TCU Class of 2025 — Admissions Date: by April 1

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Hello all hopeful Horned Frogs! The Common App opens August 1, but you may want to start your college journey now. I hope this thread can function as a source of useful information for y’all. Firstly some,
Deadlines
November 1- EA and ED (EA or submission shortly thereafter strongly recommended if you would like to be considered for Chancellor’s Scholars Weekend)

November 15- First Honors Supplement App Deadline

February 1- RD Deadline and Second Honors Supplement App Deadline

Sourced from: https://admissions.tcu.edu/apply/freshman/ and https://admissions.tcu.edu/apply/faqs/honors-college

**What to Sumbit/b
GPA, SAT and/or ACT (accepted, but not required for Class of 2021), self reported AP Scores (only directly send through CB if accepted to and attending TCU to receive course credit)
Personal Essay (250-650 words)
“What makes TCU a great fit for you?” Essay (Recd 100 words, 250 limit) {I like to call this “Why TCU?” because it is the opportunity to show why you personally should belong at TCU)
“How would you describe your personal character?” Essay (Recd 100 words, 250 limit)
Course History and Major(S) applying for
Freedom of Expression file (can be document, video, song, really anything that you want)

Honors College
If you think you would enjoy an honors experience, do apply through TCU’s website beginning August 1.
Typically there are 2 essays, but I cannot guarantee prompts have not changed. Please let us know if these are changed and what the new prompts are once you gain access.

My Prompts Were:

  1. John V. Roach Honors College students and faculty are encouraged to take creative and thoughtful risks. Describe a time when you found the courage to do something unexpected and completely unlike you. Why did you take this risk? What did you learn from the experience? What did this experience teach you about the process of learning?
  2. (Choose 1 of the 3 options) a. An identification card—a passport, driver’s license, school ID—characterizes you. It places you in groups with others who are like you and distinguishes you from those who are not like you. Analyze what your “official” identity says about you and what it omits. Do you wish it were different, and if so why?

b. When Walt Disney first described his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
(EPCOT), he said, “Everything in EPCOT will be dedicated to the happiness of the people who will live, work, and play here… and to those who come here from all around the world to visit our living showcase.” He then proceeded to build his ideal community. Describe in detail your ideal community. Explain your choices in the creation process.

c. Salt, governments, beliefs, and celebrity couples are a few examples of things that can be dissolved. You’ve just been granted the power to dissolve anything: physical, metaphorical, abstract, concrete…you name it. Explain what you would dissolve and why. Also name and describe your choice of solvent.

Please leave questions or comments if you have any; I do this because I love to help people find their fit and share my passion! :blush:

In the future when the time comes closer, I can create threads about scholarships, housing, social organizations if there is interest, but feel free to look through past threads to glean info on these and other subjects.

Enjoy the summer while you can! :smiley:

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Hi! Wow, can’t believe there is a thread for Co25 already! TCU is one of my top choices and I will definitely be applying EA in a few months.

Do you know if the ‘why TCU’ and ‘describe your character’ prompts are definite for next year? And do you think it is best to get as close to the word count max as possible or try to stay around the 100 mark?

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Hi @CollegeBoundBrit thanks for stopping by :slight_smile: While I can’t say that those prompts are definite, I’d say there is an extremely strong likelihood they appear again. They are considered optional where they show up in the Common App, but of course one should always do the optional essays. I think it is wise to stay around the 100 words mark, but don’t limit what you want to say. Mine ended up being ~110 and 120 words. The recommendation is there to remind you that admissions officers want to know what should make them want you at their school, but succinctly. Let me know if I can be of more help!

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So, if you apply for admission on August 1st, will it take until Jan of 2021 to be notified of acceptance?

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Hi @Housear :slight_smile: The Common App opens on August 1, but the time you get your decision depends on if you apply Early Decision (binding), Early Action (non-binding), or Regular Decision. If you are planning on knocking everything out soon, your best course would be to apply Early Action, which is open until November 1. Then the admissions committee gets together presumably November 2 or shortly thereafter to consider all ED and EA applications. EA decisions have typically come out during the holiday season. I think it would probably be around December 11 this year, comparing calendar dates from previous years. Similarly RD applications end on Feb 1, and decisions come out sometime in March or April.

I hope this answers your question. Let me know if you have more!

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Yes it helps. My son applied via the TCU portal for ED/EA and has completed all steps except for the CSS via the College Board portal (which doesn’t open until Oct 1st). He has begun to receive other acceptance letters and didn’t know if this would be the case with similar private Universities (acceptance as applications come in) or via a different process (committee after the application period closes).

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Hello,

Do you know if admissions look at financial need when evaluating a prospective ED student?
Thanks!

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@easttexasfrog I am not sure. If you email your admissions officer they should be able to tell you better than I could. Also, if you have any doubt about going to TCU, it would be better to EA than ED (but it also depends on stats). But definitely contact your AO because that’s definitely important to know for financial considerations.

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I noticed this morning that in the MyTcu.edu portal, it went from saying that we would be notified by January 1 to saying we would be notified by April 1. Is anyone else seeing that? Any idea why? We completed the application before the November 1 deadline (long before - at the beginning of October).

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The same thing happened to my daughter: she checks everyday and flipped out seeing that this morning lol. She called admissions and the lady she spoke to said it was a mistake. She said she would speak to whoever was in charge of that and get back to us, but assured my daughter that she would hear by January 1 after seeing she choose EA on her application.

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Thanks @Khenches! We noticed that it has now changed back. Nothing like a little panic to start your week!

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If you applied using common app how do you check your status? We applied ED and I am not sure where we should be checking.

Thanks!

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@easttexasfrog - You can check on the mytcu.edu portal. But I don’t think they’ve made any (or few if any) decisions yet.

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@easttexasfrog It may be slightly later because of circumstances, but EA and ED decisions have in the past come out in a time frame that would correspond to Dec 11 - Dec 18 this year (but most likely closer to the beginning of that time frame). @CO2025Mom is correct that the status can be checked on myTCU - definitely register for an account there if you have not yet. That’s where decisions and scholarship information will be posted.

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@SuperfrogFan Thank you for all your tips and advice. First time going through this process!!

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My D applied as EA, no decision yet. But, she received text from student ambassor. What is this about?

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@mochiko Not sure, what was the content and nature of the message?

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@mochiko my daughter got the same text message last night. She joined the group.

I have another question…Will our student be notified via email or direct mail for EA?

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@easttexasfrog Email will come first. An acceptance letter will be mailed, but definitely expect online results first. Can’t hurt to check the TCU portal either, it will probably be posted and emails will come out shortly thereafter directing you to the portal.

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@SuperfrogFan If we are a finalist for Chancellor’s, will we be notified in our acceptance letter or does it come later?