<p>My D has narrowed choices to four schools: UGA, Texas, Michigan, and Tulane. She is undecided on area of study. I am wondering if other OOSers had similar choices and what steered them toward UGA. Any insight would be most appreciated!</p>
<p>My D is interested in UCLA, UT-Austin, and UGA. She wants to double major in Arabic 9she'll be applying with two years of college Arabic) and either Psychology or International Relations. So her top choices are colleges with an Arabic major and warm weather.</p>
<p>I can only tell you that I graduated from UT-Austin over 25 years ago, and that it's a wonderful environment. The weather is great, nice people, great education. Austin has changed much since then, I know, but my friends that live there say they'd live nowhere else. I have friends that send their kids to UCLA, and they are happy there. It's Michigan and Georgia that I know nothing about. Daughter has visited UGA and had good feelings about it. Accepted to Michigan and visiting soon.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the admission to Michigan...it's a great school. I've heard good things about Austin from everyone who has been there. D is looking at the 5 year Arabic flagship program there, but she has to get in first, and with the 10% rule, that will be a challenge (we're hoping that the rule is changed to let in more OOS kids).</p>
<p>I heard that UGA has the same admission standards for instate and OOS applicants... hope it's true. What steered your D to those 4 schools?</p>
<p>There are many very bright kids that don't get into UT because of its unique admissions rules. OOS admission is really tough there. I'm almost sure that you are correct about UGA and OOS admissions. My daughter narrowed down her choices to larger institutions that had solid academic reputations. She recently took Tulane off of her list, feeling that it was too small. She visited Georgia and loved the feel of the campus - friendly people, pretty campus. Her thinking is that she wants a school large enough that she can cross off activities that are not of interest to her, rather than be at a smaller school looking for things that may not be there. She has never visited Michigan, but applied because of academic reputation. Honestly, I think she is a little concerned about the cold weather.</p>
<p>At least your daughter isn't ruling out schools that have cold weather! My D won't even consider anywhere it gets "really cold" - it rarely even snows here and she says she can't stand the winters. Did your daughter reply early action or regular? I hope we can arrange to go on a college road trip this summer - btw, D has been getting mail from Tulane and we'll probably look into visiting there too.</p>
<p>Califa -</p>
<p>She applied regular admission to all 3 schools. Be forewarned that Austin is stifling hot in summer (but REALLY nice weather during school year). Tulane is a wonderful school but different from the others on your d's list. It is a much smaller school in the middle of an urban area. We visited last month and the "uptown" area, where Tulane is located, appears the same as it did before Katrina. Again, N.O., like Austin is stifling during the summer. N.O. also has some of the best food in the world. If you go, try Camelia Grill by campus and Domilice or Mothers for a Po Boy sandwich! Good luck with your decision!</p>