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<p>Refer back to #40 - the fear factor.</p>
<p>To Starbright - “On what basis do you draw this conclusion? They have a total of 5 PhD tenure-track faculty. Only one actually does what would be considered ‘research’ (e.g. publishes in peer reviewed journals that colleagues might recognize, and therefore a student could do research with them that would help with graduate school admissions…not local magazines and newspapers).”</p>
<p>You might be interested to hear that a 2011 graduate of St. Thomas was named MN New Journalist of the Year and
“The University of St. Thomas-based ThreeSixty Journalism program received a Special Award of Excellence, and nine ThreeSixty students won individual awards for their articles, at last week’s annual convention of the Minnesota Newspaper Association.”</p>
<p>This can be read in there bulletin on their website.</p>
<p>MNmom- If you are familiar with my posts at all, you would know I am not at all locked into the top US News schools. I am a fan of all sorts of schools, both large and small. I don’t try to shoehorn everyone into my own state, though, like you seem to do. That is despite the fact that my current favorite college (more in part due to my basketball obsession than the fact that my daughter and son in law are affiliated with it) is here.</p>
<p>It seems as if someone doesn’t agree with you, it means they don’t know anything about the school!</p>
<p>To answer the questions about my D applying to DePaul and my reservations: I don’t think the university is in the 15th century. From what I understand it is a pretty good school and is working on building up its science majors, which is what she is interested in. I don’t think there would be a problem on the academic side. I am alluding to what emeraldkity mentions, the resistance by Catholic institutions to allow adults on their campuses, specifically adult women, to access contraceptives through the university health services. If religious institutions want to remain socially relevant - and DePaul has been open about its goal to encourage applications from non-Catholics - they might admit that most women of college age, including most Catholic women, use and benefit from family planning. It’s not good enough - to me - to say to a young woman, there’s the yellow pages go find a doctor someplace else to help you. </p>
<p>Anyway - the chances are probably slim that she will end up at DePaul but we won’t know for another 6 weeks at least.</p>
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<p>Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, thanks. But to clarify, I was commenting on the political science department, not the journalism department.</p>
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<p>I agree. But the funny thing is, most of the long time posters on this thread who are criticizing your gems (or your logic) are actually not at all folk son CC that go rah-rah for top 25. You seem to be generalizing to the wrong assumptions.</p>
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<p>Schools with outstanding theater or music or other specialized programs can often suffer from lack of name recognition if you’re not familiar with that field. I was chatting recently with parents whose daughter is applying to schools with great photography programs. Didn’t recognize a single name they mentioned. It made me feel like a total hick. 
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<p>Here’s an old but good thread on searching for merit money. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a> Caveat emptor since the threads (both the update and the original) are old; look mostly for strategies on how to find schools where your kid’s stats will put them near the top of the heap.</p>
<p>I’m late to this thread, but I just want to address the OP’s original question and clear up a few misconceptions about the University of St. Thomas. My older children and my husband and I all attended college in Minnesota and lived and worked there for several years. The University of St. Thomas is not obscure and it can’t be compared to Elmhurst College or North Central, as was suggested in an earlier post. It is a busy campus in St. Paul with over 6,000 undergrads, 4,000 graduate students and 90 majors. </p>
<p>The facilities are excellent–they just finished a gorgeous new student center–and UST students are part of a consortium that allows them to take classes at Augsburg College, St. Catherine University, Hamline University, and Macalester College. The study abroad programs are extensive and there is an honors program for students who qualify. It might not be a good fit for everyone because yes, it is Catholic, and yes, the student body has many Minnesota students, and no, it’s not a top 50 LAC; nonetheless, it has many good things to offer. </p>
<p>To address nitnat and gonavy2015’s questions, UST does give very good merit money (our daughter received $18,000 with a 3.9 GPA and a 28 ACT). We don’t live in Minnesota and I think that might have helped because the school wants to diversify its student body. UST is definitely worth a look. We visited campus last fall and were impressed. And I’m saying that as someone whose other kids went to super-competitive small LACs, so I don’t impress easily. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks Mary13. what a concept…an opinion from someone who has actual experience with a school.</p>
<p>Mary13, do you have a take on Gustavus?</p>
<p>Gustavus, in our opinion, is a school that really needs a visit. We now that people love it and it is a good fit for many. However, coming from outside the midwest we found it to look and feel very different than what we thought it would be based on the web site. They do give solid merit aid, but D decided that for a safety she could get that same package closer to home at a nicer school. It didn’t seem worth going far away for. The campus is not particularly endearing, nor is the town (opinion of course). The buildings seemed shabby to D, and with the weather you’ll spend a fair amount of time in them. The students seemed very sporty and middle of the road in appearance otherwise. The families arriving in the admissions office seemed mainly like Minnesota, Iowa, ND athletic recruits and legacy kids. It had a very local feel. The admissions office folks, admissions director and tour guide were all very nice and enthusiastic. Again, visit before seriously considering.</p>
<p>Haven’t really read through this thread and ds isn’t actually at Gustavus but it was one of his top three choices and a hard choice to make. He found out about Gustavus at a College Fair in Austin. The rep heard him tell me who Gustavus Adolphus was and she was impressed and started talking to him. They have a Curriculum II program that was very appealing to him. He visited the campus twice, including an overnight. One of the Greek professors was emailing him and they ended up discussing his History Day project. The also have the Nobel Conference every year which seems a big deal. </p>
