CU does have direct admission to engineering. It also has some engineering dorms (new!); my nephew lived in one and enjoyed it. It was in Kittridge, and that’s close to the engineering school.
I think it might be easier to transfer into engineering than business. The business school is tough to get into, and I think even tougher to transfer into. It used to be all but impossible. A classmate of mine tried (a million years ago) and they only took 5 transfers that year. I guess she just wasn’t good enough. She ended up graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a perfect 4.0 from the school of Arts and Sciences.
Seriously -thanks to TacoCat and Snoozn for creating my laugh for the day =)) I’m very thankful I haven’t had any dreams like this! Maybe I’m not stressing out enough lol!
@eandesmom - that situation does sound really weird with the mom/“free advisor” reacting badly to your good news. Makes me very grateful for CoyoteSon’s tiny little school with such quirky kids that basically no one has the same college list, since the kids have such different needs/desires. I’m very glad that we’re removed from the more typical “prestige” race that must be going on for the parents/kids at the big high schools here in Virginia. Best of luck to E on his auditions!!
@mackatarinasmom - big bummer about Beloit coming in so much under K-zoo, although do check the tuition/room board starting points - iirc, Beloit has one of the lowest starting points on our list, by several thousands, so a lower award will still result in similar net price for us. As someone else suggested, you may be able to negotiate for a better deal if it really is your D’s favorite option. CoyoteSon is going to check Beloit out in person on President’s Day.
I guess I'll be able to report back on Beloit visit, but otherwise, CoyoteSon will have no more college news until the end of March. Ugh, I hate waiting. His high school must be on the slowest track ever - midterms are next week, and won't get the semester grades til the week after that (Feb 8th-ish?). At least he's pulled the dreaded Calculus grade up to a B-. Fingers crossed!
Regarding the free counselor. Badly is an overstatement. But it did bother her. I think she assumed her child would receive the same and was disappointed when he did not.
But I agree. It shouldn’t be me pointing out that the school awards merit by the college and the boys applied to different colleges/majors so it’s really not apples to apples. It also shouldn’t be me pointing out things like the NPC (our offer matched) and the cds which will give you an indicator of how FA might fall.
I think it’s a fairly lame class if they don’t teach that aspect and she really doesn’t get the financial side, very much mixing up FA and merit. If I were paying someone I would want that counsel.
On that note, received 2 FA letters today. Goucher and Ursinus. I find myself annoyed. They back out indirect costs, offer a portion subsidized student loans and magically have met all our need! Not. I am super annoyed that both are lower than the NPC and really want to call. But… they are merit awards which means they are admission conversations which then I think which means S should do it. I am contemplating calling the FA offices to get their take on it. Good idea, bad idea or ? It seems like it couldn’t hurt to start there for input and then if S needs to try to leverage offers have him do that part.
After the letter arrived I mentioned dropping Ursinus to S17 tonight and about had my head bit off. He was mad. He’s applied, been accepted and already dropped one other school based on cost. And I suppose to be fair if I’m going to let him visit UVM I have to let him see Ursinus as the cost right now is identical.
To his credit he didn’t blanch when I told him I found 15 scholarships he can apply for. It also gives me a bit of leverage on AP tests. He’d rather not take more than 1 but if he takes 2-3, depending on the school, the value is fairly dramatic in terms of overall cost, especially at the LAC’s and does bring all of them down to a much more palatable level even if it’s not realized in year one out of pocket costs.
@eandesmom, ouch that sucks for fa/merit to come in below the NPC! I would call admissions myself if I were you. I’ve read about the topic here and there and the consensus seems to be that parents can take on this role. If a parent is paying the bills, then it makes sense for them to do the talking. And haggling is hard enough for us grown-ups much less a 17 year old kid. I remember D11’s disappointment when she realized her top choice was unaffordable. I wrote to the financial aid office (though I now know it should have been admissions) without any leverage and they bumped her merit by something in the $1,500 to $2,000/year range. It still wasn’t quite enough, but I felt they were generous given that we didn’t have any “new” information. Good luck and hugs to you and E.
Here’s a thread about using competing aid as leverage with some conflicting advice (it is CC after all), but you may find it helpful:
@snoozn thanks. I have seen that thread, there are a few out there. I can see the benefit of the student attempting on the merit side, but I also agree that if the parent is paying the bills they have a right to be asking questions as well. That’s a tough thing to ask a HD kid to do…negotiate for big dollars.
