OK hopeful Trinity applicants and parents

<p>right, I'm curious as to how you ended up choosing Trinity ...</p>

<p>My D is a junior at Trinity and loves it. She is not a party goer, although she goes occasionally. She's not a big drinker and lived on the substance free dorms last year. Living there doesn't mean you can't drink, it really implies that you're not going to be coming home drunk and/or sick every time there's a frat party, or hosting paties in your dorm room. </p>

<p>She went into this school with her eyes wide open. She knew that the school was small, did NOT have a "big school" atmosphere, did not have a world class music program, although she was accepted at some prominent music schools. She chose Trinity because she saw that she could participate in many different activities and get a great education. She is involved in community volunteer activities, teaches in a program for San Antonio youth, plays intramurals, plays in the band, belongs to a service fraternity, works part time at the school, and has a lot of fun with her friends. She has a great relationship with her professors. She studied abroad, as did many of her friends, and had a fantastic semester. Incidentally, she was not highly involved like this in high school, but she has grown into the most amazing woman in the past two years, and I give Trinity some of the credit.</p>

<p>Trinity is highly respected in Texas (yes not as much elsewhere, because its not well known). I know employers in the financial, petroleum, education, and legal fields in Houston who love to hire Trinity grads.</p>

<p>As for sports, I'm very familiar with the soccer community in Texas, and most kids who have the soccer skills AND the brains would love to go to Trinity. Its highly respected among club soccer coaches and is the equivalent of playing at many Div 1 schools. Although Div3 schools can't give athletic scholarships, they do give academic scholarships to athletes who might not have gotten one without the athletic skills (just my personal opinion, not something official) Most of the time, these kids rise to the challenge and prove that they deserved it academically. As for the soccer player who is whining about his Trinity experience: I know kids like you. You were a diva in high school, you got drunk every weekend and still do. You have a huge ego and maybe you aren't playing as much as you thought you would at a "lowly" Div 3 school. Grow up. You could be injured next week and never play again. Take advantage of the educational opportunity you have, or go somewhere else. My son wants to attend Trinity and would love your spot on the soccer team.</p>

<p>right413: It's odd. I checked your post count and did the math. You are either a troll or a student who is sincere in his attempts to warn others away from what you have found to be an unsatisfying college experience. Either way you seem to have become a CC member simply to bash TU. Please do explain why you chose to attend TU and what your expectations were. Since you are so clearly disappointed, we could be more judicious in evaluating your opinion if we knew what you were looking for in a college when you went in.</p>

<p>Yeah sport events aren’t a huge thing at Trinity. I personally went to three football games and one soccer game. Although the “stadiums” where the teams play are small, they were filled to full or almost full capacity. The Millsaps-Trinity game even had a tailgate party organized by the student government. Sure, it isn’t a real tailgate party as if it was a Florida, LSU, USC, UT game. Still, at least most non-athletes looking at Trinity are not expecting crowds and team spirit at a UT level. When you played at other colleges (including Rhodes, Southwestern,Hendrix, Centre, DePauw) were the stands FILLED to full capacity with enthusiastic students ? Unless a LAC has a division I program like Davidson College, don’t really expect HUGE CROWDS. </p>

<p>Trinity University has a retention rate of 90% according to College Board College</a> Search - Trinity University - TU - Admission . I believe that the University of Notre Dame has the highest retention rate of all colleges with 97%. Gonzaga with its awesome Division I teams has a retention rate of 91%; just 1% above of Trinity’s. Southwestern, a school also considered by many people in this board, has a retention rate of 87%.</p>

<p>Trinity does not have recognized housing for fraternities and sororities. All fraternities are local (except the newly created Pikes) are all local, meaning they only exist at Trinity. So don’t expect frat parties to be at the level of parties at LSU for example. You can find a party almost every Friday and Saturday. You can also probably find some people drinking or playing drinking games during the week. You can either choose to drink or not to drink; I don’t think drinking at Trinity is something forceful. </p>

<p>What do you mean that location sucks ? I personally like to go to downtown on the weekends, so it is really accessible. You can always drive to other places. St. Marys is kinda fun and its just a few blocks away from campus. For those not familiar with the surrounding area of Trinity, Trinity is surrounded by a residential area by one side and the highway is on the other side. Very close to campus there is St. Marys which is a street filled with bars, and the very popular hookah bar Caf</p>

