If she absolutely hates Wright State, and won’t attend, that application is a waste of time. Why would you have her apply to a school she absolutely hates and doesn’t want to attend.
I’m an OU grad, and recently visited the campus. The new allied health facility is excellent. Honestly…state of the art.
Can you afford to send her to Ohio University? If so…why force her to apply elsewhere?
If you insist that she apply to another school for financial reasons, find one that she would actually want to attend.
Anecdote…our DD applied rolling to one school and EA to two others…and had acceptances to all three by December. Her top two choices were in those acceptances. We (stupid in retrospect) parents insisted that she apply to a school closer to home in case she changed her mind. It was also an ultimate safety. Well…she didn’t change her mind, and really…thinking back, it was a waste of time and money to force her to submit that addition application. And really, she wanted to go far away, not closely.
Would she get merit scholarship at OU? Her stats are so high compared to others at that university. She may feel less challenged - students have to take many courses - not just the ones in their major. And what if she wants to change the major? Are other majors strong there? HS school kids can be so swayed by all the hype universities put out, and they may feel let down later - particularly if they are way above others in their stats. Keeping Miami U. and OSU in the mix would be a good thing. It’s always great to have choices and she is fortunate to have the grades to have many options, so why narrow it down now.
Thank you everyone for helping me think. I’m going to encourage her to apply to the three other schools she was originally going to apply to plus Wright State. My logic is that they all meet her criteria, and things may seem a bit different when it gets closer to actually having to finalize a decision. The others each have unique compelling attributes. OSU being our state flagship would be perfect if she wanted to pursue a different direction, Miami has talent listed as “very important” in their common data set, they don’t have a dance major only a minor but they do have a Miami Dance Company. Since they don’t have dance majors to draw from perhaps that could affect things. Purdue’s Health Sciences Dept is relatively new and competes with IU for students. Purdue also is around 58% men and she is definitely on the upper end of their students especially when you consider non engineering majors. Plus her sister attends there and is thriving. Will any of that mean anything? Who knows.
The second reason is that if she should get a good aid package from say Miami or some other school it may be a bargaining chip for financial aid to one of the others (doubtful but possible) especially for OU since she would be closer to the top of their class.
We have had the financial talk so she knows what we will contribute. She knows what she can borrow and the consequences of borrowing. I liked some of the recommendations. Some she had considered others she had not. She would definitely have a broader range of choices if she would be willing to consider smaller schools. I doubt we’ll be adding schools to her list now as between school and dance she has little time for any more considerations. I think being busy is one of the reasons she’s trying to get out of applying. If she’s going to do it she needs to get it done by November 1. that’s when OSU and Purdue require you to have your applications in to be considered for merit scholarships.
@thumper “If she absolutely hates Wright State, and won’t attend, that application is a waste of time. Why would you have her apply to a school she absolutely hates and doesn’t want to attend.”
I really hope she doesn’t have to make that decision but I want to have one option available assuming she gets 0 scholarships which I find doubtful. There were other schools we visited but she chose not to apply to CWRU, U of Pittsburgh, Cleveland State University of Evansville, Ohio Northern and the list goes on. The schools she chose to apply to are all academic safeties to matches and financial reaches unless she gets merit scholarships and financial aid. Wright State will meet her academic goals if not her EC goals. It would allow to graduate with no debt and perhaps put her in a position where she could borrow less to attend PT school. It is actually the number 2 school at her HS that students attend (not an attraction for her)
“I’m an OU grad, and recently visited the campus. The new allied health facility is excellent. Honestly…state of the art.”
It is very nice. All part of what attracted her to OU.
@mathprof63 “Would she get merit scholarship at OU?”
When D1 applied to OU they had something called the Gateway Scholarship. It was kind of like what U of Alabama does and gave full tuition for certain grades and ACT/SAT scores. D1 got one of those scholarships but did not want to attend. Alas D2, for whom OU is her chosen school, though she would have qualified they no longer offer it and the current scholarship options are vaguer. They offer from $1000-$7000 for ACT scores over 24. No guarantees that I see. They also have an additional $1000 that they offer their top applicants. They also have scholarships that are a combination of need and merit. They don’t really say how much they might be. I ran the NPC and it indicated they would give her a bit under $8000 in financial aid (before loans) but didn’t say what form that might take (pell grants, state grants, university grants, work study etc.) nor how merit aid affects that award. I am sure she will get merit money from OU the question is how much and again how much financial will she get? If she were to get the maximum amount of merit ($8000) and some need based scholarships/grants/financial aid we should be able to swing it. We know by changing her meal plan we can save $1000 off the quoted COA. We live 2 1/2 hours away so our travel costs will be lower. We have ordered books for our older D from Amazon and another book company saving us $100s on books. D1 spends far less than what they allot for incidental spending (about half). OU also has the Ohio Advantage which means that the COA will not go change from the first year for four years.
OP…I agree with applying to more schools. I have two children and often one or the other will think my wife and I are favoring the other one. I would suggest keeping the price tag of what you are paying for the oldest to go to Purdue in the back of your mind. Your younger daughter will hold this figure in her head when it comes time to make a final decision.
Good luck with your decision.
