@TXMom7007 my daughter is a junior at Hendrix and really loves the college! Hope your D has great experience!
koolmom5105, I am confident she will love it. It seems to fit her like a glove. She is also excited to go there because her grandmother graduated from Hendrix in 1960. But I never thought my daughter would go to school there so itās a great turn of events.
Happy to comment on Rhodes. Like I said my daughter loves the school !! She just wants to leave Memphis. Two of her closest friends are going to be in the the class of 2019. One friend has to stay here in Memphis because she has been a patient at St. Jude ( currently in remission) . She does a lot of speaking on behalf of ALSAC which is the fundraising arm of St. Jude. The hospital is close to her heart for many reasons and she just wanted to stay. She is a Day Scholar which is basically a full ride for local students. My daughters other friend lives out in the suburbs and wants to live in midtown. She was also offered substantial merit aid, she is a high performing student at her school.
I have several friends that at professors and they are awesome in their fields.
I currently work with a student there ( I am an occupational therapist ) and without divulging too much I can say the school has been absolutely amazing helping this student transition back into college after an accident. They have gone above and beyond and really everyone there from the students , faculty and all the staff have been amazing.
Memphis is fine. I get so sick of people going on about the crime. Especially if you have never been here. This is my home and have lived here all my life. It is a large urban city, use your common sense and you will be fine. My child goes out in midtown all the time and is just fine. It can have some interesting characters, but the homeless are harmless. The gang activity in some neighborhoods really makes the crime rate look worse than it is. There would be no reason for a student to go into those areas.
Rhodes really cares about their students, I can assure anyone out there based on the interactions I have had, and I am on the campus twice a week.
I really should not be surprised my D chose Sewanee. It is so similar to Rhodes!! She wants to leave the city and do hiking ect.
By the way, my D chose Sewanee over Furman. So glad the decision has been made. YSR!!
Congrats @mommamegan. Our Ds will be classmates up on the mountain! My D is so excited to start!
Mommamegan - Hooray! Another Sewanee parent. Congratulations to you and your D. Feel free to PM if you have any questions. YSR!
Last year it came down to Sewanee and Rhodes for my D. I still have a soft spot for Rhodes. It seems like a wonderful place. I also think those two schools are quite similar except for their location.
Thanks to all for the recent contributions, and welcome to newcomers on this thread! Its really great to hear all of the different (and similar) perspectives on these schools.
This week Southwestern U notified us that Dās merit award was increased as a result of our FA appeal, which is really great news. I think D is leaning toward SU, and it is now the lowest COA school of her top 4 choices. However, she still has an overnight visit to Centre coming up this week, and the results of other FA appeals should come in this week or next.
From the sidelines, my husband and I are still rooting for Centre. We are pretty adamant that study abroad should be a part of Dās undergrad experience, and at Centre the school guarantees that each student will have the opportunity to study abroad - the only additional cost is a plane ticket. They also have shorter, 2-3 week trips every January to some unbelievable places, with Centre professors, for a very reasonable cost. Considering the cost of study abroad at other schools, we are factoring this opportunity in to the financial picture.
Congrats to all have decided and best of luck to your students!
^^Excellent news, 4kids! We had a similar experience with FA at Rollins, so it can be worthwhile to make a thoughtful appeal to the financial aid office.
Good luck @4kids4colleges with your FA appeals. And congrats on the increased merit award. The son of a close friend took a trip to Spain this year during Centreās winter term and had a wonderful experience.
@4kids4college my D toured Southwestern on a college tour with her school. She recently said to me she should have applied there. She did the tour well over a year ago ( they took the kids over fall break and they saw 8 schools )
On the tour it was her favorite, she told me it seemed like Rhodes. Austin is such an awesome city, I would think it would be tons of fun to go to school nearby. I canāt wait to hear what she decides. I have read this whole thread and it is like novel. I want to see how it ends up for everyoneā¦lol
Thank you @mommamegan and @overtheedge and @dadof1.
We heard today from Sewanee on FA appeal ā a very nice, personal letter, but only a tiny bit more aid awarded, so it is off the table now for sure.
I agree Austin seems like a great place to be! The architecture at SU is similar to Rhodes, I think. Very beautiful place.
Anyone else still deciding or are we the only ones??? 
@4kids4colleges, at least the Sewanee FA helps to narrow down your Dās choices. Down to three it seems. She has a growing collection of t-shirts and some very nice trips complements of the final options. That last trip to Centre may be a clincher for her. Have you started a big pros and cons chart?