In this case I have spoken to both schools this morning. I simply can’t add that to his plate right now. FA and admissions at one and FA only at the other. The first school (admissions) is revisiting his package as they were definitely in agreement that the large variance to the NPC is concerning and potentially misleading. Doesn’t mean we will get anything and at this point it wasn’t about leveraging offers though I did mention it. But I was very pleased with their response and willingness to try. In the second case it wasn’t quite the warm fuzzy response but it was only FA that I spoke to. For that school, given how poor and outdated their NPC clearly is, I don’t think that is the right tree to bark up first. Instead, we will see what the first school comes back with as then hopefully we have 2 offers to show the 3rd for leverage.
We shall see!
I am fairly sure I know “why” the offer was so different, given some increases in the top scholarship amounts (which then likely means lowering the “lower” tier kids awards). The pool is the pool lol and they are trying to increase their stats. It isn’t rocket science. But…it’s such a large variance (6-9k annually!) that it was a fair question, and they agreed with that. It’s a robust NPC so that helps. I also think, quite frankly, that given what I know the spread of there awards are (and that they have significantly inflated tuition compared to the others, which are definitely peers) I do think they should have wiggle room. I don’t expect my S to get a top award anywhere. But everywhere else he is one tier down, or at the bottom of the “top” bracket. Not so at this one.
I am on the fence whether I’d attempt to have him ask the question for the 2nd school or if I will just handle it. I know what his preference is lol.
Speaking of FA, we’ve been waiting to see if Pitt comes through with anything. From the CC threads here, TacoSon’s ACT is at near bottom of the range where merit is offered, and he doesn’t have the high GPA to match. A promising-looking box from Pitt just arrived at the house, and I opened it, hoping either for merit, which I understand is awarded weekly through March, or more swag. Instead, it was a single issue of Bloomberg magazine, with packing material around it. Huh? I know there’s a Pitt-centric article in there (haven’t opened it yet), but it seems very odd to have sent a magazine in anything other than an envelope. Big letdown in all respects, and I love Pitt!
“But… they are merit awards which means they are admission conversations which then I think which means S should do it. I am contemplating calling the FA offices to get their take on it. Good idea, bad idea or ? It seems like it couldn’t hurt to start there for input and then if S needs to try to leverage offers have him do that part.”
I think the ‘rules’ about who contacts the schools go out the window when it comes to money. MY money. My daughter was getting confused about all the types of aid before she even applied to a school, and just asked me to handle it. I negotiated with the coach, with admissions (merit) and with FA. This year she’s a junior and I still spent more than an hour on the phone with the FA officers figuring out how to apply her awards to get the best deal for her.
My other daughter talked to the FA office at her school when she took a semester off, and it got all screwed up (she’s supposed to go 8 consecutive semesters to keep aid). I made one call and she wrote a letter and it was re-instated. Mean Moms rule.
At this point, your son is admitted. No one left to impress that he’s mature and can do it all on his own. Step in.
lol @twoinanddone @“Queen’s Mom” I agree. I spoke to both schools this morning. I simply can’t add that to his plate right now and I agree, that’s too much and there is no one left to impress. I spoke with FA and admissions at one and FA only at the other. The first school (admissions) is revisiting his package as they were definitely in agreement that the large variance to the NPC is concerning and potentially misleading. Doesn’t mean we will get anything and at this point it wasn’t about leveraging offers though I did mention it. But I was very pleased with their response and willingness to try. In the second case it wasn’t quite the warm fuzzy response but it was only FA that I spoke to. For that school, given how poor and outdated their NPC clearly is, I don’t think that is the right tree to bark up first.
Instead, we will see what the first school comes back with as then hopefully we have 2 offers to show the 3rd for leverage. The second school did absolutely suggest sending copies of the better offer as the route to go, I’d just rather send 2 if I can lol.
Hey all! Assuming I survive this weekend (or even the next 24 hours, it’s finals here) I do hope to update the big list this weekend. I haven’t seen a ton of updates and have tried to update the doc as posted but please PM me if you haven’t since the last update and you have anything. Thanks!
Congratulations to the admissions, the merit, the FA, those happy with grades, and those sleeping soundly! We have no more news on admissions, but still–yes STILL!!–have applications in the works. S17 has a few with 2/1 deadlines, and like a couple of others on this forum, he is a deadline-motivated kid. Rarely gets anything in before the deadline. Still has some scholarship and honors college apps to do too, but not sure how many of these will get done. He has had specific invites to apply for the Honors College at Oregon State, and to apply for specific scholarships at WUSTL, so those for sure.
