OOS tuition will be a concern, so we have to keep costs in mind too. Colorado school have the highest COA of the schools my S is considering: U of Wyoming - $29,908; Montana State - $32,070; University of British Columbia - $34,824 (US currency, but increasing due to recent legislation); Colorado State U - $42,658 and Colorado U at Boulder - $49,119. Yikes! Of course, as I’ve said S17 is my dreamer and may very well completely change his list before we have time to visit any school, which won’t be until summer.
Has anyone heard about stempremier website? Seems like a relatively new company/site established to promote STEM and provide info about scholarships, school etc… My S created a profile on the site and he was selected as on of the top 100 kids.
Mines is amazing but very intense. If you have a high achiever, competitive kid and one ok being a small fish then I would look at it. Incredible area to live in. We hire a lot from Mines and a degree from there carries a lot of weight comparatively speaking in my industry and is a high ROI school in general. But it is a very rigorous program and definitely attracts a certain kind of kid so if they want an active social life, some of the more traditional college experiences, Mines may not be the right place.
D15 looked at it, they wanted her for soccer. Ultimately it wasn’t the right fit for her socially and rigor wise but if you have a more serious student I would look at it. Very gender skewed. Several of my engineers went to undergrad elsewhere and then Mines for MS or PhD or both.
@mtrosemom I will definitely recap after our visit. @morningside95 given how my S17’s list seems to be shaking out at the moment I am very, very grateful that WUE exists and that he is not focused on CA. I did read today that early application at CU-BO does greatly increase the chance of merit offers. Not sure how true that is or not. @srk2017 I’ve not heard of it either, sounds interesting.
This is a crazy process. I just learned today that a school that we have left off the list due to lack of merit awards is suddenly going to start offering more merit awards next year to lure OOS students; another school on our list that was fairly generous with merit will be reducing the merit budget in favor of remaining strongly socioeconomically diverse; a third, total reach school in every meaning of the word, in an effort to increase it socioeconomic makeup is also looking to reduce the few merit awards they offer.
@eandesmom - Thanks for the news on CU-BO. I know my S17 would love the town. I told him that he cannot get attached to any one school, and he’ll have to apply only to schools he can really see himself attending, both for the fit and the academics.
So my D comes home yesterday and informs me she has to pick her schedule for next year and it’s due Thursday! She was so torn about taking APLatin, but she looked up the school she is most interested in and it did say it recommended 4 years so she is going to stick with it. She wanted to also take AP Physics but her schedule doesn’t allow for it so she now might take it online which will be interesting. Im not sure if it’s necessary to take physics, she already took chem honors and AP, and bio honors and AP. She is looking at pre med and I really don’t know how to guide her on this. Her GC is of zero help.
@greeny8 I think pre-med students need to take physics in college, so I think it would be useful for her to have it in high school. AP Physics is kind of messed up and spread out among too many courses though, so it is not that useful. Can she just take regular physics instead of AP? AP Physics might not be worth jumping through hoops for.
My D is taking the in-school SAT today. Our school district is trying circumvent the state’s disastrous attempts at standardize testing by implementing their own solution using the SAT. They will test all class of 2017 today and again in October.
The District Superintendent hoping to demonstrate they can use the test results to show academic improvements. In future years student may need to get a high enough score or they will need to do remedial work during the summer. At least this is one bullet class 2017 will dodge, they are guinea pigs again, but they will not required to achieve a “passing” score.
I actually like the idea. It is not perfect, but the SAT is a much better test than what the state developed. Also, if the students, and indirectly the schools and the teachers, are being evaluated based on SAT results the college bound students should benefit with better test scores.
Another point; my D dislikes the idea of in-school testing for the SAT. She would rather spend a Saturday testing and not have the distraction in the middle of the school week.
It seems some of her teachers just gave the students double the homework last night and said to cover today’s material on their own. My D will miss half the day tomorrow at a band competition, so this is turning out to be a very stress full week for her.
@carachel2 I’m sure I wasn’t clear about reducing aid. It seems they are shifting $ from non-need-based merit awards to need-based FA. schools include WashU ( never big in merit, but less so in future. They recently(?) removed the NMF scholarship) and also Grinnell.
I find the whole merit thing very frustrating and need frankly, is relative. If you want to entice top performers in state or out of state. We will not qualify for need but heaven knows we need every dollar someone can offer and it will definitely be a factor when/if offered. I would have to agree that Wisconsin’s attitude is a turn off.
@morningside95 I won’t be reporting back on CU-BO. S is convinced it is too big for him and doesn’t even want to drive through. Which while seems a bit silly to me, it does make for a nicer morning for the rest of us on the trip. CSU is pushing it for him so we will see how that feels and go from there. Program aside it’s really not a financial option at 46K anyway so it’s just as well much as I think.
@CaucAsianDad that is interesting that they are doing it that way, those scores will be treated as any other SAT test and able to be used? I wouldn’t mind that either although can appreciate being frustrated with it mid week.
Merit scholarships offered by colleges change from year to year. The trend in the past few years seems to be leaning toward reducing merit scholarships and increasing financial aids. This is not a good trend for DD who makes her college list decision heavily based on merit scholarships. @2muchquan, I agree that WashU has not been big in merit and is extremely difficult to get. I am surprised that Grinnell is reducing it as well. We just visited a couple of months ago and didn’t hear them mentioning about the reduction. They did say that merit $ is decided on a yearly basis. Maybe that is the prelude for reduction.
@eandesmom I’m with you, we need every dollar (will not receive need-based, or not enough to make affordable). Our safeties include only ‘financial’ safeties, and most of those ‘currently’ provide guaranteed merit. Then, everything else is pretty much a ‘reach’. Everything. These only include schools that have competitive merit of some sort. That’s why I am trying to monitor it since, as @4beardolls points out, it changes yearly.
If you’re interested, here are links to the articles I referenced for WashU and Grinnell (if they links are removed, I will repost):
We’re in the “need” merit aid and don’t qualify for needs based aid. Luckily S17 is OK with State schools. D17 wanted small and liberal arts. S’s junior class took the ACT in school yesterday. I tried to get him to study, but with FRC build season and his “I’ll be FINE” mental state, I don’t think it went as well as it could have. He said there was a chemistry section and he opted for advanced physics this year instead of chemistry (he’ll take it next year), so no points there. He also was caught off guard by the ACT’s time constraints. So… I will be signing him up for the SAT 2 Physics subject test in May and the new SAT in June.
Never heard of the website but I’ll check it out.