<p>I thought they were known mostly for music. But supposedly they do have technical degrees too. Can anyone tell me anything about them?</p>
<p>One of our college books says the student body is homogenous white, snooty, affluent. Is this true?</p>
<p>Anything you can tell me about the social and political climate, how much diversity (not just ethnic, but religious, political, etc.), how much drinking/drugs, what do they do for recreation, and...oh yeah, and academic rigor.</p>
<p>Academic rigor is high. We have friends who have attended. One then went on to get PHD in engineering at U.T. fully covered by stipends etc. He said that the engineering department said they really like trinity graduates because they know how to think and figure things out. DS enjoyed his overnight there and plans to go back for admitted students event. A friend's daughter went and had a great education and had lots of internships and opportunities. I didn't hear anything about snooty.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I wasn't even aware they had science/engineering degrees until recently. Somehow I'd gotten the impression it was the school to go to only if you were majoring in music.</p>
<p>Daughter has a friend there. While she does music on the side, she's there for the liberal arts portion. We attended an accepted students day (DD didn't choose Trinity) and there was a lot of info about their engineering program. It is a rather localized student body (high %age of Texans) and fairly pale in complexion, but the kids there love it. And San Antonio is a great place to be. Metro bus service available at campus locations to get around town. And the Riverwalk is 10 minutes away - makes for a great place for parents to visit. And the campus is gorgeous. I would've gone there, but DD found another location in a different state that she preferred. Student groups are very diverse in nature. Small school in a large city. Good academics, friendly faces, safe and comfortable surroundings.</p>
<p>66% Texan, 60+% white
Tuition, room, board and fees together run about $32,000. I am told they make quite a lot of financial aid/grants available making it more affordable than many equivalent schools. Endowment is $733 million. 58% receive merit aid with the average grant $7,230.</p>
<p>Gorgeous, new Art building just opened last summer.</p>
<p>We actually live in SA, so we're familiar with the campus. It is true that the campus is very beautiful. And the small size is very appealing, when compared to the UT which is the opposite. I appreciate all the info, but what I'm really looking for is info on the social climate. We never considered it a possibility because of cost until recently, when the local newspaper ran an article saying that Trinity was recruiting transfer students from the community college, in an effort to boost diversity. My son is a transfer student, so suddenly we are looking at Trinity, as a possibility should he decide to stay in town AND should they offer him a way to make it financially feasible. Very big IFs. We know about their academic reputation, but around here it's sort of common knowledge that Trinity students are 'snooty' rich white kids. I am trying to separate the reputation from the reality. SA is a good-sized city, and I don't know anyone who has actually attended Trinity. The locals don't consider SA all that great a place to live, since most of the 'attractions' are touristy. (As opposed to nearby Austin which has a thriving music scene, plenty of diverse artistic & eclectic activities, plenty of young people on every sidewalk, walking or biking someplace interesting.) Trinity is sort of tucked away behind the highway and we don't ever really see the students. So I'm wondering what in the world do Trinity students do for fun?</p>
<p>Trinity recruiting URMs is quite interesting. My understanding is that Trinity is very white and very preppy. Trinity recruits soccer players,but may not have athletic scholorships unless they are Div. I. Does anybody know?</p>
<p>"around here it's sort of common knowledge that Trinity students are 'snooty' rich white kids"</p>
<p>I can't help you on that subject. Private colleges are expensive, most have a majority of whites enrolled, and at the smaller residential colleges the students are fully occupied with what they have to do on campus. Thus students can easily be tagged by locals with the reputation as "snooty, rich white kids". Perhaps contacting current students directly would help.
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/yphvjb%5B/url%5D">http://tinyurl.com/yphvjb</a></p>
<p>Athletics: Member of the NCAA Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Men’s Varsity Sports: baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field.</p>
<p>Women’s Varsity Sports: basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball</p>
<p>I attended one gathering for accepted Trinity students,with one current Trinity student in attendence. Half of the 6 were soccer players. Nice kids all-but overall were unimpressive.</p>
<p>Trinity is a well regarded school academically;and has a healthy endowment. Every single parent and student, which I have Known, interested in Trinity,over the last few years, was primarily attracted by the generous financial aid offered. Which is wonderful according to other parents.</p>
<p>DS attended Trinity - Bachelor's in Math 2004, Masters in Education 2005.
