Thanks for chiming in @Beaudreau! And thank you for the correction and the link.
@lots2do Thanks for the review of your experience at TIF.
Yes, the Towers Scholars offer is clearly a work in progress. They went from 152 applicants in year 2 to over 350 in year 3. They indicated they would add 5 more offers, but even 25/350+ is not good odds by any stretch.
Nonetheless, they do give $1500 if you attend TU, and it was another opportunity to visit and explore the campus.
They have a huge endowment, now almost $1.2B for 2300 undergrads, almost $500K per student. And they spend it. They give generous merit scholarships. They have built amazing facilitiesâCIS is the crown jewel. They have all-suite dorm rooms, which have been voted best in the country at one point, and they are renovated a minimum of once every 12 yearsâa rarity in my experience with LACâs. Best of all, they donât lose Profâs that they want to keep due to salaryâthey pay if they want to keep that Prof. That is huge for a school.
TU is one of the two finalists for our S. Now we just have to figure out how to chooseâŠcoin flip? 
@ColdinMinny, a coin flip is too easy! You and your S have done so much to get to this point. I think now it is just a lot of sleepless nights as your S pictures himself at one school and then the other. Has he really narrowed it down to just two? That is in itself, very impressive.
I look forward to hearing about your Sâs final decision!
D and family sit patiently (some of us, anyway!) waiting for the final admission decision to be received. Many who have contributed to this thread are in a similar situation. For D, it seems to have come full circle. Her first choice since she began looking some two years ago was Rollins College, and despite mom and dad broadening the search to many other colleges, Rollins has always remained her first choice. The campus, the weather, family within the state, the renovated science center, and it simply being the first college that struck her as being a great fit all melded to keep the college at the top of her list.
We wait for one more decision, but I think the final decision has already been made.
Congrats to those who have made their final decisions⊠itâs going to be a great August!
Good luck @dadof1 with the final decision - both from Richmond and with your D! Rollins sounds wonderful, and especially great that she is so enthusiastic about it.
We just heard from Grinnell - waitlisted! Makes us both glad we did not really play that âtop 20 LACâ game. Many kids with 30-32 ACT, 2200 SAT and top grades were waitlisted or rejected there. Hard to believe that many really want to be in middle of nowhere Iowa, but thatâs the nature of the top 20 game.
D Still deciding between Centre, Southwestern, Denison, and maybe Sewanee - I am writing a financial aid appeal letter to Sewanee.
D is flying out to both Centre and Denison next month at their expense for an overnight visit - all by herself! Really look forward to hearing how that goes.
This has been a great thread!
Rejection is never easy @4kids4colleges but you seem to have a good attitude about it! A school taken off the list with other great choices still in hand. The top college game is one we didnât really play either.
I think itâs great that your D is flying to visit Centre and Denison! Itâs like going back for the second job interview when you (not the employer) are the one being recruited. Must make her feel very special!
Good luck with your appeal to Sewanee. I donât know how these appeals work. I suspect success is very case by case.
D received her last 2 acceptances this week (Denison & Union). Now itâs decision time. A really tough choice between several excellent schools, each with substantial strengths. Will it be the south (Sewanee), the northeast (Union), or the midwest (Wooster, Denison)? Not sure at this point. Heading back to Sewanee next week to attend a couple of classes, and meet a few more people. And then a couple of days of relaxation in Nashville. Hoping to persuade W&D to have dinner again at the Bell Buckle CafĂ© north of Sewanee!
@MidwestDad3, those are all great choices! Tough choice for sure. Hope your visit to Sewanee goes well. Let us know.
My H is traveling to Columbus OH next week for business, so he will get to see Denison before D goes the following week! I will be requesting lots of photos. 
@dadof1, thanks for your kind words. D was a little surprised, after way too many acceptances, to be waitlisted at Grinnell. But it seems like getting on the waitlist is an achievement in itself this year! Not too sad to cross Iowa off the list.
