Yes, I am aware of the budget cuts. Seems to be a mandated cut across all Idaho universities. I won’t go down the political rabbit hole of how states “prioritize” budget funding…
Evidently Idaho will look to push unpaid furloughs for U of I employees to cover the first round of cuts but they’ll have to cut an additional $2MM in 2020. I will keep my eyes and ears out for this.
@eb23282 Thank you for the positive feedback on St. Joe’s! It is very helpful.
My D20 was accepted ED at Puget Sound last week. The search is over! She ended up being 3 for 3 on acceptances. (Yes, she only applied to three schools. She wanted to apply to just one.)
A couple of takeaways… Her SAT/ACT were low, at about the 25th percentile for all the schools she applied to. Two of the three schools offered test optional and she took advantage of it. Not only did she get in, but she got excellent merit aid despite not submitting test scores.
I also wanted to share that with the ED app, I was fully prepared for some disappointment on merit dollars. We were pleasantly surprised to get MORE than what we were expecting. (That did include a music scholarship, which was a bit of a wildcard.) I know ED dates have come and gone, but for siblings… I wouldn’t hesitate to do ED again knowing what I now know.
Good luck to all of you still waiting on responses!
Congrats on your D getting into Humbolt and Sonoma State!
Well, it’s worth the $70 to add Cal Poly to the list. What major did she apply for at Cal Poly? Page 3 of the below link gives some hints on the number of apps expected and the target (seats available):
https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2019-20%20Enrollment%20Projections%20for%20Continuing%20Students%20-%20no%20total%20error%20adj.pdf
I’m guessing that about 44.33% (1052/2372) of accepted students enroll in the College of Agriculture:
https://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html
Bozeman is a cold place. It was snowing in June when we visited. The tour guide said that some weeks it doesn’t get above 10 deg F, and one week it didn’t get above zero. U of Wyoming might be as cold. Anyhow, Moscow, ID avoids the low lows that Bozeman experiences:
https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/2004~2772/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Moscow-and-Bozeman
Otherwise, my D and I liked everything else with MSU
The 4-year graduation rate has gotten better at Cal States between 2015-2017:
https://edsource.org/2018/they-did-it-california-students-who-graduated-from-state-colleges-in-four-years/598347
In 2016, Cal Poly was the best and Sonoma State was the 4th best of the CSUs in graduating in 4 years:
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/data-watch/sdut-graduation-rates-2016jan29-story.html
Overall, CSU states: “The four-year graduation rate for first-time students has increased to 27.5 percent in 2019, up from 19.3 percent at the beginning of the initiative in 2015.” That’s 42% increase in the number of people graduating in 4-years in just a 4-year period:
https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/Graduation-Rates-for-First-Time-and-Transfer-Students-Reach-All-Time-Highs.aspx
Congratulations @murray93 UPS is one of the schools we are investigating for one of our younger children (I loved it when we were looking for our daughter graduating this year - it was on her final list until mid-September of this year).
Would you be willing to share some details of the merit offered (if you don’t want to talk pure $ amount, possibly sharing % of COA?)? We will be on the hunt for merit with each of our children’s searches and we are always looking to get the COA to about 35k max. If that is possible with UPS, that helps with younger daughter, thanks!
Congrats! My D also looked at UPS. Based upon your note, it makes me think that we should revisit applying!
Regarding merit at UPS, my DS20 received an email from UPS back in early Oct stating: “Our Dean’s Scholarship Assurance means that if you are admitted to Puget Sound and you have an unweighted 3.6 GPA, you will earn, at minimum, the Dean’s Scholarship, valued at $23,000 a year.”
I know this thread is targeted for kids that are a bit below that range, but just wanted to share this as I don’t believe this is explicitly stated anywhere on their website.
DS20 received his second acceptance this week - University of Maryland Baltimore County. Now we wait until Friday for Elon! Hope everyone’s kids are doing well. Most of my son’s friends did not get into their ED or EA choices - many were not deferred, but rejected, which is so tough.
@1stTimeThruMom congrats on the acceptances! So nice to have choices.