S17 did not advance from NMSF to NMF, due to Fr/So grades. Not really an unexpected result, but still, I had a little hope. He received his semester grades, and did well–including A in AP Comp Sci and A- in both AP Physics C and AP Calc AB. Got a B in English, the rest A’s. Relief–Whew! Out of the blue he decided to join the robotics team this spring. I’m glad about it, but it was an abrupt right turn from his plans to pole vault this spring.
I was hoping that we’d have a lull in the college front after the spring decision is made, for at least a little while. But no, it’s not meant to be. S19 is now receiving regular emails and snail mail from colleges (and he’s making the same grade mistakes that S17 did). Really?!?
@Hankster1361 Sorry about the lack of advancing from NMSF. It’s one of the reasons I wasn’t too frustrated that my son made Commended but not SemiFinalist. Because of his grades really wouldn’t have been likely to get Finalist.
Sounds like you son got great grades senior year. We are looking at about the same GPA as second semester Junior year. Solid A in APCS… Only a C+ in AP Physics. (If he has just turned in more homework the first 1/3 of the semester…) A’s in his music classes, and B’s in everything else.
My son’s not interested in applying for the Honors College at OSU. He only applied two weeks ago, and doesn’t have an acceptance yet. (I’ve suggested he check his portal this weekend.) But when we toured they didn’t really talk the program up very well. Too much about additional writing, not enough about small classes freshman year. I doubt my DS would make it anyway… I hear the honors college is VERY competitive to get into while the school isn’t. So while my son would qualify based on his SAT… he wouldn’t have enough else in his favor. One thing I have heard about OSU’s honor program is you can get in as a sophomore… if they do well enough freshman year.
Our S16 was NMSF last year and didn’t advance due to grades. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. There should be plenty of good options even without making NMF.
I’m a long-time follower of this thread but haven’t posted much until now. We are relieved that our DD with a 3.2 GPA has gotten into many of the colleges she applied to. At this point she seems to have narrowed it down to Goucher, Univ. of Vermont and Ithaca College. What’s interesting to me is the difference in size of the three. Goucher is roughly 2,000 undergrads, Ithaca is about 6,000, and UVM is around 10,000 undergrads. I think socially she’s attracted to a slightly larger school (UVM, Ithaca), however academically I wonder if she’d get more support and personal attention at a smaller school like Goucher. I’m wondering what other parents think about this based on their experiences with kids who do well socially but need more academic support. Thoughts?
Hi @mamaduck3 ! My D17 is in at Goucher and UVM as well. UVM is the only “big” school she applied to. I think ideally she would like someplace a little bigger than Goucher, which is more like 1500, but not as big as UVM, and she loved Goucher when we visited. I do think there will be more personal attention and smaller classes in general at a small LAC than at a state school, and I think that will be important for her success, so I am encouraging the smaller schools on her list.
@mamaduck3 I wouldn’t think Goucher & Ithaca which are private schools would be that different for support & personal attention. UVM is a larger state school correct? That’s where I would expect to loose the individual attention.
My S was accepted to all 3 as well. I do think they are all quite different in size and what they might offer. We are asking the very very same question.
Our plan is to look heavily at class size within the major itself. UVM for example is pretty core driven depending on the curriculum so for the college my S is in, it may be “less” large school than some other majors there and compared to one of the other state schools on his list at a similar size.
I loved the idea of the size of Ithaca, not too small and not too big, seems kind of just right to me. That said, we have cut it for financial reasons.
I really go back and forth on this issue. I think the curriculum for my S’s major is dramatically better at UVM than any of the LAC’s…but that he might well do better at a smaller LAC where they won’t let him slip through the cracks. I am hoping that our feb/march tours provide some clarity!
Thanks for the great replies. It sounds like a lot of our kids applied to these same schools. Originally our D liked the idea of the small CTCL LACs, however her ideas have evolved over the course of the admissions cycle. She applied to four CTCLs and got into all of them with nice scholarship money. We’ve yet to visit Ithaca, and I’m hoping that seeing it in person will help her decide if this is the school for her. Scholarship money was similar for us at UVM and Ithaca (though less than what she got at Goucher and the other small LACs) but I think we can make Ithaca work if it’s the right fit for her. Curious to see how she likes it on our visit, which will probably happen in March. Thanks again and good luck to all of our kids!
@Hankster1361 I feel your pain. I am having similar issues with S19. Not for the same reasons but the net impact is the same.
@mamaduck3 Ithaca gave S more $ than UVM but because the COA is higher, it doesn’t go quite as far I focus on the end cost more than the merit $ per school. Ursinus and Allegheny gave the same exact merit monies but the tuition at Allegheny is 5k less a year. Huge net difference over 4 years!