<p>right413,</p>

<p>Here is some info for you about the schools you mentioned so that you can perhaps decide on a better place for you, and be more informed than you seem to have been about TU. The retention rates are from a simple google search, the soccer info from each school's website. I don't know the year of retention rates, but they are all from the same year.</p>

<p>Rice 97 no men's soccer
UTA 93 no men's soccer
SMU 87.5 soccer for both
U of Houston 77.5 no men's soccer
TCU 84 no men's soccer
Tulane 87.5 no soccer for either</p>

<p>I don't know if you are a guy or a girl, but if you are a guy, your only hope of these is SMU, and the retention rate isn't as high as TU. You didn't mention A & M, but here you go.
Retention rate 91%, no men's soccer.</p>

<p>If you are a girl, give it your best shot and try to play DI. Transfer apps. are usually later than regular admission.</p>

<p>I think the unhappy poster is one who really wanted to go to a Division I school, and would ge happiest at a DI school, but got an offer from Trinity that was too good to refuse. You've got to feel a bit for the recruited athlete and his/her parents</p>

<p>hi im new to this site. I cant seem find up to date info on trinity. I am a sophmore at a highly competitive high school (Top 10 in Houston Area). I was wondering what do your stats have to look like in order to get into trinity. What GPA, class rank, sat..etc? What is the most important thing Trinity looks at?</p>

<p>Thanks alot
-andydandy</p>

<p>Have you seen Kiplinger's article about best schools? Trinity was something like no. 32 in the country for private universities.</p>

<p>you can find a lot of info if you look at Trinity's Common Data Set</p>

<p><a href="http://iraa.trinity.edu/iraa/Documents/ir_docs/CDS2007.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://iraa.trinity.edu/iraa/Documents/ir_docs/CDS2007.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>pinnacle link doesn't seem to work, can you copy and paste it for me</p>

<p>Hi! I'm a senior, and for Texas schools I've applied to Trinity, University of Texas, and Rice. I've been accepted to UT (I'm still waiting to hear from Plan II), and I'm expecting to get into Trinty.<br>
Ultimately I'm weighing the pros/cons between Trinity and UT. I go to a large high school, and frankly I miss the feel of a small school where the administration knows your name and you wouldn't feel as if you were burdening your counselor and/or teacher by asking them for a recommendation.<br>
I know a few people who go to Trinity (and who I think like it), but I also know of someone who left (I think he used to play football at a large high school? I don't know much of the details, but I think, like right413, he found it boring). I'm not much into sports, so that isn't really a factor for me. I don't do drugs/drink, and I'm also not interested in a sorority. However, I don't know much about Trinity's reputation. People in Texas say it's a good school, but I wonder why it seems to fly under the radar for many and hasn't been ranked in U.S. News-- with the exception of the "Best in the West" rating, whoever provided that. I'm pleased that Trinity advocates for students and I know that faculty is willing to help you with graduate programs. But I'm not sure if it will be academically challenging enough or if I will be bored with such a small campus after 4 years. Are professors really as approachable as people say they are?
As you can see, I keep oscillating between the big school/small school decision. Both pinnacle and right413 have made some valid points. I guess a few of my questions would be: Is Trinity good preparation for graduate school? Is it well known enough to get into a good graduate program? And as far as socializing goes, How does it compare with UT (ie Austin and San Antonio, both large cities)? Are there a variety of organizations and activities on campus?
Also, as a side note: How many freshman have cars at Trinity?
Any info from parents/students/prospective students would be greatly appreciated-- especially since there seems to be a dearth of threads about Trinity on CC.
Thanks!</p>

<p>andy, there's a link at the top of the Trinity page on cc!</p>

<p>Trinity</a> University - San Antonio, Texas - Undergraduate Information</p>

<p>mellow_drama, i can understand your dilemma because i had a similar one deciding whether or not i wanted to continue playing soccer through college or simply go to a solid (and much cheaper) state school like UT, and the big school/little school issue was one i weighed heavily.</p>

