For those not following on the 2019 Acceptances thread, UDel has gotten creative.
My son (and others) received a letter that said:
* Not accepted to Newark for Fall 2015, but can elect to accept wait list
* Offer of admission to Newark for Spring 2016 with or without the wait list election
* Optional opportunity to enroll in Delaware in D.C., a 16-credit, Fall only program in cooperation with American University. Students would be housed at AU in D.C. and earn 16, fully transferable credits when moving to main campus in Newark for the Spring.
My son’s letter also came with a return mail form with three yes/no questions: 1. Accept wait list for fall? 2. Enroll by May 1 (non-refundable $500 deposit) for Spring, 2016? and 3. Enroll in Delaware in D.C.?
He can do all three, or just 1 and 2 and enroll elsewhere (local CC) or work for the fall if he isn’t taken in the wait list…
(There’s confusion regarding financial aid – in fact, they’re not even clear about eligibility for Stafford Loans for the Fall Delaware in D.C.)
Or, he can go to one of his other options.
I think my son would seriously consider this program if he hadn’t been accepted to Penn State/University Park. UDel had been his first choice, but I think it would be hard for him to pass up Penn State and start at UDel in Spring.
What do you think of the program? American University is an excellent school…the students would dorm with other UDel Spring admits in the same situation, so they’d have friends on the Newark campus when they arrive in Spring (on-campus housing is guaranteed).
I posted similar thoughts in the other thread but…I would note the letter also said that the 16 credits would include “a mentored internship that puts your learning into action to gain real world, professional work experience two days each week with an organization in Washington, D.C.” That seems like an interesting concept. Don’t know exactly what it says for AU that they have the space to give away. I think my son may be moving onto other options, but I think it is worth some conversation.
AU is certainly a well respected school and probably harder to get into than UD. If someone truly wants to go to UD and this is their way to get a foot in the door I think it’s worth looking into. AU is much more exepensive than UD based on it’s more Urban setting so the prices seem to make sense. To my if my child had an option that they loved just as much as UD and they were offered a direct admit I’d certainly explore that option over one like this but if UD was the “be all end all” for my child I would give it a try. At least they are “going away” in the fall like all their friends and they will be house with a bunch of others in the same circumstance. good luck to all making their decision.
My take on this is that UD has come up with a relatively unique approach to address its abundance of qualified applicants along with a way to address its drop-out/failure rate of, I would estimate, of about 2-3% of students after the first semester. This would amount to about 80-120 students and this new plan has a limited number of spaces (although the exact number was not specifically identified). UD and AU are on a par academically although their respective strongest areas differ to a degree (AU in the areas of political/government studies, international relations, criminal justice (and some similar areas) with UD’s strongest areas being in Engineering, Health Sciences, Business, Biology, Psychology (and a few other allied areas). I would think this plan might be most attractive to students who wish to end up graduating from UD in areas that AU excels in (although the sample internship areas noted do appear to cover at least some of the areas UD excels in.
Students in this program pay their tuition to UD. IMHO, even though students in this program are not eligible for grants/scholarships that, as full-time matriculated college students, they still would be eligible for federal Stafford Loans (subsidized or not depending on their FAFSA scores-although he amount available for the whole freshman year is relatively small - 5.5K with a max of 3.5 subsidized). Obviously this would need to be verified with UD.
Best wishes to all those students who decide to accept this offer.
Hi, I’m a High School senior who just got placed into this program. In my first-hand opinion, I am both happy and sad about this program. The program sounds great and swell because of it’s location (Washington D.C), the internship opportunities, and because I’ll be with other fellow UDel undergrad students (at least i wont be by myself). At the same time, this is bad because to an extent, I’m going to miss out on my first year college experience which is something I’ll only get to live through once. Not trying to say it’s the worst thing in the world…but…here’s a corny analogy of how i see this. If anyone has ever seen, read, etc of the beginnings of college/prep school, you’d know how important it is to everybody. Freshman Orientation, dorming for the first time, and your first semester are where you create the basis of social circles, friendships, and interactions with other students. By me having to enter my spring semester, I’d miss out on all these experiences, which definitely sucks. At the same time, is it worth it just to gain admittance to a prestigous school in the spring semester?
At the same time, I’m going to be with 100-and-something other UDel classmates so at least I have some people who are going to the same school as I to speak to.
I’m going to personally join the waiting list ( and hopefully getinto the Fall Semester), but will also accept going to D.C because UDel has been my dream school since I was a High School Freshman!
@pmurillo97 Congratulations! And that’s a very mature perspective – I appreciate the way you’re examining the pros and the cons and taking steps to achieve your goals. I’ll share your insights with my son who is in the same position. Good luck!! (I suggest you also take a look at the “Any more Acceptances…” thread in UDel’s forum on CC – some insightful perspectives there as well)
Hi my daughter just received this offer a few days ago & we mailed in her deposit today. Shes very excited & is hoping to do fall semester at AU for the internship & wash dc experience. Does anybody know if there are still openings left? She did email admissions letting them know her preference is the fall semester in DC program. I hope its not already filled up. Thx!
This is the first year UD is offering this program to students accepted to UD for the Spring of 2016 and I believe select students first began receiving notice of this last week. While they say this will only be available to a certain number of students (they didn’t give the exact number) if your D has already informed UD of her interest in accepting this and she is sending in her deposit IMHO she probably will have no problem being involved in it. I suspect many, if not most, students whio have received a similar offer are still digesting it and have not made a decision about it. I would still recommend that your D register for and attend the UD Decision Day on 4/18 where she would be able to get more information about the program and UD in general. Congrats on her acceptance to UD.
The Delaware in DC website indicates they’ve already reached capacity for the program. My son sent in a deposit yesterday, so he probably missed the cut off. I’ve emailed asking if there would be a wait list, if accepting Del in DC would have impact on the UDel fall wait list and whether classes taken at other schools besides AU are transferable as part of the Spring admit or does a student need to reapply as a transfer student. I will post answers when (if) I get them.
UD Admissions replied quickly to my email with some answers: A. Yes, they will be generating a wait list for Delaware in DC and will send out a communication in next few days; B. Choosing or not choosing Del in DC will not impact wait list. “If we do go to it” depends on who accepts offers of admission and what programs are open; and C. Regarding whether classes for Spring admits can be taken in the fall elsewhere besides AU: “A student can elect community college. The cannot matriculate at another 4 year institution, otherwise you would be considered a transfer.”
To the students/parents of students participating in Delaware in DC - do Delaware in DC participants get to participate in the August 29-31 Welcome Days before heading off to American University?