@funfatdaddy The way we approached it was establishing with them what we were willing to contribute. We are actually able to contribute a bit more to D2 than D1 (more time to save). D1 is a ChemE doing a 5 term co-op and Purdue covered her tuition with scholarships and grants. The co-op paid for everything else. D2 knows what we will provide but is in a different position regarding major, grad school etc. She does have options such as applying to be an RA, summer jobs, finishing in 3 years rather than 4 and such that D1 because of her choices didn’t have.
@lvvcsf, you’ve obviously thought all of this out and done a lot of research. I agree that you should require your D to apply to a few more schools, including Miami and OSU, in order to keep her options well open going forward.
The thing that concerns me is that you say Wright State is your ONLY financial safety, and she hates it. I really think that you need to find one more financial safety, just in case. Is it possible that it could be Miami? Not clear to me from what has been posted here. It may be that it will have to be a school that does not fully meet her criteria, possibly a smaller school or one farther away, but that is usually the nature of the safety.
I’d like to weigh in on “Why not go the MD route?” While the education is similar in terms of years to graduate , the time involved is very different. DPTs are not on call like MDs, they don’t have to complete internships and rotations doing things they may not be interested in like surgery, obstetrics, emergency medicine , etc. I agree that everyone that could be a Dr, doesn’t necessarily want to be. It’s a huge commitment. Just my two cents worth as a therapist .
Another thing to consider at Ohio University. The Allied Health professions are well represented there with speech pathology, OT, PT…plus there is the D.O. school…and isn’t there nursing now too?
Like I said, I’m a proud OU grad. I graduated in the dark ages…but recently had dinner with friends who were my friends there. They included business owners, lawyers, doctors, folks working in the business/finance field, doctors, and others in allied health like me. It’s a full university…with lots of choices. There are plenty of smart students who attend. There is an honors college, but some of us found that we were plenty challenged without completing the honors college requirements.
Things I loved…which your daughter may have loved too…the small college town. I loved it. The rural nature of the place. Loved that too (came from the city…hated it).
There is a very different culture at Miami U that did not appeal to me…at all. And while OSU is a fabulous school…it is huge…really huge.
I had t been back to OU since the day I graduated back in the Stone Age. It made me proud to see that the campus is thriving, with new programs, new buildings, and improvements to the infrastructure. And at the same time, the town of Athens hasn’t lost its charm.
I totally “get” why a student would choose this college over the other Ohio public universities.
ETA regarding the above post comparing docs to PTs…lots of differences…but DPT candidates DO plenty of internship work. They are required to do a certain nu,beer of practicum hours as part of their DPT programs. And some can be in sites that are not of interest. For example…if someone is really interested in schools and kids, they still do a practicum rotation with seniors.
OP - I am a Miami grad so I obviously think it’s a great school BUT be careful of their fees!!! Our best friends daughter is a freshman with a full tuition scholarship and they are still paying about $17,000 this year between room/board and tons of fees!!! To compare to my freshman son that goes to an OOS school and his room/board/fees are only $9000. And you have to live on campus two years at Miami.
She should definitely apply to more schools. If your daughters will be the first in your family to graduate from a 4-year college, this (called “first gen”) would also be an advantage.
She should apply to UCincinnati’s Cincinnatus scholarship - she definitely has the stats and it’s a full ride
Commonapp makes applying to a couple more schools very easy.
Could you interested her in Ithaca (excellent for both her passions), Simmons (in Boston right by hospitals), Juniata (essentially a pre-health college), Creighton (same thing), and Loyola Chicago?
She visited Loyala of Chicago and liked it. I’ll have to ask her about that because I don’t believe they have any application fee. She talked to the UC rep at a college fair and they told her the only dance they had was through the conservatory.
@thumper1 I realize that DPT students do require internships that they may not be interested in, they are usually not for the length of time that an MDs internships are for and do not require them to be on call. I myself had to do quite a few.
My kids were both ‘one and done’ in the application department. They had plenty of time to apply to more schools after being accepted, but each was sure of her choice. I told them that if anything went wrong, they’d have to take a gap year and both agreed that that would be okay. That IS another choice to have in April, a gap year.
One of the things that could have easily gone wrong was FA. They each had some awarded but needed a little more to avoid loans the first year, and subsequent years would be iffy. Both got more awards in the spring and the pressure was off. Each wanted to go to school, but I also think each would have been okay with a gap year.
“She talked to the UC rep at a college fair and they told her the only dance they had was through the conservatory”
They Also have a dance team that competes at UDA and ranks very high. However I will caution that I know someone who was on the team and practices ran late before Nationals and Worlds (they went to China for Worlds); friend said practice would run until 11 or 12 PM. This can be hard on grades. Also of note, they seemed to have a high number of injuries probably related to the frequency and duration of practices and performances.
An update. D16 was accepted to all of her 4 schools. With merit with the exception of Purdue (no word on merit from them yet) the net costs are within $500 of each other. She has chosen to change her primary major from Exercise Physiology to Dance (BA) at Ohio U because there are dance scholarships available to dance majors. She spoke with the Health Sciences Dept. and they indicated that others have done that double major. OU is still her #1 choice, ironically it is the most expensive of the in state schools she has applied to as of now.
She received a letter from OU offering her an opportunity to apply for a direct admit into their DO school. If accepted and she kept the appropriate GPA she would be accepted into school and not have to take the MCAT. She said she doesn’t want to be a doctor so she is not applying…oh well.
