<p>So, this forum seems pretty inactive, but I thought perhaps it was worth a try... where are all the other fall 2010 applicants at? Where are you from? What other schools are you looking at, what scholarships have you applied for/will you apply for, etc.</p>
<p>My son will be applying in the fall. We are from Texas. We’ll be taking a trip to Trinity on the 30th of Jan. As far as scholarships go, he’ll be applying for whatever merit scholarships Trinity has to offer. He is also looking at all of the bs/ba/md programs in the state. The trinity thread is normally pretty slow. Unfortunate.</p>
<p>My daughter is applying as a legacy, from the Northeast. All of the other schools she is applying to are in the Northeast. It’s freezing here right now so San Antonio’s warm weather is pretty enticing to her!</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey.
Not sure if my stats qualify me for any scholarships.</p>
<p>An international student here from Nepal… really hoping that i could get in… :)</p>
<p>** yeah it is sad that this thread is pretty slow =[</p>
<p>applied EA. we’ll see what happens [praying that i’ll get in!!] on feb. 1</p>
<p>anyone else here EA?</p>
<p>I’m EA… I actually got my app finished around December 3, and then I got an email saying that it wasn’t too late to switch to Early Action…</p>
<p>Even I’ve applied EA. Hoping for the best!</p>
<p>For all those applying to Trinity (of which my son is one), what made you want to apply? We are actually trying to put our finger on what about Trinity is so appealing to us vs. some other university choices. My son will be an auto-admit to UT, Texas A&M, as well as all of the other Texas state schools. Also looking at Rice, Baylor, Southwestern, Austin college, etc. For some reason I seem to be partial to Trinity, but not exactly sure why. Been on campus a couple of times for guest lectures, award ceremonies and such. Beautiful campus. Would like to know what unique strength Trinity brings to the table to compare to others we are considering. Hopefully we can figure it out when we attend Trinity in Focus on Jan 30, but I’d really like others current (up to date) perspectives.</p>
<p>^^Oh, I could write a novel… so I think I will.</p>
<p>The rankings are what initially brought Trinity to my attention, but it was my experience with actually visiting the campus that convinced me to apply…//</p>
<p>When we got there, it was literally flooding - I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it rain so hard in Texas! - and we were greeted at the door with parkas, umbrellas, and raincoats. I personally spoke with the woman that I had talked with on the phone while coordinating my visit, and she gave me a copy of my personalized schedule and campus map. I was made to wait during downtimes in their very warm, cushy admissions building… In getting to each of my scheduled events, I was shuttled around in cars and golf carts by students who seemed very welcoming and friendly. The first class that I visited was very small, probably somewhere around 15 people… the next class was bigger and took place in a small lecture hall - probably ~40-50 people were in attendance that day, but only because it was a pass/fail seminar that was required by all students in that particular major. That lecture was so interesting - they had brought in a professor from the religion department to hold an open discussion on the value of human rights in Confucianism - so, after he’d given his presentation, students openly expressed their opinions on the topic and I got to witness a pretty heated and intellectual debate. </p>
<p>I also got to eat lunch at their dining hall (I think it was called Mabee or something like that? In any case, the one nearest the dorm McLean) with a current student. What can I say about the food? It wasn’t gourmet, but it was more than tolerable and definitely exceeded my expectations. The student that I ate with was, like all of the other people I had met, very welcoming and pushed her school very enthusiastically - if these people had asked me to consign my soul to them and join a cult, I probably would have given in without thinking twice. She talked at length about all the clubs she had become involved with and how many different things she had done - and this was only in September, and she was just a freshman. I kicked myself later for forgetting to even ask her name! </p>
<p>The dorm we looked at (in McLean) seemed nice. Then again, at that point, that was the only college dorm I had ever seen offline. The beds inside it were bunked and my parents admitted that they would have killed to have half that much space when they lived in dorms during college.</p>
<p>The campus was very, very nice - the tour guide joked that Trinity has more gardeners than students (and I read a variation of this exact same joke in another CC user’s description of their Trinity visit - I guess they’re required to say it in order to make the parents crack a smile). It was definitely the most attractive campus I’ve visited - laid out very well, very well kept, green, litter-free, etc. Everyone I talked to assured me that I came on one of the rare rainy days. There was a pleasant modernness about all the buildings on campus - particularly the Coates University Center. </p>
<p>Being a minority myself, diversity was a concern of mine - but during the 5 or so hours that I was on campus, I met 4 international students. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s what you’d typically expect of a religion-affiliated school. I received a list of student organizations, and among them were groups for Sikhs, Jews, GLBTs, et cetera… </p>
<p>But despite all of these things, I’m still deciding whether Trinity is the right place for me personally… I worry that it’s too small and too homogenous (because, let’s face it, the campus IS overwhelmingly white). I also worry that living with the same people, eating the same food, and seeing the same things day after day for four years could get a bit old. The tour guide herself told us that most students never leave campus. While I was absolutely blown away by my visit (and so were my parents), I come from a very small Texas town and diversity is one of my primary criteria. I visited Southwestern also, and while it was nice, it’s just too small and quiet for me, and I think making the trek down to Austin very often could be a daunting task with all the I-35 traffic (ridiculous, by the way). UT’s student body is 10 times larger than the population of my entire town and Austin’s metro area itself is something like 150 times larger, but somehow that doesn’t really bother me. And there’s no describing the energy around the UT campus. </p>
<p>Ultimately, it’ll probably come down to who decides to fork over the most money. I could be happy at any of the schools I’ve applied to. </p>
<p>So, yeah, that’s my spiel.</p>
<p>We are currently living in San Antonio and my daughter has applied EA. She has already been accepted to Univ Iowa, Creighton, Hope, and Colo School of Mines with varying scholarship offers. Trinity is her first choice because:
- We are moving after her graduation and even though we have only been in SA TX for 4 years, this feels like home to her.
