Any updates about Troy University in Alabama?

College Search & Selection
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Troy University comes up often enough because of the generous automatic scholarships but I haven’t been able to find recent reviews.

It’s on my radar for a couple of different reasons besides the great scholarships, like having a good psych program and the housing options that would appeal to D.

Being far from home and a boyfriend could be one challenge. But D is also rather intellectual and I wonder if the honors program would satisfy that need. Would she be able to find an intellectual peer group?

Are the sciences strong enough if she is planning on graduate school in the sciences? She is interested is neuroscience, but would probably major and minor in some combination of biology, chemistry and psychology.

Thanks for sharing any thoughts.

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@mom2collegekids : do you have any recommendations or thoughts about Troy?

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What are the student’s stats??

What are her career plans with neuroscience?

What do you want your net costs to be?

Troy is a bit out in the middle of nowhere.

4

In another thread, you’re vague about her stats…modest math, and better reading

Can you be more specific about her SAT? Is she retesting?

Has she taken the ACT??? Many say that the ACT math is “less tricky”.

Are you abandoning the Catholic Univ search?

I would think that Spring Hill in Mobile (Jesuit) or Univ of South Alabama or UAB would be better choices than Troy

With merit, UAB may be the best bet for neuroscience https://www.uab.edu/cas/neuroscience/

For someone looking to go to grad school, UAB seems like a very good choice. UAB is highly respected nationally for all health related majors/careers. It has a ranked med school.

What is her goal with neuroscience? Even if a college doesn’t have a specific neuroscience major, many student “create” one with a combo of psych and bio classes.

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Is UAB merit better than Troy’s (competitive and automatic)?

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@mom2collegekids and @MYOS1634

My goal is to get a net cost under $20K. That is realistic with two state public colleges that she likes, Rowan and Stockton.

At Troy she meets the qualifications for full tuition already since they only want 1320. Net cost might be around $10K. If she can get up to 1420 it would be a full ride.

Finances are the biggest reason why it’s on the table. Another reason she would consider it is the is the Newman Center which seems like it could provide a welcoming community for her. She wants substance free housing if possible and the Newman Housing has that, too. Overall, it seems like it would be a great safety, except it’s far from home.

She needs to hit a 1390 to get the highest automatic merit at UAB or full-tuition at Huntsville. Huntsville housing has singles and strong sciences. UAB has an amazing neuroscience program, but I don’t know if it would be too urban for her.

I need to look at Spring Hill again and I don’t know anything about USA.

She has a math tutor but we’ve had some difficulties with scheduling on both sides and just finding time to prep in her own has been hard, so I don’t know if she will make the jump with the June SAT. I am going to schedule for August in any case and hope for more prep time over the summer.

I missed the deadline for the ACT and then had mixed feelings about paying for an entirely different test when she has no time to prep. The timing isn’t great either because it’s the weekend before finals.

She talks about research as a career goal and does not seem interested in medicine.

The Catholic colleges won’t get under $20K, unless by some miracle she can win one of their competitive scholarships. They don’t have neuroscience, but she could get close enough with biology and psychology. Not all of them seem to have great music options either. But I have a list of several where her stats are high enough for invitation to the scholarship competitions where she should apply.

7

^^^
Probably not better. But the school is better. In another thread, the mom mentions a budget of about $25k per year. With merit, UAB would probably come under that. But we don’t know what the SAT (or ACT) score is, so it’s hard to tell. UAB also is known to throw some extra merit at OOS students.

UAH could be another option since the student has interests in the sciences. It’s another school that often gives OOS students extra merit.

I just don’t think a student from NJ would fit in at Troy. If this was a desperate student who has little funds and has stats for huge merit from Troy, then the student would suck it up and go where affordable. This student should have more options.

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My relatives attend Troy and love it. But they are from Alabama and getting full ride was top priority.

I agree that a NJ student might feel lost and isolated at Troy.

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IMO, probably not.

In the past ~decade (2006-15), Troy University alumni earned 5 doctorates in psychology and 10 in biological sciences. Catholic University alumni earned 2 doctorates in psychology and 1 in biological sciences.

