<p>Hi Curmudgeon, I see from your posts that your dd is an incoming freshman at Rhodes. We are looking at it for my dd for next year. I wonder if you would share with me what it was that sold your dd on Rhodes and what other colleges she was interested in. I just hope I get through this year in one piece with my lackadasical dd#2, so different from her older sister!<br>
P.S. Did you get any $$ from the school, tuition is quite steep! Thanks
SoCal Mom</p>
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P.S. Did you get any $$ from the school, tuition is quite steep!
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<p>ROFLMAO ;)</p>
<p>Soon as we can get the 3 penny seats to calm down, thanks audiophile ;),...</p>
<p>Rhodes is very generous with merit aid and 42% of the incoming class receives an award. </p>
<p>My D was fortunate enough to be named a Bellingrath Fellow which pays for her college. </p>
<p>Schools she also applied to in the same LAC vein were Centre, Millsaps, Hamilton, Scripps, Hanover. Quite a range of selectivity but all were small and had what she needed, admittedly some more than others. As the deadline approached she began to feel that she needed some more choices that were larger and/or more selective and she added UMiami, Case, Colgate, Yale, Amherst, and Duke. </p>
<p>After the first round of scholarships (and Duke's waitlist which she refused) she was down to Rhodes, Colgate, Scripps, Hamilton, Yale, and Amherst. Rhodes fired the full-ride shot and then only Yale and Rhodes were standing.</p>
<p>Rhodes has an excellent pre-med advising program and gets great grad and med school results. St. Jude's and UT Med School partner with Rhodes on significant UG research activities. D felt that if she fully immersed herself in the St. Jude's internship and the service opportunities at Rhodes she would be well prepared for her life's work whether that be as an MD or a Phd. or potentially both. She loved the kids she met while on campus and knew that there would be kids competing for Goldwater's and the like (two Goldwater's last year) that would push her and that she could push. There would be a critical mass of dedicated and enthused science majors to break bread with in a not overtly or overly competitive environment. </p>
<p>So, St. Jude's, UG research, the kids, money, beautiful campus, loved the research her prof's were doing in neuroscience. That's about it. Oh, and she could play BBall if she wanted to. ;)</p>
<p>I haven't quizzed her that much but when she has spoken of her decision it appears that the opportunity for St. Jude's summers plus an academic year working on breaking news type research was the largest factor, other than the cash. She has yet to look back on her decision. Full steam ahead.</p>
<p>She would have been happy about attending all of her schools.</p>
<p>Socal, my husband and I just dropped our youngest son off at Rhodes for his freshman year, and as hard as it was for us to leave him that far away from us we still felt that it was the right spot for him. His list of possible schools were Washington & Lee, Sewanee, Rhodes, Centre, and Ohio Wesleyan. After visiting all of them Rhodes just stood out as being the place that he felt the most comfortable and could envision spending 4 years. Ohio Wesleyan offered him the most $ but it just didn't compare to Rhodes facilities-wise and my son felt that he was a better fit with the students at Rhodes. So far, in his lengthy stay of 6 days he is very happy. Mom is missing him, but it seems as if he is adjusting well!</p>
<p>hey, cincimom, has he met with the team? D did last night and she's going to play some pickup games starting Monday. Does the boy wonder have shorter dark hair? I saw two entering frosh that could be him by height in the caf that last night about 6 p.m. -one really mature (like 35 :eek: ) looking dude and one that was slender and looked more like he was 18.</p>
