Hi I got a huge scholarship at umiami and I was wondering if anyone knows much about the racial climate. It seems like the school is doing a very job handling current events (or at least pretending to) and the student body seems pretty diverse too. Although I am worried that the preppy white kids will overshadow the diversity and I’m also not too sure about florida. The reason I am really considering this school is because it would cost the same amount as my private high school and I’m exempt from all gen ed requirements. When I’ve talked to adults I keep hearing “It’s not like what you think it is it’s not really a southern school”. Can anyone confirm? Also I’m mixed black and white
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Congratulations on now waiting for your decisions. I am from the NW and have been to all of those campuses on your list. I personally graduated from Reed and have friends who have graduated from all of those schools since I am from the NW. Lewis and Clark and University of Puget Sound on your list have the most beautiful campuses. Lewis and Clark has a free bus for students to go downtown. University of Puget Sound is on the northside of Tacoma and is within a 10 minute drive to the water views. Willamette is based in Salem and personally I do not like the location for young people. Salem is a city I personally would not want to live in because a)it is not pretty like your other two options and b) the town is pretty low key and not exciting. Whitman is such a cute town with a lot of school spirit but for me a little rural. I would say though out of all the choices probably the most academically well rounded. Western Washington is 30 minutes from Canada is the perfect size state school. Bellingham is a cute city but you are not going to get the student professor ratio you would at all your other options. University of Oregon is the flagship state school in Oregon. I call it home to Nike with lots of opportunities and money. Eugene is a great college town but since the school is so big I would recommend he join the Black Student Union or live in the People of Color affinity housing. If you need any other information, let me know.
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The one reason my son likes Willamette is because of their large Japanese Studies department. He loves all things related to Japan and has been attending Japanese school, outside of his own school, weekly for 3 years now. Willamette has a partnership with Tokyo International University and a very large number of students from Japan on their campus (around 200 each year I think). My son really wants to study abroad in Japan and possibly work there after college so their Japanese Studies department is a draw. Willamette just lowered their tuition by 20% this year due to Covid and are now our cheapest option amongst the private schools my son applied to. Now if he could attend Whitman at the Willamette price that would be the dream, but Whitman is the most selective school of the 4 and seem quite stingy with merit. Whitman may end up being $55k a year out of pocket, while Willamette is $38k, which is the cost of a UC school for us.
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I say wherever you can save money matters and that price difference is huge. Please know that Willamette is a respected institution in the NW and I bet your son receives acceptances to all the NW schools on his list.
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Hey everyone just dropping in with an update. My son has recently been admitted to Denison and Bates with great aid. Also good news from UFlorida and Florida State. Couple more LAC RD to go ( Skidmore, Colgate, Middlebury, Vassar, Wesleyan, and Brandeis) I’m stunned at his results thus far. We hoped that he could have gotten into a few of his reaches. Getting into to all of them so far is something we never would have dreamed of.
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Your son has had a great run, @Sirvie627 !!! I’m excited for both of you. And all those great FinAid awards made it even better! It would be hard to turn down a near full-ride from NEU.
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Absolutely. 99% he’s going to NEU. He just wants to make sure. I personally think he’s holding out for Brandeis and Wesleyan. I kind of feel like he thought he had no chance at Wesleyan before all of this started. Now he is thinking maybe he has a shot. So we will just wait it out.
Also in case anyone is interested Denison is a great school. He interviewed with them. They were very nice throughout the process. The aid was up there with Case and Richmond.
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Hi everyone back with an update. Son got in at Skidmore. Great aid again. However he was waitlisted at American. Not a big deal, but was a little surprising given the results thus far. Needless to say we won’t be accepting the spot on the waitlist, hopefully that will give someone else an opportunity. I really was expecting more up and down results this cycle with Covid. That is why I encouraged him to apply to so many schools because I was unsure what to expect.
Brandeis is out tomorrow. This is one he really wanted before NEU came in , so I’m hopeful for him. I’ll keep everyone posted.