We started this journey with the CTCL book and college fair, and looks like it will end with a CTCL school. Time well-invested!
@midwestdad3 Bell Buckle Cafe looks awesome. I really enjoy stumbling upon mom and pop cafes while traveling.
@4kids4colleges Crossing Iowa of the list does soften the blow! 
LOVE this thread! Thanks @dadof1 and others for starting this discussion and keeping it going. I look forward to the final results. Looks like everyoneâs S or D will end up somewhere different and in the right place for him/her. Good luck @4kids4colleges with your appeal to Sewanee and your Dâs visits.
We have come back to middle Tennessee during Dâs spring break so she can visit Sewanee once more before making her final decision between the colleges that she has been accepted to. Six months ago Sewanee was her top choice. Since then she received other acceptances with great merit aid. By the time Sewanee accepted her (with a smaller merit award and a higher COA than several of the others) she had lost some interest. Could the initial interest be revived?
Apparently yes. One thing I learned (or re-learned) today is that when it comes down to it, it is not about the presentations, or facilities, or even the dorms in the end, but it is all about the students. D had lunch in McClurg dining hall (locally sourced food, some of it grown here on campus) with a student. Afterwards she hiked part way down the mountain with an upper level field studies ecology class of about 14. The teacher was a really talented biologist from U of Florida who assigned D to a small group and they spent a couple of hours completing their assignment in the forest. D was impressed by the interest that all the students showed in their project, by the way they worked together collaboratively, and by how eager they were to include her. (She had a great overnight experience last fall, but participating in the class reinforced for her the friendliness of the students.)
We had dinner this evening at an exceptional Singaporean restaurant nearby, called Crossroads, and the waitperson was a Sewanee junior who took alot of time to tell our D about campus life. She also told her about a very cool off campus study opportunity she had in Spain, run by Sewanee profs. She gave D her contact info and said she hopes to see her next year.
Although weâve visited before, I really hoped to get a handle on a few issues that always seem to come up on CC with regard to Sewanee: class dress, preppiness and geographic isolation.
After several visits, I still canât see evidence of any discernible dress code. In a classroom in the science building students were nicely dressed, but comfortable (some female students wore nice jeans, leggings, etc.). A few freshmen guys had coats and ties because of pledging. As it got warmer in the afternoon, almost everyone was outside in shorts and t-shirts. A few of the English faculty were teaching in their black robes. One professorâs dog was stretched out on the cold floor next to her as she taught!
A lot of the students are from private schools. So I guess, in that respect, the campus is technically preppy. But there is a culture of inclusiveness and respect that apparently begins before freshman year, with the âPreâ and the âFYPâ programs. Also, fraternities and sororities are for the most part nonresidential, and parties are open to all, so students said consistently that campus life is inclusive, rather than exclusive.
I asked several students and adults if they considered Sewanee isolated. The answer wasnât ever yes or no. A few pointed out that Starbucks and Walmart are 20 minutes away in Winchester. (If you need Target, you have to go to Chattanooga, 45 min away). It is not isolated in the respect that there are small towns, businesses, farms, etc throughout the region. And Sewanee has many community engagement opportunities close by. But some students from larger cities (Atlanta, Cleveland, San Diego) said it was a change for them that required a bit of getting used to. It seems that most of the seniors donât want to leave, however.
On my way up to financial aid, I saw framed pictures of the 26 Rhodes scholars Sewanee has produced. Thatâs a huge number for any university, let alone a school of this size. Likewise, in the Bio department, they had a display case with photos and the names of all the Bio majors. Both of these indicated to me, at least, how valued individual students are here.
Iâll see in another week if D feels as strongly as she does now. But my guess is sheâll be a Tiger next year.
What a wonderful report @MidwestDad3. Sewanee truly is an incredible, special place. One of a kind. So glad your D still loves it. I really hope she does choose to be a Tiger next year. And what a nice place to visit for parent weekends!