For comparison:
Case Western Reserve University alumni earned 36 doctorates in psychology and 160 in biological sciences.
Carnegie Mellon alumni earned 91 doctorates in psychology and 166 in biological sciences.
Stanford U. alumni earned 139 doctorates in psychology and 397 in biological sciences.

If your daughter is determined enough, she should be able to reach her goals from virtually any research university that offers the programs she wants. However, at either Catholic U. or Troy, even in an honors program, she may find she is nearly the only student in her cohort who is seriously intent on graduate work in neurosciences (or even in closely related fields).

A place like Stanford may be out of reach for admissions and cost.
Case Western or Carnegie Mellon may be reaches for admission and net cost.
With effort, though, I think you could find attractive alternatives to Troy or Catholic U.

New College of Florida comes to mind (if you’re willing to consider a smaller school).
I think it offers a richer intellectual atmosphere than Troy, as well as a beautiful beach-front setting.
Net cost after a $15K OOS merit grant may be over your $20K budget but still within reach with student loans and work-study.
https://www.ncf.edu/admissions/cost-and-aid/scholarships/out-of-state-freshmen/

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How many NJ students attend Birmingham or Huntsville?

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@mom2collegekids Thanks for that helpful information above. That’s the kind of information I was interested.

The $25K would work with federal loans and a smallish college fund. But knowing we have decent state options that she likes that are so affordable, I’m coming down in my goals. I’m balancing retirement, younger kids with mild special needs and my own desire to see her come out with minimal debt.

I think I would be more flexible for the perfect school in the perfect place with neuroscience but I’m not really seeing that out there, except for UAB which is under $25K now but might come under $25 K with maximum automatic merit.

UAB seems like the best option academically. She would be a direct admit to neuroscience with her stats’s but I think you have to keep a 3.2 to remain in the program which could be a challenge looking at the required courses. I have to check the requirements for keeping the scholarship.

I really have to take her on a road trip to Alabama. I can’t wait to go myself after the nice experiences I’ve had each time I’ve called to ask questions at Troy, UAB and UAH.

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@tk21769 , Wow! Thanks for all of the information and analysis.

I think you capture what I want for her and where she might fit in.

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If you think that she can’t maintain a 3.2 GPA, then grad school isn’t in her future really…at least not at any decent program. I don’t think neuro is that hard that getting a 3.2 should be a big deal.


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Finances are the biggest reason why it's on the table.

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Understandably…but any merit will be moot if your DD doesn’t like the school and leaves after one year. I just don’t think she’ll like Troy.

Yes, UAB is urban, but not in a grungy dirty sort of way. Another benefit is that the airport is super close…like 5 minutes away.

The nearest large airport for a Troy student would be 45 minutes away. Not horrible but since most of Troy’s students are instate, I doubt that the school has scheduled airport shuttles.

The issue I have with Troy is that not only is it mostly instate students, but the student body doesn’t consist of the state’s best students. With Alabama, Auburn, UAB, UAH, BSC, Samford, and USA picking off the state’s top students, Troy isn’t getting the best students. An exception would be those who are going into music/band management because Troy is known for that. It’s not really known for its science programs.

USA has the other med school in Alabama. It’s lesser known, and I don’t know much about their merit, but they do have some. Springhill is the Jesuit college…close in distance to USA.


[QUOTE=""]
@mom2collegekids and @MYOS1634

[/QUOTE]

My goal is to get a net cost under $20K. That is realistic with two state public colleges that she likes, Rowan and Stockton.

At Troy she meets the qualifications for full tuition already since they only want 1320. Net cost might be around $10K. If she can get up to 1420 it would be a full ride.

Finances are the biggest reason why it’s on the table. Another reason she would consider it is the is the Newman Center which seems like it could provide a welcoming community for her. She wants substance free housing if possible and the Newman Housing has that, too. Overall, it seems like it would be a great safety, except it’s far from home.

She needs to hit a 1390 to get the highest automatic merit at UAB or full-tuition at Huntsville. Huntsville housing has singles and strong sciences. UAB has an amazing neuroscience program, but I don’t know if it would be too urban.

14

So her SAT is between a 1320 and 1390? What is her SAT?

When is she retesting? And is she going to take the ACT?? The ACT is easier for math, but she’d need to practice the test because the Science Reasoning part would be new to her.

