<p>OK, it's decision time. Our D is ready to make a decision and is in the process of conducting more thorough campus visits. There three choices are (poli sci and english dual major):</p>
<p>Miami University - Oxford: accepted into Academic Scholars Program with $22K p/yr scholarship (at least)
Indiana U: accepted into Hutton Honor College with at least $11K p/yr scholarship
UW - Madison: still waiting to hear on any scholarships and honor designation</p>
<p>So, can anyone with experience in these schools help weigh our choices? We are interested in hearing about program strength and experience of academic honors programs, but we are also very interested in hearing about school culture and internship experiences. Any feedback would be helpful! </p>
<p>your family will pay for any of them? money isn’t a factor?</p>
<p>In state at any of them? Does money matter? </p>
<p>We are in state in Indiana and my son chose UW over IU. He fell in love the moment he walked onto campus at UW, IU had been his first choice until then. Bloomington is a beautiful college town, but 45 minutes (at least) away from Indy whereas Madison is both a great college town and the capital, with lots of internships etc (impt for poll sci). IU known for Business and Music schools, humanities and social sciences are strong but not as well known. As I understand Honors at IU, there are Honors dorms, but students typically take 1 Honors course a term so it is not completely a school within a school. UW Honors is different, admission is more holistic, less stat driven. To graduate with Honors in the Liberal Arts, student need to complete Honors courses across breadth requirements, with a minimum gpa requirement. </p>
<p>We didn’t look at Miami, but know kids who went there. From what they said, it sounded fairly mainstream (a few people said it was their back up when they didn’t get into Notre Dame), fairly strong Greek life. </p>
<p>What does your daughter think? Does she have a strong gut response? Great choices. </p>
<p>sorry - yes, money always a factor but not the driver. We know we will not get much from UW being OOS, but that does not knock it out of the running by any means. My daughter really is torn between the three, although we all recognize that Miami and IU will likely provide very good academic situation given those programs. Need to see what UW offers there (honors app to be submitted soon). She really likes the ASP at Miami because of its focus on pre-law. Still are planning in-depth visits to all three. </p>