Thought I’d add this in case any besides my son is looking at applying to Southwestern. After a school visit from a SW admissions officer, my son, who was set on his mom’s alma mater (sorry kstate) now has a strong lean here. The small scale, diversity and proximity to Austin are very attractive. So far his interaction with the school has been excellent, while he feels a bit overlooked by KSU. He’ll be sending an application soon!
Southwestern is a great school! My daughter is a recent grad of SU. Let me know if you have any particular questions.
Thank you, and congrats to you and your daughter! I guess my only question/concern at this stage is about the freshman retention rate/ 4 year graduation rate. You’d think the numbers would be higher at such a good school. Any idea what keeps those numbers lower and what they might be doing to improve in that area?
My niece is graduating from Southwestern in December and has had a wonderful experience. She’s studying abroad in South America this semester.
Thank you, Longhorn.
I don’t have any particular thoughts about graduation/retention rates. As I recall, SU’s numbers were similar to comparable schools but it’s been a while since I did my research. Hard work is required at SU. My daughter was a top scholarship recipient and had to work hard for her grades. All of my daughter’s circle of friends are on track for graduation. My daughter came in with a bunch of AP and DE credit. She graduated in three years (that’s why her circle of friends is still there–they aren’t behind!), studied abroad twice, was two classes shy of a double major. She had great support from her professors and landed a really great job as well. Her friends seem to have also been successful at finding internships and doing a lot of cool things while there.
Fantastic. Thank you.
Thank you for starting this thread! My D put her application in to SU a few weeks ago. She is mainly applying to schools out of state (we are in Texas), so this is what I like to call her “cold feet” option. You know, in case she doesn’t want to be out of state after all. ? She applied test optional, so I’m curious to see if/when they contact her for an interview. She had a very positive visit last spring, we’ll see how things end up!
Best of luck to you and yours, murray93. So far our admissions rep and overall experience has been great. Quick responses, super attentive. My S is 1 point shy (3.9UW/30 ACT) of some of their top scholarships. We don’t have an interview scheduled yet, but it’s been mentioned as a possibility. S will be visiting overnight for Pirate Preview Nov 10-11. I’d encourage you to reach out to them if you have questions at all.
@GeoJuanito Yes, all our interactions have been very positive. The interview went great! They said she should hear a decision by early December at the latest.
@murray93 Did your daughter apply RD or EA? Mine applied RD, wondering if we’re really going to wait until spring for a decision.
She applied EA. Why did your D decide to apply RD? The EA deadline isn’t until 12/1.
That’s a great question. I let her take lead on the app process and for whatever reason, that’s how she did it. Being parent to a teen involves a lot of smiling and nodding, I’ve found.
My daughter got her acceptance this morning! Much quicker than what I thought the RD result would be.
Congrats @MotherLode ! My S20 received his (EA) acceptance via email while we were on campus for Pirate Preview this weekend/yesterday. He’s thrilled and now wishes to fast-forward to August.
Can’t say enough positives about the staff/campus/town/students at Southwestern and this event.
@GeoJuanito and @MotherLode my D also got her acceptance — on 11/24. She was a test optional applicant, this is the first year TO was offered at SU. I am so pleased that more schools are offering it and hope many more follow suit.
Our merit award offer letter wound up being exactly the same numbers generated by the NPC. We are hoping to edge it a little higher with a competitive scholarship as that plays out in Feb. We interviewed for the Brown, though we don’t quite check all the boxes for it.
I don’t think SU has a scholarship amount larger than $33k/year, and that covers just a little more than half of total cost (~$60k). Gonna be a stretch, but we feel the value is there versus a state flagship in our case.
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@GeoJuanito when did you receive the merit award letter? I was accepted about a week ago but haven’t received anything yet.
@EarlyApps I think we found out on 22nd, so ~2 weeks from acceptance? I think they told us while we were there that they batch process them once a week each Sunday. Doesn’t hurt to text/email your admissions person to ask.