Parents of the HS Class of 2023 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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First, an update: I can’t remember if I posted this previously, but D23 got a 3.90 last semester—once again, physics (this time the lab) kept her from perfection—and she is now 100% done with her HS graduation requirements, so this is her fun semester. (Speaking of fun, she enjoyed econ way more than she’d expected.) She got permission to take the second semester of music theory without taking the second semester of ear training (which is usually a corequisite), so her schedule for the spring is made up entirely of 3 college/1 HS credit courses:

  • Intro to Creative Writing
  • Intro to Logic (the philosophy 101 class here)
  • Music Theory II
  • Theatre Appreciation

Decision days: It’s varied by kid, but we have seriously never done the everybody gather together for the big reveal, and there was definitely no filming. With D23, she honestly doesn’t care the way it’s stereotypical for high-achieving kids to care—to give you an idea of how over-chill she is about this, today she finally (with some goading) looked through the pile of mail that’s come in over the past two or three weeks and discovered she’d been admitted somewhere during that time. (Also, the fact that most email the results, sometimes with a subject line that doesn’t make it clear what’s in the email, really ramps down the whole intensity for everyone.)

Tuition in Colorado: Colorado public universities are expensive for OOS students (for in-state students too, for that matter). They can be reasonably generous with scholarships, though.

University of Colorado Denver specifically: My kid has been accepted there, and they’re a leading contender. They’re mostly a commuter college, but they’ve been working on increasing their residence options. It’s a well-defined campus, but a very nontraditional one because it’s shared between multiple public colleges: UCD, the Community College of Denver (fully commuter, naturally, and lower-division), and Metropolitan State University of Denver (very similar in many ways to UCD). Their music industry program has good press, and appears to have decent outcomes. (UCD was historically administratively connected to UC Anschutz in Aurora, which is where the medical/dental/&c. schools are, but UCD and UCA are now completely separate.)

Chasing merit/number of applications: Unless the merit chase is paired with the craziness of an audition- or portfolio-based major, I don’t think there’s really a need to have a huge number of applications even when chasing merit—like @1dadinNC says, some advance research can keep the number of applications down. My D19 got way into the Big Merit Aid™ chase, but still only applied to 8 colleges (including the in-state application—even though no in-state colleges offer her major—she did to make her guidance counselor happy), because she knew that places like Alabama Huntsville and Mississippi State had very generous stats-based automatic scholarships, so why put too much effort into shotgunning it with loads of others?

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Mine when at school, sweetly texts me if it’s okay for her to check if she gets a notification from the Univ. I told her she need not check with me, she can check if she cant wait. I am sure for the big ones, she will want to open with us. Let the kids decide and be happy, sometimes they need their parents, sometimes they need to be with their friends. Enjoy!

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With another exception being ‘highly competitive big merit’.

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Agreed (and I should have included Tuition Exchange in my list of exceptions as an example of that), though even there you usually end up with diminishing returns.

Like, my D23 has applied for the really competitive scholarship at Middle Tennessee (they only offer 10 in the round she’s in, so odds are long), but she already has nearly as good an effectively-automatic scholarship from North Texas, and a quite good automatic offer from Colorado Denver. So why expend the effort on trying for a half-dozen more moonshots?

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With our student 23, we originally created a college list from the “bottom up” with “safety” colleges providing assured admissions, specific ABET-accredited STEM-related majors and known cost (guaranteed scholarships that would bring it within our budget). Our student determined that the colleges should be located in specific, nearby states.

I figured we would build upon this list with “reach” schools after taking some college visits and getting a feel for what type of college campus felt comfortable for our anxious student. Instead, our student decided to not build the college application list beyond safeties and applied to four colleges. After revisiting three of these colleges late fall, I believe that one has been selected and our student is happily wearing the college-logo sweatshirt in public.

I now wonder if we should have encouraged a few applications to offer more options. At the same time, it’s nice that our student does not seem to be anxious about college acceptances like several friends attending this very competitive high school. We’re celebrating the “very likely” college choice, the other acceptances and all the opportunities they offer. Seeing our student excited and not stressed makes me happy.

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Thank you!

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I’m a bit jealous of all the parents who’s children already have so many decisions! My son applied to 12 schools, but he has only heard back from his 3 safety schools. The rest of the 9 (all target/reach) won’t announce until mid to late March. None of them offered EA and we didn’t feel able to have him apply ED due to financial uncertainty. This is going to be a long 2+ months of waiting!

My son is trying to have the decisions be “chill” and has instructed me to absolutely not check any portals, as he wants to check them himself and then tell us. So far, we haven’t been with him with the decisions were released BUT 2 of the 3 colleges also sent the decision by email and they cc’d me, so it definitely been less private than he might have preferred :laughing:

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Agree @Dolemite ; we are full pay and are not technically chasing merit, but D is interested in/nominated for a few of the highly-competitive merit scholarships. That as well as her profile and interests (engineering + performing art) led her counselor to recommend a higher number of apps, goal 14+. She ended up with 16 (3 safeties/5 matches/8 “reach-for-everyone” but her stats are >75th%ile). A not insignificant cluster of them seem to practice yield protection with our school’s tippy-top students in the past. D23 saw all the schools in person, took rigorous notes, did virtual sessions too, and spent hours upon hours writing and perfecting essays starting at the end of junior year, finishing the last batch just before Christmas. In addition to performing arts supplements which had to be filmed early this fall. It has all been a lot, and no answers are expected for another couple of weeks at least. She made 3 “admission” videos, has already interviewed at 7 schools, and hopefully will get at least a couple more. She has really put her best foot forward at all points, and all through HS; it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

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We’re in the same boat. So far, only one acceptance - from her last resort safety school. Sigh.

