Purchase is artsy, New Paltz is newyorkey (hopefully it makes sense to you…)
Getting down to the wire. Hopefully applications will be going out in the next week!
For anyone still following, it looks like the application list will be:
Miami (OH)
Binghamton
Buffalo
UCONN
U Delaware
UMASS-Amherst
U Rhode Island
U Vermont
West Chester
Towson
James Madison
Ohio U (they sent a fee waiver, so it’s probably worth applying, even if only to potentially use them as a bargaining chip with Miami, but hey, you never know)
I think West Virginia and Maine will probably not wind up getting apps.
We’ve met many of the reps at a couple recent college fairs and some are coming to her school in the coming days/weeks. A bunch of the reps definitely know who she is at this point. She’s been following up with emails as well. It’s great to go to these fairs and have the reps recall seeing her or reading an email from her. In some cases, it’s got to count for something.
UCONN rep definitely thought $15K was possible, so that puts them in budget and we are going to the open house this weekend. UMASS and Vermont are probably the 2 with the least chance to get in budget (or even get accepted), but it’s possible one or the other could wind up working out. Still think it’ll be tough to get anything from JMU, but their starting point isn’t much over budget, so it won’t take much.
Very interested in learning more about Miami as it does sound like a great fit (other than the distance) and I think with the $11K-$20K merit range for her stats (her stats are in the middle of the range for that level), there’s a good chance of getting it into budget. They don’t appear to do any nearby events though. She did email the rep for the area last week, but hasn’t heard back. Good friends just went to visit yesterday and liked the school a lot. We’ll have to figure out how she can get on their radar.
She’s applying to honors for most of these. Though we know her stats won’t get honors at many of these, it might show greater interest if she does apply to the honors college at each. I guess it can’t hurt, other than writing all of these essays.
One of the questions we’ve been asking is when acceptances and merit aid decisions are sent out. It sounds like she’ll have some feedback on both from at least a few schools by New Year’s. I can’t imagine that we’ll have a full picture until the March timeframe though. Would be great to have 2 or 3 schools that she likes send acceptances and packages that get us in budget by New Year’s though.
Any continued feedback is much appreciated!
@lexluthor5 Looks like we have many of the same schools on our current list. We dropped Ohio U, even with the free waiver. There has been a rash of unsettling events on and around campus at the start of this year, enough that we didn’t feel comfortable keeping it on the list anymore.
I have comments about two of the schools on your list.
James Madison: I know two families who have had daughters attend there (one is in her freshman year); both studied/are studying business. Both families have been very impressed with the opportunities available for their daughters (and both sets of parents have attended some very nice universities – Vanderbilt and William & Mary – so I would think that they know a good school when they see one). I hear nothing but good things about the school from the parents, FWIW.
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio): I went on a tour of this school two years ago with my youngest child. The campus is really a lovely place (designed by a famous architect, IIRC), in a nice small town; and if that’s your thing, then Miami of Ohio is definitely the place to be. The students and their respective families at the information session and on the tour were a little better dressed, and had a neater appearance, than the folks I encountered on my visits to larger public universities; and the overall student body at Miami also was better dressed and had a neater appearance than the students at said larger public universities. A bit of a preppy feel, upon reflection.
The information session was well done, with an enthusiastic admissions officer (also a Miami alum) and a nice video that emphasized how Miami was one of the original “public Ivies”. Our campus tour went over the lovely campus and through the lovely buildings, and our tour guide spent a lot of time talking about how many places there were to eat on campus. It seemed like a wonderful place to spend 4 years of college; but other than pointing out classroom buildings as we walked through the campus, and generally mentioning the opportunities for student research, the tour didn’t really show us very much about the academic side of the university. I guess that we could have asked questions about that, but we were at the end of a long day. Also, FWIW, Miami University had a “lazy river” in its student rec center.
I know a family who has a son studying political science at Miami, and according to the parents, he really likes it there. Given the smallness of the town, I suspect that most entertainment for students is going to be found on campus; and I have been told that there is a significant Greek presence at the university. But that may be something for you/your daughter to ask about if you visit the campus.
As you probably know, Miami freezes tuition and room/board for each entering class, so that an undergraduate will pay for 4 years the same tuition and room/board (although it will go up for each subsequent matriculating class); in other words, what you pay your freshman year in tuition and room/board will remain constant for your following three years at Miami. So that is a nice financial incentive.
