Parents of the HS Class of 2023 (Part 1)

[Gatormama]

Oh well forensics, heck, WVU is one of the best places, as you know.

Has she visited? Oct. 22 and Nov. 5 are Discover WVU days, and we did one of those and found it very well done - better than any other college tour we did that year. It sealed the deal on applying for my kid.

Info here:

Discover WVU Open House

I know that WVU will be more than happy to set up individual interviews and tours on specific majors, so again, I know she’s pushing back against the following-in-footsteps thing, but if you went to the Discover WVU day and had personal interviews set up, the whole experience might really help.

You could go there early Friday, do personal interviews with profs etc., maybe take a hike out at Coopers Rock, then do the Discover WVU event on the Saturday. Her stats would definitely get her into the Honors College, which has its own dorm (and it’s on the Discover WVU tour).

I did a really long review of WVU just recently:

WVU review for prospective students (and parents)

I posted this is the ongoing “colleges you crossed off the list” thread, and it was suggested that I post it here, since it’s pretty exhaustive. So here it is! My kid is graduating there this May, so I’ve had 4-plus years of visits to provide a pretty thorough review. We are in PA, so we were looking for cheaper alternatives, and WVU fit that bill perfectly. Kid will be graduating with one $5,500 student loan (which may get forgiven, who-hoo), and we cash-flowed the rest. There’s an auto-merit chart on their website that is just the start; there are departmental scholarships to be had and the school is phenomenal to work with, especially considering it’s a big public flagship. I can’t say enough about my kid’s department and the individual attention/service she received. The financial aid office is called the Mountaineer Hub, and its phones are usually staffed by students (in finance? work-study? unsure). I have been impressed every single year with their dedication and attention to…

As to other schools, I did research USF; it’s only about $30k for OOS. And it has an $18k scholarship for stats that would totally be reachable for your D.
LSU Ogden Honors College is well-regarded and entry threshold is a 3.5 GPA/ 30ACT.
Ol’ Miss scholarships are also in reach, and of course you know she’ll get auto-merit at Bama.

I would just say on the prestige thing, my D felt this pressure immensely, as she went to a private school where classmates went on to Ivies and top LACs etc. She took a long while to realize that her full-tuition scholarship puts her in a sweet financial position, post-college, with only one $5,500 student loan. And, as I said in the review linked above, she has gotten the full range of skills and resume enhancements and networking from attending WVU. The rest is up to her; prestige doesn’t matter one whit in that calculation.