My D, the more she thought about it, felt slightly more intimidated by the strong private/prep school presence. This is completely foreign where we live. There is no such thing as a prep school. On the other hand, seeing how happy her former classmate is at Sewanee, someone most certainly NOT preppy - instead, very âoutâ gay, lower income, from her small public charter school â convinced her that it is indeed an open, nurturing, welcoming place. So, it is not off the list completely.
If it was my choice, honestly, I think I would pick Sewanee. I just loved it. Your D has excellent judgment @MidwestDad3!
Dâs final admissions decision came today - waitlisted at Tulane. She applied RD, and apparently virtually no one was accepted RD. ACTs from 30-35, perfect 4.0s -all, literally all who applied RD!!! - waitlisted or rejected. Tulane was so successful with its EA apps it seems it could take no more. Not a worry for us, since D has since determined that she definitely wants a LAC, not a medium-sized uni. Plus, Tulane is twice the price of Centre for example (yikes).
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MidwestDad, your review of Sewanee read like a short story! Sewanee is a special place for sure.
4kids, when we started this process last year, I wasnât sure that the different application pools (ED/EA/RD) made a difference in acceptance. The colleges we visited really encouraged D to apply early rather than regular admission⊠saying it helped to demonstrate interest in their college. Your experience with Tulane drives home the importance of applying early for some colleges.
D says she isnât yet ready to commit to any of her choices. Guess itâs not over yet! She is on Spring Break next week and will be attending an accepted students day at Rollins. W has scheduled a meeting with a financial aid representative to discuss Dâs award. Another opportunity for D to get a feel for Rollins. Richmond mailed their RD decisions yesterdayâŠ
Sometimes my iPhone and CC donât play nice together. Wrote something last night and when I posted it got cut off. Was too tired to repost.
@MidwestDad3 - your post made my day. You really captured the essence of Sewanee. I hope to see you and your D on the mountain!
@4kids4colleges - Sorry to hear of the Tulane waitlist. I know your D has several great acceptances that sound like much better fits.
@dadof1 - Hope your D gets good news from Richmond (one of my personal favorites) and that you have a great trip to Rollins.
Perhaps itâs a sign of my CC addiction (is there a 12 step program for this?), but I am looking forward to finding out where each of your kids is headed next year. You have put a lot of time, thought and effort into this process and your kids all have such great choices.
I hope this thread remains active for the class behind you. The Southern LACs have so much to offer. I love to see them get more attention on CC.
@overtheedge My wife asked me yesterday if I was going to give up CC after D1 was in college. After a moment, she commented that D2 begins the process in the fall!
^LOL. CC is hard to give up. Then there are things like adjusting to college, internships, etc. to discuss. I have been asked to assist two nieces with this process so I may be here for awhile too. Iâm thinking that Trinity may be a great match for my niece in TX.
The twists and turns of college admissions: Weâve been waiting for a couple of weeks to get any news relating to Dâs Richmond admissions decision⊠clicking on the UR Admissions twitter feed multiple times, lurking in the Richmond RD CC thread, etc. On Wednesday, UR finally says RD decisions have been mailed and shows a pic of USPS bins stuffed with large envelopes. Other CCerâs write they received their decision yesterday via priority mail. OK, weâre much further away and didnât expect it to arrive in one day from Virginia.
Today, a USPS priority mail envelope arrives in the mail! Wife quickly texts around indicating itâs here⊠all are excited, except for the fact the envelope is not one of those large ones. And thereâs something smaller and square shaped in the envelope. Of course we donât open it since its mailed to D. We look at the return address⊠New Hampshire. Strange that a UR mailing should begin in New Hampshire. Wife googles the address⊠itâs Dâs passport! Doh!
Still a chance for acceptance!
S decided to attend the state flagship instead on a LAC. I love LACs, but Iâm not going to college. I still have one more child who will be looking soon! Good luck to all! It sounds as though all of your children have great options.
Any thoughts on which other school most similar to Eckerd? I think the âurban/suburbanâ side is what she is having trouble finding. Doesnât like Rhodes (I donât know why).