<p>Well, I wanted to ascertain what people think about the University of Tulsa (in Tulsa, OK).</p>
<p>Generally, have you heard of it and what have you heard about it? </p>
<p>What is your opinion of the university as a whole? Do you think of it as prestigious?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Son and I were prepared to love it. From what we had heard, it should have been a perfect fit. However, our campus visit was pretty terrible in ways they could have totally prevented.</p>
<p>Pros:
Campus seems much bigger than you'd expect for a school of that size. Lots of beautiful new construction (although plans for other new buildings have been scrapped due loss of endowment $)</p>
<p>Smallest Division I school, so you can have big time sports in a small school setting.</p>
<p>I believe they give free rides to NMFs.</p>
<p>Cons:
Although rolling admissions is nice (Son was admitted in late Nov./early Dec), they wait a very long time to notify students about merit aid awards (I think it's supposed to be mid-February). Hard to compare with other schools when most others offer merit aid immediately and they wait months.</p>
<p>As I said, campus visit was very poorly planned.</p>
<p>There is a mosque on campus. This is a "pro" for some and a "con" for others. (Not because they don't like Muslims, but because they think not so much emphasis should be placed on recruiting students from Middle Eastern countries.)</p>
<p>Do the Advanced Search on CC and see if you can find the student who posts here who took the NMF full ride. Earlier this year I was reading a post from her about how much she likes it there.</p>
<p>D (NMSF - hopefully Finalist) applied and was accepted, but remains undecided as to college choice. She visited with a young man in our hometown who had just graduated from the University of Tulsa. He was a NMF and had a free ride. He had a degree in petroleum engineering and had just signed (with bonus) with BP. Very, very positive comments about his years at Tulsa.</p>
<p>D also looked at the rankings on Princeton review and University of Tulsa had some good rankings in areas such as happiest students, etc.</p>
<p>D was a NMF and was offered a $120,000 four year free ride to Tulsa year before last. We traveled to Tulsa twice and spent considerable time on the campus. This was what my D came away with in the end:</p>
<ol>
<li> Nice campus, nice workout facilty.</li>
<li> Dorms were pretty on the outside, but very bare bones on the inside (concrete block construction).</li>
<li> Cafeteria locations limited.</li>
<li> They have nice college owned apartments on campus the students can move into after freshman (or sophomore?) year.</li>
<li> They have a good number of students who are awarded Fulbright, Truman etc. scholarships - they seem to REALLY help the students prepare their applications for those scholarships.</li>
<li>In talking with the admission people, D expressed her desire to possibly double major (in a science and a language) and take the premed prereqs. She was told that it was NOT possible to do that in 4 years at Tulsa. She is able to do that at the school she attends.</li>
<li>D attended classes and felt the level wasn't much above her high school (and she attended a VERY mediocre high school - only had 2 APs, etc.)</li>
<li>D felt the classrooms and lab were just average.</li>
<li>D had lunch with several NMFs attending Tulsa. She talked extensively with one young man. She asked him if the classes were challenging and he said that an "occassional" class was. She asked him if the $$$ was the primary reason he attended Tulsa and he said that yes, it was. </li>
<li>They aggressively seek out National Merit Finalists and end up having several attend. Our guide said they treat them like "gods". One of the admissions people said their ultimately goal was to be in the Top 50 schools (I believe they are ranked in the 80s now).</li>
<li> They give alot of credit for the IB program, often allowing you to enter as a sophomore and then use the extra scholarship $$ to study abroad.</li>
</ol>
<p>All in all a nice little school, but D was looking for more. She wanted to attend a school where she would be blown away by the professors and other students alike. She wanted to be challenged to the max. My nephew who was also a NMF the same year was offered the same scholarship and also turned it down. Would I consider it prestigious - no. Again, I think what it is widely known for is its aggressive recuitment of NMFs.</p>
<p>That being said, the son of a friend attended for awhile and really liked the school. He was give the same NMF scholarship. He is a VERY bright, quirky sort of kid. Sadly he didn't keep his grades up, lost the scholarship and left.</p>
<p>Do y'all have the impression that schools who aggressively court NMFs (and give them free rides) give a lot less merit money to other strong applicants who are not NMFs? As I said, Son has not received an award letter, but according to their online chart, their offer will probably be a lot less than similar schools who only give NMFs a small increase in aid. It makes sense....there is only so much money. </p>
<p>I wonder if we can generalize and say that strong applicants who are not NMFs should look at schools who don't give free rides to NMFs for greater merit aid.</p>
<p>For some reason, when it came to the schools my D was looking at, it was an "all or (virtually) none" situation when it came to merit money. She wasn't interested in any of the ivies (who don't give merit money anyway), but was looking at WashU and Notre Dame. WashU gives a small NMF yearly award, Notre Dame gives nothing. All the four year free (or nearly) rides offers came from mainly public schools - Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Tulsa, etc. etc. Hinsight being 20/20, I sometimes think she should have applied to some LACs, etc. to see what, if anything, in the way of merit money she would have been offered. But, she is very happy where she is!</p>
<p>missypie - My son wasn't a NMSF and Tulsa offered him a nice solid scholarship. He was undecided (a boy who positively can't make up his mind) until the last minute. Tulsa called one evening in late April and upped his scholarship substantially. He did not end up at Tulsa but definitely has fond thoughts about the app experience.</p>
