Son is going out to the Tower Scholars event at the end of February. I love the format: the students attend a session from at least 1 professor on one of a variety of fascinating subjects, and at the end, the students are expected to submit a “scholarly response” to the material, which will be part of the package on which additional merit aid is determined.
Sounds fantastic, but does anybody have any more context on what kind of scholarly response is requested, how much it matters, how much time do they have to respond; is it written; etc, etc. I think last year was the first year of this format, so there is limited information out there.
Guess knowing ahead of time would spoil the competition wouldn’t it? I will say that the event is well worth attending as far as being very well structured and informative. The competition itself is nothing you can really prepare ahead for, it’s basically attending a lecture then having a fixed bit of time in which to write an in-class essay on the material. I will say in DSs experience (Physics lecture) the material was fairly high level. It was very impressive to see and hear from existing students and realize the caliber of students invited.
hey, that’s some context, anything is helpful, just to have an idea what to expect. I think it’s a great idea; way more likely to get a read on the kind of student they are this way. Given the topics, I wouldn’t think trying to prepare substantively would be particularly helpful; anything you’d find on topic would come out canned anyway. Thanks for the info!
My son just returned. We spent the whole day at Trinity in September, so we did not return with him this time. His session was in computer science, which was his last choice. He doesn’t think he did well on the essay, but he had a great visit.
LOL. My son’s first choice was computer science, and he was placed in “Early Christian Diversity”. He actually thought it was very interesting, and enjoyed the learning experience, even if it was “off topic” for his strengths.
There was some scuttlebutt that perhaps they intentionally placed students outside their comfort zone to try and see how they handled it, but that was completely a rumor based on limited data.
My son received a we-regret-to-inform-you letter today. But it did confirm his thank-you-for-playing price, the $1500 one-time scholarship. That’s worth airfare and a hotel room.
Same for our S, with a hand-written note that his “scholarly response” was excellent…S was a bit disappointed, his first “rejection” in this entire admissions process. The $1500 is nice, as it covers airfare and hotel.
TU is still at the top of our S’s list, waiting to hear from one more school.
What shocked me is that more than half the kids offered these Towers Scholarships turn them down. Seems like a very low yield for a full tuition deal. I sure wish they would set up a “waiting list” for these scholarships, but they explicitly do not do so.
Sorry to hear about the “regret” letters. I was pulling for both of your sons, @ColdinMinny and @Beaudreau! Did either of them fill out the extra application for the Semmes Science Scholarship?
I think it is kind of interesting that they are having another scholars day in March for the people who did not make it in February because of weather. Makes the competition even tougher, as it seems your students were competing with students that were not even there - or they limited the number of scholarships from the Feb day to account for the ability to make offers to some of the March attendees.
I totally agree with a “waiting list” concept, at least in theory.
Also, they could improve their yield by using the approach that the McDermott Scholars Program uses at UT Dallas. At the end of their scholars weekend, they ask the students to put in writing - if offered the McDermott Scholarship, what is the likelihood you would accept - on a scale of one to five? Then I hear they make phone calls to the students starting at the top of their list - and they give them 48 hours to give them a yes or no. For one student I know, the phone call came on the Friday before Easter, and I think he had until Sunday to let them know. If it is a no, then the scholarship committee moves on to the next student (or perhaps group) on their list. They end up with the exact number of scholars they desire.
That system would be great, but I had the distinct impression that they budgeted for the reduced “yield”. In other words, they only had money for about 10 or so full tuition offers, so they were not going to offer it to a wait list.
The “expressed interest” would be important, although I suspect all would mark down a 5, lest that reduce their chances.
The weather problem though another monkey-wrench into the process.
Overall, I think they were stunned by the response, more than double the previous year, and were adjusting “on the fly” so to speak.
It is interesting, since TU is VERY transparent on their regular scholarships. They give you a grid, and you plug in test scores and GPA, and that is what they will offer. Best I have seen.
This Towers process is much more murky and subjective, and I don’t know that I like that as well. I wish they would announce the winners, as my S was pretty curious as to who in his class did get the offer, if anyone.