<p>The setup: Kid is a NMF, got a lovely letter from Auburn, makes it sound like she’d make money attending there
The family of origin: 4 hrs+/- from the campus, clingy but supportive, Southerners but not Old South, eh, SEC might be a little culture shock
The kid: Repulsed by frat/sor, big time sports, crowds, cities; math and science whiz.</p>
<p>One definitive question may be with 20,000 kids, can she find her tribe the way she could if she goes to a small hippie liberal arts college somewhere. The odds are in her favor with that many kids, right? And yet from the outside, it doesn’t look like a place you’d find a lot of backpackers, canoe paddlers, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve got a male version of your daughter. Except for the city part. Wants to be in the city. But a math and science kid, NMSF, hates frats, big sports, but loves movies, video games, individual sports. </p>
<p>Got that nice letter from Auburn, too. While it does not have his major, BME, know he would get a great engineering/computer education. And Auburn is so well respected here in the south. </p>
<p>Really, I’ve lived in the South all my life, and I have never thought of Auburn as a football school, and always equated it on the level of Tulane, without the Yankee component. Huge alumni network, which has got to help with job seeking. </p>
<p>We do have a good friend there, mech eng major, who has friends from Ohio and the Alabama Gulf Coast. They love to drive to the beach on long weekends. He’s an outdoorsy guy, not a football guy, and he is really loving Auburn. I’m willing to bet she’ll find a place to fit in. </p>
<p>And looking at other Alabama colleges, I noticed many have outdoor activities clubs, and trips organized at the rec center. Have her look at the website under student life and see if there’s something that will appeal to her “hippie” side. </p>
<p>Have the kid or her family research Auburn’s learning communities (her own littel tribe). There is even one called the Earthsmart Learning Community. From this site - [Auburn</a> University - Learning Communities 2009](<a href=“http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/support/learning_communities/lcdescriptions.html]Auburn”>http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/support/learning_communities/lcdescriptions.html)
the learning community is described as The Earthsmart Learning Community provides students the opportunity to learn about environmental issues and redesign the future! Students calculate their environmental footprint and explore alternative ways to reduce our impact on the earth. Topics may include alternative energies, transportation, community development, food, responsible consumption and green careers. This is a unique opportunity to live in a green environment and take classes that focus on improving our environment. </p>
<p>Students will also have the option to live together in the Lower Quad, making it easy to get together and form study groups. The coordinators of the Earthsmart Learning Community are Dr. Gisela Buschle-diller, Professor in Polymer and Fiber Engineering, and Dr. Sharon Roberts, Professor in Biological Sciences.</p>
<p>There is also a Forest and Wildlife Learning community described as a fellowship of students who share a common interest in our natural resources, and who are new to Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. They are united by their love of the outdoors and a passion for studying techniques to protect, understand and utilize the wilder lands in our world. Whether majoring in wildlife, forestry, forest engineering, or wildlife pre-veterinary medicine, students benefit from their time together in common courses, sharing space and time with people of similar interests. Students in the community have the option of living together in the same residence hall on the hill. Other benefits include early registration into key courses, greater contact with committed faculty from their major, and a smoother transition into collegiate life. Students are encouraged to attend Forestry Club meetings, Wildlife Society meetings, and activities of their own design.<br>
Hopefully this information helps some.</p>
<p>The Honors College also has one or more Living/Learning Communities - in fact, I suspect that if one chooses, that can be one’s tribe.</p>
<p>Auburn has sororities and fraternities, but they don’t run the world and people have friends across Greeks and non-Greeks. My daughter spent her last two years in an apartment with two other girls. Daughter was non-Greek and girls were both Greeks but from different sororities.</p>
<p>Take advantage of War Eagle or TALONs Days - I would suggest TALONS for NMFs. Granddaughter attended and was impressed with the fun people who where there.</p>
<p>Montegut: Has your son looked at UCF? I believe they have BME and they are just finishing a huge medical facility. In addition, there are a number of hospitals in the area and possibly good opportunities. I am not sure but I think UCF gives $10,000 per year + a laptop to NMF. We are from FL and my daughter is looking into the school but her brother attends UCF and I think she wants to go somewhere else. She is also looking at Auburn because she fell in love with the campus and I have to agree that is is nice. My daughter is also looking into medicine but with a BS in Biochemistry, not Biomedical and UCF doesn’t offer Biochemistry. My only concern about Auburn is if she will be able to get any medical experience while there as she plans to go to PA school after her BS.</p>
<p>The NMF offer is really nice at Auburn. We figured that without any other scholarships we only have to pay for food and a little extra housing to put her in the new Honors apartment style housing. I wish my son would have applied himself.</p>
<p>^^^ I don’t think UCF has undergrad biomedical engineering, but USF does and they give lots of money for NMF. U of Florida will have biomed engineering next year but they are stingy with the money.</p>
<p>My son was a NMF and decided to go to Auburn. He does actually make money there as his scholarships add up to Auburns estimated total cost of attendance (which is a fairly large number). He lives well within his means and will have nice nest egg ready for him when he graduates that he can use for grad school if he so desires.</p>
<p>Regarding how your daughter will fit in, there are all types at the school. My son is not into frats and partying and has a good group of friends that are like minded. There are plenty of clubs on campus that would likely appeal to her outdoor interests.</p>
<p>Guessing she has been invited to a TALONS day. Highly recommend that you attend in order to learn more about the University.</p>
<p>^^^^What scholarships did your son receive? My daughter is a National Hispanic Scholar and has been offered the top merit scholarship offered to NMF and National Hispanic Scholars. She has been accepted and wants to send off her admissions deposit now so she can get the best on campus housing available. She is also an NMSF and we will soon find out if she is a NMF. My thinking is, we should wait to send off the admissions deposit and explore Departmental Scholarships. Is my thinking flawed? What do ya’ll think?</p>
<p>We have not been invited yet to a Talons Day. Can someone tell us more what it is? Is it on a weekday?</p>
<p>Son is a NMSF and recently got a 32 on his ACT, so hope that qualifies him for an invite.</p>
<p>Is there one coming up? If so, is there a number to call about it?</p>
<p>I’ve been known to “invite ourselves” to events son qualified for but slipped through the cracks on, mainly because he had previously had a 31 ACT. Seems like a 32 is the magic number for honor consideration in many schools.</p>
<p>But I digress.</p>
<p>On a selling point of Auburn, I was checking out the calendar of events and for an engineering school, they have many arts activities. My son is an avid moviegoer, and I discovered that the Collin Art Museum actually shows films on Tuesdays. There are some great Elvis exhibits going on, which I’d love to catch. And there are a couple of other movie venues on the calendar.</p>
<p>Here’s a link about Talons day. It looks like once one is offered a scholarship, one would then be invited to Talons Day. However, it I don’t think that invitations go out till December and Talons days aren’t till Feb. To me it looks like a day where they just really try to sell the school to their top prospective students. </p>
<p>He received a several, including an engineering departmental scholarship. I would suggest submitting your admission deposit, most of the scholarship consideration is automatic. If your daughters test scores are high enough she will be invited to apply for the elite scholarships. Best of luck.</p>