Post-Scholarship Weekend 2011 Impressions

Colleges and Universities A-Z High Point University
1

<p>My son and I attended the weekend of 2/25. I had read all the threads before going and would like to add a few tidbits I learned. Some new information we learned was from Qubein and some was from other students and professors. </p>

<p>(Disclaimers: We are from NC; My son has been accepted into Computer Science at HPU and UNC-Chapel Hill, and CS Engineering at NC State; He applied to no other schools.)</p>

<ol>
<li>We already knew that 'marketing' was the primary purpose of weekend because to actually see and 'feel the vibe' of the gorgeous campus and technology exceeds all photos. The visit was more over-the-top than we ever expected! They definitely made us feel special and pampered as will any student who attends. My son even said he didn't know how he'd ever get any work done with so many amenities on campus (and, IMO, so many pretty girls!). </li>
</ol>

<p>However, I must admit that I took offense to Qubein's comment regarding the gift of the expensive, coffee table book. He basically said to the parents that if you decide NOT to send your child to HPU, the book would be a reminder of what you CHOSE NOT to give your child, whether they get a scholarship or not.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My son had two interviews in the department of his major led by 1 or 2 professors and 2 students. The questions posed were very general such as what is your greatest strength and weakness. </p></li>
<li><p>When I asked what difference the interviews make in determining a scholarship offer, I was told that it 'might' bump them up a level but their incoming stats were the biggest determinate.</p></li>
<li><p>Qubein said that they are nearing his goal of a maximum of 1500 attending freshman and a total of 5000 students. I'm guessing that once they reach this goal and the growth continues in new facilities, land purchases (they just bought nearby Oak Hollow Mall), and high quality faculty hires, they will begin increasing the minimum stats for freshman acceptance. The local NC sentiment is that Qubein desires to create a 'southern Ivy' quality institution. If the quality growth pace continues in the coming years, I believe a diploma from HPU will stand equal to Davidson, Wake Forest or Duke within our NC borders.</p></li>
<li><p>I also learned that currently, 25% of students are from NC and 75% are OOS. I saw only a handful of NC student name tags but others students were from all over the US (OR, TX, GA, MN, MD and many states north).</p></li>
<li><p>I was surprised that there is no endowment for merit scholarships. Qubein said that the funds for these scholarships come from the tuition of students paying 100%.</p></li>
<li><p>To be honest, my son was disappointed with the computer science facilities and program. Considering the amazing campus-wide technology and the impressive Qubein School of Communication building, one would think they would have a separate CS department instead of being part of the math department and more than 2 CS professors.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Math and CS classrooms are located in an older building. I heard that they were promised the 'next' new building but got pushed down the list which is disappointing to us. However, we knew going in that HPU is not a research school so we weren't expecting cutting edge CS facilities.</p>

<p>I have no doubt my son would be very happy and thrive at HPU for his freshman and sophomore years. But whether he would need to transfer as a junior is still undecided due to his chosen major.</p>

<p>We were no doubt enticed, and depending on the scholarship results, we may have a difficult decision to make.</p>

<p>Other CC members, please share your post-scholarship weekend impressions and opinions!</p>

2

<p>My daughter’s interviews went well, she said in one interview they had her essays up on their laptops and in the other interview they had her application, and that’s what they talked about respectively. I heard from another student that they asked random questions, such as who was her favorite president, favorite color, etc. I’d heard in the past that scholarships were based on stats. We’re a bit nervous as my daughter’s, ACT is 31 but GPA dropped a bit one semester to 3.77, so not sure where that puts her. It went up this past semester, but they don’t want mid-year transcript. We are hoping her EC’s and mission experiences help. We tried to find out how many scholarships are given, but the Dean who sat at our table at dinner had been there less than 2 months and couldn’t answer any questions we had for them. My daughter is a bio/psych major, and we did not visit the science building. We do know that the new science area will open up in 2014. We did speak with financial aid, but he didn’t seem too eager to speak to us. Our EFC is not that high, so we’re not too sure how much need based aid is available.<br>
It is our daughter’s top choice, though. She loves the “holistic education” aspect. She was in her element while we were strolling the grounds and classical music was playing.</p>

3

<p>Personally, I think the scholarships are given based on the student’s GPA and SAT/ACT score and they make people go to High Point for the interviews for two reasons. The first one is that many students who go to the interviews haven’t visited High Point, still deciding which school they want to go to, or they’re still waiting to hear back from a few. They try to get the student there to see how great the campus is and how it doesn’t compare to any other school out there, so that weekend is the deciding factor for many students. Also, many students come out of state for these interviews, so they have to stay in hotels overnight. That money helps the economy in the town of High Point. There can’t be a great university in a weak town.
I enjoyed the weekend there and they really do go out of their way to make sure your experience there is wonderful. The school is just going to continue growing and pretty soon it’ll be very hard to get accepted there.
The only thing that concerns me would be junior and senior year. I feel that they treat the freshman and sophomores better than the upperclassmen and that mostly everything is for the underclassmen. I could be wrong but that’s just what it seemed like to me.</p>

4

<p>we got the box of chocolates-anyone else?</p>

5

<p>not yet, I heard some from NC did.</p>

6

<p>My son and I visited form Ohio and loved the weekend. He has been accepted to Rhodes College, South Eastern and is waiting to here from American University. HP is an incredible place with endless possibilities. I agree that they will continue to tighten their standards and build an “Ivy in the South.”
The Professors we met were all incredibly bright. My son interviewed with a Fulbright scholar in the history department as well as two other very accomplished Professors. We are anxiously awaiting the news on the Presidential Scholarships.
I have not been turned off by the marketing…it is life in 2011 and I think his model is clearly successful. Schools don’t increase student body size at the rate they have been able to accomplish without a strong and successful program. I wish I could enroll in the Fall!</p>

7

<p>Got the box of chocolates in the mail today (along with the scholarship letter). It was exactly where her ACT score indicated she would be.</p>

8

<p>“However, I must admit that I took offense to Qubein’s comment regarding the gift of the expensive, coffee table book. He basically said to the parents that if you decide NOT to send your child to HPU, the book would be a reminder of what you CHOSE NOT to give your child, whether they get a scholarship or not”.</p>

<p>Psssssst…it was a joke</p>