Congrats! I think our spreadsheets are great in getting the list narrowed down, and help to see the key data points for the final few, but then at the end unquantifiable vibe pushes something over the line. They have to be a member of that community for four years, and one just sticks out a bit more than the others.
Laughed at your last point - we’re also in the sweatshirt phase as well!
My son has been watching the Cuse social media pages. He said the school spirit is a bit “intense.” He said “I thought our high school was bad but Cuse is way worse!” And this is the kid who wanted school spirit!! (And he will love it all truly!!) I have happily bought him a few shirts and sweatshirts. Sister also asked for a Cuse sweatshirt. I have an Otto shirt.
We are going from almost 20 years (with older bro) of black and red everything to orange and blue.
After all the complaining I have done about TE, we will happily accept the set rate plus stacked merit of Syracuse.
Go Orange! Congrats!
I’m so happy for you guys! I think Syracuse will work out great for your son. Go Orange!
I noticed the school spirit thing as well. The admission guy from engineering always closed his emails and presentations with ‘Go Orange!’ which I thought was cute.
Around early April we received TE for The George Washington University for 45,200. It is a really great school for my major and in a great location (the heart of DC) but it still leaves a COA of about 34k (18 left for tuition and 16 for room and board). Still deciding between that and Seton Hall University, where we received a full ride for TE and would only have to pay for room and board.
Wow! Congrats! I’ve never heard of anyone getting one at GWU. Well done!
My D23 has been waitlisted for USC’s TE award too. Also called and didn’t receive any info. After reading some of the threads from previous years @ USC/Tuition Exchange awards, haven’t come across any that mention a waitlist.
Checked USC’s Tuition Exchange site and they are giving the awards this upcoming year to not only freshmen/transfers but also sophomores, juniors, seniors. I may be wrong, but I thought they only gave it to freshmen/transfers in past years.
Finger’s crossed they update the tuition exchange portal tomorrow and the “waiting” will be over soon!
Woke up yesterday thinking how my D23 may finally be ready to commit to a school on the east coast, but USC’s TE approval really shook things up!
For future readers, on 4/26 my D23 received notification thru the TE portal that her USC tuition exchange app had been denied. It was her top choice and she took it hard. The next day, she unexpectedly received an update that she was on the TE waitlist. She was confused but hopeful. Finally yesterday (5/1), she received notification that USC had awarded her TE. She couldn’t grab my Visa fast enough to put down the deposit!
Wanted to give a big shout out thank you to Kombucha22 who started this helpful thread and to the many other regular posters who shared their tuition exchange journey throughout this crazy and unpredictable process. I have enjoyed reading your posts and learning from you all.
Here’s to our kids spreading their wings and thriving, wherever they go.
And— here’s to getting some much needed sleep:)
Unbelievable roller coaster ride for everyone involved for sure. Seeking 11th hour advice!
D23 is enrolled at a good state school to be safe, was notified on 4/24 that TE was awarded for Saint Louis University (given until 5/14 to decide), but is still hopeful for #1 Case Western Reserve. D is soooo ready to be done.
Waitlisted for acceptance and consequently TE to CWR back in January, been communicating that if accepted would commit, and submitted a couple of LOCI. Received email on 5/1 saying that Friday 5/5 they would notify those accepted from the waitlist. Question is should I highlight or downplay the fact that we can only accept if also awarded the TE?
CWR TE liaison was not particularly helpful throughout the entire process and the last thing I want to do is hurt our chances - so maybe just say nothing?
I would not say anything until 5/5. If admitted, you can tell them that it would be difficult to attend without TE.
My thoughts exactly but wanted you all to weigh in - thank you!
I would not inform CWR about the TE-or-bust situation. I would definitely inform your student of the TE-or-bust situation for CWR … immediately.
Wow! I appreciate your appreciation. 
Congratulations on getting TE to USC!! What a crazy ride!
Here’s a summary post of how things went for our son’s apps, in case it’s helpful for others.
Stats:
GPA: 3.99UW/4.5W
SAT: 1510 (760 V / 750 M)
Rank: top 3% at good, large public in Midwest
APs: Chem, German, English lang, Calc BC, Physics I, Physics C; comp sci at CC
ECs: not many, mostly academic teams, band, and jobs
Applied undeclared within engineering where allowed, applied MechE where undecided engineering wasn’t an option.
Essays: He’s a good writer but struggled HARD to write about himself. He spent way more time thinking about what he might write about than he did actually writing. He appreciated help with understanding the purpose of the essays and with brainstorming topics. That was the crux. It was smart to make him start that process early since it took several weeks to percolate. The actual writing was quick and easy for him. I thought his common app essay was good. Everyone who read it laughed out loud. It was about some unusual hobbies he has and how they reflect his curiosity and investment in obscure and “useless” details. He only had ~10 short supplementals, and they were at least decent.
LORs: He asked a couple of veteran teachers that (coincidentally) most students dislike, but that he likes. He did well in their challenging classes (AP chem and honors precalc). He filled out the brag sheets for them and I’m guessing they were fine letters.