<p>It is out in the middle of no where on the top of a barren hill because a tornado wiped out the trees years ago. He visited in February and it was cold. There seems to be a lot more “school spirit” than other LACs we visited. Obviously I can’t say what the reputation of the school is in x place but I can say it met all ds requirements for the type of liberal arts education he was looking for.</p>
<p>rhumbob, I’m glad saintfan and sadilly could fill you in, because I do not have firsthand knowledge of Gustavus. We’re a family of mostly Carleton grads (plus my aforementioned D headed to St. Thomas, if all goes well during her Admitted Student Overnight).</p>
<p>p.s. I don’t really know a lot about the academic environment. We didn’t get any deeper after the visit.</p>
<p>great stuff…thank you.</p>
<p>Hmmmmm? I’m going to step up in defense of the Gustavus campus. DH and I drove through campus for the first time last June. Prior to this, we had heard about the tornado and the fact that the trees had been wiped out. As a result I was shocked at how beautiful campus was as well as the number of trees. Let’s keep in mind this tornado was in the early 90s. They did a ton of replanting and the trees look great now IMO. It is by no means barren looking. We are looking forward to a return visit with S soon. Yes, some may consider it “in the middle of nowhere.” But I really don’t consider 45 minutes from Minneapolis/St. Paul – one of the biggest metro areas in the U.S. – in the middle of nowhere. I do know many who attend and this is a GREATLY beloved school.</p>
<p>Students aren’t on campus in June, though. We were there a year ago this week when school was in full swing and it was beyond bleak.</p>
<p>It is greatly beloved and the people were nice - no argument there. I’m just saying that the campus location and “physical plant” are a matter of taste. It is also definitely more provincial than Carleton or StO. The draw from outside the norther tier states is limited. I’m sure it depends on your own point of reference. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, Gustavus does not have many trees. If you’re coming from Texas it may seem like wonderful wooded glade.</p>
<p>I live in the Twin Cities area, and have spent several weeks on the Gustavus campus at a family program they run there. It is a nice small school with a lot of school spirit. It is quite Lutheran in focus (just as St. Thomas is conservative and Catholic). Generally Gustavus (CR: 555 - 690, M: 590 - 680) would be considered a better school academically than St. Thomas (CR: 500 - 620, M: 530 - 640). I know from my older daughter’s group of friends (now college seniors), only one went to St. Thomas, and she was in the bottom half of D’s high school class. She ended up transferring, and is not on track to graduate from her new school this year. A couple from the middle of the pack went to Gustavus, and are graduating on time this spring.</p>
<p>But addressing the OP’s original question:
- Have your D prep for the SAT & her second sitting of the ACT.
- Agree with the recommendation to use Fiske to look for colleges strong in Poli Sci that give merit aid and where she is in the top 1/3 of school statistics.
- If she is a “good interview”, be sure she interviews with admissions if possible (on campus or if they come to your city). My D got a better merit scholarship than her stats would indicate she should have at her LAC, and I am pretty sure it is because she hit her interview out of the park.
- Also agree with the geographic diversity comment. I am sure that helped my D get merit aid as well.
- You really need to visit to get a feeling for whether a school that is “obscure” is a good fit. Take a full day to go on the tour, have your D go to a class, eat on campus, etc. Watch out for schools where a lot of students go home on the weekends, too (common with lower ranked schools) – that is an oft-cited reason for freshman unhappiness on the CC forums, when students don’t realize that about a school until they get there.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, I think Gustavus is a great school and it was one of ds top 3. And if you don’t have a car, it doesn’t matter how close you are to Minneapolis. That said, ds is attending another small that is only 1.5 hours from a major city. Also, we had just come off a trip of visiting over 15 colleges. Yes, they have planted trees but it still hasn’t caught up to other places although I didn’t think it looked shabby.</p>
<p>The things that we liked about Gustavus besides the Curriculum II program (which includes trips to Minneapolis) was its cafeteria (best of all the places we visited), the number of activities available on campus, transportation to Minneapolis in general, the focus of it’s relatively new president, the interaction with the faculty, and the fact that it’s newest building was a science building but a humanities one. I agree with SaintFan that the students seemed sporty and middle of the road. DS just felt more of a connection with the students at Beloit.</p>
<p>Our S had a classmate that visited Gustavus this past weekend. We were comparing notes on visits yesterday and chuckled a bit when they said they went to this tiny MN campus since it was being “talked” about here. They loved it and it’s on the top of his list. We didn’t get into many details so not sure exactly what all he loved. One thing we have found on our midwest tours is that kids are pretty reserved and not in your face/over the top acting the intellectual like they are in other parts of the country. I think what comes off as “middle of the road” students is more the midwest reserved personality because the individual conversations we have had with students on various campuses have been pretty impressive–much more intellectual and better understanding then we have seen elsewhere.</p>
<p>Of course, by the time we visited Gustavus, D was already deeply in love with StO. GA was supposed to be the “comp” in the neighborhood much like when we visited Willamette and Lewis and Clark in tandem. D’s particular focal point on visits is the science building. Coming from a coldish, wet environment and likely heading to one as well, she wants to know what the inside spaces are like. Will I be in a dank basement for labs 3 hrs per day? Are the labs nicer or worse than my public HS? What size are the science lecture halls? Are they pleasant - could I focus and enjoy learning here? She also noted the inside spaces of the humanities classes that she attended.</p>