I just saw someone asking about this in another forum. The reply was that this is like testing out if someone wants to go to the prom with you. The advice was: If interested, let them know you’ll say yes (if true) to “prom.”
We finally have all of our TE results. I had to reach out to each school directly - no one notified us of results.
My D applied to 4 TE schools - Connecticut College, Sarah Lawrence, Mount Holyoke and Muhlenberg.
She was waitlisted for admission to Conn, so we didn’t expect to hear TE results from them. She did not put herself on their waitlist.
She applied EA to Sarah Lawrence and was accepted. She received a FA letter with acceptance but no reference was made to TE. I didn’t worry about it too much as they are a set amount school ($41K) and were offering her just over $43K in scholarships and grants, so I assumed that TE was off the table for that reason and that would tell us eventually. When RD results came out, we started hearing from people that they had heard TE results. Since we still had not, I reached out to them to ask about it. They replied with what I thought - since they were offering more than TE already, and they don’t stack, they weren’t considering her for an award.
She was accepted to Mount Holyoke in the RD round. Again, FA letter, but no mention of TE. I emailed them and they said that they had a record number of TE applications and she was not awarded TE. I wasn’t surprised as they were the only school that did not give her any Merit money (although their need-based aid was generous).
My D also applied to Muhlenberg. She applied RD, even though it was always one of her top choices, and preference for TE goes to ED candidates, because we just couldn’t afford for her to apply ED anywhere - we needed to see the FA and compare. Same story as the previous two- she was accepted and received a FA letter with no mention of TE. (I noted elsewhere that their final cost with aid came out quite a bit above the NPC results we had) So again, I emailed. However, this time was different. They said that they had awarded all of their TE but she was on a waitlist. They indicated that it would be helpful to know if she could commit to Muhlenberg if offered TE. She didn’t have all of her decisions yet so I told them that but also told them that they were her top choice and that the current aid wasn’t enough for her to enroll. They then said that she was “very high” on their waitlist and that they expected movement on that list in the next week or so. They emailed yesterday to say that she got it!! And it stacked with the $6K in talent award money they were giving her. And they are a set amount school but they also give a housing stipend. We are thrilled! Muhlenberg is now her most affordable option along with being a top choice.
So my advice to future TE applicants - definitely reach out and let schools know if they are your kid’s first choice school and if TE would make a difference in them being able to enroll. If you receive any FA offer and it doesn’t mention TE, ask them about it. Also, don’t rely on the TE website. All four schools still read “Awaiting Import School Decision” for us.
Edited to add: When I emailed, I copied my D’s admissions counselor, their FA counselor (if a specific person was assigned to her - if not I copied the general FA email account), and the TE admin from the TE website. The TE admin ended up being not helpful - the one time they replied they said that no TE decisions had been made, which wasn’t the case and was quickly corrected by FA. However, including both Financial Aid and Admissions was helpful - in the case of Muhlenberg, it was her Admissions Counselor that I think helped move things along in her favor.
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Can I ask the stats of your kid and COA? Muhlenburg was on our list for next year but with cost we ruled it out
Sure. Here are her stats:
3.99 unweighted/4.3 weighted GPA. Top 5% of her class. 1390 SAT. Applied as an English major with theatre as a possible second major. ECs - dance/theatre/music - several years sustained activity & leadership in all. Also leadership in hs community service group and student government. State-level scholastic awards in writing.
In February she was invited to campus for an event that turned out to be an overview of the honors programs. She could not attend, but based on the invite I think she was being considered for honors. Ultimately she did not receive an invite for an honors program (apparently there is a $5K? additional merit scholarship if you are invited).
Our net price calculator results told us we could expect a COA around $24K. After admission, her FA packet gave us a COA of $36.5K. After TE and stacking talent grants, our COA is $19.5K w/o loans.
Another lesson learned: She went to campus to do dance and theatre talent grant auditions and ended up also talking with music faculty while there. She plays trumpet and french horn. Well, they were very interested in her as a french horn player - apparently they only have 2 and one is graduating. So, the french horn instructor offered to meet and do a mini lesson and then looped in the ensemble director who encouraged her to submit an audition for talent grant money. She told them that she’s just an ensemble player and didn’t have audition material prepped on french horn so they told her to just submit the audition form and they would count the mini lesson as her audition. They ended up giving her more in music talent grant money than she got in either theater or dance. And those talent grants stacked with the TE. So that is another take-away - if your kid might be willing to play in an ensemble, have them connect with the music faculty too. She listed french horn in her activities on all of her apps but this is the only school where she connected with music faculty. I should have had her do that at more schools, but I’m glad she did it here!
