<p>S1 has applied & been accepted to three of the four schools (SCU, UP & GU) the OP has asked about. He received relatively generous merit aid from all three, however, that aid will have more of an impact on COA at UP & GU due to their lower overall cost compared to SCU. And GU appears to have the best opportunities for other institution-based scholarships compared to the other two schools (not sure about USD).</p>
<p>We live in the greater Spokane area, so are very familiar with Gonzaga. Nice dowtown feel to the campus given that Spokane itself is not an overly large city at 220K+ residents. Other schools have it beat for overall weather (UP - maybe not so much) but a great locale if you donât mind the four seasons, and especially if you are an outdoor enthusiast! Unfortunately, the best weather of the year is summer time when many students head back home. Having grown up in the Bay Area and being very familiar with SCU and other CA schools, I think itâs safe to say that GU is probably the most conservative campus overall compared to the other three schools. That being said, I guess itâs all relative to what one is accustomed toâŠ</p>
<p>As Shrinkwrap and other have mentioned, we too are concerned about the overall costs of these private universities compared to much more reasonable in-state options given the economy and aversion to future debt. No argument that they are very highly ranked/regarded schools, though.</p>
<p>To the OP, curious if you have considered Trinity University in San Antonio? S1 applied there as well. TU, SCU, GU & UP were #1, #2, #4 & #9 (respectively) in the most recent USNWR rankings of top western regional universities (for what thatâs worth). Not sure where USD fit in the rankings.</p>
<p>^Whatâs the weather like in Spokane now? We are planning âadmitted studentâ visits to Gonzaga, UP, and Willamette in April, but think it might be more important to know what its like NOW. We have been to Oregon already, and live near Napa.</p>
<p>Current Spokane weather is 28 degrees with chance of snow showers, which for this time of year is fairly typical. It can & does get MUCH colder at times, though. Napa it is not. Best comparison I can give for Spokane to a locale remotely close to you would be Auburn/Grass Valley area or anywhere in the Sacramento foothills at an elevation between 2,000-3,000 ft. If your S/D is not a four seasons type of student, ie. ok with snow & cold, they best think hard about attending Gonzaga because itâs part of the package.</p>
<p>FYI - Portland is currently .37 with rain/snow showers. Oregon is generally âwetterâ than Spokane although the trade off is that it gets much more snow in winter (average of 60â) than Portland and most parts of Oregon west of the Cascades. Same goes for Seattle if considering Seattle U.</p>
<p>April - and spring in general - in the Pacific NW is very nice, albeit still cooler than most of Nor Cal. Other than the colder winter weather, hard to beat the greater Spokane area for students who like the great outdoors. Beautiful scenery, lakes, woods, hiking, skiing, etc., etc.</p>
<p>S1 recevied his financial aid award letter yesterday from UP, which was a couple of weeks sooner than expected (website said rolling notifications start March 15). He had received a generous merit award, but unfortunately the additional grant money will not be enough to make the numbers work financially w/o a pile of debt. Also, no $$ for NMF status either. Bummer.</p>
<p>Thank you! We are two hours ( with no traffic; for WITH traffic!) from Taho, and son loves to bard, but he is usually back in nice conditions within three days at the most. He used to feel it was unfair that we did not have snow like Tahoe. Today, not sure how that would be for months at a time. He boards when he is not playing soccer, which is marred only by frequent rain between December and Febuary around here. Do you know if Soccer is popular at Gonzaga? I know it is in Portland.Also, do you have an opinion about Whitworth? He got better merit there, and we know folks who like it alot, but they do not have his major.</p>
<p>The finances are what they are, canât do much about it at this point. At least he has some good options.</p>
<p>GU & Whitworth are both less than a 1 hour drive from the Mt. Spokane ski area, and within less than 2 hours from four other major ski resorts (three in north Idaho). Schweitzer Mtn is comparable to many of the upper mid-range Tahoe resorts, just not quite as much vertical. So if he likes to ski/board, itâs available. Lift tickets are much more reasonable, too.</p>