We are also waiting on Elon this week as well as Marist, Catholic, Wooster and Depauw. Acceptances to Fordham, Susquehanna, Ursinus and Butler with great merit (except Fordham) so we are pretty happy right now.
@MAmom111 Thanks and good luck to your daughter! I know there are a fair number on this thread who have kids applying to Elon, so I’m looking forward to checking back in. I recall last year some of the CC parents met up at Elon!
I admit I am a bit anxious about results. Even though DS20’s school’s Naviance makes admission look like a sure thing, they accepted Common App for the first time and rocketed up the USNews rankings. It is a super hot school.
@1stTimeThruMom totally agree. My friend went to a local event with her son and said that hundreds of kids/parents showed up. I know kids who have applied to schools like BC, Holy Cross and Colby that are applying (as a safety) and then others where it is their top choice. My D is somewhat unsure of the size and whether or not she wants to be in the south, but she loved the campus and the admissions presentation. Our Naviance also looks like a she is a sure thing but I do feel like this year might be different. Two kids from her pretty small HS already got in ED. Also concerned about merit $$ as the NPC doesn’t show it coming in as cheap as some of her other schools even with the lower price tag.
I am in NC and Elon is very popular here. I didn’t take DS to look because I didn’t want him to fall in love. We will get no aide and I doubt he would get merit
Ahh… I so wanted one of my kids to apply to Elon! It was on my D14’s short list, but she did not end up applying. The twins did not even really have it on their radar this year. I probably should have taken them on a trip to NC to passively promote the great options there.
Elon is actually quite popular for NOVA kids as well. I actually wanted to take D20 to visit Appalachian but not interested due to distance from home.
She just received her Financial Aid package from Roanoke College and wow - so impressed! Fully wrapped cost brought down to $25K and majority was with grants/scholarships that don’t need to be paid back! Of course now D20’s interest has waned a bit because friends are telling her that’s their fall back school…ugg.
S20 received his commitment paperwork from VMI today – it’s getting real!!
@scoutmom2002 Congrats on getting the great aid package. I wish more people emphasized the fact that getting accepted into the “stretch” college can be more of a curse vs. a blessing. First, the student probably doesn’t get the merit awards that makes the college reasonably priced and ultimately they might feel that the pressure to keep up ruins their experience.
My nephew experienced that first-hand. Went to Cornell and just hated it. Said that kids were depressed, stressed and cut-throat. Left after a year and xferred to Cal Poly. Loved it! Felt that the academics were actually better (at least more hands on), certainly better weather and just was a more relaxed college experience. He’s now at vet school and U of FL and thought transferring out of what’s seen by outsiders as the ‘better’ school was the smartest thing he’d ever done (Cal Poly’s a pretty damn good school).
In other words, reinforce that a smart college decision isn’t simply about going to the school that has the highest Forbes ranking but one where your kid can thrive and not end up with $25K+ in debt.
My son was just accepted to Penn State! This was his only school that doesn’t superscore the SAT so we are even more excited! He’s 3 for 3!
@Damon389 I completely agree! D20 could have been accepted at a school ranked higher than UPS. But she wasn’t interested in playing the admissions game, loved the school and collaborative atmosphere, and got some excellent merit aid. She is also coming from a small, rural, public high school and I am a little concerned she’s going to have some academic catch-up her first year as well.
In at Elon! Hoping to hear more good news from others on this thread.
@1stTimeThruMom My D was accepted as well. First school that has offered no merit though. But the tuition is much lower than other schools so we’ll see. They said 11,000 EA apps which I think is more than they had in total last year for EA and RD.
My S is in at Elon too!!! Very exciting and, honestly, a wonderful surprise as I wasn’t sure how admissions would go since his test scores were on the lower side of their middle 50% range. It’s definitely my first choice for him for many reasons but we’ll see how his thoughts play out. Congratulations to everyone on all these acceptances. In all honesty, this process has been less stressful and more rewarding (measured by admissions and merit money) with my lower stat kid than it was 2 years ago with my very high stat kid. There is so much competition for high stat kids at the “top” schools but my lower stat kid has had success at some wonderful schools a little further down those ranked lists and which are perfect for him.