<p>if you are like me, a lot of (actually, most of) my friends went to a bigger state school like UT or A&M if not out of state to more prestiguous universities. i thought that i didn't really want a "big school" mentality, and the academic scholarship i received (since trinity doesn't give athletic scholarships) was too good to pass up, so i decided to go to trinity. i also believed that i wouldn't want to keep hanging out with the same people at say, UT, but i soon discovered that this isn't really as big of a problem as i thought it would be.</p>

<p>you can easily decide to live apart from your high school friends and make new friends at a school like UT, but admittedly, trinity is probably more conducive to finding new cliques and establishing a whole new set of relationships that will likely always be there, especially if you play a sport or join a sorority like i have. honestly, i enjoyed my freshman year at trinity because this is exactly what the school promotes: unity among your first-year hall as well as new friendships through various activities. now, i can safely say that i know the overwhelming majority of my class by name or at least by face, and that's a positive.</p>

<p>nonetheless, after your freshman year, that sense of unity quickly evaporates since the friendships you make during that first year are likely the ones you keep for all four years. the sophomore college system has polarized the university by class (freshmen in the first-year dorms, sophomores in the sophomore dorms, juniors and seniors either in upper-class dorms or off-campus). this lends itself to a sense of disunity, and it becomes harder to meet people than you would expect. also, reputations are solidified early on, and there's really no chance to branch out once you've settled in. at a place like UT, you can explore so many options and truly grow as a person as you are supposed to throughout your collegiate career. </p>

<p>for instance, let's say you want to try sailing your junior year. at UT, you can join a club, while at trinity, you have to go outside the college to find a group, if you can. this goes for everything: fencing, salsa, etc. of course, this could be attributed to school size, but it is often a factor that many overlook in their college search. you can find what you want at UT with highly organized clubs and organizations, while honestly, trinity has a lot of shoddy groups that are run very inefficiently without adequate funds. UT is huge, of course, but it's kind of comforting that you can meet hundreds of new people in your class until the day you graduate, while at trinity, it's basically the same few faces everyday. some people like this, but it's getting a bit old for me.</p>

<p>professors are great at trinity, to answer your question, and most of them are very approachable. i couldn't say the same for UT because many classes have assistant professors and visiting professors who don't really care from what i've been told by friends.</p>

<p>however, trinity isn't really the best graduate school platform because not all grad schools consider the difficulty in achieving an adequate GPA at trinity. for example, a 3.8 at A&M or UT is so much easier to come by than a 3.8 at trinity. even a 3.4 or 3.6 for a given semester at trinity (in most majors) is seen as a great accomplishment. ultimately, professors don't give out an A or even an A- for just "good" or "solid" work. much of it hinges on intangibles. also, programs like business or engineering are MUCH better at UT than trinity with easier grading and, of course, a much lower tuition.</p>

<p>to answer your side note, a lot of kids at trinity have cars, and parking is a big problem on campus. good luck in your decision!</p>

<p>Trinity states that it has 130 campus organizations, however not all of them are active. When I first came to Trinity I was interested in joining college libertarians, and although the club was listed, it is a dead club. So yeah she's right in that regard. However, there is an active fencing club and Latino Exchange hosts a salsa night every semester. You can also start your own club at Trinity if you don't find what you were looking for and Trinity gives you $3000 or so for the club. </p>

<p>I'm not sure how you imply that you can't "truly grow as a person" at Trinity? Granted, I've only been at Trinity and no other college, but I think one can grow as a person at Trinity or pretty much any other college for that matter. Are you the same person as a sophomore than you were your senior year of high school ?</p>

<p>Yeah you can recognize a lot of faces just by walking to classes. Chances are you'll see someone you know. </p>

<p>Right413, if Trinity was the same price as UT or A&M, would you stay at Trinity ?</p>

<p>U.S. News does rank Trinity as the #1 Masters University in the Western part of the United States. U.S. News uses a methodology in which they separate colleges into three main categories (I think there might be a fourth minor one), National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, and Masters universities. National University are research universities like UT that focus on research but also have undergraduate classes. Liberal Arts colleges are schools like Amherst which focus only on the undergrads. Masters are somewhere in between and that is where Trinity is placed. Trinity has 2500 undergrads and 200 grads. There are about 3 masters programs at Trinity. So just because of those 3 masters programs, Trinity is ranked in the Masters category and not in the liberal arts colleges category. The #1 Masters University in the North is Villanova, which is a very good school. I heard that the University of Richmond was also ranked #1 in the Masters in the South until somehow it changed category and is now ranked #33 for Liberal Arts Colleges. I think that if Trinity was ranked in the Liberal Arts Category it would rank somewhere between #30 and #40. </p>

