Kansas State has an awesome food science department. She would get their top scholarship and COL is great. The professors in the school of agriculture are outstanding and their labs are great. Campus is totally walkable and everywhere you live is within walking distance of everything. The small campus town is fun with a surprising amount of dining options. Easy application and she would have one easy early acceptance under her belt. You have to visit to really get a feel for how awesome it is. When we first visited the campus we went to the area where there was ice cream and our guide took us around the corner to show us where the campus made the ice cream. While we were looking a Food Science professor left her class (they were doing a lab and all laughing and talking) came out and explained what we were seeing, talked to us about food science, asked about my son and was just so VERY nice and helpful. We were animal science but you could just tell she loved her department and the school. They have a great botany/plant science department too with a fantastic working garden. Just keep it on the list! Lots of research opportunities and such helpful faculty. Son went on a study abroad in Switzerland for a mini session where it was a mix of food science and animal science kids. (Faculty lead trip) It was fantastic!
OPâs daughter is now looking at larger schools, not because larger appeals per se, but because sheâs realizing that ag-adjacent majors like food science and plant science/botany may be a good path, and most small schools donât have these kinds of programs. UAH certainly doesnât. Bamaâs Food & Nutrition major looks more dietetics-adjacent which isnât really what theyâre looking for.
Got it. I couldnât remember the thread. My bad. I saw auburn. I thought b4 it was mid size. Thx for clarification.
@smorecollege perhaps U Delaware? A pretty, walkable campus with good agriculture programs ( and great ice cream). Unfortunately I have to agree with others that my alma mater, Rutgers, may be too big.
The University of Rhode Island has Plant Science and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. I do not think URI is a reach.
Thank you, @momocarly! Kansas State sounds wonderful and great to hear about your experience! We have started looking for dates to visit during the school year.
I suggested Auburn because like the other schools on @smorecollegeâs latest list, it is a land grant university with a great agricultural program. It is also an easier admit than UGA. I am attaching a link with information about land grant universities that includes a list of them by state. It might give the OP some other options that might offer the academic programs she is interested in.
University of Missouri has a chart with admission criteria for freshman from ranking high schools and one for students from non ranking schools. The higher your class rank or GPA the lower your test score can be. Meeting the criteria makes you âeligibleâ for admission. They do not use the word guaranteed, but it is a pretty good indication of admission. Note that the GPA they use for admission is a recalculated core GPA with only the 17 classes they require, so this may be lower than regular GPA. There is also a test optional route with essays and âholisticâ admission review. The criteria for scholarships is also clearly laid out in charts but all include test scores. They will consider test optional students for scholarships but GPA would have to be very high (not sure if they use rigor to evaluate for scholarships). Also they use highest GPA on transcript for scholarships, unlike admission. Especially at bigger schools, the test score can help with admission and scholarships, even if itâs not that high, especially since she has a strong GPA. Check out their website for all the numbers. Admissions is rolling so she could have a very early acceptance, especially if she applies in August. Nice to have early in senior year.
Mizzou has a pretty campus and is very walkable, and Columbia is a nice college town.
I should add that while Mizzou is not competitive for admission, it is for scholarships. Like lots of schools that are flagships, a good percentage of the students applying have a 4.0.
I am going to mention U. of Wisconsin-River Falls again. It has about 5k undergrads, and all the desired majors. Ditto for Delaware Valley ( about 1700 undergrads).
You may also want to look at Stetson in FL, which has about 2700 undergrads and Simmons, a womenâs college in Boston.
One state flagship that is much smaller than normal is U. of Idaho which has fewer than 9k undergrads and all the desired majors.
U. of Delaware has already been mentioned as a more intimate state flagship (i.e. fewer than 20k undergrads). U. of Nebraska- Lincoln is another one, and with a mascot like the Cornhuskers, itâs defgot an agricultural base. If youâre looking into Auburn, you may want to look at Mississippi State. Both schools may well.offer some merit aid, too.
@dfbdfb has some experience with Mississippi State, I believe, and may be able to provide some insight as to whether it would be a possible fit for your daughter.
At UMN, the food science and agriculture majors are on the St. Paul campus while the liberal arts majors (Spanish etc) are on the Mpls campus. You take a shuttle back and forth which is fast and free. Personally, I liked the division (gave me a feeling of âgoing to workâ and then âgoing homeâ and the St. Paul campus is mellow and happy and in a cute residential neighborhood.) But if your kid wants a unified campus, UMN is not that.
If you are still considering LACs, look into St. Olaf and DePauw. Susan Singer, the new president of St. Olaf is a botanist, and the botany faculty at DePauw are terrific. Lots of good mentoring opportunities.
Thanks for mentioning - I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Itâs little info nuggets like this that keep me coming back to CC every day.
@AustenNut called me in about Mississippi State (where one of my kids is majoring on engineering). The sciences are good there, and itâs one of Mississippiâs land-grant colleges, which is always a plus for the life sciences and especially agriculture. Another possible bonus for you is that it has, as part of its mission, educating as wide a group of Mississippiâs residents as possibleâand Mississippiâs Kâ12 education system has an, um, spotty track record. This means that there are more supports for students that need them than you might expect at many statesâ flagships. (And Mississippi State definitely functions as a co-flagship, no matter what the folks at That School Up North may claim.
)
In terms of admission, that GPA is very good. However, your child will need to take the ACT or SAT. She would only need a 20 on the ACT or the equivalent on the SAT to be guaranteed admission (providing, of course, that she applies while spots still remain), but sheâll still need a score to submitâit isnât a test-optional school. Admission is possible without a 20+, as well, especially with that high of a GPA, but thatâs done more holistically.
Automatic scholarships also require an ACT or SAT score, with scholarships (that include at least a partial waiver of the OOS student surcharge) for a student with your daughterâs GPA starting at an ACT score of 22. (Also: If you or your spouse is an active duty service member or a veteran, the OOS surcharge is waived entirely regardless of GPA or test score.)
Admission to Mississippi State University is described here: Steps to Enrollment | Office of Admissions and Scholarships
It says:
It says test-optional there, but the catalog for the coming year says that the ACT or SAT is required.
I just figure itâs better to present the more restrictive of the conflicting statements.
Given that she doesnât mind taking walks, you donât need transit to get around the UMass Amherst campus - you could probably walk diagonally across the campus in 3/4s of a mile. So chances are once on campus, you can get to most other areas in about 10 minutes.
The little town-center of Amherst is about the same distance - walking is feasible, or even bicycling.
Hard to describe the campus as âcozyâ - but itâs a nicely contained campus, with a quickly to grasp layout - so to us it didnât feel âhugeâ or difficult to navigate.
If they do offer acceptance, then the university clearly feels that your student would be a good fit academically.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. If youâd like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.