Thanks for all that information. I went through undergrad on a full ride and grad school (SMU, actually) for half off so I’m trying to get my brain wrapped around the situation in 2022 (I know a lot of parents feel this). We’re hoping that once her junior grades are calculated, there could be a small bump there with her 5 APs (in Covid times anything is possible up or down though, especially in a small school where four kids who decided to homeschool could shift everything) and we’ll debate taking the ACT again to eke out a few more points.
I think MS State is an interesting option and I’ll present that.
Merit has drastically decreased over the years, my daughter’s tuition was reduced to around $35,000 a year with a 34 act, 3.9 UWGPA, 9 AP’s. However, she entered with 30 credits so is graduating a year early, saving money that way.
My D22 with an almost identical profile incl. soccer and social science major (slightly higher stats, 3.9 UW and 32 ACT superscore) just got into Tulane and UMiami with respective merit offer of 18K and 22K. She did not get invited for competitive scholarships at UMiami, those kids had higher stats. So, if you don’t qualify for any need based aid, I’m afraid those two will not get you to 30K-ish.
OMG so helpful! Thank you though! It’s somewhat reassuring to see similar stats out there and hear real stories. I peeped your profile before I asked you what other schools your DD applied to and I suspect our girls are a lot alike (Mine is ex-ECNL before she quit this summer to focus on academics when she decided she didn’t want to be a student athlete.)
We have a family friend who is a senior at Tulane and I’ve been so impressed with everything I’ve heard. Who knows, it could be added on the pile next fall.
My daughter has very similar stats and looking for the same things in college, we’re in Texas. Arkansas offered her the New Arkansas Resident tuition (basically in state tuition). UArk is currently her number one school. Others accepted to - Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Houston.
Fayetteville is a lot easier to get to than Oxford.
I really liked the TCU campus when we toured in fall 2021 (more than my S22). Don’t think you would get to less than $40-45K all in after merit however.
Thanks for that perspective. Our next door neighbor who is like a big brother to DD graduated from Arkansas a few years ago and he’s itching to take us on a tour so I think we’ll take him up on it at some point. I’ve worked in Rogers/ Bentonville before and it’s going to be a really cool place in five years. (Not that it’s not cool now, but it’s changing rapidly to even cooler heights.) It’s hard not to like Arkansas except the sororities are sooooooo huge. But I guess they are everywhere in the SEC. And the sooooie is way more annoying than whooping, I don’t care what anyone says.
If she’s hovering around the top 6%, there’s a high probability she’ll get into UT-Austin. Another underrated school to consider is UTSA. They’ve got a killer football team that just got put on the map last fall. They play UT next fall. I suggest going to UTSA, because they’re totally going to win, and it would be cool going to that game as a Roadrunner fan! It’s the only place where you have a Mariachi band at a tailgate party. The basketball team needs work…but they’ve had worse years.
TCU doesn’t either and through the local sorority alum network I learned the benefits of have the campus dorms. There are pros and cons to both, I think. D23 took a look at the sorority dorms at Clemson and Auburn and compared their location with Georgia’s crazy long busy street of sorority houses mixed with dentist offices and law offices and decided she’d rather be on campus. But yeah, at Auburn it definitely feels like a mean joke by a Bama alum, when you see the palaces the sororities have over there.
So why dismiss Bama then if that’s what she wants.
You said they party too much. They party too much everywhere - and more at Tulane than anywhere!!
The rationale for not doing Bama but doing others that are i the same startosphere don’t make sense - and if you want sorority houses, they are monsters there.
Kids “hear a lot” of things - but I wish they’d research to find the right place for them.
Auburn will definitely lean more conservative student body wise - as it’s mostly southern kids - Bama is diverse and because of the merit aid, people flock from nationwide.
But if it’s houses she wants - then yeah Arkansas, Bama and I’m sure others would be a much better fit for her than Auburn.
Auburn is not near as conservative as everyone seems to believe. My son and his roommates were not conservative - no one disrespectiful to others beliefs. It’s a very friendly school with a lot of moderate students.
I think many “conservative” schools are more moderate than people think - so I hate labels.
But the crowd is more Southern - and I said lean more conservative.
Per Niche, it’s 41st most conservative out of 1700 schools - so it’s not Liberty/Hillsdale, but it leans that way for sure - and it makes sense based on where students come from - mostly conservative states.
Your son and his roommates are not the sample size for the school. Bama also leans conservative and my kid and his GF are just non-political…period…but their student body is much more geographically diverse because their merit aid is at another level.
My simple comment was OPs kid loves Auburn but she said they don’t have big sorority houses - and honestly, I didn’t know that.
She removed Bama because of things she heard about it - party wise. Hence I said - and yes, it’s a party school - but so is Auburn - but it doesn’t mean 100% of kids party and Tulane (on her list) is often #1 nationwide.
I don’t know where they have huge sorority houses - but I know Bama does, Arkansas, I think Ole Miss, Michigan and more.
So just trying to say - if that’s what you want, then choose schools where they have them.
Agree with this - be careful of removing schools because of “party” reputation. Some of the USNWR top schools are also top party schools - Wisc, Penn State, UF, UGA, Tulane.
Also the “conservative” label - major research (and also being public) universities are way more moderate than you’d think, including Ole Miss, Auburn, Bama, Arkansas. Likewise, schools like CU aren’t as wacko liberal as many portray it. Those labels probably come from how the students who attend label themselves, but it doesn’t translate into the teaching. And quite frankly, when kids get away from their parents and their close group of high school friends, exposed to college level classes - I would argue most would tend to drift center from either side.
Now…conservative Liberal Arts colleges…different story.
Some of the sorority houses in the south are pretty big, but not that many live in them. Many at Alabama only sleep ~70. Now 450 members EAT at the house daily, in shifts, but they live in the dorms, in apts, in ‘annexes’ that may be owned by the sorority or just rented houses.
I think D23 is not the only kid out there who isn’t, shall we say, “fact-based” in their college search. I have NO idea where she got the idea about which schools are “party schools.” I mean, okay, it was probably Tik Tok but it could have also been a soccer teammate’s sister’s friend. Who knows.
As for which schools are “conservative…” we’re already living in Dallas so I don’t think the political opinions at A&M, Bama, Auburn, etc. are going to shock her. As a household, we are more progressive/ centrist than the community around us, but again, my kiddo is used to it (she got teased in elementary school for being the only kid who “voted” for Obama in their mock election.) We did notice that the level of mask wearing at A&M in January was far far far below the levels at Clemson, Auburn and Georgia in November so… take that as you will.
She’s now put Ole Miss on her list and I’ll probably be able to get her to apply to Bama when push comes to shove, especially if we promise a football-weekend visit.
Check out the Croft Institute of International Studies and the Honors College at Ole Miss! Such an incredible program with tons of driven students who like to go out but also work hard in school. Plus, you’ll get the classic, Southern school experience. With her stats, you will also get almost full tuition automatically, and Croft and the honors college are also very generous with scholarships. Its a beautiful campus and an incredible college town as well.
Yes! I think that’s the program she got excited about! We’re talking about visiting for a football game in the fall (I mean, football is VERY important to her) and I have a feeling that seeing the Grove in action is going to be hard to resist.
My friends live in Atlanta and their kids went to Tennessee, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. Friend went to CU, and they’ve been to a ton of football weekends at Georgia Tech, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois and other southern schools. They said hands down Ole Miss is the best football weekend around.
And the sooooie is way more annoying than whooping, I don’t care what anyone says. 
