Southern LACs

College Search & Selection
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<p>I don’t have any personal knowledge about Roanoke but it sounds nice. Campus looks beautiful, honors program offers housing, a freshman retreat, trip to D.C., year-long research project. It is very small - only 45 new students in honors program each year. </p>

<p>Merit aid seems very good - NPC said $23k, plus chance to compete for additional scholarships. COA is $50k I believe. </p>

<p>US News named Roanoke an “Up and Coming” national LAC this year. Freshman retention rate is good, and 46% of students are from out of state. Small college town of Salem, 8 miles from city of Roanoke, mountain views.</p>

<p>Downside - not very selective, much lower admissions stats than others we’ve been discussing. Act 20-25. Four-year graduation rate 57% not great. </p>

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<p>^Roanoke seems a bit like the Univ of Tampa academically, but the colleges have much different atmospheres. Tampa is smack dab in large city and Roanoke is a smaller city in the mountains. Both are worth a look.</p>

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<p>I think D will put Roanoke on her list, taking U of Tampa off because she does not want to be in a city. The only urban-ish school she liked was Agnes Scott, but that felt more like a really nice, hip neighborhood rather than city. </p>

<p>Question for @dadof1 and everyone else - Do you know how merit aid works at Wofford? NPC indicates a nice scholarship amount, but it looks like nominations for the Wofford Scholars program happen in the junior year, and nominations close in June of the junior year. Is there a separate merit program or are all scholarships through the Scholars program? </p>

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<p>^Univ of Tampa is across the river from downtown but in (near) an interesting neighborhood called Hyde Park. Definitely urban though. </p>

<p>I also found it a bit strange that the Wofford Scholars program requires nominations in the junior year. Maybe many of the students from in state/legacy know this information and so can apply as a junior but OOS students seem a bit out of luck. I believe the NPC merit aid can be separate from the Wofford Scholars program, but I haven’t confirmed this information. For our financial situation, D comes in toward the lower end of the estimated COA spectrum among southern LACs. </p>

<p>D also received an interesting postcard indicating Wofford offers “an out-of-state scholarship to all students who meet the South Carolina LIFE Scholarship criteria”. The postcard indicates the student is guaranteed “$5000 in scholarship money”. Is this in addition to typical merit aid in the NPC? And for each year? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but Wofford seems to be trying to attract OOS students.</p>

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<p>^Geez I wish there was an edit function to posts… :-/ </p>

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<p>@dadof1, I emailed Wofford admissions office to find out about merit and Wofford Scholars. It is definitely not clear. </p>

<p>Did your D look at Flagler in FL or rule it out for some reason? Wondering about that one too…</p>

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<p>@4kids4college Please post any information you discover about Wofford merit aid. </p>

<p>We visited St. Augustine for a day a couple of years ago on vacation and walked by Flagler. It was xmas time, so no students were around. Interesting buildings. St. Augustine is a nice place. Flager didn’t make D’s list because it seems more like a business-centric college to us. </p>

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<p>My D was a Wofford Scholar. The GCs nominate students their junior year. SC HSs know about this but I’m not sure how it works for OOS students. I tried in vain to get D to consider Wofford because of the Wofford Scholars and her eligibility for Palmetto Fellows (6700 Freshman year, and 7500 a year Soph - Sr. year). Assuming Wofford uses the same requirements for OOS students as SC, the SC Life Scholarship eligibility requires a student meet 2 of these 3 benchmarks: 3.0 GPA based on SC Uniform Grading Scale; 1100 SAT (CR + M) (can super score) or ACT 24 (single sitting), and/or top 30% of graduating class. LIFE is $5000 per year renewable for 3 years (4 yrs total) provided the student meets certain credit requirements and maintains a 3.0 GPA. For students majoring in math or science, SC has an “enhancement” of up to 2500.00 per year beginning sophomore year (some restrictions apply). I would ask if Wofford matches this too. If you are OOS and your child is interested in Wofford, I would get the paperwork for Wofford Scholars and ask your GC to recommend your child.</p>

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<p>@Overtheedge Thanks for this information and good advice too.</p>

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<p>Below is the link for the nomination form and web page for Wofford Scholars. </p>

<p><a href=“Wofford Scholars Nomination”>https://begin.wofford.edu/register/WoffordScholarsNomination&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Wofford College | Wofford Scholars”>http://www.wofford.edu/scholars/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>About the Wofford OOS student match for the South Carolina LIFE scholarship, we learned it was treated exactly as the LIFE scholarship for in state students. It’s in addition to any other merit aid and has the same renewal eligibility as the LIFE scholarship. <a href=“http://www.che.sc.gov/CHE_Docs/studentservices/life/FAQ-LIFE-3-28-2014.pdf”>http://www.che.sc.gov/CHE_Docs/studentservices/life/FAQ-LIFE-3-28-2014.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Pretty good deal for OOS Wofford students!</p>

