My kid also has been accepted with great merit aid at Wooster and a number of similar midwest schools – these are schools that are looking to increase their awareness among kids, families, and schools which might not otherwise look at a Wooster, a Knox, an Earlham. We are thrilled that these schools use merit aid to attract strong applicants who might otherwise go elsewhere, because with merit, my son has some phenomenal opportunities. He would be just another qualified applicant at Kenyon, Oberlin, Grinnell – but at Wooster, Earlham, Knox etc, he is a very desirable student. Here in the midwest, these are well-regarded schools, but on the coasts, they are still less known. And these schools are using merit aid to attract the highly qualified kid, to improve the school’s US News scores, to get the attention of more families outside the school’s traditional catch basin.
This was the core of my kid’s application strategy – apply EA to safety/low match schools where he will get maximum merit aid, and then choose from there. We are thrilled his applications are done, his acceptances are in, and now he can weigh, visit, explore among his current options. It is not for everyone, but that was our approach.
Just booked a flight today for my accepted D16 to visit campus on January 18! She is doing this visit all on her own…which is a first for us. I haven’t been on campus in 25 years. I grew up in Akron and visited a few times in high school and college usually to see a show with The Ohio Light Opera, I am sure things have changed tremendously!
Hi, @labegg - just a heads up - students will be returning to campus on January 17th, but there are no classes scheduled for January 18th. Instead, students will be participating in various events, service projects, etc in commemoration of MLK Jr Day. Classes for second semester begin on January 19th. I’m not sure how that will affect your daughter in terms of her visit but she certainly won’t see a “typical” day.
January 18 is one of the few days that D16 has available to visit her potential choices and not miss school. She only gets 2 days of excused absences for college visits. If she can get through spring semester without an unexcused absence she is exempt from her final exams so she is striving to not have an unexcused day! It certainly would have been nice to sit in on a class, but they will still be doing campus tours and a discussion panel.
I wasn’t trying to discourage a January 18th visit per se - just wanted you to be aware. If nothing else, students will be relaxed and happy after a four week break!
Too bad you won’t be traveling with her and can enjoy a great meal at some of the fabulous restaurants on Main St (I think that is the street).
We had been in touch with Admissions about the Jan 18 Admitted Students Day – it is a formal program, with tours, panel discussions etc. The one thing that might not be so readily available is specific faculty or coach meetings because they may not necessarily be on campus that day, without classes taking palce. But sounds like Wooster is rolling out the red (or black and yellow, as the case may be), carpet for Admitted Students that day, so she will have a great visit!
Ah, sorry! I didn’t realize it was a scheduled Admitted Students Day. I thought she was just going for a visit on her own. In that case, yes, it will be a day filled with activities designed to help her get to know Wooster! I hope she has a great time.
@Midwestmomofboys we have a similar strategy. Purposely casting a wide net, not focusing on the coasts, looking for schools where D’s excellent stats would put definitely her in the running for top merit. While D received a nice merit scholarship from Wooster, I’m surprised that it wasn’t higher.
We are following strategy similar to midwestmomofboys and undercovermom1. Yet, we have been VERY impressed with Wooster and it has become one of our top choices. DD received generous merit award offer, which is important for a family that is not going to get any need based aid. While we do have two professional working parents, $60k a year is still a challenge! Had an excellent visit at Wooster over the summer and are now scheduled to visit again in February in order to spend the night and visit classes. DD has also applied to a few ‘tier 1’ LAC’s that she will not hear from until March (no EA available), and while she may get in, she would not be ranked high enough to earn merit money. Wooster and a couple other of the ‘tier 2’ LAC’s are still very very good schools and when the cost is reduced by 40%-45% with the scholarship money, I think it may be a better choice. Overall, our summer visit to Wooster was one of the best (and we visited 10-12!).
Finally received a response from Wooster on my DD EA application last Friday, 1/15/16. Accepted with $24K annual scholarship. Too bad Wooster left us in the dark and with an interesting opinion of Admissions.
Interesting situation. After wondering why she hadn’t heard anything from Wooster at the end of the year, DD checked her portal. Her status claimed her application was withdrawn on 11/30 by a Wooster coach. No notice, no email, no snail mail.
After visiting Wooster twice, in 8/14, and then again in 4/15 to attend an admissions event, even going to an upper level neuroscience class, she had indicated interest in applying. She did not hear anything from the coach all summer, and then the coach contacted her in October to see if she was applying and DD was honest. A local upper level university recruited her to apply ED, which she had done. She told the calling coach she was still interested in Wooster, if the ED did not work out. She would find out in mid-December and let the Wooster coach know.
We were absolutely dismayed that a coach would have the ability to pull an application. My husband called Admissions and asked that her application be reviewed as if it had not been withdrawn. They said they would review it by the regular action date. We questioned why when they had her complete application well ahead of the EA deadline date. So, last week after my DD put down her deposit at the ED university, she went to withdraw her Wooster application to find that they had accepted her with merit. Again no notice, no email, no snail mail.
If you have questions at any point with Admissions - ask and never assume. We appreciate that Admissions finally spent time reviewing an extremely strong application to come to a acceptance decision.
In the end, we have a decision that makes sense for our family and our DD. We will be able to see her play her sport without a lot of sacrifice of travelling distances. She will be able to study in a wonderful environment. I think Wooster would have been a great fit for her, but be wary. We did note that they need to update their main cafeteria.
S received 13 offers of Admission including College of Wooster and Furman University. Came down to Bates, Furman and COW. Received large merit scholarships from FU and COW and nothing from Bates. We selected Furman because of its academic reputation, emphasis on teaching and reception received from and hospitality felt by students and faculty. Bates was more highly ranked but surpringly less to offer academically and programmatically. We loved COW and its focus on undergrad research and the APEX program…but felt like campus setting was a bit too isolated and pace of campus life too slow. Also had higher percentage of Students from home state than other nationally ranked schools did. If they put more into diversity of student (less from home state ) student affairs and programming, they would been more attractive to us.