@cypresspat - congratulations! Great job, not just on the acceptance but on raising a great kid.
Only thing is, I was looking forward to a multi-installment saga. Your title promised! ?. One and done is great and all, but Homer would not approve. Good thing your son isn’t an English lit major.
@cypresspat, Congrats to your son! I do hope that instead of radio silence, you will at least give it one more update with the official tOSU decision, if that’s the case. I agree, it’s a long way until May, and I’d love to hear more about the thought process for your family as you march on.
Wow I just read all 6 pages! Congrats to your son for his first acceptance. The first one is always very special. He sounds like a wonderful young man. And It’s great that he knows exactly what he wants! Looking forward to hear more acceptance. I would be so curious to know what he would do if he got into UCLA or Cornell. Love UCLA, too bad my kiddo didn’t love it as much as I do . Oh well there is always the next child lol.
@Nhatrang Thanks for you kind words; he is far from perfect, but we kind of like him. Usually. He does know what he wants and as he matures, he gets better at knowing how to get it.
UCLA was on his very short list until we realized he needs the SAT with Writing. Deal-breaker for him. Won’t do it.
At the moment, GA Tech is the only other real contender. We are hoping he does apply to Cornell; can’t really say why.
For those reading in the future, brief re-cap of visited or otherwise intensely vetted schools:
UCLA, loved it, would have applied if not for SAT writing thing.
USC - visited the week the Varsity Blues scandal hit. Nope.
UCSB - gorgeous, but he didn’t like the engineering dept. logistics. Can’t remember why. I will be finding a way to get there, though. Adjunct faculty, surfboard cleaning…do not care. Stunning place.
Michigan - first school he visited (two summers ago). Loved it, but can’t see why better than tOSU for what he wants and it is, well, Michigan. Wolverines (yuck). Go Bucks.
Northwestern. Just no.
Vanderbilt - he had an extreme negative reaction to the general presentation. It had a video showing a lot of people hugging each other. He is not a hugger and wanted to leave in the middle of the presentation. Terrible fit for him, agreed. I personally liked how the campus knitted nicely into the surrounding neighborhoods. And the landscaping staff deserves a Nobel prize. Wow.
Notre Dame - on paper, seemed like a good fit for him, but in reality, not. He is not a big community service kind of kid and once the intensity of that there became clear, he crossed it off list. And Notre Dame was his #1 for along time (but it’s engineering offerings had it teetering off the list even before he visited it). Next.
Cornell - loved, loved, loved it. The engineering presentation rocked and the tour of the chem engineering building was what sold him. Done, in his mind, at that point. Planned on it being his ED card.
U of Rochester - this was a good one to uncover a hidden criteria we didn’t know about. Visited the day after Cornell. Gorgeous campus, but while Cornell has a pretty rigid curriculum for engineers, Rochester had just the opposite. Much more flexible curriculum. He hated that. His point was that if he was going to spend 4 years working his tail off and we are going to pay that much $, he wants to have learned what the professionals have decided he needs to learn. All of it. College is not where he plans to explore career choices; it is where he plans to prepare for his career choice. Okie dokie.
UVA - at that point, he figured out he wants a school which has a BIG engineering department. Next.
tOSU- with 9,000 undergraduate engineering majors, it qualified as big. Profs, research grants, facilities. Check. Perfect. This is THE place. Oh…and they have a good football team.
On deck…GA Tech. Not visited, and won’t be unless he is accepted, but he has chatted with several alumni and did a bunch of other research. Plan is to apply RD. Let’s see how he feels in a December.
He is enjoying the relief of an early acceptance and will now join several of his friends and teammates as they wait to hear. tOSU accepts about 50% of applicants from our HS and has a historical yield of 70%, so will be a decision-point for many and a stressful time for all.
I came home to about 10 young men in my living room last night (something about a football game on TV). In there were 3 who knew tOSU was out of reach for them (our Hs has a 10 app limit so there is not a lot of applying to tOSU if Naviance suggests you have no chance), 2 who applied and it is a match, and for 3 , it was a safety. Then other 2 had no interest in tOSU.
