<p>The acceptance packet says that invitations to SOAR will be sent out in mid-April to those students who have submitted their **non-refundable* $100 deposit.<a href="My%20italics,%20my%20bold.">/i</a></p>
<p>Assuming the student hasn't made up his mind yet of which school he wants to attend, but has UW high on his list, it seems like you'd want to go ahead and pay the $100, register for SOAR (including the non-refundable $85 fee for that), in order to get as early a SOAR date as possible, in order to get registered for classes (which I understand some can be difficult for freshmen to get into).</p>
<p>I wonder why they start this process in advance of the May 1 acceptance deadline? They probably get quite a few families who go ahead and pay the $185 to hold Johnny's SOAR spot, even though he might end up choosing another school. And if Johnny's other schools do it this way, it gets rather expensive for us families. Maybe it's a way for the school to take in more $.</p>
<p>I have no problem limiting registration sign up dates to those who are committed to a school. The ambivalent ones only have to wait 2 extra weeks, the advantage is not that critical. I doubt UW sees this a money maker. By delaying the sign up start to mid April they save a lot of date changing when students figure out what really fits their family's summer schedule. It also ensures that students unlikely to attend UW (therefore unwilling to make a financial committment) don't hold desireable SOAR spots others would prefer.</p>
<p>Our daughter had a difficult time deciding between two schools, UofM and UW. We didn't end up attending SOAR until the last weekend in July and did not find attending a late SOAR date to be a problem in getting classes...and ones that she wanted.
Also, keep in mind, classes you pick at SOAR are not set in stone. There is a lot of adding and dropping of classes the first couple of weeks and classes open up frequently. Just our experience so far.</p>
<p>We were told that they keep spaces open for late SOAR registrants. Whether or not this this was actually true, I don't know. But she did get the classes she wanted.
I will suggest, for their first year, to get classes that have a discussion group along with a lecture. For our daughter, that was key. She had 2 classes with discussion groups and 2 without. 1 of the classes without a discussion was over 500+. She did MUCH better in the classes with discussions!</p>
<p>How does she like UW so far...not easy to answer. She did not like it at first because of the size. She loved the school, people, classes, town...but missed the "small town feel" she was accustomed to. She went as far as to apply and get accepted to a smaller school (with a Large academic scholarship) for a Jan 2008 transfer. Counted down the days for Thanksgiving break...didn't want to come home and leave friends for Christmas break. Huge difference! 13th hour, she decided to stay at UW and is excited to go back for her second semester.
I really wanted her to give it a year and I am thrilled she is staying. She did get a deferral and does have the option to transfer next fall to another school but my bet is she will stay at UW.
She is also a little over 8 hours away, so coming home was not really an option this fall and we did visit her during parents weekend. At that time she was transferring.
Again, all kids are different and this was our experience.</p>