<p>I'm surprised that there is NO activity in the Siena forum, ...</p>
<p>Just wondering if anyone is considering attending? Or if anyone who attends or has a child who attends can give any insight into the college?</p>
<p>Anyone going to the presidential scholarship weekend on Sunday/Monday? My daughter will be attending.</p>
<p>My daughter and I are attending the weekend. Siena is one of her top choices. We know of two local (MA) students who are enrolled and are very happy there.</p>
<p>We attended the Presidential Scholarship with our son the weekend in Feb. Siena was not at the top of his list before now says it is in his A-list. He had a good time. The fact the BB team is doing well helps -LOL!</p>
<p>Siena is amongst top choices for my daughter. It is probably her father’s first choice, but she leans towards another school. It is on the short lists of schools that we can afford amongst her list of acceptances and merit aid.</p>
<p>She enjoyed the weekend for the most part. My husband was hoping that she would come back with a little warmer place in her heart for it than she had after her first visit back in November.</p>
<p>Did anyone else do the student overnight?? Quite honestly doing it may have ruined the experience for our daughter. My daughter stayed in a room where both students were housing a candidate, plus they had a male friend who was doing the same. Our dd said it was quite apparent after a while that they were doing it simply to get free tickets and food at the basketball game. They were ditched after getting back to the dorm and foisted upon a random ‘other friend’ and forced to watch the movie when they wanted to go to trivia. The girls did not offer to set the alarm, the girls did not get up in the morning to see them off. My husband who is not a complainer plans on calling admissions to let them know that they should better screen the hosts in the future.</p>
<p>It’s going to come down to the package. We’re waiting to see what the final scholarship number is (it can vary from the minimum). She is also amongst a small group of finalists for Siena’s tech valley scholarship program (it could pay up to full tuition). If that comes through it is going to be hard justifying sending her to #1 choice vs. #2 Siena.</p>
<p>As an anecdote - she knows the young man who does the Siena tour video. He also is on the student panel trotted out during accepted student events (pres scholar weekend included).</p>
<p>BLMom14…Saw your info about the scholarship weekend . I was wondering how you made out. My D has Siena as one of her choices but not originally. She never went to the scholarship weekend because she had another college in mind that she thought she was going to go to . But not anymore. My D first choice is still another college with Siena as a second. I was wondering did Siena only give her the $8000 scholarship or was she able to obtain more after attending the interview. I don’t know if it is too late for my D to try since they stated on the invite that you had to attend to receive scholarship awards…</p>
<p>No package yet - my husband said that it was said many times that the packages would be sent out within 2 weeks.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that the $8000 is a starting point - albeit the most usual award. The tech valley scholarship is another program run by Siena through a grant they received a few years ago. It is for qualified biochemistry (for the most part) majors - and biology and chemistry I think (have to be ‘pure’ majors, cannot be bio or chem pre-med). She was invited to apply for the scholarship. I don’t know if she’ll get it or not - I believe the gave out 9 last year. This scholarship could cover up to full tuition at Siena (plus a laptop and some other things).</p>
<p>The only true interview my daughter had was for the tech valley scholarship. The presidential scholarship time slot was more of a tour of the buildings she will be in for her major and a talk about the department. So, there was no chance really to distinguish yourself from others in the group.</p>
<p>My husband prefers the strong science program at Siena over the academics at her first choice (High Point University). She leans towards HPU. I want her to go where she feels comfortable.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize it, but my husband said that Siena had 3 scholarship weekends - and he said there were probably around 500 kids at the one they attended on the 6th. That’s a lot of scholarships! I think they realize that they are often not a first choice so they cast a wide net.</p>
<p>Thanks for writing back…Its funny my Daughter also Biochemistry/chemistry major. (Possible pharmacy in the future ) Her first choice is HPU also. Went to the scholarship weekend . She received the 9k offer. Her Gpa and class ranking similiar to your daughters. She is also having hard time deciding because of price. Afraid of increases each year. But HPU is still the college she keeps going back to. I agree with your husband about Siena probably stronger academically.</p>
<p>Same number from HPU for us. So, if she only gets $8 from Siena - HPU winds up about $1600 less per year. I got some information from someone else in the HPU forum - it appears that COA there has gone up $2000 each year for at least the past couple of years. So, if the trend continues that’s not too far out of line with other schools.</p>
<p>Did your daughter get the same stunned silence when being asked what her major was at HPU? It was the only thing my daughter found a little off-putting about the school. She is heartened by the fact that the science building will be fully refurbished by the fall.</p>
<p>We’ll see where the final numbers fall and how much control of the decision my husband gives her. I’d be happy with her at either school - better academics at Siena, better quality of life and the ‘it’ factor for my daughter at HPU.</p>
<p>BLMOM14…</p>
<p>I agree with you better college atmosphere beautiful campus at HPU. Siena is beautiful also but dorms /cafeteria so outdated. I think the townhouses are suppose to be nice though.</p>
<p>My daughter thought the first professor that interviewed her was quiet but the second was better. More talkative and the interview went smoother. She is just unsure now what to do. She is also happy that the science dept is being renovated. I think it will be state of the art up grades since the rest of the campus is like that. She also was accepted to Suny Geneseo so that is of course the least expensive . </p>
<p>I think she really wants to go to HPU but can’t quite decide due to cost.</p>
<p>^The townhouses are really nice. The freshman dorms suck though.</p>
<p>I WAS going to go to the Presidential Scholars Weekend, but decided not to or even do the essay option. Siena is great school if it’s the kind of environment that fits you. My mom went there and I got in, but I’m pretty sure it’s not for me so I doubt that I’m going.</p>
<p>OHBoi…My D decided to do the essay so that Siena is an option.They do have alot of scholarship opportunities. I don’t know if she will be able to get any of them though. We were in the Albany area this past weekend and Siena look beautiful even in the rain. So maybe this is were she will end up. Starting to get close in making a decision </p>
<p>I noticed on the web site there are new dorms being built by aug 2010. Do you know if this is an option for freshman?</p>
<p>Asked my husband and daughter about the new dorm. They were told at the president’s weekend that the new dorm will be for upperclassmen only. They will be taking sophomores out of the Hines dorm - so it will be an all freshman dorm. They will also be moving upperclassmen from other dorms to the new dorm. They are unsure at this time if they will be opening the other ‘new’ dorm - Padua - to freshmen.</p>
<p>Essay option??? I don’t remember my daughter having to write an essay for the presidential scholarship (she had to write one for the other scholarship) - she just received an invitation to the weekend. Were you offered an essay option if you were unable to attend the weekend?</p>
<p>@northern mom
The new dorm situation is exactly as blmom14 said. It is mainly to relieve the forced tripling of the freshmen dorms.</p>
<p>@blmom14
Yeah, if you could not attend the weekend (or didn’t want to in my case), you could write an essay if you contacted admissions. I tried, but it wasn’t very genuine so I decided not to.</p>
<p>Ohboi…</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on the dorms… I was thinking that was the case. Do you know if most of the kids were tripled or just a few this past year?</p>
<p>I don’t know about most, but based on what I’ve heard on several visits, a good amount of them were that it became a problem.</p>
<p>I have many friends that go to Siena. A few of them were part of triples. They said it was a problem but not that terribly bad. With the new dorms being built that problem should be taken care of. However like most schools, things do arise where students will be forced into triples. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t base your decision on whether or not to go to Siena on the fact of maybe having to be part of a triple. If it weren’t for the fact that HPU has an amazing business finance program, I would be going to Siena in a heartbeat. Great academics and well respected, especially here in upstate NY. With how well the basketball team is playing, they are quickly gaining national attention.</p>