M daughter and I have already talked about something similar if she is at SMU over others universities further away. The letter was a nice touch, though.
Any thoughts on the Hilltop Scholars program? Is it worth doing? Any real advantages or disadvantages to it? Thanks!
Itās something to put on oneās resume but more importantly itās access to some classes just for honors students. It seems to have specific writing and reasoning class expertise and attention. āMost students take their WRTR and PRW courses plus one other in the program.ā It also seems like a good way to connect with like minded students with administrative and faculty programming.
My son was admitted oos to engineering with no mention of scholarships or other programs at all. So, it fell toward the bottom of his list. Today he got the email invite for Hunt. Not sure how all this stuff will trickle out, but SMU is way to expensive without any scholarship help.
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did anyone get a physical letter in the mail today?
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yes we got a packet in the mail, that talked about Student life and Residence Life, also had a hard copy of his scholarship offer.
Itās my understanding that Hilltop is a 1-year program, similar somewhat to UHPā¦Apparently many who do Hilltop first then apply to move into UHP if they liked it and want to continue. Iām not sure what differences there are other than length of the program itself.
We got a thickish red envelope about a week or more ago which said āSMU Boundā on the frontā¦it had an official acceptance letter dated 12/17, instructions on how to complete enrollment, a sticker, a nicely packaged small letter and certificate re merit award, a paper banner to hold up for selfies (I think), and a catalog type brochure about the school. The package was nicely done.
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I thought the roommates were assigned in residential housing, so most students pick their roommates independently?
My D20 hit it off with a girl on the accepted studentsā Instagram page. I believe more boys go random and let SMU pick.
At SMU when you apply for housing after accepting admission in the spring there will be a short survey about your likes/dislikes (I.e. are you an early bird or sleep late, study in the room or elsewhere. Etc). there is then a portal that matches you with percentages to other students similar to your answers. Iām sure a lot of kids use this to find a roommate but my son had better luck finding his roommate on the class IG page. Iām sure there are others who allow SMU to match too.
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Red packet last week and letter two days ago. I think thatās the third letter congratulating her on her acceptance from the school.
FYI, I just talked with the Bursarās office to pay my kiddoās bill. For prospective students, if youāve filled out the FAFSA and CSS, you will receive financial aid packages by the end of January. ED1 received it by Christmas and ED2/RD will get theirs by spring break (i.e., mid-March).
Today, Greek rush begins. My D20 is very involved with her sororityās rush. Itās nerve-wracking for the sorority and the prospect. Well over half of the women rush but maybe 40% go all the way. Many just test the waters. Others donāt get the one(s) they wanted. My daughter knows plenty of people that rushed and dropped for various reasons and are just fine in other organizations or activities.
My S22 doesnāt plan to rush a fraternity if he attends SMU.
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Do you know if SMU sorority rush is as hectic and drama-filled as it is at Bama?
Iām not sure what itās like at Alabama. According to the 2020 Common Data Set, 35% of females and 26% of males are in Greek organizations. In 1999, those percentages were 42% and 38%, respectively. Back in 1999, 39% of first time in college freshmen were from OOS and in 2020, that percentage was 59%.
Like any contest, many people applying for Greek organizations are nervous about where theyāll be accepted. Some want ātop housesā and some have already found compatible groups from Fall meet and greets. Many are just testing it out to see what itās like and what the outcome will be. I believe that the Greek percentages are lower in University Honors Program and STEM majors.
Anyway, my daughter had a good first day and I believe it all gets settled on Friday or Saturday. School starts next week.
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For anyone applying to Hunt, the deadline is tomorrow, best of luck! Iām not applying, but my AO sent me a personal email reminding me of the deadline (which I had chosen to forget about as I donāt see value in applying for me personally, not sure if others forgot though) but I figured I would pass it along in case anyone was bored in the next 24 hours! It requires a video and then a three page paper. Application doesnāt look too bad, and anyone can apply!
Scholarship is full tuition (?) it seems like in most cases.
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DS spoke to his admissions counselor today. Admitted to SMU before Christmas but no scholarship awarded. High GPA, tons of extracurriculars, sports, and leadership, but SAT being on the lower end of the 50% mean seems to have eliminated him from qualifying. Super disappointing considering the ātest optionalā dialogue. SMU was one of his top choices and heās so deflated. He will not qualify for need-based aid. Anyone else in a similar situation and trying to decide if itās worth it at full tuition?
Heās still waiting to hear back from his other top schools so hopefully those pan out better. Congrats to all parents for surviving this brutal process.
Iām sorry to hear they didnāt advise you of this sooner. We had been told not to bother submitting scores unless they were over 1410. That test optional students had a better chance of scholarship than those with ālowerā test scores. They consider the application stronger without a test score unless the test score is impressive.
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Wow. Really wish we knew this. Wouldnāt have submitted otherwise. We were hoping that submitting scores at least showed transparency and willingness to sit for the SAT.
Are you referring to the Presidential Scholarship (full ride?) I did not receive any invite for that either despite a 1460 SAT, top 2% of class, and a bunch of state level leadership and awards along with local/school leadership and activities.
Hunt is full tuition and anyone can apply to it I believe. I think one can be test optional. My only thing with it is that it is 46k a year, though they say you can get the rest of tuition covered through departmental scholarships. At that point though, for me, as someone who doesnāt really qualify for any aid, I still donāt want to pay almost 20k a year. Iād rather go to the University of Alabama (or some other schools on my list!) where itās cheaper and still a school I like! Iām planning on the pre-law track too most likely, so where I go to school doesnāt matter and I just donāt want debt. Just not in the mood to spend 80k ish to live for 4 years through room and board costs.
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