Thank you, @JBStillFlying. I’d love to know what you think of the Honors Showcase. Unfortunately, we didn’t become aware of it until after we had planned to go on another day and I booked unrefundable plane tickets. Lesson learned!
Did you friend’s daughter opt to go to grad school or is she working in the field?
@Seacoast we are OOS
@Building I have no idea because I haven’t heard anything since that news. I think she was planning to gap while working with her prof to get her research published and apply to grad schools. Not sure where she’s working. She also has a fiance now which makes things even more complicated. Reminds me of when my husband and I were in our 20’s - what sounds stressful to the older folks is just one excitement after another to the young people. :D/
Edit to add: will definitely post some thoughts after the Showcase. D and I visited CLA’s Sneak Preview last summer and they moved her into the honors presentation group based on her reported GPA and ACT. We got a very good overview of the honors program at that time and I’m hoping they go into a lot more detail during the Showcase. Especially now that she’s in Carlson and not CLA.
@JBStillFlying, when did your D find out her Honors College acceptance? My son has not heard anything. Supposedly another round of Honors Acceptances were released yesterday and still nothing. My S has excellent credentials (NMF, 35ACT, and Top 4% of class) and has been accepted at Honors Colleges at nearly every other school (NEU, ASU, UCF, etc.) U of MN has risen to the near the top of his choices due to the NMF scholarship. However, not being accepted in to the Honors College would be a slap in the face.
Because of his last minute interest in the school, we have scheduled an Admitted students visit for the end of this week. If we don’t hear anything by then, we are scheduled to meet with the National Merit advisor. Hopefully they will have more information.
@Tribruin my D17 was accepted to the honors program last fall. Which college at UMN has your son been accepted to? Honors acceptance will actually vary by admitting college.
Here is the mid-50% range of stats for Honors (not a requirement - more of a guideline). CSE is especially tough!
@JBStillFlying He was admitted to the CSE. His stats are all at the high end of the middle 50% range. I know CSE releases their honors acceptance late. We are still hopeful.
@Tribruin CSE Honors has been a tough nut since I’ve begun following the UMN threads. When they can’t even give a range for the class rank because it’s too high, you know that they are choosing a whole lot of perfect 4.0’s.
Pretty sure they put a good amount of weight on the NMF even for Honors so that’s going to help your son enormously. Now that NMF’s are confirmed you guys can be very proactive about this. I’d contact Jennifer Adrian (see contact info. below) prior to going out there next week and give her the heads-up: son is now NMF and UMN one of his top choices. Definitely let her know that lack of Honors is the only obstacle. Your son’s stats are superlative and he’s likely in the running but hopefully she can give you some assurances ahead of the announcement. Also, you can ask her what they tend to do for the NMF’s in terms of an admissions tour because they might be able to do a more personalized one that focuses on CSE. See if they can also get him into Middlebrook to view the Honors LLC.
Jennifer Adrian
Admissions Counselor
National Merit/Honors Recruitment Coordinator
Direct: 612-301-9563
Toll-Free: 1-800-752-1000
Email: jsadrian@umn.edu
Hope you enjoy your visit. Not sure if you are from OOS - if so, you might consider one of the restaurants in Dinkytown or Bar Luchador on Washington Ave. in Stadium Village for a culinary adventure. Great way to get a feel for student life at the U. PM me if you need anything else.
Crossing my fingers - good luck to him!
@Tribruin: Update to #107 - from the UMN website for NMF:
“Visit: We invite you to come to campus for a personalized visit day. We can arrange for you to sit in on a class, meet one-on-one with faculty from your area of interest, tour specialized facilities, and more! Please contact Jennifer Adrian, National Merit Recruitment Coordinator, at 612-301-9563 or 1-800-752-1000 to schedule your visit and discuss your personal goals for your time on campus.”
@JBStillFlying You are so right - the 20s were an exciting time! I loved my 30s, too. I do think, though, that knowing where students go after college is important although the country is changing so fast, who knows what our kids will be part of in 4 years. I would imagine post-college plans will be covered in the Showcase.
@JBStillFlying, My son and have a meeting with Ms. Adrian on Friday as part of our Admitted Student day. We probably should have signed up for more personalized tour (including classes), but next Friday happened to be a opportune date. If we don’t hear before Friday, the Honors College will be a big topic of our conversation.
Question… my son was admitted to CSE, but I haven’t seen any info on signing up for an admitted student day. I don’t even see anything on the university website. He only got one email about attending a “SKI U Mah” day in our OOS area for admitted students, but nothing for a more in depth on-campus outing. Am I missing something, or do we just take the initiative ourselves to call admissions and arrange something?
@Mezzian My D looked it up on the website calendar and worked with the admissions office in putting together a schedule.
@mezzian it can be a little difficult to find, if you haven’t looked for it before:
http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/visit/freshvisit.html
When you click “Schedule a Visit” you will be taken to a calendar with all visit options. If you are looking for a specific school (e.g. CSE), you might have to click on the more link under the date you are thinking of visiting.
Posting this in case some hear that others are attending Admitted Student events:
Admitted Student Days might be run by the separate colleges. For instance, Carlson has had a deans’s reception and then further activities are scheduled throughout the winter and spring (fyi this is separate from the “honors showcase” that I mentioned up-thread). Hopefully you will get an invite via e-mail or postcard from your college. Also makes sense to check the website or - better yet - call Admissions because you’ll probably need special website access and they should be able to help you get the code or the special link.
And when you call admissions, ask if there will be any programs with other students attending or if you will be having a private tour. You may prefer one type over the other.
@JBStillFlying - CSE is rough for Honors! My S17 was accepted a while ago but his ACE (32) and class rank (Top 7%) is not in the 50th %. Not a deal breaker for us, but I had no idea how hard it is to A) get into CSE and B) get into Honors. Also, I would love a review of Middlebrook Hall. My S17 has it as his first choice dorm.
Unfortunately CSE Honors is make or break for me… I have so many good offers on the table that something like that would really solidify UMN as a top top choice. I’m meeting with the National Merit Coordinator on Friday so hopefully I can figure it out then.
@jpc763 will be happy to provide a review. I’m pretty sure it’s a fine dorm - has the reputation for being very quiet which is an advantage as far as my D is concerned. Also, bathrooms are suite-style rather than corridor (group showers) which is another advantage. If you are in the tower you will have a stunning view of the Twin Cities metro. Conventional wisdom says stay away because it’s not part of the super block or one of the “popular” freshman dorms and that’s quite enough to attract my kids! LOL.
@jpc763 last year there were 33 ACT/4.0 uw/top 4% of class CSE admits who didn’t get into honors. Very tough. Not really sure how they make the decisions there. TBH, it’s probably esp. hard for the guys given that they have historically been the overwhelming gender in the freshman class.
CSE is a great college and I’m not sure you need to be in honors classes there. Honors designation would obviously help for the non-CSE courses, of course, and honors advising is supposed to be really good. But if my D got into CSE and didn’t make honors I wouldn’t actually be too concerned - it’s such a selective college at this point, and the quality of instruction is so strong, that it’s like getting into an elite private school 