@Momof3B I’m sorry to hear that, I hope things work out.
I’m taking D to visit Utah State and Northern Arizona this weekend. Utah State is doing campus tours and we are going there Friday. NAU is not doing organized tours but they have a self-guided one with a podcast commentary, so we are going to do that on Sunday. We’re going to make a visit to the Grand Canyon while we are in Flagstaff.
Senior year - day 1. Woohoo.
@Johnny523, I’d love to hear what you think of Utah State… my Son is considering it and its incredibly affordable, but in some research I did it does sounds like it’s heavily LDS, like 70% or more. My son is very non-religious, so wondering if that would be an issue or if the 70% figure I’ve heard is too high and it wouldn’t really matter…
I’ve heard the same, but I’ve also heard that it isn’t an issue for students who aren’t LDS. I’m thinking my D isn’t going to end up there, but we’ll see. I think she’d like Utah better, but she doesn’t even want to take a look at it while we are in the area.
D does not seem to be very enthused about USU after our visit this morning. She just said “it was fine” but her tone made the point. The are having some in-person classes, so there was a decent amount of activity going on. The tour was fine - the guide wasn’t all that good, but we got a nice feel for the campus. And we saw the housing presentation. It was all pretty typical.
The striking thing to us was the whiteness. We knew that they don’t have a very large minority population, but we were on campus for about four hours and saw one African American, one native American, and one Latino. The LDS presence wasn’t very visible from what we saw.
The town was pretty disappointing. It’s a fabulous location with a ton of outdoor activities available. But the downtown area is centered around a four-lane road, and then there are a bunch of strip malls.
When we got back to SLC we decided to drive through the University of Utah, even though D doesn’t want to apply there. The quick visit confirmed her lack of interest - it’s on a big hill and she hates hills, and it’s right by SLC so it’s too urban (not that SLC is all that urban).
We saw NAU today. It was pretty empty being the holiday weekend, and we had to do a self-guided tour, so it was hard to get a good feel for the atmosphere. She liked the campus, and Flagstaff is a nice town. Her big concern was the bookstore was closed so she couldn’t get a sweatshirt (we went to a couple of stores in town but they didn’t have any she liked), so we ordered one online.
@johnny523 that’s always my D’s favorite part too! LOL We’re debating planning a visit or 2 over our long weekend in November (which for her, since she goes in Th/Fr once we’re in person, means she won’t have to physically be in the building for over 2 weeks!!!). The schools left to see are all a decent drive away (5+ hours) and most are still on the NJ quarantine list, so I don’t know!
Hi everyone! I haven’t posted on CC since my oldest was going through the process. The members of that page started a Facebook group and I have mostly been posting there for the past couple years. But anyway, I thought I would come back and post in here. My 21 has a 3.4 uw GPA (so close to a 3.5, but not there yet). He is in a Dual Enrollment program for junior and senior year and is looking at the following schools:
Washington State University
Miami OH
Gonzaga
Arizona State
University of Arizona
Cal-Poly SLO
Montana State
Western Washington
University of Washington
We were very excited to read that Miami OH has revamped their scholarship program and will now automatically recalculate GPAs to put all kids on an even playing field. Our state doesn’t allow for weighted GPAs on transcripts, so in the past, kids in all AP/IB/Honors with a 3.5 uw GPA were going against kids with all AP/IB/Honors in other states with 4.5+ weighted GPAs. He has a 33 ACT, so he will submit that wherever possible and we’re hoping for some good merit money.
He has been admitted to ASU for Computer Systems Engineering (Cybersecurity focus) and Montana State. He has submitted applications to UA and WSU as well and expects to hear from them in the next month. He has also submitted to Miami OH, but their deadline isn’t for a few months. He is very excited about their ETBD program and we are crossing our fingers he gets in with a big scholarship!
@RoonilWazlib99 My S is a freshman at Arizona so I’m happy to share the info I have from his experience so far. WSU was his second choice, but winter 
My D21 has been accepted to MSU and it’s one of her top choices.
Hi everyone,
It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Covid and zoom have really done a number on my DS’s motivation and I know he’s not alone. I’m wondering if anyone has experience one way or the other of applying without and essay to schools that say the personal statement on the common app is “optional?”
He’s hammering away at it but it’s like watching molasses flow uphill. He and I both thought if he could get an acceptance under his belt it would help a lot.
Specifically Roanoke which has an EA deadline of 9/15, just a few days away. He’s on target for GPA, and is above their middle 50% range for ACT scores. Anyone have an idea how much NOT writing the essay would affect his chances?
He’s filled out everything on the common app, requested teacher evaluations (and received one great one from his music teacher) so he could literally get the application in in minutes.
Any other smaller schools or schools with a culture of support that really don’t care or want the essay?
Thanks!!
@BktoNJ sorry no insight on no essay. My daughter has been dragging her feet also. Something that helped a little was telling her not to worry about writing the essay of the century, I read, maybe here, that unless you are going for a highly competitive school the essay doesn’t need to blow peoples minds away. Just has to be a well written (grammatically) essay.
Good luck to you and your son
@BktoNJ D19 applied to Roanoke without submitting the essay or LORs. Her stats were 3.4 and 1350 if I recall. She was accepted with a nice merit package. Another school you can look at with a similar application process is University of Lynchburg.
@eb23282 Thank you. Good to hear and congratulations for your daughter. We will look at Lynchburg too.
@AndreaLynn good advice. We’ve also been trying to cut the tension on the pressure. I know he will get it done but it won’t be this weekend.
@BktoNJ I agree with @AndreaLynn - I have helped several kids with their essays. For most schools, a statement that is pleasant and grammatically correct is enough. As he’s not looking towards tippy top schools, he’s probably overthinking it.
@mamaedefamilia You are spot on. He is definitely overthinking it!
Oh my gosh, @RoonilWazlib99, our son is applying to many of the same schools for Computer Science! Are you located in WA? I know our state, WA, does not allow weighted grades on the transcript, so I also worry about whether that will negatively affect S21’s applications. We got the notice that he got recognized for the National Hispanic Recognition Program, but also got an email today that his October SAT got canceled, so I worry about whether a lack of SAT score will negatively affect him for qualifying for merit scholarships.
@BktoNJ there’s a list of colleges on PrepScholar that you can apply to without an essay if you Google “college applications without essay.” Usually, you have to apply directly to the college, not through the Common App. Our son just applied to Montana State University through an emailed invitation to apply and there was no essay required and it literally took 10 minutes to apply. I’m sure there are plenty of others.
Ugh! Got the notice today that S21’s SAT test in October got canceled. Because we are chasing merit scholarships, and I didn’t trust that any WA test wouldn’t also be canceled, I decided to register him for an Oct test in Idaho, 4.5 hours away! I guess it’s going to be at least an overnight trip for us.
My son has had 3 ACT’s cancelled so far. Registered him for another 4 in the coming months. All at least 2 hours away… hopefully will get at least 1 in. Same reason, for some “automatic merit”… mediocre GPA (3.3 or 3.4ish), but in practice ACTs he’s pulling around 30 so there are a lot of schools that he’s interested in that will give something with that combo… provided he can actually get to take a test!
Which schools are you looking at that requires SAT scores for merit? Many of the schools we’ve talked to aren’t requiring SATs for merit.