Yes, I’m a little concerned about Samford. We are practicing Catholics and comfortable with a religious school but I wouldn’t want her anywhere that wouldn’t welcome Catholics or wouldn’t be open to a variety of faiths. Conservative is fine. Ultra conservative, probably not. We’re considered on the conservative side but we live outside of Portland, so very middle of the road to leaning a little left in most of the country. She doesn’t want to go to a big political school, like a Reed or Oberlin…or a Liberty
Anyway, Samford fits into our trip but Ill stay aware of these issues.
Samford is very conservative , like very…- I’m in Nashville and we have a “far out there” church - i.e. not mainstream…never masked, tons of virus, would never consider the vaccine…most in society consider them “fringe” - and Samford is a favorite. My neighbor went - it’s hard core religion. Out of 1700 colleges in America that Niche rates, it’s raked 13th for conservatism vs. 98th for Baylor.
You might sub in - since looking for merit UAB and or UAH. UAH is more suburban, chill - big into nursing and engineering but you can do what you want there. UAB actually has a decent PR program it appears. Both will hit well below budget - as would the best choice except the big part, over social part - Alabama - Links below.
D goes to Elon. I think it fits a lot of your criteria but I would not describe it as “big sports”. They are D1 but the football games are not really well attended except for maybe parents weekend. Same with most of the other sports. They are also not very generous with merit and they increased tuition 9% for next year. Other than that, I think it should stay on her list and would definitely be worth a visit if you can make it work.
It is a little further north in the Southeast, but James Madison University - JMU in VA sounds like it would check many of her boxes, and is under the 50K COA that you list. Majors that might meet her interests are in the School of Media Arts and Design, School of Art Design and Art History, and School of Communications.
Pretty campus, lots of school spirit, about 2-hours from Washington DC.
We live in Colorado. S22 is 3.55 UW student, test optional, good not great EC’s, very good LOR’s and has been accepted at Baylor, TCU, University of Denver and EA deferred at SMU and Pepperdine. FAFSA EFC was roughly 44K, aid packages received so far at DU and TCU have been underwhelming, putting total COA at 52-55K/year.
We loved our tours at all 3 Texas schhols. I think your daughter would like all as well.
If a substitute for Samford is sought, another option to consider would be Birmingham-Southern. It definitely has Greek life and will fall easily into budget with its tuition reset from a few years ago making its COA about $30k. I’m not sure what the D3 athletics side is like, but it’s one of the Colleges That Change Lives (link to the BSC profile). Birmingham-Southern would be on the smaller side, though.
I think you have a very good and diverse list. Definitely a chance at Baylor. TCU has been getting massive applications and over-admitted last year. That one may be a little tougher than expected at the moment. I am surprised Sewanee is listed as a reach… We send a lot of kids from my area there, and their stats are not as strong as your DDs.
Where are you finding data on the larger than normal applications to TCU? Not doubting just curious.
S22 was admitted EA but received only marginal need based aid. I thought it was 50/50 he got in, so maybe the unimpressive aid offer is due in part to so many other applicants who would happily take his spot if he declines admission.
I’m not a TCU person but. and not doubting but per the TCU Common Data set last year 19782 applied with 53% admitted.
The year prior 21145 applied with 48% admitted.
The year prior to that - a tad over 19000 applied and 47% were admitted
Perhaps there was a big boost this year - but based on the past three CDS, it doesn’t appear so - if anything two years back but it settle back down. But maybe this cycle will show a burst upward.
TCU has great Facebook Live events that are full of super helpful information. The Director of Admissions, Heath Einstein, does them with other guests. You can watch the old ones on YouTube. I believe over admitting last year was discussed on one of them.
My DD was accepted last year EA, and I attended many admissions and FA programs. At the beginning of this year (fall 21), they did not have enough rooms to house the freshman and had to scramble last minute to find rooms, and triple rooms. Our FA and scholarship money was excellent but DD ended up at the University of Arizona, which was $10,000 less with no loans. The vibe, although has a wonderful school vibe was just not her vibe. We also found out on a visit, classes were difficult to get. In the end we made the right decision for my DD. I am still a huge fan of the school. I love everything about it.
I have a daughter at Arizona and son at TCU. So I feel I can speak to both. Both are great schools. Socially both are great. The main difference is academically opportunity wise. Arizona has opportunities but everything you have to seek out on your own. Your student needs to be very self motivated and a go getter to make contacts and engage internship/career opportunities. Things are no as laid out for you. It is a large public school. TCU is much better about creating student opportunities. Though both my children are happy in their choices. I would Pick TCU any day
I think we made a great choice. Great first semester. She has a group of friends and is even in a dance club she loves. She is in the honors college, so there are tons of opportunities for her there. She is spending her spring break in BioSphere 2 to research food sustainability. There is a lot of things I really like about the school, from scheduling classes, availability of classes, research opportunities, internship/work opportunities, etc… It is a big research institution, and her goal is to go to grad school, so I have no doubt they will prepare her well. The downsides are not many nice dorms (the honors village is the exception) and the food plan is awful. But for the price, I would rather deal with those, than that inability to get her needed classes. Mine is double majoring and can still graduate a semester early if she chooses. She would have been out in 2.5 years with a single major. For her, and I don’t mean this in any disrespect, TCU was very Greek, all the activities advertised were Greek sponsored (49% of the student body is greek). Mine was not interested in that. Despite Arizona’s robust Greek system, in the end, it is only 14% of the student body. There is enough diversity on campus, mine found her tribe.
The Honors complex in Tucson is AWESOME with dining hall at the bottom and adjacent gym and counseling center. A bit out of the way to walk to…but it’s awesome - I loved it. It ended up #3 for my daughter - but after touring, I wanted to move in.
In Colorado, I’d have her look at Regis and U of Denver. DU has a good graphic design program. It does have some good politics and international studies majors, but they aren’t ‘political’ (IMO). It doesn’t have football but several of the other sports are top NCAA teams (men’s and women’s lacrosse, skiing, hockey, gymnastics). Great facilities.
Regis is growing more in the medical fields (nursing, pharmacy, PT) but still has the traditional liberal arts majors too.
If she wants to go bigger but not enormous, Colorado Mesa’s reputation is rising. It is a D2 school for sports, and a lot of kids pick it for sports. My kids went to a high school in California where more kids from the school (small, private) went to Mesa than to UCLA or Cal.