Since my kid was the lucky one the heard in the first wave, tOSU was the topic of discussion. Listening to these guys chat (as I was passing thru, I am certainly not allowed to hang with these guys), hearing their concerns and their hopes and dreams, was a bit sobering. You see, for these guys, it was much more than getting into the college which matches their concrete definition of a dream school. It was, as my son told us, being able to go to THEIR state’s best public school. Joining so many others, of such diverse backgrounds in every way, in the center of our state and all taking advantage of what the university and each other has to offer - No other institution in the country can offer THAT to these Ohio kids. tOSU is ours. Our state built it, warts and all, and it has done a good job, I think, of not forgetting why it is there. No other school we visited gave us that sense. (In fact, many worked hard to suggest that it was there only for the Chosen Few). Maybe all state flagships offer that feeling to their state residents. Dunno. But tOSU sure does, and maybe that is why it is, by far, the most popular choice of our HS seniors, year after year.
I am glad so many picked up on the babysitter with full scholarship to Harvard 
I was wondering if the babysitter also had a “full scholarship” where she ended up. A “full scholarship” at Harvard means a family income under $65k. For most families with income under $65k, finances dictate choice. But if Harvard was nearly free (there is always a $3k student contribution), and the other school wasn’t, then the story doesn’t make sense.
Geez… This is what I woke up to? ?.
First off your son seems so much like mine except for one obvious difference(lol). Knowing what you want and “how” to get it will only get better in college. We are pleased how this has served my son well. His school, Michigan, has supported everything he has wanted to do with Alumni, money and Professors willing to help. Tell him to keep doing that. It will separate him.
My son also applied to many of the schools listed. Your sons stats must be great. The only school from that list that we liked a lot was Georgia Tech. Totally worth going to visit even if it’s just for the BBQ and Peach (or your favorite pie) pie. ?. My son was already committed plus he got wait listed from GT. We actually view that as a win… Lol…
And yes, many public schools with great school spirit and PRIDE, the kids feel something special going there. It’s palpable, no question. Plus for Michigan it’s hard. Lsa is 3.9 32-35 avg with engineering being 3.93 with 34 act avg.
We tell OSU kids that come to the Michigan forum to stay put, BTW.
BUT… if you want reasons to switch just make a post on that thread and I am sure a few of us will be willing to help ?.
Plus we have a pretty good football team… Yesterday ?.. Lol…
To be fair, my Michigan alumni wife would not in anyway, shape or form let my son apply to OSU when I suggested it for merit. She wouldn’t talk to me for a week… Lol ?.
So glad your son has an early admittance that he’s happy about. That is so rare these days.
@compmom i know his babysitter’s dad worked for a small non-profit, but I don’t know his income. I remember chatting with her mom, way back when, that their initial concern was also the incidental costs because of the travel, being in an expensive city, but she claimed the school would have helped with things like that, too. So I guess that means Harvard offered to cover quite a lot? But even if there was some costs for either school (which I assumed to be true), I thought it was telling that she chose tOSU for both undergrad and medical school. I think if she asked me (she didn’t) I would have urged her to take the Harvard deal! Her brothers went to Emory (now a salmon fishing guide) and Yale (now in Harvard b-school) so I think good study habits run in the family. But they made a different choice! Most kids around here, if they choose tOSU over an Ivy/elite acceptance, it is due to the finances. My son, a priori to any applications, made that choice on his own (more of a value thing than a parental limit on tuition - but we are not complaining!).
By the way, I do know for certain that at least one Ivy League terminal degree graduate school (so maybe medical schools are the same?), absolutely give merit scholarships. I have it on authority for a current Ivy League b-school student who pays $0 tuition, and that is all merit. Only a couple dozen get them, so pretty rare, but they exist. I know undergrad institutions live under different rules; just adding that data point.
