My daughter has been accepted with Murchison scholarship and will be competing for the Tower.
She’s having a tough time deciding between Trinity and UT (I realize they are very different. We live in Austin and are super familiar with UT). One of the factors will be how Trinity evaluates her dual credits. She will have 2 APs (5s) but more importantly, almost 60 hours of 4.0 credit from Austin Community College.
Can someone share experiences or insights as to how accepting of these credits Trinity may be? She’d really like to graduate in 3 years instead of 4.
Thanks!
Definitely ask an admissions counselor about what credits Trinity would take, but in my experience credits from a 4 year accredited institution can usually be transferred but most community college/2 year college credits can not.
As for AP credits, here is a link to the score requirements document that Trinity has published: https://inside.trinity.edu/sites/inside.trinity.edu/files/file_attachments/311/trinityu-apcredit18-19.pdf
Regardless of whether or not the credits transfer, I think it is unlikely that graduation in 3 years would be possible. Again, this is definitely a question for an admissions counselor, so ask them for better information, but even after I got a 5 for AP bio, for example, I received some amount of credit hours, but I was still required to take the intro bio class. From a credit standpoint I could theoretically graduate in 3 years, but I have not had the opportunity to take all the required classes for my major yet (I am a junior).
I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but I urge you to contact an admissions officer to verify my information just in case I am wrong about something! Your admissions counselor is going to be either Morgan or Michaela found through this link: https://new.trinity.edu/admissions-aid/meet-admissions-team
You should look at and try to understand to some degree Trinity’s Pathways Curriculum requirements. These are pretty extensive and some of these requirements require courses be taken at Trinity and some Pathways requirements cannot be met with AP credits.
Greetings, My son had to ponder the same scenario last year, but is THRILLED he chose Trinity over UT. He was also waitlisted at Rice, but decided in the end, Trinity was the school for him. My son attended an early college high school and had 57 Dual Credit hours at graduation. He made the conscious decision not to obtain an associates degree because he wants to pursue a PhD. The top schools are not thrilled with students transferring too many hours.
Here is how Trinity worked for our son. They accepted 20 hours as electives and his two AP tests, Biology and Calculus, since he received 5’s on both. Our son started his academic career with 26 hours under his belt.
Trinity, Rice, and other top universities want core classes taken at their school. Since Trinity only has PhD’s teaching every class, it makes a world of difference between the junior college professor and a professor with a PhD teaching a course. I can see your daughter finishing in three years if so desired. After one semester, my son is thrilled with all of the options and has chosen to stay all four years, although he too could graduate in three.
From my son’s vantage point he has been blown away by the teachers, students, dorms, and overall experience. I cannot say enough great things about Trinity University and I’m a UT graduate. My son entered Trinity University with an A+ average and a 35 on his ACT. He quickly realized that most of the kids were just like him.
The biggest difference between the two schools is the environment. The teachers are approachable, engaging, interesting, and fair. They challenge the students to truly think and apply themselves. If your daughter chooses Trinity University, she will not be a social security number the first two years, but a engaged part of the Trinity community.
Thank you all! That’s very helpful.
I’m afraid it really comes down to finances. If she were to win the full tuition scholarship (unlikely), 4 years would be fine. But realistically, 4 years at 32k per year is just not a great option for us compared to 25ish at UT for 3 years (where they will take all her credits. Well, unless she gets into Plan II, which we don’t know about yet. So that’s a whole other piece of the puzzle).
She did apply to Rice and that’s actually her dream. Rice has a major that Trinity does not have, that is her dream major (in social sciences). So it’s a better fit for her in that way, but of course, it’s low odds, statistically.
I’m aware that Rice won’t accept anything except perhaps her calculus classes. That will also be crazy expensive for us, which is why we did not ED. But we haven’t ruled it out. We’re still refining some budget considerations. But realistically, we have 4 kids after her and we aren’t willing to take on parent plus loans. So, just a lot to figure out! Sigh. Such a stressful process.
@Meadow530 We seem to be on the same CC forums. I have a homeschool daughter who is a senior as well. We live in Houston. Seems like our kids have some of the same schools on their list. Rice is also a dream school for my dd. She applied regular decision as well. I would love to pick your brains on this whole college process. As you have seen from my UT post, my daughter was capped. Are you guys planning to attend Trinity tower days? My daughter received a Murchison scholarship and was invited to attend tower days for the full tuition scholarship. Would love to meet you all if you plan to attend.
@momtomany05 Yep, we’ll be there for the Tower weekend!
It does sound like we/they have a lot in common. How many is your “many”? She’s our oldest of 5 (all homeschooled). I grew up in Houston but now we live in Austin (husband and I both graduated UT and stayed here.)
Feel free to message me!
@Meadow530 My dd is the oldest of 5 also (all homeschooled too) so I definitely understand when you said you have four more coming behind your daughter.
I’m new to the group so I think I have get my post count up before I can message you! Lol.