<p>So, Trinity is a no Williams or Amherst but do know that it is a very good UNDERGRADUATE school. The complaints from Right413 seem more complaints from the experience at a typical Liberal Arts College with fewer than 3,000 people than Trinity University in particular. You just gotta know what you are looking for, a small school and all that it implies (small classes, know pretty much everyone, fewer clubs, personalized attention) or big schools (big classes, anonymous, more clubs, less personalized attention).</p>

<p>oh and here are the links for U.S. News:
Trinity</a> University - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report - Trinity</p>

<p>Liberal</a> Arts Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report - Comparable insitutions</p>

<p>One of the CC rules that is repeated in various forms is: "College is what you make it." I is true on each the social, academic and prfessional levels. Another important one is fit is more important than just about anything. Seems like both are especially true at TU and other school like it.</p>

<p>Pinnacle thanks for the student input it is extremely valuable to the kids who will be making these decisions soon.</p>

<p>right 413 thank you for sharing your concerns as well and opening up the dialogue. It created a forum where specifics could be discussed. I hope you find a place to transfer to that will better fulfill your needs and/or give you a forum to better meet them on your own.</p>

<p>mellow-drama -- my son also just got accepted to UT and is waiting for word on Plan II, and he's applied to Trinity and Rice. If he doesn't get into Plan II, I doubt UT will stay on the table. Although the in-state tuition is appealing. He has some of the same questions that you do about Trinity.
Right--- do you really think that it's easier to get higher grades at UT or A&M? What about in the honors programs? Wouldn't it be about the same?</p>

<p>All right, I'm a junior at Trinity and a double major (accounting is one of them, obviously). Since it's that time of year again, I'm going to put my two cents in after resisting the temptation of the College ******* book frenzy. There is a new edition of that out, which can be found at the TU bookstore, if anyone is interested. </p>

<p>All in all, my experience at Trinity has been mildly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I love the fair majority of my professors and classes, but there are some things that just kill my joy.</p>

<p>First, the bad stuff:
* No car = tough go. Freshman year, I did not bring a car to campus. Some classes required field trips where students are to drive themselves or carpool. The bus system was not an option for most of these field trips without a half-hour head start and a little sweet talking the professor. I bought a car in the middle of my sophomore year and my life became MUCH easier. As for the excuse "You'll make friends and they will have cars," don't always count on it. I made some very good friends that year, but none of them had cars.
* Once you get a car, life isn't a breeze. You have to pay to park on campus, and while the fee isn't horrendously exorbitant, it is very annoying to have alumni, guests, professors etc take student parking spaces outside the dorms for sporting events. You literally CANNOT find a parking space on lower campus during a football game. Other times of the day, you may have to park in Prassel garage and hoof it to the dorms, but that isn't so bad. Beware the campus police, who will write you a ticket if you leave your car (even with hazard lights on) in front of a building while you are, say, unloading. Campus police WILL NOT jumpstart your car if your battery dies (like my dad's truck did... They told him to move it)
* The three year residency requirement is absurd, and obnoxiously priced. The reason that so many seniors live off campus is because they can save close to $300 a month by renting an apartment. That sum includes rent, utilities, incidentals and food.
* The food is pretty awful, if you're looking for healthy or fresh fare. Aramark serves schools, hospitals and prisons, so keep that in mind. Because the meal plan is required, Aramark can get away with charging ridiculous prices for food. My roomie and I noticed today that the price of a cup of fruit has gone up $0.20 over the winter break (from $3.79 to $3.99), not to mention other increases.
* Financial Aid was not helpful when my father lost his job in Jan. of 2007. They told me to wait until I filed the FAFSA for the NEXT school year (2008-2009, my junior year) to see the results. The E-Bill system also resets my authorized users page, preventing my parents from seeing/paying the bill online (a problem for the past three years... I've been told each semester just to have them "try it again" and that the situation is "out of their hands".)
* There is a severe lack of diversity on campus. The new college ******* highlighted the phrase "Who knew there were so many shades of white?". To further that, most of the campus is Christian, and while non-Christians are not discriminated against to my knowledge or experience (I am a non-Christian), they are viewed as an exception to the rule.
* The administration DOES like to crack down on Greek organizations, including a little fiasco at the end of the Spring 2008 semester. False charges were made, and an apology was issued later, after the damage had been done.
* The administration also tends to ignore certain student initiatives (i.e. the protest to the mandatory "Sophomore College")</p>