Edit…I see that she’s retesting in Aug…good. She’d also have time over the summer to prep for ACT

1 Like
15

@tk21769 , Wow! Thanks for all of the information and analysis.

I think you capture what I want for her and where she might fit in.

I’m editing to add: I spent a lot of time running NPCs on the colleges and universities that are on the well-known lists and most of them are completely out of reach financially and a few are unbelievably low. We are in an unusual position of low income with good assets and our NPC results vary widely because of it.

Hamilton and Colby are intellectual places that gave us great results with under $10K net cost, but they would be reaches.

Macalester is under $20K, but I’ve read it has a political vibe. She’s not politically minded and definitely community service oriented without politics involved.

Davidson is $15K but maybe too much of a reach to even consider and maybe too stressful if she got in.

University of Toledo and Kent State are under $20K but probably not better than our instate options.

Between $20K and $25K: Gettysburg, Lawrence, Sewanee.

Wooster seems like a friendly place where she’d fit in but I was told their NPC isn’t reliable, which is a shame because its result was $16K.

Beloit’s NPC was also low but I wasn’t sure she’d fit in.

Some nice schools fall into the $25-$30 range, like Ursinus, Allegheny, Elizabethtown, Lycoming, Susquehanna.

16

Will your DD be coming in with any AP credits? If so, which ones?



UAB Freshman.        Out-of-State – Two Semesters (15 credit hours per semester)
Tuition and Fees*      $22,844
Books and Supplies**       $1,200
Meal Plan***                 $3,950
Freshman Housing          $6,020
Parking                      $130
Total                        $34,144





OOS Scholarships for 2017-2018   Annual Amount  Required Test Score Required GPA
Blazer Elite    $15,000        30-36 ACT or 1390-1600 SAT       3.5 GPA or higher
Blazer Gold $12,000        26-29 ACT or 1240-1380 SAT

Right now, her stats bring costs to about $22k. I don’t know if R&B costs can be lower by choosing a less expensive dorm. Likely the textbook costs could come down by renting or buying used.

If she has a good number of AP or CLEP credits, she probably could graduate in less than 4 years.

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@mom2collegekids It’s 1320. 730 RW and 590 Math. She did a few weeks of Khan math prep before the test but that’s it. So I hope she’ll come up in math but I don’t have very high expectations. She hasn’t prepped for reading at all since it didn’t make sense while the math didn’t even hit 600.

I don’t know what to expect with the GPA since neuro requires a heavy science load. Some of the basic requirements don’t seem to different from engineering. I just have memories of my own college experience with every male student I know having to drop out of engineering because the sciences were overwheming. And my oldest D had an A & P requirement that many students in her class had to withdraw from and we were thankful she took the same course at a local state college and did well.

I just don’t know what to think.

But my D loves science and is a very diligent worker so I guess I should hope for the best. She has a 4.0 UW/4.5 W currently, with above average but not highest rigor. Top 5%. Average school.

ETA: She is a good math student but slow. She might do better because of the type of ACT math problems but speed might be more of a problem. I have some confidence about science–with practice–because she did extremely well on the data analysis and interpretation problems on the math section of the SAT.

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@MACmiracle, some of the other schools you mentioned above arguably are stronger academically than UAB, and if your NPC figures are accurate may also offer lower net costs (after need-based aid).

To qualify for sufficient need-based aid from selective, well-endowed private schools, relatively low income with good assets ought to work better than the other way around (as long as the assets aren’t titled in your D’s name.)

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Top colleges treat assets differently.
Run the npc on Vassar, Boston College, and Grinnell for instance.

20

Birmingham isn’t a big city. It feels like it is double the size of Morristown (not sure which part of NJ you’re from). Would she have a car? You can get to the countryside relatively quickly, and UAB has an active Outdoor Club. My niece goes to UAB and she says there are a fair number of commuters, but not horrible. I think UAH has a lot more commuters. I don’t know anything about Troy other than it’s fairly remote. The neuroscience dept at UAB is supposed to be really, really good, and it’s requirements for admission to the program is higher than the general university admissions, so she would be in with other strong students. The Birmingham airport is really nice but there aren’t that many direct flights to LGA and I think none to EWR, but there is a direct flight on American to Philly. Airfare tends to be very expensive.