She is anything but snooty & LOVED Trinity. She would never have been happy at a truly snooty place. Her Trinity friends that I met are also anything but snooty. They are, however, very bright & engaging. Yes, Trinity is predominantly white, but if the stats quoted above are correct, that is changing. Yes the student body is predominantly Texan, but my daughter's friends were/are from all over the place. Diversity is there if you look for it. My daughter & her friends had some favorite places to eat &/or socialize in town. I suspect most of those places were near campus. It's a great place to be if it fits you. Take a close look, spend some time with the students & see how it feels. As a transfer in, I would be sure to ask how many students do that & what they offer to help with that transition.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! It would have been ironic if he had overlooked an excellent contender right in our backyard.</p>
<p>We're going to tour Trinity tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes!</p>
<p>First, let me say we haven't been to Trinity yet - but DS has been accepted with a nice scholarship, so he's been talking to current students. One thing he has heard re: diversity is that there are many connections with oil companies, so that there are lots of international students from all over the world who have attended international schools as their parents worked for oil companies. An interesting twist we would never have thought of as west coasters. Going to the accepted student weekend on 3/2 - will report back!
Am very interested in your impression leal...</p>
<p>Well, we went on the tour today. My son decided against applying, but I'll tell you what we found out. It's not a good fit for him, but it might be a better fit for others.</p>
<p>The campus is very, very nice. Lots of trees and grass, very pretty. I already knew that but had never been in the back of the campus. It's a nice oasis tucked away in the middle of the city.</p>
<p>The tour guide (a freshman from Nebraska who was very friendly and nice) told us a lot about sports which was not interesting to us since my son is not into sports. He was interested in the gym but said it was very small compared to those at UT and UTSA.</p>
<p>She showed us a model dorm. It was nicer than the ones I've seen at UT, but I'm not sure that it deserved the title 'dorm like a palace.' I mean, it was nice, but not spectacular. But then, I haven't seen many dorms, so I don't have a basis for comparison. It did have a large walk-in closet which was nice. They have cleaning people who clean the dorms & bathrooms every 2 weeks. There are very few singles available. Nearly all are doubles, 2 of which share a bathroom.</p>
<p>They have a very nice auditorium, which we'd been to for concerts before.</p>
<p>The whole place was eerily quiet, so much so that we asked if today was a holiday. Even the cafeteria was not very full, and it was lunchtime. Quite a contrast to the hustle and bustle of UT and UTSA. Admittedly, those are huge schools, but still...it did seem like we should have seen more...you know...students!</p>
<p>My son asked about what the students do for recreation. Besides the usual movies, coffee shops, etc., she mentioned stuff like 'swing dancing.' </p>
<p>Being a metalhead rocker, my son was definitely not too impressed with that.</p>
<p>She said it wasn't much of a party school. Sure, there is some partying, but it doesn't seem to be much of a focus. I suspect there is probably more than she was allowed to admit, as she gave a VERY low estimate.</p>
<p>She mentioned the substance-free dorms. At first my son was glad to hear that, as he is straightedge. But, their activities seem to be either sports-related or bible study, neither of which are of interest to him.</p>
<p>We then asked about the political climate. She said she would estimate probably about 60% conservative and 40% liberal. That's pretty good for San Antonio. But, part of the appeal of UT is its vibrant political activism.</p>
<p>Then, the admissions adviser interviewed him. When she asked what he was interested in pursuing, and he replied 'Computational Linguistics' she didn't seem to know what that was. He later told me that this was the point he knew for sure that this was not the school for him. He asked about the computer science degree, linguistics, etc. and she just told him that yes they offered those, but didn't really tell him much about them. Not anything that made him go 'wow, I want to study that at this school.'</p>
<p>She asked him which other schools he was interested in, and he told her UT because of its rich assortment of offerings, plus a couple of other schools that offer interdisciplinary studies. He told me that he was surprised that she made no effort to sell him on Trinity. She just gave him a rather bland, scripted description. He said there really wasn't ANYTHING that stood out about the school at all, except that most of their classes are small. While he would prefer small classes, that alone was not enough to give up the other advantages offered by UT and the other schools he's considering (Evergreen, Reed, Western Washington).</p>
<p>After she interviewed my son, the admissions counselor asked me to join them. What got us interested in Trinity was an article in the local paper a couple of weeks ago saying that Trinity was recruiting community college students, and was enticing them with a nice scholarship package (half off tuition). The article really made it sound like they really wanted some cc students, to add to their diversity. It said they were seeking out the gems at the cc's. </p>
