TCU Academic Reputation & Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z TCU
1

<p>My son has been accepted to TCU and really loved his tour, the campus and the students. He is not from Texas and neither he nor I are familar with the school's academeic reputation. It seems like a real up and coming school. Any thoughts on how TCU is known inside or outside of Texas wpuld be appreciated.</p>

<p>Also, he was thrilled to get a partial scholarship offer. Do scholarship offers at TCU come one time only or is like SMU where I read they may come more than once before decision date ? It is not the deciding factor but something to understand.</p>

2

<p>well im attending tcu this fall and I actually live in houston…so i would say for texans tcu has a pretty good reputation! Of course its not the most popular school in texas because we also have the University of Texas, but its up there with SMU and Baylor. Academically, they are nationally recognized, I believe the were ranked around 110 of all national universities. And on the scholarship I also received one and I was told that they will come back in march with the financial aid that they will offer on top of the scholarship and I have heard that they can possible add more to your scholarship through the spring semester as students start commiting to the school.</p>

3

<p>For my older son, scholarships came in two parts. There was a large one that came with his acceptance letter, and then another came a little later (can’t remember when) that brought it up to full tuition. He was an EA applicant.</p>

<p>TCU has a great reputation in Texas. I don’t know if it parallels the rep of Baylor and SMU, but it’s very good. It’s known for caring faculty, personalized education, great standards, friendliness, good manners and moral character, amongst other good things.</p>

<p>And, of course, it depends on the desired major before you can really compare apples to apples. But it is known to be a very good school that takes in very good people and puts out even better ones! I think your son should be honored!</p>

<p>Good luck with everything!</p>

4

<p>Simplelife, do you mind if I ask what his stas were to get both scholarships?? (GPA SAT scores, extracurricular???)</p>

5

<p>Hi wahine. I don’t mind telling you, kind of vaguely, about my son. Don’t want to be too specific, because I’m guarded about my kids’ privacy, but I also want to be helpful.</p>

<p>My son’s high school curriculum, course load, and EC’s were probably very instrumental in putting him in the running for those great scholarships. His stats were quite good, but not really amazingly stellar. </p>

<p>He had two primary EC’s. Both were extremely time-consuming. He demonstrated considerable talent in each. He served in the #1 leadership and #1 talent position in his 3200 member high school in one of the EC’s, where he performed individually at the all-region level for 7 years. And he had a leadership position in the other EC and performed individually at the all-state level for 3 years and at the all-region level for 7 years. Earned national recognition junior year. These EC’s required a ton of time outside of school, as well as in school. </p>

<p>In order to remain in both EC’s, which together took up 4 out of 8 class periods each year, he had to get special permission for a special curriculum that he and his guidance counselor developed during his freshman year. That special curriculum required him to take numerous correspondence courses and summer school for a lot of the required non-core, and show up an hour and a half before school started every day for a year for one of his required core classes. We were told that he was the first student ever to complete 2 class-time EC’s for 4 full years in the school administration’s memory. So, I think his drive, determination, and unusual curriculum, which had him graduating with a HUGE number of credit hours, many completed in his own time, earned him extra “brownie points.”</p>

<p>He served in an increasingly significant capacity in the same community service for 6 years, where he was appointed the last 2 years to an advisory board position by an adult community leader. He became responsible for training new volunteers on top of the work he was already doing for the organization. This was in addition to the community service work required by his school’s National Honor Society.</p>

<p>He’s an excellent writer and had very good essays. And his teachers and guidance counselor wrote really great recs.</p>

<p>Of course, I don’t think they would have given him such good scholarships if he didn’t have great academics to match. But like I said, they were not amazingly stellar. He was top 5% from a class of over 800 kids. GPA 4.0 unweighted and 112/120 weighted. SAT 2230. Not NMSF – 213, I think. ACT 32. All AP classes --all 5’s and one 4.</p>

<p>Hope this helps. Good luck in the process! It’s grueling, I know!</p>

6

<p>The more I read about TCU, the more comfortable I feel, a special school.</p>

7

<p>It is truly a very special school, I think.</p>

8

<p>Thank you so much Simplelife! That helped alot. My D was accepted last year (didn’t get a scholarship) but chose to stay closer to home. My S is a sophmore and has shown interest in TCU (Which makes my hubby and I happy because we both went there!) We are gearing up for the process with him :-)</p>