@DCNatFan good luck with your search, maybe we’ll see you on one of these campuses one day. I had not heard about the Ohio U incidents, but I’ll look. It’s really only on the list since they gave a fee waiver and it may be a good data point if there’s a need to request that Miami U reconsider their offer. It’s probably worth the few $s it’ll cost me to send the ACT scores.
@gandalf78 We are definitely very impressed with how many people seem to love the JMU campus and the student vibe. They must be doing something right there. Very much hoping that she gets accepted and it becomes a financial option. I think it’s pretty likely she’ll get no merit aid there and the sticker price is a bit higher than we’d like, but we’ll see.
We had friends visit Miami the other day and they liked the campus. Sounded like the town had a few things to do if you want to get off campus for a meal or a little shopping. Yes, greek life does sound relatively big there and our daughter is perhaps interested in that. Miami isn’t the most diverse campus with a lot of upper middle class students there. I wouldn’t really consider that too much of a negative for D2 though. If we hear in late December that it becomes an option, we’ll probably try to get out there in February/early March. Seems pretty easy and cheap to fly from NY to Cincinnati. Yes, the tuition freeze will be factored into the final financial discussions.
I don’t think Miami University would consider OU a bargaining chip. Being OOS you would probably expect OU to be somewhat less expensive than Miami but Miami is closer to OSU in terms of the statistics of the incoming class. It might work the other way around but most state universities are very rigid with their merit aid.
@lvvcsf you may be right, but I see no harm in it.
She just get her Sept ACT scores back and she got her new highs in English and Reading and now has a 31 straight up and she superscores a 32.25! We thought that it would be unlikely that she’d ever superscore a 33, but now she needs a bump of 1 point in either Math or Science to superscore a 33. She’s going to hate the idea, but I think she’s going to need to take it again. If she works hard only on the math (probably easier to get the extra point there over science), she could get that 33 superscore.
We’ll have to call Miami and see how submitting another ACT score after the application works.
This certainly can help at other schools too. Even at schools that don’t superscore, she just bumped herself up a point.
Which schools on her list superscore the ACT? I didn’t think that was very common.
@mommdc foremost Miami U does and a 32 vs a 33 could be a huge difference there.
Looks like a bunch others on her list do as well. I posted a link with a list, but that post is under moderation, i guess for the link, so just Google.
I don’t recall which reps we asked about ACT superscoring at the recent college fairs that we went to, but I know there were a bunch that said they do.
The effect of the higher score elsewhere is more unknown, but it can’t hurt. Even at schools that don’t superscore, she’s up to a 31 now. Her english went up 3 from her previous high and reading up 4 from her previous high. I didn’t think she’d remotely have a chance to superscore a 33, but she keeps exceeding expectations and she’s only 1 higher in math or science away from a 33 superscore.
Miami did confirm that a 32.5 superscore is a 33 for merit consideration and that she can send scores up until 2/1. That gives her 2 more cracks at a 33, I think.
We’ve confirmed with all schools directly regarding their policy of superscoring the ACT.
Miami U, Binghamton, Buffalo, UCONN, Delaware, UMASS Amherst, New Hampshire (still deciding if that makes the application list), Rhode Island, Vermont, West Chester and West Virginia all do indeed superscore the ACT.
Great news on latest ACT! Good luck with apps. James Madison is a great place - solid academics, a warm, friendly vibe on campus, and as noted OOS tuition is quite reasonable. Do note: lots of kids opt to live off campus as early as sophomore year - there are many reasonable options that can be handled on par with what you would pay for room and board on campus. My daughter is gainfully employed in govt. consulting in Northern Virginia - life is good 
@chilldad Yes, JMU does sound interesting. Unfortunately, they are test optional and her testing outshot her GPA so that’s what will help her at some schools. The sticker price for JMU is probably slightly high. If she gets accepted, it sounds like the chance for any merit at all is not great, but it won’t take much to get into budget. I do hope it becomes a realistic option as I keep hearing great things about it there. We are going to a JMU only event in a couple of weeks here on Long Island to learn more though.
Test optional schools love high scorers
@MYOS1634 Interesting. Why is that? I was thinking that they wouldn’t put much stock into the test scores since they aren’t even required. The only people sending scores are ones with high scores, so they already have artificially inflated stats regarding average test score.