Budget etc: He was chasing big merit due to our small budget. Budget was $20K at time of apps, but later increased to $30K. We got need-based aid at 5 schools; the rest got near our EFC with merit aid. He was uninterested in applying to fancy schools. Few preferences overall, other than avoiding hot sunny climate. Applied to lots of schools due to the unpredictability of TE awards. Applied to honors at several schools, accepted to all. Applied EA where offered; all apps submitted mid-Oct regardless (highly recommend).
TE schools: ($ is cost of tuition & fees + room & board, less aid)
• CWRU: EA deferred to RD, then waitlisted (COA estimate $22K, declined WL spot)
• MSOE: admit, withdrew TE app
• RIT: admit, TE awarded ($28K)
• Rose-Hulman: admit, TE waitlisted then awarded ($28K)
• Syracuse: admit, TE awarded + stacked merit to full tuition ($18K) 
ATTENDING
• Dayton: admit, TE denied but good merit ($27K)
• Delaware: admit, TE waitlisted then awarded ($15K)
• Pitt: admit, TE denied but good merit ($30K)
• WPI: admit, TE denied ($36K)
Non-TE schools:
• Purdue (in-state): admit, no merit ($24K)
• U of Louisville: admit, merit ($19K)
• U of Missouri: admit, merit ($18K)
• A couple other schools related to parent employers: admit
He could have applied to fewer schools, but the extra apps were easy. He’d said for years “I’ll just go to Purdue” but had a big change of heart in August. Campus visits were crucial. His short list surprised us: Purdue, Mizzou, Louisville, and Syracuse. The Delaware award came in too late to fully evaluate, so he declined the same day. The goal was for him to have several good choices within budget and he had a ton (yay).
Quite uncharacteristically for him, he based his final choice on his gut feelings/vibes. Once he decided on that strategy, he went from being frazzled to peaceful about choosing. He thought the decision would be tough, but he had a month to think about it and chose Syracuse without much difficulty (he’d been leaning that way). However, he did want to sit down and deliberate specific pros and cons and data in detail for that last discussion. That helped him feel comfortable with his choice.
We had no idea how wacky things had gotten with college admissions until last spring when I started reading CC. I’m sure our son would have had satisfactory offers regardless (parent employers), but CC helped us come up with a fantastic list and he had an abundance of exciting choices. It was also a confidence boost for him to get so many acceptances and nice offers. Thanks to CC for so much!
I fully support the choosing your school by vibes method. As you’ve said - all his choices were good ones, at that point why not just go with your gut?
We’ve used that method during college visits. All the colleges S24 has visited fit his criteria (and ours) - at that point…it’s all vibes to figure out which ones should stay on the list.
I haven’t been able to get into the Tuition Exchange website the last 2 days. Is it me or is their site been down? I get “This site can’t be reached”. Do you think its odd that my import application is still being considered? Are people still in “waiting” mode at their import schools? I would email the liaison but … I am still hoping for a miracle.
There is on header on their start page:
“Tuition Exchange’s web host provider’s main internet line was struck Friday and severed. Repair work is ongoing, but the TE portal continues to be out. Thank you for your patience. I will update all once the system is back in place. Janet”
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who shared their experiences over the past year. This will be extremely helpful for the coming year as S24 will be trying for a few of these coveted TE scholarships!
Hi All,
I hope your summer has started off well! I’m getting close to finishing the spreadsheet I said I would make at the end of the process, pulling all our information together so that the 2024 parents have a good place to start thinking though their search.
At this point, I have everyone’s info in there, which includes people who gave their kid’s stats and those who did not. Obviously it is more helpful for the future parents if TE results are linked up with stats, so I thought I’d ask if those folks are willing to list them before I finalize the document. If you’d prefer not to, that’s fine, but wanted to ask once more. The people with results but no stats are: Stem Momma, X_Y3, Kombucha22, MollyM72, Mom Maine, and Intercostal.
Once I have this finalized, I’ll put up a draft copy - there may be some mistakes on your own results or perhaps updates you can make. After that, I’ll put up a final version and then put it at the start of the 2024 TE thread when it starts.
Thanks all!
I know this must be taking a lot of your time to pull this all together. Thank you so much for doing this.
I’m sure this will very helpful to future TE parents and students!
Will there be a column to add misc info learned regarding process of review and/or number of spots awarded for specific schools? If so, happy to share.
Hi @Merimom23 - it’s not a problem, I had a spreadsheet already so I just adapted it for this. Besides, it’s summer! 
I love the idea about adding some columns for #spots and a misc column for things people learned about particular schools. I already have one for stacking. Your response then led me to think of something that hadn’t occurred to me - why not just put this on a Google Sheets page so people can make whatever edits they want on their own?
In the next day or two I’ll get that set up, and then I’ll post the link to the page. At that point, if everyone here who is still checking in can just go there and put the info they have, that would be awesome (and easy)!