<p>I was referring to the actual application for the school and honors college. I’d presume that additional competitive scholarships require at least a somewhat passable essay (they certainly do for my non-CS department).</p>
<p>Filius1, that is interesting. S1 was looking only at schools that offered both ChemE and Linguistics initially. </p>
<p>I couldn’t get him to even look at UK, but it seemed like a good deal and more MY speed…but it has always been about what he wants.</p>
<p>For OUhonors, you have to write an essay, I believe. But you write “I’m a national merit finalist” at the top. If your son already has an essay that fits one of the prompts, he can adapt it and use it. I know–my son is tired of writing essays, too.</p>
<p>@filius1, best of luck! Sounds like you visited Ole Miss? Being a TX transplant from N. CA myself I would say there is going to be some culture shock there. Depending on where you are in CA, OU will be shocking in that it is so flat, but I think the Midwest will be a lot easier to adjust to than Deep South. </p>
<p>mytwods:</p>
<p>Yes we visited. We are from So Cal (don’t remember if I mentioned that). I’m sure there will be a culture shock, but we’re rather conservative ourselves so I expect it to be in a good way. : )</p>
<p>There is a big difference between the deep South conservatives and Oklahoma conservatives. OK is so much easier to tolerate because there seems to be a conservatism rooted in religion and economics. When I lived in the deep South, there was an underlying tone of anti-government pride that was rooted in the antebellum era. There was a reoccurring sense that I wasn’t welcomed even though people were very friendly and polite to me. Not sure if it was being called a Yankee frequently, the constant sightings of the Confederate flag or just the common discussions about the “War of Northern Aggression”. I hope things have changed. I didn’t come across that with the folks who considered themselves liberal.</p>
<p>Well, people in So Cal would probably denigrate a transplanted Mississippian as a fundamentalist hick. What are you gonna do.</p>