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<p>Here is the info I (finally) received for Wofford Scholars:</p>

<p>The short answer to your question is that [D] will be considered for the vast majority of scholarship aid through her application for admission. Wofford Scholars might be a little more complicated since the event is on 11/22. We can certainly accept her nomination for the program, but it might be a little short notice for booking flights, hotels, etc. If you think it is possible, then we would be thrilled to have [D] join us. It is a terrific opportunity to meet faculty, students, and Wofford graduates. We will also give you all tickets to the football game. If it isn’t possible, please don’t view it as a limiting factor. Wofford Scholar or not, we rely most heavily upon students’ application file for admission and scholarships. The interviews offered on the 22nd help us put some of that information into context.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info, @4kids4colleges. D is in a holding pattern, just waiting to see what comes of the applications. What are your current plans for your November college tour?</p>

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<p>I think at this point we are going to wait for acceptances to come in and plan more visits in the Spring. Just can’t do it all, as you know @dadof1! Did your D apply to Wofford? </p>

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<p>^Yes, D applied to Wofford EA. Most of her applications were EA with the exception of URichmond and Rollins. </p>

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<p>Just wanted to update this thread with D’s information for those interested. First, thank you all for the information you’ve supplied for this thread… I’ve found it enlightening and hope others have as well. </p>

<p>D applied to 11 schools, ranging from an academic top of URichmond to a super safety of UTampa and from VA to TX. EA or rolling admission at all except Rollins and Richmond. She’s received four acceptances to date: UTampa, BSC, Southwestern Univ, and Hendrix. Merit aid at UTampa was $13,000 and BSC was $27,500… exceptional CoA at BSC! Still awaiting merit information at Southwestern and Hendrix. </p>

<p>D still doesn’t have a clear first choice. All of her schools hold some attraction and some potential drawbacks (centered around potential CoA). She’s is very likely to attend graduate school in her opinion, so we are thinking the final CoA may have a more important bearing on her final choice than we thought previously.</p>

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<p>Can’t wait to hear what she decides!</p>

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<p>@dadof1‌ Love the updates! Anyone else heard back from ED, EA, and rolling admissions? D applied to 6 with 2 to go: 1) St Mary’s College in Maryland and 2) Skidmore, which is still a question mark in my mind. (Too cold!)</p>

<p>So far, one acceptance: Roanoke College in Salem, VA with $20,000 merit scholarship and the opportunity for more $ if she competes in their scholars competition in Feb. The COA may end up comparable to her in-state public choice, Clemson University. Clemson actually has a great program in her major, French & International Trade. Good news so far!</p>

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<p>Congratulations to all with acceptances! Although I am past the admissions phase (D 2014 is my youngest) I haven’t forgetten the anxiety and excitement. I particularly enjoy this thread because of my familiarity with many of the schools to which your kids are applying. A great lot in all. I’m cheering for you from the sidelines. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Looks like my D may have put in the most applications! 15 EA apps in the South and West. So far 3 acceptances. We are most excited, so far, about Agnes Scott with $22k merit and invitation to interview for full ride in March. Also accepted at Southwestern U (TX), no merit info yet, and Westminster College in Salt Lake City with $15k merit. </p>

<p>We also heard from the Roanoke college admissions office, telling us D qualified for Scholars Weekend (although she has not received official acceptance yet, sounds like its on the way). </p>

<p>@mominsc, did you visit Roanoke? We did not get a chance to visit. I’m pretty sure she will attend the scholars competition there, and definitely the scholarship weekend at Agnes Scott. Would love to meet you at Roanoke in February!</p>

<p>D’s top choices are still Sewanee, Agnes Scott, and Centre. Very, very different schools! She also applied to: Wofford, Hendrix, Stetson (FL), Eckerd, McDaniel College (MD), Guilford (NC). In the West, she applied to Trinity in San Antonio, TX, U of Redlands (CA), Whittier (CA), College of Idaho, and Colorado State U (very unlikely she will go there, but its her in-state safety). </p>

<p>Oh and one in the Midwest - Beloit (WI). This one caught her attention, but I would be surprised if she passed up a Southern or Western climate school for Wisconsin!</p>

<p>Believe it or not, she is also applying RD to Bryn Mawr, Smith and Mount Holyoke. Not likely to be affordable, but figured she’d give it a shot. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the info on this thread! Would love to hear everyone’s acceptances as they continue to come in!</p>