Does she have the opportunity to play her sport at all three? And how important is it to her?
Ease and cost of travel?
Study abroad ease and affordability?
Semester vs. 4-1-4 schedule?
Weather?
Nicest dorms?
Best food?
It is that elusive ābest fitā that is the really hard one to pin down. And you have said it yourself, she can see herself at any of her final schools.
You have conducted and documented a great search process. I do not think you are the only one left on this thread still deciding. There are a few that have popped in that seem to still have no decision made. May 1 is coming!
@4kids4colleges I understand SU is renovating their science facility now and planning another addition when money is available. If your D is considering a science major and will be spending many hours in the science building over the years, it is worth determining the impact of these construction projects on her experience. These projects may be great for future students but not current students. Just something to think about.
And then there were twoā¦
Denison responded to our FA appeal with an additional loan offer. Not enough to work for us. Although generous, still much higher COA than the final 2 - Centre and Southwestern.
Good point @dadof1 about the science building. I understand phase one will be finished Spring 2016, and sounds like there will be no more construction for a while. It is a concern.
As is the continuing turmoil at SU over sexual assault policies. Maybe more like controversy, not turmoil. (Please donāt judge, but I āpeekā on the app YikYak at the colleges D is considering - parents, if you want to get the REAL flavor of what kids are doing at these colleges, take a look). Anyway, on YikYak there appears to be ongoing tension between the āprotestorsā regarding SA policies and the frats/frat sympathizers.
This is all completely normal, healthy, and absolutely the way change happens. Iām really glad this is happening at SU. Does that mean I want my kid to land in the middle of it? Not so sure. It is a distraction. I am planning to call Dās admissions counselor at SU and talk specifically about these two issues - science building distractions and SA policy distractions.
@lots2do, you are so right, its down to the pros and cons chart. However, her chart does not necessarily look like ours! As far as her playing lacrosse, she has pretty much been offered a spot on the team at SU. She is meeting with coach at Centre, so we will see how that goes.
D leaves for Centre on Friday. Still awaiting FA news. Down to 2, canāt believe it! Very exciting.
Maybe she should choose on the basis of best school colors? No! They are the same! Black and gold (which she loves). Mascots? Pirates vs. Colonels - both pretty masculine, and not dogs (that was her biggest pro for Wofford - the Terriers
Thank you all, again, for sharing this journey. Sorry if I am over-updating!
@4kids4colleges you are not over-updating! We have been patiently waiting to hear an update from you. And we learned about Yik Yak. I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear your conversation with admissions about your areas of concern. I suspect they might just put the president of the University on the phone!
It is funny the things that make an impression on our students that we as parents donāt think should matter. Like the mascot. But it all matters. (Pirates - our high school mascot; my sonās reaction, āIām not sure I can go somewhere that has the same mascot as HSā.)
Could be quite enlightening to have students build a pros and cons list - ordered from most to least important. And for parents to do the same, independently. This would be very interesting to compare.
@4kids4colleges! I really enjoy your updates. Please keep them coming!
D has not committed to a college yet either. My D, however, has a clear favorite, Rollins College! As predicted, D experienced the quintessential āI love it!ā moment when visiting for the first time. It was an accepted students day, @dadof1, which I believe was exactly a week before your Dās visit that sealed the deal for her.
From the small discussion-based classes to the emphasis on study abroad, this southern LAC appears to be tailor-made for D. We loved Winter Park and itās proximity to Orlando, which offers many opportunites for internships, etc. There were so many other proās, including the honor code, nice dorms, good food, engaged professors, relatively diverse student body, academic rigor, ample on-campus housing, a beautiful campus, and an active alumni network. Rollins appears to be a perfect fit. Well, almostā¦
H and I are are reluctant to give D the green light until we see the final financial aid letter. Our original FAFSA, which we submitted in January, was based on estimates. The dreaded high COA is a major concern as @dadof1 and I discussed earlier in this thread. My D received a $20,000 merit scholarship so at least that is a known quantity. D also received a generous FA package based on 2013 numbers.
I had an appointment with FA when we visited Rollins, and I found the face-to-face meeting extremely helpful. We reviewed our January FAFSA and plugged in various numbers to adjust for fluctuations in AGI and children in college since S is a rising senior at an in-state public. S intends to go to grad school, which does count as an additional child in college at Rollins.
I am hopeful the final FA package will work. If not, I suppose weāll file an appeal. Those of you who appealed, how quickly did colleges get back to you?
