My son has been waiting to hear from University at Buffalo for awhile. Applied EA 10/31 (during free app week) and many of his friends received decisions a few weeks ago so he was a little concerned. He asked around and his friends who applied to the honors college hadn’t heard either, so he figured the delay was related to applying to honors. Well, I am happy to report that he received his acceptance last night and was accepted into the Honors College! We are thrilled. We are from Buffalo, so this is a great local option. He would probably still dorm to get the “full college experience” but commuting is possible too which would save money. No word on merit but very exciting to get this news!
So we now have these acceptances (with initial merit that keeps the COA between $20K to $39K)and many still have extra scholarship opportunities for him:
Buffalo State College
University at Buffalo
SUNY Albany
North Park (Chicago)
Xavier (Cincinnati)
Rollins (Orlando)
Barry (Miami)
Nova Southeastern (Ft. Lauderdale)
St. John Fisher (Rochester)
And these yet to come (*likely December decision ** likely January decision)
Le Moyne (Syracuse) *
UMASS Boston *
Case Western *
Northeastern **
Pitt **
Fordham *
It’s getting real now! Appreciate everyone sharing their updates-keep them coming!
And, I’m curious about UMass Boston. What drew him to apply there? (I have always thought of it as a commuter school, although I know that has been slowly changing.)
He plans to study Psychology with a minor or double major in Spanish. End goal is PhD in clinical psychology, but he is now toying with a possible Psychiatry path. We decided to visit UMASS Boston the week we toured Boston College and Northeastern as they were having an open house. I did not really expect my son to be interested, but he spoke to students and professors about the honors program and research opportunities and was impressed. They have LLC’s so students connect and build friendships with like-minded students early and they schedule the LLC students into most of the same classes to keep that bonding going. The dorm we saw was very nice and central to campus. I believe they can stay up to 2 years on campus. We also did not expect much of a personal touch at such a big schools but when we toured the theatre area, a professor asked if anyone was a musician and my son mentioned he was a drummer with honor jazz experience and he basically told him he’d probably be hired for gigs every weekend at the college or the homes of professors as they are always looking for trios and he’d get paid well too. Chatted with him for awhile. And the warm pumpkin cookies from the friendly staff being handed out at the cafeteria of the dorm didn’t hurt. It was just a surprisingly intimate and welcoming experience. Yes, it’s more of a commuter school but that seems to be changing. Many upper class students stay in apartments right across from campus so they are “commuters” but close by. When we visited last year, there was a ton of construction which didn’t look pretty but they showed a simulation of how they were transforming campus into a more park-like look with lots of green space, which was beautiful. I think it’s almost done now. My son loves Boston and it’s not in the center of the city but has pretty easy access to transportation to get to the cool parts and we felt it might be a less expensive college option in Boston, depending on OOS merit. So not at the top of the list, but he was impressed enough with our visit to apply.
Yep! My D23 watched the little video and thought it was very cute. Then she said, “well, this was the place with the warm cookies and free t-shirt, they’re doing something right!”
We’re still waiting to hear if she’ll get any merit, but yeah, it’s a school I’m rooting for.
Thank you for the run down and insight! D23 loved and applied OOS EA to UMASS Amherst and is thinking of adding UMASS Boston to her list. We all loved the Boston area!
I totally understand the music rejections. S23 applied to all academic safeties but the music school auditions are something else. Grades don’t matter for entrance into the college of music and it is very competitive as music typically has limited spots.
My sons academic acceptances thus far are at schools most kids have never heard of or thought of (Jacksonville U, Northern Arizona U, Ball State, Gustavus Adolphus, Western Michigan U). So far the most financially affordable is Jacksonville U.
Definitely add it! While my son knows he may not get everything on his wish list, being in or near a city is a priority(and he loves Boston) so UMASS Amherst didn’t make the cut, plus he heard it was huge and is leaning towards small to medium schools (even UMASS Boston is a bit on the large side for him.)
D keeps getting emails from W&L about extended deadline to apply for the Johnson. She hasn’t applied to W&L and currently doesn’t plan to(although it is a great school and was on the tentative list through the summer!). Is it me or is it weird that a school would repeatedly solicit for such a big scholarship(and how do they know she would be competitive for it anyway?). I can’t really explain why, but the repeated emails are making it less likely she would ever consider it.
I’m not sure it is weird that W&L continues to email prospective students about their big scholarship in order to try to entice those who haven’t yet applied to possibly apply and to get word out about their big carrot.
Maybe I’m just really cynical, but what else does W&L have to entice prospective students who by early December haven’t pulled the trigger on an application? I would also assume that those emails have an incredibly wide distribution.
You are both right. Sounds like an effort to solicit more apps. That said, the Johnson is an incredible scholarship. My son '19 was a finalist and they flew him in to spend a weekend there. He loved the school but did not get the scholarship and, ultimately, enrolled elsewhere.
American U kept sending emails to my S20 to apply for their FDDS full ride (now cancelled apparently) during his application cycle. Even after we’d completed the FDDS scholarship application, they kept sending the reminders. They way they kept after him, you would have thought they considered him a serious contender for one of those full-rides. Nope, didn’t get it.
Wooster (and a few others) also sent reminders to apply for their full-ride(s). He applied but didn’t get Wooster’s full ride either. However, after the scholarship decision was made, Wooster did add multiple other grants/scholarships together to add up to almost that much, so that was a better experience than American U.
I think with some schools, it’s just an automatic thing to try and turn a few more lukewarm applicants into more-serious applicants.
I used to go to UMASS Boston back in the late 80s early 90s…no dorms then, we were all commuters. I actually liked it a lot, and it took me like an hour to get there! Good thing they have dorms, because the mbta is a total mess and it would be a nightmare commuting as I did.
Anyhow, I had 2 classes with collègues from my work, ran into friends from other jobs who had already graduated from other schools, and lots of super interesting people (not to mention siblings). It was like an alternative indie vibe.
As for professors, I’ve had at least 2 there, who also taught at Harvard. I can only think of 2 awful professors, but I’m sure they are gone. Anyhow, just to say, I had a good time there.
Gender may have something to do with it. I seem to remember W&L being a very male school so they probably market females they identify as possibilities extra hard. Forgive me if I am misremembering.
edit: Google tells me I’m wrong as they are basically 50/50.
Thanks for sharing your experience. We really liked the vibe there and he loved the diversity. The housing was modern with good security (saw the kids swiping in and out.) I think they said it’s a 5-10 min walk to a bus to get into the city (not sure how long it takes on the bus to get to the hip parts of Boston but maybe 20 min?) I think they said they offered a shuttle to the bus or train stations. It was a very nice visit and we were pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer.
