My son has narrowed down his choices of 6 acceptances to 3 and just curious to seek out outside opinions about the final 3. He will be considered an OOS status on all three locations.
He wants to major in criminal Justice.
The three schools are ( in no particular order)
1.University of Alabama( Tuscaloosa, AL)
2.App State ( Boone, NC)
3. Ohio University ( Athens, Ohio)
Thanks in advance of the opinions
Interesting mix.
Both Ohio U and Bama are big in merit.
I think Iād look at size, weatherā¦does he want big time greek. If by weather I mean warm, Bama wins.
App - Boone a near mountain town. Beginner level skiing nearby.
Ohio U. We visited. Of the three itās the most rural. People love the campus. We didnāt. Didnāt seemā¦modern.
Given the major go by cost and feel.
Bama is far different than the other two. All three will be big party schools.
Where do you live ? Iām asking bcuz which would be easiest to get to.
Given the major you want to spend little so which is cheapest.
Good luck.
I really really appreciate hearing viewpoints and your response was great! Thank you.
Where we are closest to is not really an issue for us as my husband and I are moving to another state during our sonās college year.
You make valid points regarding the major.
My son is awaiting financial package for Bama this weekā¦.we hope your opinion on merit being generous comes to fruition in his case.
My son says the same thing about OU being āold.ā We have yet to visit Bama, but he did visit App State and liked Boone/ and campus.
As far as financialā¦.OU leads thus far. We shall see what Bama comes back with.
Again, much appreciated your comments!
You neednāt wait. What his gpa and talent score. They have a table. The top kids go cheap. But only the top ones.
Others you can see up front but donāt know a lot their CJ program - WVU, Ms State.
W Carolina is $5k OOS per year.
Bamaās campus is a Taj Mahal relative to Ohio U
OMG! We just got the merit package for Bamaā¦.he got 41,760k OFF!! Basically he has to pay 5K. I am hoping that is for each year not including a possible increase of tuition and if he has to maintain a certain gpa.
Trying to arrange a visit to Alabama. This is such a big schoolā¦not used to dealing with this size school. I have to call financial aid to help me figure all this out.
What is his gpa and act/sat? Are you a URM ?
Actually for a large school they handle the bureaucracy well - IMHO.
Does one school have a curricula that he desires more than another ?
His gpa is 4.4 W and 4.0 UW. Test scores were optional at Alabama but his score was low as he forgot his calculator for the SATās ( go figure). It was an 1160. He did not want to take them again. He did receive a rural academic award from the college board. Heās been taking AP classes and dual enrollment classes at our local community college. He co founded the Chess club at his school, a part of the German club, played on the school tennis team, swim coach, a camp counselor, plays rec bball and soccer and has worked for two years as an instructional assistant for a Math tutoring company. Heās a busy kid.
Have no idea what URM meansā¦sorry not really a tech savvy parent.
The schools he got into were : University of Wyoming, University of Colorado Boulder, Ohio University, University of Maryland, Alabama, and App State.
At this point he is interested in investigative justice, but wants to be open minded to all areas of criminal Justice. The one school he really was impressed with the criminal justice program was the one school he did not get into ( FSU). UMD which has a good program offered him Spring admittance not for Fall ā¦.with no aid.
Bama has automerit - and requires a test.But not at 1160.
URM minority. Under represented.
Not sure how you got $41K off then.
But congrats.
With a 4.0, youād get 32K off at Arizona - leaving about $8K in tuition.
All fine admissions.
Iād go for cost - hopefully others will have a similar program. I think that degree is agnositc - doesnāt matter so much where you go.
But look at the curriculums.
Congrats to him.
FWIW thatās less than my in-state son has to pay and he DID turn in his 33ACT!
the rural academic award is very similar to the national merit awards; but slimmed down a bit. so he did well on his PSAT it would seem. Nice job on that. Read through the scholarshipās rules closely; not sure parts of it are offered for all 4 years.
Yes, he received the rural merit award. We live in a smaller county in our state and border one of the wealthiest counties in the country.
OU gave us in state tuition ( for legacy), some academic merit and they lock in tuition for 4 years. That was the school to beat financially.
We are calling the financial aid office today to find out in more detail about the financial package. Even if he has to pay for housing after the first year, it still beats OU. The OU tuition is locked for 8 semesters.
While criminal justice may not be as defined by a set standard profession, it makes for him to learn and discover a potential path which as adults we come to learn that, that changes and evolves over time past college.
Thank you for all the comments on this thread! Itās appreciated.
Bama is test optional. Automatic merit requires test scores, or a title like National Merit. But competitive merit doesnāt require a score.
He apparently won a National Recognition Scholar award from the College Board (rural/small town). The award will decrease by $9,300 after his first year because it only covers his room costs for the first year. Other than that the rest of it should be good for all four years provided he maintains a 3.0. My S23 is going to Bama on the same scholarship. Congrats . . . it was a bit of a surprise to us as well. We knew our son qualified for strong auto-merit at Bama so he applied there. We also knew he had won a NRS award from the College Board, but didnāt realize it would be such a strong bump above the auto-merit award until he got a letter after he was accepted.
Congratulations to your son as well!
Yes, we are aware of the housing award for the first year only, but our 529 college savings plan will be used thereafter. Still there is no other school of his 6 acceptances that matches āBamaā total package.