<p>Anxiousmom and others - Moderates and liberals do have some significant options at Tech starting with the campus community itself (though Lubbock as a whole is very conservative). As you might guess, the Arts & Sciences faculty has a lot of moderate/liberal leaning folks as well as other departments. (The Democratic candidate for Congress for Lubbock's district was a Tech Accounting prof.) For the Honors College, look at the Voice newsletter and see the Friday weekly lunch topics for students/faculty that often include social question type topics. Look at the student newspaper (online), the Daily Toreador and see the student opinion columns which tend to have moderate/liberal leanings. The Honors College pushes community involvement which the socially conscious thrive on. </p>
<p>My son has moderate to liberal leanings and has found a very comfortable niche based on the above resources.</p>
<p>And for the servious liberal arts students Texas Tech just got a Phi Beta Kappa chapter after a multi-year rigorous application process. They are thrilled.</p>
<p>anxiousmom, Tech was my D's instate safety as she didn't care for A+M or Texas. Remember that the Honor's College has it's own app and I hate to tell the boy but there are essays. LOL. Lonestardad can help with this but I believe it's best to get into Honor's early so you can get HC dorms. Is that right Lonestardad?</p>
<p>Re Texas Tech Honors Housing and Cur's Comments - The instant that a student is admitted to Tech (or any state university nationwide), he/she should apply to student housing. That sets the student up in the housing queue which - when Tech Honors College gets around to making its admissions decisions after the first of the year (a little sarcasm here) - puts the student in good shape to then immediately modify their housing application to put in for honors housing at Gordon Hall after being accepted to the Honors College. Ahh...bureaucracy.</p>
<p>Overall the Tech Honors College application and review process is holistic (i.e much more than just scores and GPA so shine up those essays and recs),fair to the student, and comprehensive. But they do take their time.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. DS got his UT housing ap in at 6:45 a.m. on Sept 1st. Aps opened at 6:00a.m. but the server was jammed - so it took a whole 45 minutes to get it accepted. UT makes a bunch of money by having students apply for housing BEFORE applying for admittance (50$ nonrefundable times many thousands of students -many who don't get in, or who choose not to attend UT). I though ds had to wait to apply for housing - but, thanks to your headsup, I'll have him apply now. And yes, the essays...... just one real one, I think. If he has a decent essay, he should get in. I know they score "holistically", but they are still fairly-well number driven. He's a great kid, top2%, hardest courseload, 2250 SAT's, 780/800 SAT II's - and although a little low on the EC side (slow to get off the couch his first 3 years of high-school), he's got a spark. And his ap should be in by December 1st. (That's why they invented the 5-day Thanksgiving holiday break.. A 5-day application work-session!) :)</p>
<p>My daughter just got into University of Wisconsin/Madison. She's thrilled, and feels like a huge weight has been lifted from her shoulders. It's not her first choice, but now she knows she will be going to college next year.</p>
<p>My son just got accepted by Wisconsin, U of CO-Boulder, and Ohio U (Scripps), so we're thrilled. But he's got some early actions to hear from as well as some regular admissions, so may not decide until April where he's going. What do we do with the housing contracts that are starting to come in (Wisconsin wants theirs back by Feb 1)? Yikes, but how nice to already have some choices!</p>
<p>We have the same issue with Madison and have decided that if the early decision app doesn't come through we will send in the Wisconsin housing contract. I believe the deposit is minimal, but the benefit to being in the system huge. My D is really not interested in the private dorms, so we want to make sure she has housing options if she ends up at Madison. And I agree, having choices is really nice. Especially as the anxiety about ED and EA begins to ramp up as mid-December approaches.</p>
<p>Glad to hear other parents discussing the Wisconsin housing deposit situation, we got the mailing and were kinda ignoring it for now. We'll likely also wait to see how the other early applications do before we decide what to do.</p>
<p>DS just got admitted to UT-Austin (instate) Engineering! It was a very quick turnaround time; he only applied 10 days ago! I'm impressed by their efficiency. :) :) Now, fingers crossed that he will get into honors program and/or get a little bit of financial aid!</p>