@mominsc, great news about Rollins! Sounds like the perfect fit for your D.
It seems to me the FA appeal turnaround depends on when the particular schoolās FA committees meet. Some of them have scheduled meetings, others meet on an as-needed basis, I believe.
For example, with Denison, we submitted our appeal on a Friday, and were notified the following Wednesday - a quick turnaround because Denison FA had a scheduled appeals meeting on that Tuesday. With Southwestern, they told us it would be within two weeks, and it was.
However, with Centre, we sent in appeal on 4/3, and have not yet heard back. If its close to May 1, I would think your request would be expedited. Hopefully your package will be adequate and you will not have to appeal. In our case, our financial situation changed from 2014, so the appeals really were necessary.
@mominsc A potential Tarā¦ Rollins is like a black hole! The āI love it!ā moments are great to see in a child, but I understand the financial side too!
For another data point, here is the aid we received from Rollins (30 ACT; 3.5 or 3.6 UW/4.0 W; 27500 EFC): merit aid of $22,000, legacy scholarship of $2000, work study of up to $2000 and loans. Dās grandfather graduated from Rollins many moons ago; hence, the legacy scholarship.
Dās stats were at the border of the $22,000 and $25,000 merit awards. At the accepted students day, my wife and D met with both Dās admission counselor and a financial aid officer. They discussed the merit aid with the admission counselor and general policies with the FA officer. The admission counselor said they would review Dās award to see if she qualified with her updated GPA that included the first semester of her senior year.
A few days later we received an email from the admission counselor stating they reviewed the merit award, but D still didnāt qualify for the higher award. However, we did receive an updated FA award via email with an additional $3000 non-merit grant. We donāt know if the two offices communicated with each other, but the amount and timing was coincidental.
When D2 goes to college in a couple of years, the Rollins EFC was one of the only calculators that showed much increased grant aid ($8000/year). We verified this type of increase with the Rollins FA office. Of course, there is no guarantee of additional grant aid in the coming years. In the end, a merit award amount that canāt be changed, barring a low GPA, is better than a grant award that may vary from year to year.
Good luck with your appeal, and please keep sending updates!
Todayās update - Centre did not come through with increased FA for us. Instead, a $500 one time grant in addition to already-awarded $20,000 merit award. (Really!!!) Our original EFC was $55k (yikes) recalculated to $33k. Still too much for need-based.
Southwestern has by far the best COA for us. D started with a $20k merit award. Was raised to $22k without asking. After appeal, with senior year first semester grades showing 3.8 GPA UW, they raised it to $25.5k, their highest award (other than competitive scholarships). COA is $48, so $22,500 COA. Cheaper than state flagship.
Luckily, it is also her current first choice!
Still, Centre is not far off in price. D is flying in tomorrow. I want her to look at it with fresh eyes, give it a real chance. If she loves it, she will go there, despite the difference (really only about $5k a year). If its still a tie, SU. Sheās the kind of kid who can be happy in a variety of settings (as long as there are not too many kids).
Today one of my best friends told me her son is applying to Baylor EA next year, and she hopes we can visit our kids together. Their family has a ranch not far from SU, and her cousin works in the Provostās office at SU. Especially with these kinds of connections, it does seem closer to home in many ways, which is a big draw for D.
Out of 20+ college visits, D only bought T shirts at two schools: SU and Denison. Letās see if she comes home with a Centre shirt!
@dadof1 - this is such a helpful board. Thanks for starting it! We are in the early stage of our search for D who graduates in 2016. I believe I read you attended UGA. Not to be nosy, but do you live in Georgia? We are in Atlanta and recently checked out GCSU as an in-state LAC option. The HOPE scholarship offered to Georgia high schoolers is definitely a draw for staying in-state. I was curious if you checked out GCSU (if you are a Georgia resident) and how your D thought it compared to other southern LACs.
@atlchelle I did live in GA and attend UGA, but I now live in the midwest. Unfortunately, I donāt have any first-hand knowledge on Georgia College. Looking at collegedata.com, the percentage of students that return for their sophomore year is pretty good (85%); however, the percentage of students that graduate in four years is low (39). This would be a red flag for me. When I was at UGA, a person couldnāt graduate in four years without taking classes during at least one summer. Maybe this kind of thing contributes somewhat to the low graduation rate at Georgia College, but still the graduation rate would be concerning to meā¦ especially, if a person has other choices.
Glad you are finding this thread helpful! Thereās a lot of knowledge to be tapped on CC.