible and welcome. Understanding this dynamic would help those who are still trying to make a decision between them.
@xxyyzz00 - Don’t put too much stock in the transfer-out rates. Many of the schools on your list didn’t report their rate, so there is no way to make a meaningful comparison. Alabama (21%) and Idaho (25%), both on your list, are higher than UTD, so I’m not sure why you’re focusing on UTD’s number. The best way to decide between them is to visit. If you are unable to visit, then make the most of the one you select. You will be fine at any of the schools you’ve mentioned.
I’ll second the idea that many of the UTD transfers probably matriculated with the idea that they’d transfer to UT (Austin) if they got in partway through.
Texas has a policy where only top few percent (8%?) are guaranteed admission at UT, and this leaves out a lot of kids with great stats who really want to go there. If they get in as a transfer, CAP or not, they go.
I think it’s also wise to investigate 4/6/8 year graduation rates more fully, too. Is it because of impacted majors and not being able to get the classes you need? Sometimes not. At UNM, for example, it’s because the school serves a lot of lower income students who attend part time and live at home, who take semesters/years off to work more, etc.
UNM’s graduation rate correlates with both income and grades / test scores, which means that high stats applicants from financially secure backgrounds (or with full ride scholarships) graduate on time at a drastically higher rate than those who struggle in one or both areas.
At other schools (lookin’ at you Cal Poly SLO), it’s because of impacted majors and not being able to get classes.
Disclaimer: Again, not trying to push UNM specifically. It’s the one I know the most about is all.
I think money also plays a big part in the transfer out rate. UTD gives instate tuition to anyone the gets their AES awards even to international students. If a student loses the AES award due to a drop in GPA then they would have to pay $$$ OOS tuition, it would make sense that those students transfer to more affordable schools
To add on to the money side, students might start at UTD to take advantage of a year or two of great merit scholarships and then go finish their degree at a more expensive school. UTD is very generous with merit aid for many students besides NMF, with many students getting at least full tuition. A student who lives within commuting distance to UTD could live at home and have tuition or more paid by scholarships; I imagine many would choose that option, especially since merit aid is scarce and competitive at UT Austin and TAMU.
Are any OOS NMFs selecting Texas A&M at College Station? My 1st choice college is listed as undecided for NMF, but I have to list A&M as 1st choice to see the scholarship award in the financial aid portal. Should I go ahead and list A&M even if I’m not 100% sure? Will I be able to change it to another college before the deadline without any problems? I was assured I would get the full scholarship plus the tuition waiver, but it would be nice to actually see the award before I accept admission.
My D is NMF, and A&M is her top OOS school choice. We’re still waiting to hear from in state (CA) schools, of which USC is her only NM scholarship opportunity. My understanding is that you can stay undecided and/or change your selection up to the May 1 deadline, unless the school is one of the few that requires you to declare by 3/1. To my knowledge, A&M does not require this. I’d call the National scholars office at A&M to confirm, their email address is nationalscholar@tamu.edu…
Thanks @kcheves. Does your D show any scholarship offers in her portal?
@kcheves The dates are certainly confusing. You can stay undecided until May 31 not May 1 based on NMSC rules. The university can have different deadlines for their own in-house scholarship offers though.
March 1 through May 31, 2018:
A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice before March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration. Only the sponsoring college you have listed as your first choice will be notified. Periodically NMSC will notify sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university as their first choice.
May 1, 2018:
NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.
NOTE: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the change in college choice will not be processed and the Finalist cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify NMSC that he or she is now “undecided” to prevent being made an offer from a school he or she is uncertain about attending; such notification must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.
May 31, 2018: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because it is necessary to treat all Finalists consistently and conclude the annual competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by May 31, 2018, will be used to identify the final group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards.
The key dates here are March 1, May 1 and May 31.
If you want your first choice college to know you have selected them first as soon as possible, you need to select them as first choice on the osa portal before March 1. The college could use this notification to verify or extend to you their own NMF scholarships at any time after that, depending on the school. You will still not know if you are awarded one of the college sponsored NMSC awards (max $2k per year). The big awards are directly from the school and not official NMSC awards.
If you select a first choice college prior to May 1 and then are awarded an NMSC college sponsored award (max $2k per year) for that school, THEN change your mind about your first choice school, you will forfeit the NMSC college sponsored scholarship and cannot receive an NMSC college sponsored scholarship for the new school you select.
If you are undecided and do not want to be locked into a certain school regarding the NMSC college sponsored award, you would not select a first choice college until the deadline of May 31.
@oneplus there is nothing on the awards tab in my daughter’s financial aid portal that I can see regarding scholarships. Is that where I should look?
We are not eligible for need-based financial aid, and did not complete a FAFSA… The wording on the TAMU scholarship says that the scholarship is ‘Guaranteed’ if you are admitted and name TAMU as your first choice.