Very nice visit to the open house program at UConn today. Campus is quite large compared to others we have seen. Some buildings are in better shape than others, but overall pretty good. The dining hall we ate at wasn’t very good. Student Union building was very nice. We had heard there was no off campus “town”, but they’ve recently developed a “downtown” that was walkable from campus and had some retail and restaurants. Very impressed with the school spirit. We got to talk with faculty in the Speech, language pathology department so that was good too. My daughter and her friend, who is also applying, reached out to a girl from our hs who is a freshman there and she spent quite a bit of time with us. Very helpful to hear real feedback not as part of a program. She’s loving it there and is involved in so many groups.
Our daughter could see herself there. Very much towards the top of the list.
Sounds like UConn doesn’t notify anyone until March, so long waiting game with them.
The stats that they give in their presentations about how competitive it is to get in are scary. But, then I look in our school’s Naviance portal at the scattergram that shows people from our hs who applied in recent years and no one really even close to her stats has been rejected.
I still wish I could get some better feedback on how her 92 GPA translates to 4.0. I guess each school will do it differently. I actually broke it all down and assigned a 4.0 grade on a class by class basis based on the collegeboard conversion schedule and wound up with a 3.69 wgpa. That’s better than both the /25 and /20-1 that’s I’ve seen. I really just wanted to make sure that there’s no chance she’s under the 3.5 for the Miami merit awards and clearly that’s the case.
She should be officially submitting the apps this week!
@lexluthor5 Thanks for the details on UConn. It is one of the schools D19 has added to her list but we have not yet been able to visit. Looking at Naviance for our school and the averages are 3.39 GPA and 1306 SAT. I think D19 should have a decent shot but who knows anymore.
Test optional colleges like high scorers as well as students who can show they’re strong students without test scores because it allows them to demonstrate they’re competitive on conventional measures as well as for less conventional students.
The apps were submitted the other day and we have portal logons for everyone except West Chester.
The final list is James Madison, Miami (OH), SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, Towson, UCONN, Delaware, UMass Amherst, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Chester.
We just wait and wait and wait from here. I can’t see there being a decision until mid-March or so. I think we’ll start hearing from some schools in mid December though.
One more try at the ACT to get a 31 in Math or Science and superscore a 33, which could make a big difference financially at Miami U.
We also attended an JMU “road show” at a nearby hotel yesterday. We got to meet the Dean of Admissions along with the area admissions rep (who we had already met) and some faculty and students. Very nice presentation and it’s definitely towards the top of her list. I think the likelihood of any merit aid there is very low, so they’ll probably come out on the high end of the budget.
We’ll have to figure out how to do additional visits. Miami U decisions/merit should be out before the end of the year. If things go well there, I’m not sure if we do a Jan/Feb visit or wait until some sort of more formal accepted students day visit to get a better feel. That’ll be a tough call.
We still haven’t visited Miami U, JMU, UVM, UMass or West Chester. That could be a lot to squeeze in within a short amount of time especially with none of them geographically close to one another. Plus, we are planning a trip to see D1 in Copenhagen on her study abroad program in mid-April. I’m guessing not all 4 of those will wind up being acceptances/financial options, so it may only be that 2 or 3 more tips are required. She may also want to go back to one of the schools that we’ve already visited for another look as well.
Looks like a good list!
Sending you a PM.
Waiting to hear from everyone at this point.
Great news on the October ACT! She got her highest single composite score of a 32 and she now superscores a 33. Miami OH is now $18K min (if she gets accepted). That would make Miami a definite visit. I think their acceptances will come out around last week of December.
Now that she has both a new single and superscore high, We need to figure out if the colleges she applied to will accept/consider that. I think UMass already said no when the rep came to her school. I’m not sure it’ll matter much for most of her list, but it could change a yes to a no or trigger more merit at a school or 2, there’s no way to know. I guess she’ll have to email each rep for advice on how to proceed.
I think she’ll get Towson this week and maybe West Chester. Vermont says 12/13 and I think merit is 12/14, so that might be the first one higher on her list that’s on the board with everything. I hadn’t checked the their NPC after the last ACT, but that pushed her to where she more likely will get $18K, not $15K. $18K would make Vermont a definite visit. Delaware probably in the next month, but I don’t think merit comes with the decision there. UMass in Dec too. UConn will be the long wait until late-Feb.