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Thank you for more info. My kid has applied to the music school and should find out by the end of the month. It sounds like your daughter really liked it, and I’m hoping my son has the same reaction. We’ll be doing a virtual tour, but when it comes down to it being a leading contender we’ll visit. I’d love to know some of the factors your daughter liked.

The commuter campus is a little troubling only because of what my kid would like, but it also looks to me like they’re trying to change the atmosphere with the up-to-date student center and City Heights dorms, etc. Of course, you’ve been there and can tell me better. Being right in the city seems great for a performer, or for someone doing the degree your daughter is. Mine is a city kid who’s taken transit and biked everywhere all his life, and he loves the urban life. It looks like lots of opportunity to perform outside school. A total different direction than UNT.

Regarding the $$, I suggested @Gatormama take a look because it is under 40K, even for OOS. But for us a nice bonus is the WUE program. Tuition is 150% of in-state for us, even though we don’t live in CO.

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If you don’t mind telling me, were the offers from CU and UNT before or after auditioning and getting into the music program? Each of those schools has sent us offers with his pre-music acceptance, but I wonder if we can expect more after acceptance into music. I know this is possible at UNT, but don’t know about CU.

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My kid isn’t applying to the music program, but rather to music tech—so no auditions. (Both of them have audition-based music tech programs as well, but my kid wants to be exclusively backstage/soundboard.)

I think non-departmental scholarships at both of them are done independently of admission into any given program. (Departmental scholarships—my kid got a small one at UCDenver—would presumably require program admission first.)

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University of New Orleans offers a B.A. in Music (program) and has an auto-merit chart (source). In reading the general “Scholarship Rules and Regulations” it appears that out-of-state student recipients would receive a waiver if the out-of-state tuition fee. Between the scholarship and the waiver, costs might be around $15-16k for your kid. It also appears as though residents of Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, or Florida also qualify for the Gulf Coast Residency Promise which grants those residents in-state tuition.

North Park (Chicago, IL): Offers a B.A. in Music (program) and has an auto merit chart (source). It looks like your kid would get $20k, plus there are also music scholarships which could possibly stack. Cost would probably be around $25k.

N0rtheastern Illinois** (Chicago): Offers a B.A. and a B.M. in music. Their scholarship page is confusing, but it looks like your kid might qualify for the NEIU College of Arts & Sciences scholarship. (And yes, I purposefully misspelled N0rtheastern so that it wouldn’t link to the school in Massachusetts.)

U. of Illinois - Chicago: Offers a B.A. in addition to a B.M. The priority deadline for scholarship consideration has passed, but Feb. 1 is the final deadline. No scholarship chart, but it appears as though top out-of-state students have special scholarships have varying amounts. I’d run the Net Price Calculator to see if it asks for stats (ditto for the other schools and any others under consideration).

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Thank you. It sounds like there’s the possibility of being offered more after a student’s accepted into CAM. :crossed_fingers: Your daughter’s major sounds so great. I want to go back to college.

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Wow, thank you so much for all of this! I am going to ask my son to dig into these, especially University of New Orleans. For a jazz performer, it is a dream city. He has applied to Loyola, which does have sort-of-auto merit (a little confusing) for which he’d receive 25K, but the music program could make a different offer after auditions and acceptance. I know, 25K sounds big, but the school costs so much, it would still be a stretch for us. It’s great to know about another school in NOLA that is less $$$.

ETA: Chicago is another great jazz city. He’s applied to C0lumbia College Chicago, but same as Loyola, these might offer options for less.

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UNO is classified as a commuter campus. I’m unsure what percentage of students live on-campus, but for musicians, especially jazz ones, it’s a great place. Until recently, Ellis Marsalis was the music chair there, I believe.

North Park is classified as a residential campus, with 66% of first-year students living on-campus.

Northeastern Illinois is also a commuter campus, with only 15% of first-year students living on-campus.

U. of Illinois - Chicago is another commuter campus with 29% of first-year students living on-campus.

All four schools, however, had a good number of music majors. Depending on what your kid is looking for, the music school community might be tightly-knit enough despite the overall commuter campus. I know that I’ve read of some musical theater people who have felt that way with their selected schools.

ETA: As a reference point, UC-Denver has 30% of first-year students living on-campus.

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I agree.