@Knowsstuff While we like to joke about Michigan around here, no one who is being honest believes that tOSU and Michigan are on par, reputation-wise, academically. And geesh, Michigan faculty totally kick butt in the impact research department. Really impressive.
But, throw us a bone here, tOSU is having a great run in the football realm.
I remember when my oldest heard from OSU 10 years ago…he called me while I was in the Detroit airport, walking up and down the concourse probably waiting for my delayed flight to board. I happen to be staring at one of those shops which had a bunch of Michigan t-shirts hanging. I offered to buy him one. He did not appreciate the joke and tried to school me on the seriousness of this rivalry and that I am to never speak of THAT school unless it is in the context of OSU winning a football game. All that being said, same son works in IB on Wall Street right now and he was FINE with his younger brother looking at Michigan (oops, I mentioned it). His colleagues in IB did not go to OSU. Many went to Michigan. Older son was only allowed in the IB club because he attended a snobby grad school.
The grad school was snobby-- or it just has a strong reputation and a small admit rate?
I’ve never heard of a snobby grad school.
@cypresspat – Re: Harvard covering incidentals. I do not know their exact FA policy, but assume it is similar to Yale where transportation, textbooks, and personal expenses are considered in COA. They recently lowered the student contribution amount to $3700/year for parents with 0 EFC. (Previously $4950 first year and $4450 subsequent years.) This is the amount students are expected to earn via work study jobs toward the total COA.
The university used to award a $2500 grant to first years for purchase of computer and winter clothing, and a smaller amount in subsequent years. I believe they eliminated the grant after the first year, but am uncertain.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/10/04/financial-aid-policy-reduces-student-effort/
@blossom. I don’t really know the admit rate. And when I say snobby, i don’t mean the individuals attending. I guess I mean access to things that snobby people feel they have unique access to. Don’t make too much of my choice of words…I was being a bit facetious.
Congrats on your sons acceptance! OSU has a much better football team than ucla anyways
And the marching band is something else! Search for Ohio State marching band Spongebob show.
Congratulations! I’m sure your son will do well wherever he goes. I’m a Cornell alum and parent to two current Cornell engineers, and my two are having a fabulous experience there. As NY residents, we didn’t have the option of a standout state flagship like you do, so I can’t say that we would have chosen full-pay Cornell over the in-state OSU option that you have. On a side note,both of Cornell’s hockey teams are undefeated so far this year and are currently ranked #2(M) and #3(W) in the country. The men’s 'team is playing at MSG over Thanksgiving weekend and our entire family will be there, dressed head to toe in red!
If his interest I alternative energy side of chemical engineering (solar panels, battery storage). I recommend he check out electrical engineering programs that may be aligned with his interest. He may find more that he is looking for. Many of the chem e programs are petroleum heavy. If he is interested in material , consider university of Washington ( has ceramic, metallurgy and chem eng. and the programs work together and over lap. Good luck
Ohio State sounds like a wonderful fit for him, and it is a great school that he really likes. I would take the lead from him as to whether or not he even wants to submit any more applications at this point. Congratulations to him on a great acceptance!
@cypresspat It’s a deal breaker for him when a college requires SAT with writing. Why is that? Does he not like to write?
@Nhatrang Not like to write? Probably not. But that’s not enough excuse to eliminate a college that he really, really wants. And he had to write the common app essay and then the OSU honors one. Didn’t seem to hurt him. I think he sees the essays as dumb, because they can so easily be faked. He drew some weird line in terms of schools he crossed off his list because of seemingly arbitrary criteria. He felt the same way about schools which seem to use wait listing for yield control. He says (mouth of babes, here) that it makes a school look lazy.
^^ Arbitrary indeed. I guess it’s not stranger than my kiddo drew a (curvy) line on the US map and she didn’t want to apply to any of the schools below that line. She had plenty to choose from above the line so it wasn’t a limiting factor in anyway.
That’s funny - with that situation my kiddo said the school has low self-esteem lol.