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If your kid likes Mburg, I’d have him/her apply understanding that the cost might not come through. However, if your kid gets TE and merit, it can be more affordable than lots of other places.
The most affordable school on my S23s list of acceptances is a SLAC similar to Mburg that stacked TE with merit. That said, he has another TE school where he was admitted but didn’t receive TE or anything else – COA estimated to be $84K (not happening for us!).
Has anyone heard from Fordham? This is the last remaining piece of our puzzle. I know they said mid-April when I reached out in Feb. but perhaps that means we’re lower on the list?
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Our last piece too. I spoke with them on Friday - they are releasing this Wednesday (the 5th)
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Thanks for that info! Super helpful. Fingers crossed for all of us.
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But didn’t they tell you back in January? 
Sorry, too soon?
What a debacle that was and now they haven’t even notified for real. Glad they have given a date.
No, that January debacle was about how their normal financial aid letter (for the EA and TE kids) included the TE scholarship, stacked on the institutional awards, and then summed up both to calculate a COA of about 18k. They hadn’t made any actual TE decisions in January, it turned out - instead, they simply wrote the financial aid letter in a way that made it seem clear that you did get it. It was an awful week for D23!
It’s Wednesday, for sure. Happy to get it over with - still D23’s top choice, but if she doesn’t get it, her next school is a very close second and she already has TE (in reality, lol) there.
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Yeah I know I was just being silly. I would have been pretty frustrated if that had happened to us! I’m glad it didn’t end up souring your daughter on Fordham altogether. Fingers crossed that they make up for that big fumble! But congrats on a great #2 choice – sounds like things have worked out well.
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I still have PTSD from that week, lol. Admittedly, I soured on them that week, but D23 still has a soft spot (could be some form of Stockholm Syndrome). Either way, she has lots of really solid options, and is very happy with the #2 as Plan B.
I’ll be happy for this to be over soon! It’s been one hell of a ride!
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My D23 had applied for TE at Fordham but officially declined her acceptance to Fordham today. We toured and loved it, but she wants to double major in business/theatre and they won’t allow double majors across schools. Was hoping she would consider a theatre minor but she is holding firm.
Really hope Fordham TE comes thru for your daughter. I remember that fiasco with their letter and think Fordham owes it to her–it’s the least they can do!
We are just waiting to hear from USC–my D23’s top choice but only affordable with TE. It’s a real long shot, particularly since she was accepted as a spring admit. Visiting her other options this week and next. Yes, so ready to get off this roller coaster and find the merry-go-round!
T minus 28 days.
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Merimom -
Thanks. I have my fingers crossed for your D23 and her USC TE app!
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Heronymous, my D just declined the TE from Drexel. You might want to follow up with them if your son is still interested in Drexel.
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We’re done with our TE journey for our 2023 grad. She actually decided on a non-TE school (Wheaton, in IL), and will be writing emails and declining her TE offers tomorrow.
For whoever is collecting info, here’s our experience, which I hope might be helpful to some other family.
About my student–GPA 4.0 uw, 4.4 weighted, 9 APs, attends a nationally recognized excellent public school (which I actually didn’t love…) SAT 1430, Asian, female, EC’s good, but not great in demonstrated leadership. Major: Health Science, Neuroscience, Biochem (she’s pre-med at the moment)
Boston U- RD waitlist or denied (sorry I don’t recall), obviously no TE
CWRU- EA to RD-waitlisted.
Pepperdine- accepted RD and TE offered in late March
Marquette- accepted RD and TE offered in Feb (?)
St Louis University - accepted EA and TE offered around the same time (?)
King’s College PA- accepted EA into direct admit PA program, with scholarship, never heard about TE
Valparaiso- accepted EA into direct admit PA program and offered TE with acceptance (in Dec?)
Franklin and Marshall - RD accepted with 30K scholarship in March (?)-never heard about TE decision
Other interesting non-TE results:
Wash U in St Louis - denied admission
Miami OH - accepted with scholarship making COA $22K (I was shocked at the amount of $ they gave)
Calvin University - accepted with good scholarship
I know ALL of our kids have worked very hard, and wish each one of them college success wherever they end up going!
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Has anyone developed a table of the tuition prices of TE schools? I know Dayton and Marquette are ~$46K, and BU is $3mil (kidding!). For kid two I’d like to focus on colleges where tuition would be about $5K or under after TE.
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$5k or under will be tough – that said, try to find schools that allow stacking with TE/merit awards. St. Lawrence in upstate NY is one and I’m sure there are others.
Tuition only at 5k or under? Go to the TE site and you can sort on schools that give 100% tuition.
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St Lawrence will probably not get to 5k. They do have a couple of full tuition scholarships. But we got TE plus 9k and the COA is still 35k