<p>Well, my son is one of those gems. Yet, guess what word he used to describe the counselor's attitude towards him? 'Snooty.' It wasn't anything in particular - she was nice enough - but she just didn't seem all that interested in him. He is a PTK scholar, National Hispanic Scholar Finalist, etc. plus he's at the very top of the cc students, despite being 2 years younger, so I don't know how she expects to find many cc students that do impress her when she didn't really even seem too interested in reading his recommendation letters etc. (I handed it to her and she barely glanced at it. Said she'd put it in his file.)</p>
<p>Then, here comes the kicker: After all that in the newspaper article, when I asked about the scholarship for cc students, she told me they are only offering that scholarship to ONE, yes, ONE student!!!!</p>
<p>That sure doesn't sound like they are seriously trying to improve their diversity. One person, even if s/he has green hair, dark skin, and tons of body piercings and tattoos, is not going to do much to add to their diversity. I most definitely got the impression that the article was more for PR than it was to attract actual students. Hey, I can understand if my son had a low GPA or something, but I doubt that she will find very many other cc applicants who are strikingly more advanced than he is. Maybe she had already selected her ONE scholarship recipient and that's why she wasn't too interested in him. I wish I'd known this ahead of time and we wouldn't have wasted our time.</p>
<p>Anyway, sorry if this sounds a bit negative. It's not that there was anything bad about it. There just wasn't really anything that particularly stood out and made him want to go there. </p>
<p>Overall, I'd say we were underwhelmed.</p>
<p>That's too bad, because unfortunately, sometimes the experience you have at the admissions office keeps you from liking a school. I know my daughter was SO turned off to Rice due to her original experiences with admissions (had to keep calling to schedule interview, snooty adcom came to her school, etc) and we also felt like the campus seemed empty when we visited. But she loves her school, and it has been a fantastic experience for her - so I always caution about counting too much on a first visit, experience with admissions or tour guides. (although in this case, Trinity does not sound like a good fit for your son... but I do believe it is a good school for lots of kids.)</p>
<p>Yes, you are right. And I know that if it had seemed like a good fit academically and socially, he would have felt differently. It wasn't really anything in particular the admissions counselor said or did...she just didn't say or do anything to impress him, and nothing else really impressed him either. Whereas, when he attended the Honors Colloquium presentation at UT last summer, it as all Rah! Rah! UT is so great! and he came home spouting off all these stats about how great a school it was and how he could have all these options, and how cool the campus was, and how the students all seemed so interesting, and on and on...</p>
<p>Funny thing is, I really resolved to reserve judgment. My son went in to talk to the counselor first, and I had no idea what he felt about the interview. So at the time I went in, I thought maybe he really liked it. I formed my own opinion (disappointment about the cc scholarship being so limited) but was careful not to tell my son anything until after he'd expressed his own opinion. On the way home he told me he didn't think it was a good fit because there just wasn't anything all that impressive academically. That was his main reason. I was just so surprised that the counselor wouldn't have said more to impress him about academics. I might have expected that he'd say something like 'academics are really outstanding; too bad it's not a fit socially' but no, not even academics seemed that impressive to him.</p>
<p>Anyway, I do know that their academics are very rigorous, so it's all in the presentation. That's why I can't help but wonder if she somehow held back her enthusiasm because she had him pegged as a 'cc' kid. He said he felt that her attitude was one of 'I am doing you a favor to even be considering you' which totally turned him off. Also, she asked if he had a GED. She seemed clueless that homeschooled kids get diplomas just like conventionally schooled kids; the homeschool is considered a private school in Texas. (How else could he have been admitted to the cc? He has 32 hours college credit!)</p>
<p>Being that this was THE person in charge of cc transfer admissions, there wasn't anyone else to talk to that might have presented a different attitude to him. </p>
<p>I don't mean to discourage anyone from checking out Trinity. It's definitely a cozy, nice school, and I know their academics are reputed to be excellent. But if you are not mainstream, it might not be a good fit.</p>
<p>D was accepted and we went to the tour, then later to Accepted Students' Weekend. D received their largest merit scholarship, which was still going to cost us about 15K more than we are spending now. They do not meet 100% of need. (Per the Dean that spoke to us, and he said that they were working on it, but wouldn't be phased in for another few years) And most of their FA was loans. Other than that, we enjoyed our visits, and were impressed with the academics. Some of D's friends from HS attend, and they are middle class, not rich kids. And they love it there. But just about everyone has a car, and the majority of the kids we saw were white. The dorms were really nice, and the campus beautiful.</p>
<p>Lealdragon,
Trinity is a great school if it's a fit for you. It's not a fit for everyone. I think that can be said for schools, but especially for the small privates. It sounds like they didn't really have a program to fit what your son was looking for. That happens, too. Let us know where he ends up.</p>
<p>Yes, very true. I admit I was a bit disappointed at how our visit went, but I know that it's a good school.</p>