<p>My son has met all of the other freshman players, they were having a team meeting with the whole team either tonight or tomorrow night ( I can't remember which). My son has a buzz cut that is kind of sandy blond and is rooming with a fellow ball player who is 6'6" with longer curly hair. They are on the 3rd floor at Townsend. </p>
<p>We spent a lot of time at orientation with the roommate's parents who were very nice people. Orientation would have been great if it didn't mean that we were leaving our son 8 hours away from us!</p>
<p>EDIT:After the first round of scholarships (and Duke's waitlist which she refused) she was down to Rhodes, Colgate, Scripps, Hamilton, Yale, and Amherst and UMiami. Rhodes fired the full-ride shot and then only Yale and Rhodes were standing.</p>
<p>Jeez. I'm getting senile.</p>
<p>We took our son out for dinner that last night so it wasn't him at dinner. My husband has an even harder time than I do with the separation thing, so I think he felt more comfortable having dinner on our own in case there were any emotional emergencies!</p>
<p>Ours was really not very openly tearful. A big squeeze, an "I love you and I'm proud of you". A slap on the but*t and a "Go get 'em, kiddo" is all we had. </p>
<p>Of course I have the phone in my hand waiting for my phone call in a couple of hours......but I'm fine. ;)</p>
<p>Curmudgeon, thanks for all of the information. My older dd graduated in 2004, and I haven't followed this board closely since then. Congratulations on the awesome scholarship award for your daughter, I'm sure Rhodes is thrilled to get her as a student. My older dd was offered about $17,000 in a combination of scholarships, and grants. The big drawback to her, and other dd is school size. Rhodes is smaller than our high school, (2700 kids) and we have concerns with such a small intellectual pool. Next question, if you don't mind, are you from the south? Did geography play any part in your daughter's decision? As you can tell we are from Southern California. It will be interesting to hear from you over the course of your dd's freshman year what she thinks of the other students on campus.<br>
socalmom</p>
<p>Percentage out of state was a HUGE factor. D's dorm has suites - series of eight rooms that share some common areas. The kids I met were from Wisconsin, Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina. Big difference from the regional LAC's. 77% are from OOS (75% of this class) with Texas and Florida being 2 and 3 behind Tennessee. </p>
<p>This is truly a national school with students from 41 states. The other winners of her scholarship were from Iowa, and Indiana. They are courting OOS. They are determined to give the kids the benefit of a national campus and appear to be putting there $ where their mouth is. </p>
<p>As far as geography as in location- Rhodes was the closest of all her schools (maybe Millsaps was closer) but is not the easiest to get to. That would be Scripps (airfare being what it is). The only real benefit was to Dad. 1) I can ride my motorcycle to see her 2) If she does play ball, Trinity, Austin College, and Southwestern are in this conference and Dad can go to games. I don't think that meant diddly to her. LOL. </p>
<p>Her rule was- no school in Texas, no school touching Texas. (She cheated the rule and added Hendrix in Arkansas - I forgot that one, too- because the coach liked her a lot and she liked him, too.)</p>
<p>I don't think that a student from OOS would have any problem.</p>
<p>Hi Socal, this is Curmudge's assistant Rhodes cheerleader. My D also got a serious scholarship offer from Rhodes last year (grad of 05), the Morse. Her other schools were Davidson, Dartmouth, Amherst, Swarthmore, Carleton, and B'ham-Southern. She also applied to Big State U as an ultimate safety. If you have followed Curmudge's story on CC, then you know that merit aid was extremely important for his family, and he and daughter played the merit aid game masterfully. We decided that we were able to pay full freight, but made merit aid a consideration in selecting safeties. My kids' high school regularly sends students to Rhodes, and it is known for being generous with merit aid.