There are definitely different types of merit. Some are just straight GPA/ACT/SAT awarded. Send the Common App and you will get $X. Then there are the schools that have ranges on their merit. If you have a certain GPA you will be awarded merit within a range. Usually they take the Common App and maybe add an essay. I feel like the range gives the school an out to lower the $$$ if they see something on the app they don’t like. Or I guess a good essay or ECs could give you a boost. Then you have some that have an extra app for honors program. I think honors programs usually gives you some nice advantages. My D19 got to register for classes earlier than others. That is huge at some places. Plus the honors dept paid for part of her Study aboard last Summer.

Lastly we have the additional scholarship apps for even more merit. These can be tough depending on the school. Sometimes you get to be a finalist and you have to do an interview(in person or video) or a new one we had this year was hey kid you are a finalist please visit and you get to write an essay in person. The odds on these scholarships vary school to school. I have seen 20 scholarships and 400 finalists all the way down to a 50/50 situation. These scholarships also vary in amounts from full COA to full tuition to $XXX.

The reason I encouraged both my kids to send in many apps was because there are some varied amounts in what is awarded. And you really never know if a school is going to like what you write or how you interview. I usually told the kids to find 1-3 schools that would award based on straight scores that would work for us. Then 3-5 schools that have ranges or additional scholarship apps. Then if you want to do some reaches that is fine.

My D19 went overboard on the apps but some were simple. She even did one because she had extra time during her first semester final.

D23 is currently in the running at 4 different schools for additional merit that range to some to full COA. Is she sick of it, yes for sure. But I know not all will come in for her. They should all be settled by the end of Feb or earlier. Then we will get super serious and start weighing which school works out the best in terms of all aspects. I have been surprised for D23 once in the process because one of the schools that have ranges gave her the highest amount in the range she falls in. I would not have bet that would have happened. You just don’t know.

I am a huge believer of just fill the form out and see what you get. My D19 ended up $2850 per year more in scholarships for her last 3 years partly because she took the time to fill out some forms and write an essay or two. She doesn’t have the best grades in college but she applied. And any extra money you get while in school is a godsend for probably both student and parent.

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Can’t speak to music cities but look at UAH, Alabama, Ms State, WVU, W Carolina, S Illinois, Mizzou, Truman State, Murray State and more. A lot depends on budget. Also check admission deadlines.

Check MTSU too. Close to Nashville.

Many schools have music.

Bama, Arizona, UAH have tables as does Murray and Truman State. Ms St and WVU estimators. For private check Bradley and Hofstra plus Ogelthorpe and Hendrix may match your in state tuition.

WCU is $5k OOS per year I believe in tuition. S Illinois and Central Michigan both have no OOS tuition.

What’s the desired price point including room and board?

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The all contemporary music program at CU Denver is the big draw for out of area students. Consequently, many of the students in CAM reside in the dorm. So, the 30% residential statistic probably doesn’t fully capture the experience of a CAM student in the City Heights dorm. Additionally, most big city public universities have many “commuters” simply because there are so many students within a commutable range. Ultimately it will still feel like a residential experience providing there are a significant number of students living in the dorms. CU Denver does not have a big traditional campus footprint though as many buildings are integrated into downtown Denver. There is a small “quad” area relative to a traditional campus, but the city has a lot to offer, especially in contemporary music.

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Love reading all these updates. Hope you and your kids are managing the stress and the waiting game well. My son just seems to have endless essays for honors programs or extra scholarships but I think he is getting used to it.

He applied to 15 schools but made a last-minute addition and just applied to DePaul regular decision-so 16 schools now. He loves Chicago but only applied to North Park (which he thinks will be a good fit) but we have not visited the school so he wanted to add one more Chicago school and DePaul seemed to have potential.

He has been accepted with good merit to 13 schools and we are still waiting on Northeastern (EA decisions Jan. 25th I’m hearing) Pitt (rolling admission so hopefully around the same time) and DePaul (says by March 1st.) Northeastern is still his top choice but we aren’t sure it will fit into our budget goals if he gets in.

We are waiting on financial aid from several schools. I think seeing that final COA number and comparing them all will be a big piece of the decision-making process, although not the only one.

My son was hoping to get invited to the Alfond’s scholar weekend at Rollins (students compete for a full ride) but he was not, so that was a bummer, but not totally unexpected as it is super competitive. However, they offered him an outstanding package ($32K merit plus $17K grant) so we are grateful for that and it is still a contender.

He did get invited to compete for these:

-community service scholarship at St. John Fisher end of January
-Trustee Scholarship at North Park in February
-full tuition and premier programs scholarships at Nova Southeastern (aka Shark Preview Weekend) in February
-Xavier community service scholarship (only offered one date which was a conflict so they are getting back to him as to whether he can reschedule that)
And:
-Invited to apply for the Presidential Scholarship at University at Buffalo (interviews in March if chosen) for $15K per year (COA is $24K for in-state so a nice award!)
-Invited to apply for STAMP’s full ride scholarship for Barry University (interviews in March if chosen)
-Applied to some extra scholarships at Case Western (already received an amazing merit award of $43,500 plus $8400 grant but would love some extra merit to bring us closer to our budget goal.)

Anyone here have experience with DePaul Lincoln Park campus and/or honors program? I know the max merit is around $25K but does anyone know how generous they are with financial aid?

Best of luck on the January EA decisions and those expected in the coming months!

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