<p>Now, on to the good stuff... </p>

<p>The academics are amazing. If you want that "close to your professors and peers" feel, then declare your major. Once you do, you start spending more time "in the loop" of that major on campus and get to know people. Freshman year, my suggestion is to do the common curriculum stuff. If you aim to be pre-med, ignore me and go with what your advisor tells you, because the intro. chemistry and biology courses are TOUGH, and they fill up fast. Art majors, same thing. Get into Intro to Drawing or Design in a hurry. </p>

<p>I'm in the Anthropology/Sociology department and the Business department, so I can speak kind of broadly on the feeling of camaraderie within the major. You get to know some AMAZING people who have done, and are still doing some interesting work in their field. once you voice an interest in a department, you can expect to be courted by them. I know the Geoscience department, although tiny, really pampers their students. </p>

<p>San Antonio is actually a wonderful college town, as long as you can get around. If you cannot bring a car, get to know the bus system and pick up some cab vouchers. You can walk downtown to the Riverwalk if you know the way (or follow the Bus 8 route), but I recommend good shoes for that trek. The nearest grocery store isn't all that convenient if you're picking up perishables like eggs or milk and you're walking, but it can be managed. Stuff to do includes the typical bar and cafe scenes, as well as several artsy events (First Friday comes to mind). Stuff to do on campus IS limited; sporting events which aren't all that popular and maybe a TMN activity or two. Most people I know do go off campus over the weekend (at least during the day) or hole up in the dorm to do homework. </p>

<p>I work on campus (work-study) at the library. To address complaints that several people have mentioned about the times the library is open, I'd like to point out that the full-time staff often VOLUNTEER for those extra hours over finals, when we stay open until 0200. The laptops may 'fritz out', but the error is often with the student or network, not the laptop. That said, the library is a great place to study, and Java City is stocked with newspapers and magazines to keep you occupied otherwise. There are study rooms, Dell laptops and power cords available (unless they are all checked out). The unofficial library mascot is Chomsky the Gnome. He can be checked out for 2 hours and supposedly gives good luck to those who study with him. </p>

<p>If you have work study, WORK AT THE LIBRARY! Jason, Alma and the gang are astounding to work with, and very understanding if something comes up to prevent you from going in. Freshman start at the stacks, shelving books--there is no 'study' to this part of the job. Odds are, you'll be promoted to desk work by sophomore year (which comes with a pay increase). Then, you can work AND study. When my work-study aid ran out one semester, they kept me employed (yes, even paying me) until the aid reset the next semester. </p>

<p>Hope that helps someone in their decision to come or not come to Trinity. I gave this same spiel to my brothers (seniors in high school) and they opted out. I don't regret my decision to come here, most days. Occasionally, however, stuff does get to you (no matter where you are). If you want an easy college career, odds are, you need to look elsewhere. If you're looking for challenging academics butdon't mind eating prison-food, living on campus and paying out the nose for it for three years, then you might like Trinity.</p>

<p>Rogue,</p>

<p>I didn't notice that you are involved in any activities other than WS. D finds lots of things to do on campus, even though she has a sport and an on campus job.</p>

<p>Many, many LACs require 4 years of on campus living. That TU only requires 3 was a plus for D. When all is said and done, she will likely only have 2 years on campus due to study abroad next year. Will you go abroad?</p>

<p>Regarding the food, D likes it a lot, but I am not a very good cook.</p>

<p>please chance my friend please- i made a thread no body responded so i posted here
Asian American-Male
Texas resident
GPA 3.55/4 unweighted - 4.5/6 Weighted (6 = honors A)
7 honors or ap classes
SAT-1900
top 40ish% (very competitive school top 5 in houston area)
250 hours volunteering at hospital, Business club (DECA), medical club (HOSA), latin club
andydandy is offline</p>

<p>Sorry andydandy: Don't mean to ignore your post - I just have no idea how to chance your friend.</p>