Thought you might be interested in a list with a slightly different perspective - merit possibilities secondary to location and fit. Other schools that she considered, but discarded without applying were Trinity in SA, Haverford, Williams, Bowdoin and Yale.</p>
<p>We made 2 visits to Rhodes, as it was her "real" safety. Be sure that you show interest, and get your child nominated for the Bellingrath, if s/he is anywhere close to the stats. Community service is also a big emphasis, with scholarships having a community service component.</p>
<p>One of the Rhodes students we know personally is Jewish, another is a transplanted German national - so while the school is preppyish with a Southern flavor, there is some diversity. I will say, though, that the majority of students share similarities of background - middle to upper middle class suburban kids, more academically inclined or curious than their peers, but not as carefully selected or academically oriented as at Swarthmore or Davidson. The range of abilities is wider than at those schools, some kids may have flubbed up early in high school, but should more academic power jr/sr year, for example.</p>
<p>Rhodes is one of the schools in the South where families who value education very highly, often professional families, would typically send their children. There is a huge loyalty in the South for the SEC schools, and many people, regardless of how bright the student is, or how wealthy the family, would never consider any school other than state U. There are some other families who would choose Catholic schools or other religious affliated schools first. So Rhodes is enriched for the intellectually curious, education valuing student. They still want to be in a sorority and go to parties, etc, but they go to class, too. They aren't all at the caliber of Mudgette, but they mostly will up their game, and graduate.</p>
<p>Threads such as this one are wonderful reading. </p>
<p>PS I am still wondering if Curmudgeon tells his gang of fellow bikers that is daughter is a Rhodes Scholar. Speaking about motorbikes, I am also wondering if Cur would load that thing up with Willie Nelson's biofuel if it worked on two wheelers. It would go great with his whistling of "On the Road Again..." :D</p>
<p>xig, I actually find the name unfortunate for that very reason - but we got by that early.;) I met the Rhodes scholar from Rhodes 2004, freshly back from the land of bad teeth (No. Not the Ozarks.) Nice guy.</p>
<p>And isn't bio-Willie just diesel? Sorry to say but I haven't checked. :(</p>
<p>Other schools that she considered, but discarded without applying were Trinity in SA, Haverford, Williams, Bowdoin and Yale.</p>
<p>wow. entitlement meter going crazy.</p>
<p>Cangel was just trying to convey that her daughter had initial interest in those schools but after learning more and/or visiting them, decided not to apply to them. She was not saying that her daughter felt sure to be admitted to any or all of them, and I don't think that your comment to Cangel about an "entitlement meter" is at all warranted.</p>
<p>Doc Oc. Not a great first post but it is a first post so I'm being nice. You may not know the following so I thought I'd tell you, while I'm being nice. </p>
<p>1) cangel is a genuinely good and giving person deserving of great lattitude. 2) She's a doc and could/would help you if that's your career goal. 3) She wasn't trying to say her kid could have gotten in at those schools. "Discarded" in this instance meant, "chose to lay down those cards and play other cards in her hand" not that she threw them in the trash or that they were lesser or unworthy cards.</p>
<p>So, try a gentler tone and when people are talking about their own kids listen with your most generous ear. Please? ;)</p>
<p>I figure I'm just in the pep squad for Rhodes - it was DD's second choice, but I have no doubt it would have been an excellent choice. Besides everything listed above, Rhodes has several exciting study abroad options, including a couple at Oxford that had both my daughter and I drooling.</p>
<p>ffscout, D has the Sewanee/Oxford/European one penciled in. She's doing Spain total immersion this summer! Too cool.</p>
<p>Yeah, we're really high up on the entitlement meter down here in the land of hurricanes, huntin' camps and hillbillies (actually Cajuns and swamp rats, no hills around here ;)).</p>
<p>Doc OC, I do not feel I owe you an explanation, but just in case anyone else out there misunderstood, what I meant to give was a list of all the schools my D seriously considered, and investigated in some depth. She was interested in smaller schools with a definite intellectual bent, and her first choice was to go to a different area of the country, ie out of the South. Since, thanks to God's continued blessings and hard work AND all the sacrifices our parents made years ago, DH and I were in the position of being full fare payors, and had the desire to give that gift to our D, if she wanted it. We discussed the financial implications of going with the full fare school with her at length. We felt that her schools of lower selectivity should be excellent fits AND be good shots for merit money. As Mini talks about, we wanted money left over for enrichment if the fit did not turn out to be perfect. We were willing to pay full fare for schools that fit all her criteria.</p>
<p>I consider Rhodes to be a school of lower selectivity that is an super option for a student interested in and qualified for top LACs - every bit the equal of a Colgate or Dickinson or Trinity College, with real advantages for the serious, committed pre-med student that you won't find at Duke, Stanford or any Ivy.</p>
<p>As for "discarded", perhaps "dropped from the list" would be a better phrase - Trinity was too far west, she wanted east of the Mississippi; Bowdoin was out of the running because dear old Dad just has never gotten over Little Round Top (look it up); Haverford was too touchy-feely, smothery; and she just plain didn't like Williams or Yale (how's that for elitism?).</p>