<p>D is a NMSF and, to be honest, I haven't noticed much difference between her app experience and my son's re Tulsa. Yes, she has the possibility of a "free ride" and that offer is nice; however, I have to say that my son's app process was nothing but positive.</p>
<p>MidwestParent: Tulsa is a private university. Like your d, in general, the free rides have come from the larger public universities. D has also applied to Wash U and Notre Dame and the NMF merit money is either minimal or nonexistant (Notre Dame). She also applied to Rice U and Trinity U and again the NMF merit money is either minimal or nonexistant. </p>
<p>IMO the free rides given to NMF probably don't affect the overall money given at a U, just because there really aren't that many overall NMF that end up together. </p>
<p>Tongue in cheek: more of the money seems to find its way into the athletic scholarships (ie Notre Dame).</p>
<p>According to Tulsa's web site, the top non-NMF scholarship is $8000 per year.</p>
<p>missypie: I don't remember son's original scholarship offer, but I'm pretty sure it was over $8,000. He graduated in 2007 - I never looked at the web site so I honestly can't say if the amount listed has changed.</p>
<p>I also think we knew the scholarship amount much earlier than Feb.</p>
<p>
[quote]
D attended classes and felt the level wasn't much above her high school
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's an issue to check at a lot of colleges. Thanks for mentioning that.</p>
<p>The web site says "Scholarship notification will begin in Februrary." </p>
<p>Son must be on their "we don't care if you go here or not" list. Since he was admitted, Son has received exactly one piece of mail from them - last week he was invited to some mass visit thing.</p>
<p>They sent us to a sociology class. It was about rape and Son was the only guy in the room. Just one of many uncomfortable moments.</p>
<p>LOL missypie: "Son must be on their "we don't care if you go here or not" list. Since he was admitted, Son has received exactly one piece of mail from them - last week he was invited to some mass visit thing."</p>
<p>D somehow got on that list at Wash U - just don't hear a thing. Oh wait - a postcard reminding her to send mid year grades.</p>
<p>Ignatius - I'm aware Tulsa is private - shouldn't have lumped them in with the others offering free rides. It was interesting that they were the only private to do so!</p>
<p>Do you think attending TU just for its stellar petroleum engineering program is a good idea?</p>
<p>And also, do people in general end up keeping the 3.25 GPA that they need to keep receiving their Presidential Scholarship?</p>
<p>Any other comments?</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight!</p>
<p>My son is a junior at Tulsa, attending basically for free with the NMSF scholarship package. Not bad for a private school education. He started out pre-med and his biology and chemistry classes were definitely challenging, much harder than his high school AP courses. He's now pre-physical therapy which I believe is run through their sports science department. It could be more challenging but combined with the volunteer/community service work he's added on his own, it does set him up well for applying to physical therapy schools. It's a real benefit heading into 3 years of grad school with money in the bank.</p>
<p>A friend of his is in the petroleum engineering program and his opportunities have been great, starting with internship opportunities after his freshman year and throughout the rest of his years at TU. </p>
<p>Like most colleges, some programs are strong and others are average so you need to see what is offered in your particular areas of interest.</p>
<p>The campus is beautiful, classes are generally small and taught by professors not TAs, undergraduate research is readily available, and student life is good with most campus events (even Division I sports) offered for free. My son lives in a new apartment right on campus, and enjoys life at TU. He would much rather attend a smaller (3,000 student?) school than a great big research university. It's a totally different experience. Tulsa, the city, also has many things to offer.</p>
<p>Speak of the devil - So received a letter from Tulsa today. It talked about how many NMFs and top 10% grads they have. Don't know how that is supposed to make Son - who is neither a NMF nor a top 10% grad - feel. Honored to be among such esteemed company?</p>
<p>missypie,</p>
<p>My oldest 3 children have taken the PSAT now but only my oldest qualified for NMSF. When he got it, we weren't expecting it and we were excited. As a person of faith, I believe one of the ways God directs our lives is through circumstances. He opens some doors and he closes others. When my 2nd son didn't make NMSF, we were disappointed at first (I was hoping it would be the easy way to pay for his college :) Looking back, we see how it helped to direct him to a school that we may not have even looked at if his PSAT had gone better. </p>
<p>I undrstand your reaction to TU's mailing to your son. I only bring this up to encourage you and others who, like me, sometimes tire of reading here on CC of one allstar student after another. It is an exciting time in the life of our kids and there is a place that's the perfect fit for everyone, no matter what their unique interests and abilities may be.</p>
<p>Averageguy, I didn't expect my son to be a NMF or in the top 10% of the class. Feeling no disappointment about that at all.</p>
<p>To me, the letter is just interesting from a marketing standpoint. They admit a kid and don't contact him further, then a few months later, send a form letter about how many NMFs and top 10% students they have. Was that really the best they could do to encourage my son to go there? Doesn't anyone on the staff realize that a one sentence personal letter from someone at the school saying, "Missypie's Son, we're really excited that you've been admitted and if you have any questions call me" would have been a much more effective tool?</p>