9

<p>Oh good, wahine. I’m glad it helped. I have another son (may or may not have already mentioned that here) who is a junior and in the beginning stages of the whole grueling process. In fact, we’re visiting TCU in a week for their (what’s it called?) TCU Mondays (?). I would be absolutely delighted if he ended up there in a year and a half! But he’ll need some pretty great scholarships to do so. His EC’s and course curriculum are only half as intriguing as his older brother’s, but his stats are nearly perfect in all academic categories. It will be interesting to see what happens.</p>

<p>I wish your college freshman D and sophomore S the very best of luck!</p>

10

<p>I received the Chancellor’s Scholarship which covers full tuition for four years.</p>

<p>No room and board though, so still about 13k a year.</p>

11

<p>fianchetto;congrats !!! did scholarship come with acceptance letter or later notification ?</p>

<p>does anyone know if TCU scholarships are given at one time or is it like SMU where they may come in later or stages ?</p>

12

<p>The scholarship comes about two weeks after acceptance letter. They send this huge Fedex package with your certificate in it. A waste of money and resources, if you ask me.</p>

13

<p>Im so nervous! I got in already but there was a problem with my financial info that might’ve delayed my financial awards or something…</p>

<p>Im wondering though, a lot of you already received your scholarships, dont they let you know about your scholarships like mid march? </p>

<p>Academic Scholarships
Apply for admission to the University by December 15. No additional application is necessary.
Be in the top 15% of your high school graduating class.
Scholarship recipients will be notified in mid March.
[TCU</a> Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.fam.tcu.edu/schol_fresh.asp]TCU”>http://www.fam.tcu.edu/schol_fresh.asp)</p>

14

<p>fiancetto, can you share your stats to get a feel for what it might take to get a Chancellor’s scholly?</p>

15

<p>I want to go to Tcu next year both of my cousins are there now and ones in a fraternity and the other a sorority. I go to a good public school in houston where i make mostly bs and the occasional c. freshman year i went to a very hard school and failed out which brought my gpa down tremendously i think i have a 2.6 out 0f 5. im in all ib classes and the number one tennis player im involved in my church and a reading to poor kids group. my family isnt poor so we definetly have the money to send me there but i no my gpa wont get me in any advice</p>

16

<p>With that kind of grammar you have no chance.</p>

17

<p>^^^That was kind of mean.</p>

<p>But seriously, gman … some people are pretty casual about their writing in informal situations – especially if they’re typing on a phone, or what have you. Maybe you were simply “texting” and intentionally not paying attention to punctuation and grammar?</p>

<p>If your post is any real reflection of your writing skills, you should focus first on improving there. Ask your teachers for help. Get some extra tutoring. And, for sure, have your favorite English teachers look over your applications before you submit them! You’re going to have to submit a bunch of college applications soon, and there will be TONS of writing on them. Colleges really focus in on what you write. The personal essays will say a lot about who you are as a person (the most important aspect of the personal essay), but they will also say a lot about your capability as a communicator. The other short essay answers and “additional information” you provide will say a lot about your communication skills as well. Colleges want good communicators. So, polish that up, if necessary, and you’ll stand a better chance of getting what you want out of the application process.</p>

<p>If you were just being casual and kind of intentionally careless with your writing, then I would just focus on being the best person you can be – achieving at your highest levels, giving to your community in some way, participating fully in an extracurricular or two that match your strengths, and doing it all for the right reasons – because you want to be the best person you can be, and because you’re open to learning and growing and contributing. I really think that’s what most colleges look for … and I know the “whole person” is very much what TCU is about!</p>

<p>Best of luck to you, gman!</p>

18

<p>Fiancetoo share your stats please to see what it takes to get the chancellor’s scholarship</p>

19

<p>i have 2340 SAT and 4.25 GPA. Ranked 9 out of 630.</p>

20

<p>Nice stats… Did you apply to an ivy league or something?</p>