<p>If you don't want the kids to be living in outer Siberia, or be the third in a double or in a hotel or makeshift dorm, you had better send in the housing deposit. If your school is a strict member of NACAC, and the deposit also requires an acceptance, you might want to keep the info to yourself, warning your student to do the same (the part of having sent the money and commitment). If the college specifically states that you can not commit there and elsewhere, and intends to enforce it if you break the rule, and may even have you sign to that affect when you commit, you are going to have to think a loooong time about that one. If it is your only commitment out there and you decide to release as soon as a more highly desired school comes through that you want to commit to, that is probably fine. Otherwise you are breaking your word if you accept more than one school. </p>
<p>Both of my kids got unsatisfactory housing because they waited till close to May 1 before sending out their deposits, most if not all requiring some sort of admissions commitment. They were absurdly at the bottom of the barrel for housing even though we sent the stuff out a little before the last minute. It means that 90% of the kids got their deposit in before they did, which doesn't seem right unless they all immediately accepted. Of course if a portion of the deposits are unrefundable, and you don't have the money, you are stuck till you make your one choice. For the state schools, most housing money is refundable. Acceptance deposits are not.</p>
<p>Congrats on URI S0ad -- I hope they come through with some $$$</p>
<p>And cpt I hear you. This afternoon S will be looking at the dorms online because he wants to get his housing deposit in ASAP! Although, to be fair, I transferred after my 1st semester Freshman year and as a consequence ended up in the "dreg" dorm. Despite that, I had the time of my life that year.</p>
<p>So how in the world does one's child decide on which dorm to live in at these huge universities? The brochures make everything look fabulous.....</p>
<p>HCEB, my son was accepted at Purdue and may attend, and I just saw it listed this week in a list of Top 15 Largest Schools in the US, so I think it counts. Luckily their housing deposit just holds one's place in line and doesn't require choosing a dorm when you send the deposit, but he did start poking around right away. One of the first things we did was go to the Purdue forum here at CC and see if anyone was talking about dorms. They weren't so I started a thread to ask. He also looked around online at student blogs, etc. to see if certain dorms seemed to be more popular among certain majors, learning communities, etc. And he was able to drop some off the list right away (doesn't want single sex, does want at/near food service, etc.). Then luckily we were able to attend a day for admitted students, and we spent all our free time visiting the set of dorms he'd identified as "most likely". He now has a list of his top 3 or 4 choices which he can submit when asked, if he matriculates.</p>
<p>I think the easiest thing is if the student can visit and tour. Next best is to use the power of the Internet to contact people who live(d) there and get a more personal view.</p>
<p>Yay! My son received word of his first acceptance -- at UT Austin for his first choice major (electrical engineering). I think I'm more relieved than he is, but it's great to have an acceptance in hand, and especially at a top-ranked program.</p>
<p>Are you speaking about a specific school in your post #72, or are you speaking about all schools? Sorry, but I haven't followed the whole thread.</p>
<p>The reason I ask is because there is no way my son will be able to make a final decision until April due to money concerns, and I'm trying to figure out how we handle housing along the way. I have only sent a deposit to Purdue so far, but he's in at U Pitt and Rose-Hulman too and I haven't seen anything about housing deposits yet from either one of those. U Pitt seems to have adequate housing (?) and Rose is so small I can't believe any of the dorms are really awful or tripled (?). We also won't even be visiting Rose or Purdue until February (maybe)! I am not above sending in deposits that are "iffy."</p>
<p>Yikes. You'd think I would know what I'm doing being on the second kid and 2000+ posts on CC, but I sort of feel like this college search for son #2 is really out of control...Darn.</p>
<p>Weenie - Pitt does have plenty of housing for freshman. My S didn't decide until almost May 1st. Has your S been invited to the Honors college? Honors housing is separate and by application. S lived on an Honors floor in Sunderland freshman year and loved it. All of the dorms are close to classes. Sunderland is up a huge hill but they seem to get around it with the shuttle buses and the escalator in Petersen. Good luck</p>
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S lived on an Honors floor in Sunderland freshman year and loved it. All of the dorms are close to classes. Sunderland is up a huge hill but they seem to get around it with the shuttle buses and the escalator in Petersen.
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<p>I lived in Sutherland for the first month of my freshman year. I really didn't care for it. They were great dorms, just very inconvienent as most of my friends lived in the Towers. So, I moved down to the towers after the first month. But then again, we Petersen wasn't finished until my senior year ;).</p>