<p>To clarify, if it makes sense Spokane USUALLY gets a âlightâ 48" of snow per year in that the area does not get 2â-5â at a time like Tahoe. I orignally said 60", but that was our town to the east of Spokane here in north Idaho. Big storm will dump 8"-12"+ on average and be gone within a few weeks. Winters vary, though. In '08 & '09 Spokane records for snowfall with back-to-back records of 92" and 97", than one of the mildest ones on record last year (25"-30" or so?). Then we set a record for the month of November this year with almost 30" in Spokane. Go figure. Global climate change and all that. April should be a pretty nice time to visit weather-wise if you hit it right, though.</p>
<p>Whitworth is a very well regarded regional university with a smaller student population than Gonzaga (about 2,400 students vs. 4,800+ at GU). Have heard nothing but good things about it, although the smaller size appears to be a turn off for some students. Nice campus tucked away in the NW corner of town.</p>
<p>Soccer appears to very popular at GU and they have a relatively new intramural Field-Turf sports field with lights that their club soccer & lacrosse teams play on quite extensively. Not sure what they have to offer to that effect at Whitworth. With the emergence of Gonzagaâs basketball team on the national scene in the past decade, GU has spent some serious money upgrading their facilities all over campus. New basketball arena, new baseball complex, the intramural field mentioned above, new dorms, etc. Steadily becoming a campus on the upswing.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap - I posted a weblink on the Gonzaga U thread regarding Spokane winter weather. Should give your son all he needs to know about what to expect if he should decide to attend Gonzaga or Whitworth.</p>
<p>Merit aid comes about a week after admission at Univ of Portland. My son has applied to Gonzaga, Univ of Portland and Santa Clara for the engineering program. (also some state schools such as OSU) So far the best merit scholarship at Univ of Portland. However, son does not want to stay in Portland. Still waiting to hear from Santa Clara. We visited Gonzaga last March and Univ of Portland yesterday. I was impressed with the fact that 97% of the engineering grads at Univ of Portland passed the national exam. Campus has been upgraded with new buildings, nice commons. Even though I live in the portland area, I have not spent much time on the bampus. Gonzaga has a very nice spirit about itâstudents go out of their way to friendly.</p>
<p>Still hereâŠson was admitted to LMU this past weekend, but no mention of aid yet. Still waiting on SCU. Older two siblings were both admitted to SCU, but merit aid was not as good as some other schools (as BayAreaMom pointed out); they ended up going elsewhere.</p>
<p>My son head from Portland about for weeks after applying. Merit aid two weeks later.I think his application was complete around the first week of January.</p>
<p>Interesting, Shrinkrap. I might call for him after school then. Good to know. Thank you.</p>
<p>How was your communication with them otherwise? Did you visit campus? (I apologize if I missed a post where you indicated that you had.) We likely are going next month.</p>
<p>Havenât visited yet. No other major communication.Admission was in a very unassuming envelope that we thought was a rejection. I think they sent something nice from the engineering department after admission, but Gonzagaâs follow-up was more memorable.Sort of applied on a whim, after liking Portland when we visited Willamette. They had been mailing and emailing A LOT, so son gave it a shot. We hope to visit during admitted student days in April. Theirs is a week from Gonzagaâs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the links. I hadnât thought about admitted student days (but then, heâs not admitted yet!). He didnât apply to the other schools in this thread, but I remember visiting Santa Clara a number of years ago. So gorgeous! I also visited Gonzaga a number of years ago (no formal tour), but was still impressed.</p>
<p>DS was accepted for Mechanical Engineering to:</p>
<p>University of the Pacific
Cal Poly SLO
Seattle University
University of Denver
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Portland</p>
<p>and for Engineering Science at
Sonoma State</p>
<p>His only rejection? Santa Clara</p>
<p>I think he will go to University of Portland, which seems like the perfect âfitâ for him. He did get a $56K merit scholarship there. In the end, it was a choice between Cal Poly SLO and Portland. He got money from everyone, so the fit was the real factor.</p>
<p>PAtoCA, my son got in to SCU, but got nada merit aid. Thatâs almost as bad as not getting in; in fact, he said he wished he didnât get in. It was by far the most expensive school he was looking at, so it would have taken a nice merit award to get it in line with the other (mostly Jesuit) schools that accepted him. SCU is making a big statement with how theyâre turning down strong candidates and being skimpy with the awards.</p>