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My son is in at Brandeis with Presidential Scholarship. He is very excited. He said he wants to think about it a little more. I suspected this was the case. I’m so happy for him.
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Back with another update…
Son was accepted at Middlebury today! Also Skidmore. Not sure if I shared that one.
Waitlisted at Colgate. I’m thinking that was probably our fault. They requested more information from his stepmother for CSS multiple times…I knew he wouldn’t choose Colgate so I told her not to worry about it. It was a total hassle that no other school required.
We have 2 decisions left: Vassar and Wesleyan and we are done!
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Just spectacular results! Village proud of your son!!
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The final update: Son waitlisted at Wesleyan and accepted at Vassar.
He applied to many schools because we were unsure of what test optional really meant and how things would go with Covid. His ACT score was a little low for the schools he applied to. He had a 27 composite (25 Math/Science 29 English/ Reading) He did some test optional and some he sent scores.
He was waitlisted at: American, Colgate, and Wesleyan
Accepted: Tulane, Bates, Skidmore, Vassar, Case Western, Denison, Florida, Florida State, Providence, Fordham, Richmond, Middlebury, Brandeis, Wooster, Northeastern, Vermont, Deleware, Rhode Island, Holy Cross, Hofstra, Marist, Penn State, Indiana, Minnesota, Belmont, and Michigan State, Penn St, Clemson, and Rutgers (I might be forgetting a few…lol)
No rejections
My advice is try regardless of published stats. The rest of his application was very strong. His scores were the weakest portion. He got some personalized notes from some admissions officers on the strength of his essay.
Final decision is Northeastern. We paid the deposit today. As it turns out with the PA state grant that can be used in Massachusetts it’s costing us nothing.
Brandeis was his second choice. Middlebury was a distant third as it came in much more expensive than the others. I’m happy to answer any questions or help in any way I can.
Thank you to everyone for following along and offering support throughout this process.
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I love how your family worked the “system” for that amazing result… And you can not beat the costs😀
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We expected to pay something, but the money we got from Northeastern was unbelievable. It was like a 65K grant. I also think they must only count my income and dads. It seems like some
of the schools that came in higher must also count stepmom. I think that was the case with Middlebury especially. We were willing to pay it, but my son preferred Northeastern because of the major and coop in the end. And you can’t beat being in the heart of Boston.
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Congrats on the acceptances!
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Congrats! Just got our negative test results (since required by MA) so we are flying to go to tour Northeastern on Friday. USC was daughters #1 but we found out last night she didn’t get accepted (long shot as that department has a 2% acceptance rate). NEU has been in her top 3 all along but we’ve never been to Boston so we will see how it goes. She’s narrowed her list down to a top 6 but with her scholarships and grants NEU will be a free ride. If she decides to go hopefully we can meet each other during orientation or move in! Congrats again on your sons wonderful journey!
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Last decision just came in an hour ago. Waitlisted at Columbia and Duke. She was expecting rejections from both but happy about the waitlist. Just got back from visiting Northeastern and plan to visit Carnegie Mellon this weekend. University of Georgia, Syracuse, Loyola Marymount and NC State are all still in the picture as well. Daughter isn’t fully sure which direction to go yet. She will have a full ride at Northeastern and has over a million dollars in merit and artistic scholarships combined.
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Kicking this back up in case some new CC visitors might be interested … these threads and others in the African-American Students category have been great supportive helpful gathering places for African-American parents and students.
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Is there an African American HS class of 2024 thread?
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Hello. Our son is deep in the process of applying for 2022, and we’re trying to guide him the best we can. He’s got a 4.167 GPA, 10 APs, great EC (including a paid internship in Physics Department at Colorado State University this summer), but a 1300 SAT. He’s interested in Engineering. We’re struggling with the decision to go test-optional and can’t help feeling like AOs will think, as an African-American student, he’s trying to hide a very low score by not submitting. We’re looking at a mix of target/reach schools: UVA, Purdue, Virginia Tech, University of Michigan, Northwestern, UW-Madison. Looking for collective wisdom and support of this great CC community. Thank you!!
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