- The science education is very solid and there are a number of unique research opportunities directly with faculty.
- She can play her outdoor sport year round.
San Antonio is a cool city and not too hard to navigate (once you get used to “Texas” Driving). There are nearly 2 million people here so even though the campus has a reputation for lacking diversity, the city has plenty. We have been on the campus numerous times for sporting events and other things. The kids seem very happy and content. We know lots of people who are associated with Trinity either by being an alum or faculty and we have not heard anything disparaging. Even though we will be thousands of miles away, I feel very confident about my daughter’s choice. She will be safe, have fun with kids very similar to her and get a great jump start on her education.</p>
<p>Grinch</p>
<p>wow… i think i’m in love with trinity now… thank god i prefer small universities… :)… about the diversity we’ll see…</p>
<p>what i liked about trinity was that it had the undergrad focus and attention which is indeed very rare in big unis like A&M an UT + it had engineering + it gives sufficient amount of aid to us + i like texas 
+ the adcoms were very friendly and lenient not the “i don’t care if u made a mistake… we want things the exact way we said we want” types…</p>
<p>wow-- the comments above were really really awesome.</p>
<p>im afraid to fall in love with the school, because in the back of my mind, there is that “what if you dont make it?” sort of feeling. </p>
<p>the undergrad focus is a major plus, its in a nice area, my friend who is finishing up her senior yr there absolutely LOVES it. i love tight knit communities, so i think Trinity would be a good fit. its slightly conservative, which has a nice feel, my parents know ppl who are going there so thats a bit comforting for them. also, im considering going premed, but im… still considering my options. if i do ultimately choose that path, doing research at Trinity would be A-mazing. the dorms are also a major plus…</p>
<p>I graduated from Trinity long ago, but I visited the school with my daughter last spring and I can tell it’s still just as wonderful as when I was there. Facebook has reconnected me with many of my Trinity classmates and we all share fond memories of it. And San Antoniowhat a great city. I highly recommend Trinity; just wish it was better known outside of Texas.</p>
<p>Has anyone here ever been negatively impacted by the fact that it is not better known outside of the Texas borders? Also, why do you think it is not better known? Someone having anything negative to say about Trinity seems to be the exception to the rule.</p>
<p>I think Trinity has a solid reputation outside Texas. It is clearly an institution that very well prepares its’ graduates to pursue advanced degrees. It was named by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as one of the Top 50 colleges and universities whose science and engineering graduates later attain a doctoral degree. Name recognition does not equal success. No diligent and hard working graduate of any college or university will be negatively impacted as long as they remain diligent and hard working. Someone (I can’t remember who) stated that the only thing worth less than a college degree is a college pedigree. Sure, Trinity is not for everyone. Just like HYPS are not for everyone either. It is incumbent upon the student to figure out the right fit.</p>
<p>When I said “just wish [Trinity] was better known outside of Texas,” I was speaking from my perspective, as an alum who lives in the Northeast. For example, my daughter’s guidance counselor was not familiar with Trinity until I told her D was going to apply there. (And I consider this counselor to be pretty savvy.) When I tell people I went to Trinity University, they say “Oh yeah, Trinity in Connecticut, good school.” I think Trinity’s name recognition is much stronger west of the Mississippi. </p>
<p>Again, this is all my perception, so take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>julieweb, I know exactly what you mean. Our family lives in Texas now but came from the Northeast. I’d never heard of Trinity either. But we were all so impressed with what we learned about it and my D ended up applying ED, accepted and is a very happy first year student there. But when our east coast friends ask about where she’s going, we always answer TrinityUniversityinSanAntonio – they always assume we mean the college in Connecticut :-)</p>
<p>bbfraser and julie,</p>
<p>Funny you should mention the “other” Trinity, because if you look at stuff like SATs, the two are about identical. Trinity would be more well known if it were listed as an LAC. It would also be rakned ~ the same as TC in CT or Lafayette in PA. Because it has about 250 graduate students, in really highly ranked programs, it can’t be classified as such due to Carnegie classifications.</p>
<p>My D is a junior at TU. Anyone can search my posts to see which schools lost out. She has been really happy. This year she is doing 2 abroad programs. Last semester she was in England, this semester in Madrid. It’s cheaper than a year at TU, and the choices for Study Abroad are amazing. Know of a program not on TU’s site? Tell them about it and they’ll help you get it.</p>
<p>The only downside is that she is missing her main EC, first time since the age of 6 that she is not doing it, but plans to do it again next year.</p>
<p>When she finishes her semester in Madrid she stays for 6 more weeks to do an internship there-arranged by TU. When she returns to TU she will serve as a PT for HUMA 1600.</p>
<p>I don’t worry about her days after UG because TU will have prepared her well.</p>
<p>Trinity in SA–great school, great weather, great city, a lot less expensive than many peer schools.</p>
<p>“Trinity in SA–great school, great weather, great city, a lot less expensive than many peer schools.”</p>
<p>I can’t agree more (though I’m an int’l applicant)</p>