As the Semmes and Towers weekend (3/2/2018-3/3/2018) coming up soon, just want to start this thread to discuss the scholarship processes.
I can’t find much information about Semmes. Looks like they only give 1 or 2 of these out each year. But how many applicants get invited to the interview? Also, the process is only a 30 minutes interview. With whom? Admission or professor? On the science topic or normal admission interview topics?
For Towers, what is the “Scholarly response”? Is it an in-class essay, or a short presentation, or answering professor’s questions? Do they look at the whole application + the scholarly response when awarding the scholarship, or only look at the scholarly response?
On logistics, any recommendations of hotels that are conveniently located? Good restaurants? Any can’t-miss San Antonio sights besides the Alamo and River Walk?
A variable number of students are invited to interview. I believe it varies from year to year just based on the strength of the incoming class and how many people qualify and apply for it. Probably somewhere between 5 and 10 though. The interviews are conducted by professors in the sciences. The number of professors present depends on who is not teaching or otherwise busy during the interview times. I think admissions likes to have 3 professors minimum.
I know that sounds really nerve wracking and stressful, but all of them really want to like all the candidates and they obviously realize how nervous they’ll make the students, so they actively work to be as sympathetic as possible. And since they are Trinity professors (#6 in the nation and #1 in Texas according to the WSJ) they are amazing and knowledgeable and friendly. The topic of the interview is likely the student’s own interest in science. (Why they like it, what topics are they interested in) and won’t be anything super technical.
The Towers Scholarship is a bit different: the professors are allowed a bit of autonomy in this. In talking with some of my peers about their own Tower Scholars experiences it seems that no two classes are the same and the types of scholarly responses ranged wildly as well. I also know that no prior knowledge is necessary in any subject, so if a student gets selected for a class they aren’t super familiar with they won’t be at any disadvantage. As for what makes the final scholarship decision, I don’t know. Maybe admissions has the final say, it might be the professor who taught the class. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful about this, I just know that there is no one right answer to the Tower Scholars question.
One of the sometimes-overlooked San Antonio staples is the Pearl. The old brewery that has been re-purposed and now hosts a few amazing restaurants, and coffee shops, a farmer’s market, cultural events, live music, and just general fun. It’s definitely a must-go-to place.
Overnight visits are separate (and highly encouraged!) and thus should be scheduled separately through the admissions office. Our policy is that overnights only happen Mondays through Thursdays and since the Tower Scholars day is a Saturday that might not be possible. But this is a good question for the admissions office just to make sure!
In other words, on campus housing is not provided to the candidates, but maybe someone in admissions can hook you up. If not on that weekend, I highly encourage you to schedule an overnight a different week as it is a great way to see the Trinity community in action.
I heard there were 220 applicants for the Semmes Scholarship this year. I know they have wonderfully qualified applicants for the class of 2022 My son’s stats include a 35 ACT, research experience for two summers, a 4.0 unweighted and 4.60 weighted GPA, and two trips to state and one to Nationals. He was not invited to compete for this award, but I am happy for those who were invited. It sounds like amazing students are applying for the Semmes Scholarship this year as well as the Towers. Trinity University is a top choice for many great candidates. Good luck to everyone interviewing for the Semmes and Towers Scholarship this week!
@DisneyMom99 , that is surprising. But one thing I learned through my son’s application process is the unpredictability and randomness of the admission and scholarship process. Son is invited to both scholarship competitions, but I told him not to get his hopes up in getting either one. Each one has a less than 10% chance even if you are invited to the competition.
Your son is still coming to the Towers Day, right? Hope to meet you there.
I read last year’s Towers Day thread. Someone said her son chose all the STEM related topics, but got placed in a Humanities class, and subsequently did not get the award. If that’s intentional, that’s really unfair. Many STEM focused kids can’t handle the touchy-feely humanity stuff.
Thank you bogeyorpar… I really hope your son does well on the Semmes Scholarship!!! I don’t think they chose that many students to interview, so I think your son has a good chance. Yes, we will be at the Towers Scholarship. It truly is an amazing school! It’s hard not to compare merit aid to other schools. Austin College has rolled out the red carpet for him, and given him every award imaginable. However, he has good scholarship money at Trinity University too, along with other schools. I hope we meet this weekend!!! Once again, good luck to Semmes Scholars during their interviews!
@anhart32 , my son received a phone call from his regional AO. The AO asked him if he’s coming; if not, he would call the next candidate. Son confirmed that he will come, the AO then send email with a link to pick an interview time slot.
@Booajo well my D is only going to Tower day not the Semmes interview, so this may not be relevant to your question, but everything I’ve seen so far says attire is “casual”. I expect my D to be in jeans, probably a black t-shirt, and her favorite red hoodie. Athletic shoes on the feet as those are the only ones she is currently allowed to wear.
@booajo, it’s not “an” extra essay. It’s 3 extra essays – two 250 word ones and a 500 word one. That is a lot of work., so totally understandable if kids refuse to write that; especially for STEM kids who hate essays.
I thought it was really interesting and informative. As a student I wish a lot more of the kids were serious about attending - seems kinda pointless to go if you weren’t, especially because it may lead to some wasted full scholarships. But overall I really did learn a lot about the school and it definitely increased my interest in going to Trinity.
I couldn’t find much info about Semmes and Towers process in previous posts, so I’d like to shed some light on them to help future applicants.
The Semmes interview was a surprise – five professors from different departments sit on a panel and drill one applicant for half an hour. The questions were technical – they do ask you about specific scientific knowledge. It’s quite intimidating. If you have never seen that panel format, it can throw you off balance.
The Towers, student chooses up to five classes, and Trinity pick one for the student to attend. Not sure how the assignment is made. My STEM son was assigned a history class. The professor said each professor pick one winner from his class. It makes sense, since there were about 20 different classes. After an hour of lecture, students were assigned two essays in 45 minutes. One is to answer a prompt, pretty much like the ACT essay (the pros and cons of something.) The other one is creative, create an art and say how it is related to the topic of the class. There’s not a lot of time. If you think the 45 minutes in ACT essay writing is ridiculous, then 45 minutes to write two essays are even more so. And I think humanities and arts students definitely have the upper hand here. (Not sure if humanities and arts students were assigned to science classes or not.)
The rest of the day was enjoyable – lunch and tours and faculty fair. We even got time to watch some baseball – MIT was in town and actually beat Trinity.
@marylander7, you are right. I talked to some parents, and their kids were all waiting for Ivies and other prestigious colleges. One parent said his kid applied to 25 colleges – almost all of the US News top 20, plus some others like Trinity.
If given the full scholarship and got admitted to Ivies, how many will choose Trinity? Hard to tell. I’m sure you heard the student panel. There’s one boy who is a Towers scholar. He said he didn’t even know Trinity existed before his senior year and he’s from San Antonio! However, when he was awarded the full tuition scholarship, he accepted and is attending Trinity.
