My D18 will be attending the U this fall for a BFA in ballet. Feel free to ask questions about our application experience. Also would be good to hear from others who are currently attending.
Thank you for starting this. Do you know much about how competitive the scholarships are, and what amounts the majority are for?
The NPC gives an estimate of your expected merit scholarship based on UW GPA and ACT score. It seems 4.0 UW is important. So play around with that. But last year we found the NPC was slightly outdated in that the cutoffs had increased. So it showed OOS presidential which is full tuition, fees and $5000 towards room and board at 4.0/35 when they actually awarded just full 4 year OOS tuition. I think they award quite a few OOS scholarships for the first year at very slightly lower scores on the assumption you’ll get the cheap in-state tuition after that (though your student needs to go to Utah by July 1 to meet the cutoff date for 12 months residency).
The Eccles competitive full ride scholarship has a separate application and essay/recommendation once you are admitted to the Honors College. There are 30 scholarships per year (they have a waitlist for when a handful of first choice students go elsewhere) and 200 or so apply, with 60 shortlisted for interview. There seems to be a desire to select for a balance of interests, majors, home states, etc. to make for an interesting cohort experience.
@Twoin18 I would love to hear more about your daughter’s experiences at U of U. I’m particularly interested to know what the culture is like for students of color, if she has any experience of that. Essentially, we would just like to know what the “vibe” of the campus is like. If half the students are commuters, does it have a commuter feel, or does it still feel residential? What are the dorms like? Is the food decent enough? Is there enough walkable from campus to sustain a young adult’s social life, or is a car needed? Any input or reflections you have would be much appreciated. Thanks!
@ccprofandmomof2 Not sure I am qualified to comment on the experience for students of color. The U does of course have mostly white kids like most of the mountain states, although we met a number of Asian-American and other students from Utah with a variety of backgrounds (it’s my understanding that Utah has been quite welcoming to refugees from various places). I suspect they are (relatively) more highly represented amongst Honors and merit scholarship recipients. I don’t know how many diverse students come from OOS.
I get the impression that locals may see it as a commuter school but for out of state students it’s a different experience. Many locals are quite close by so commuting is fairly easy. As a relatively small state, there are a lot of kids from the larger in-state high schools, giving those kids a ready made friend group, whereas OOS kids are often the only one from their HS to go to Utah. So for example OOS students are more heavily represented in sororities/fraternities and I guess other social activities. We noted that at parents events, the in state parents often knew each other already (parents weekend was very different and less sociable compared to UCLA). There’s a lot of school spirit around sports, particularly football - we found a big traveling (non-student) contingent at the UCLA game for example, because there’s no local NFL team in Utah.
The Honors dorms are really luxurious apartments, though I don’t think the food is anything to write home about (we get photos of food from my son at UCLA, no chance of that at Utah, OTOH her double dorm room is way bigger than his triple, and also has an en suite bathroom and a sitting room/kitchen). But there’s plenty of choice in the food court.
The city is very convenient with Trax light rail (free), so there’s no need for a car, though quite a few have one, if for example they like to ski/climb/hike. And it can be handy to go to Target or Trader Joe’s though it’s always quite easy to find a friend with a car. Zipcar and Bird don’t exist, so Trax, Uber and walking are the usual means of transportation. The campus is on a hill which is quite steep so not that many people appear to cycle.
@Twoin18 Thank you! This is so helpful! We will definitely check it out.
I’m pleased to see that this forum was created! My DD is also a freshman at the U this year and is also a Ballet BFA from OOS like @Twoin18 's DD. Happy to try and answer questions as well.
Twoin18 did a great job of describing things. DD is not in the honors dorm. She has her own room, her roommate has her own room, and they share a bathroom. It is a fairly spacious room and she is very happy to have her space to retreat to when she needs to be alone for a while. She’s made a lot of friends through her department and her dorm floor and never seems to lack for something to do. I haven’t heard her ever complain that the school feels like a commuter school.
She does not have a car and can manage without one, though I think she tends to go with friends who do have cars to Trader Joes, Smiths, etc.
Given her major and the demands on her time, she doesn’t get to the dining hall as often. The food has been ok but not stellar, and she is looking forward to having a kitchen next year in one form or another. We went with the cheapest meal plan this year and she supplements with groceries.
I haven’t seen a lot of diversity within her major, but ballet itself has that problem, unfortunately. I haven’t been on campus and around students enough to comment firsthand on what I’ve seen.
Can either of you give feedback on availability of ballet classes for non-majors? My daughter does not plan on pursuing ballet in college but would like to continue high level classes if possible.
@Darcy123 Yes there’s a ballet 1 and ballet 2 class for non majors offered each semester, which is 3 days per week for 80 minutes per class. There are 40 spots in each but it generally doesn’t fill. I think that’s because the fees are quite high ($475 per semester) if it’s taken as a non credit class. It can be taken for credit (3 units per semester as a Fine Arts elective, 2 Fine Arts elective courses are needed for non-Fine Arts students) but then you would pay the tuition fee instead (tuition depends on the number of units, it’s not a fixed amount). I’m not sure if your daughter could audition for performance roles though.
@Darcy123 you can see some of the classes offered here: https://student.apps.utah.edu/uofu/stu/ClassSchedules/main/1188/class_list.html?subject=BALLE
Ballet 114 and 116 are for non-majors.
I’m seeing 5 spots available in Balle 229, which meets with Ballet 2290. (Ballet 2290 is the freshman-level class for majors.) @Twoin18 do you know what the difference is between, say, 114 and 229? They both appear to be for non-majors. Would 229 require a placement class, perhaps?
The catalog says 229 is only for ballet majors and is just the non-credit version of 2290. I think there may be circumstances where ballet majors want a non-credit version of their class if they have already got sufficient credits for the major (since there is a credit cap at the U). For example if the pointe credits were already received from the summer intensive or the technique class is required solely to be in a performance (it is a co-requisite for all performances).
But it appears you can audition to get into these classes if you get consent from the ballet faculty so it may not be completely impossible if your daughter would otherwise meet the standard needed to be admitted as a ballet major. I’d guess that the easiest way to do that would be to audition for and attend the summer intensive at Utah before going to college.
Thanks for the info. I’ll pass it on. She’s gone back and forth on how much ballet she’s looking for. I think it’s hard to imagine going from 20+ hours a week to nothing. Particularly when you’re in the middle of Nutcracker!
Looking for S20. We are in CO. Someone mentioned the NPC is a little off on the scholarship info so I am taking with a grain of salt the amount given of just under $10,000. However any idea of how off it is? S20 has an ACT of 35 and a current uwGPA of 4.0. Would he qualify for full tuition? Also, how hard is it to keep the scholarship - I think I saw a GPA requirement of 3.6? Any and all insight would be much appreciated!
@mountainmomof3 Those are the same stats as my D18. The NPC showed that ~$9K based on the presidential scholarship (covering tuition, fees and $5K towards the room costs) but she was only awarded the full tuition scholarship (note that you would still pay fees, which are $1K-$2K per semester, so equivalent COA is then about $18K pa with the Honors dorms). You can still compete for the Eccles scholarship (covering tuition, fees, room and board) regardless of which scholarship you are awarded at admission.
The GPA to keep the scholarship is quite high, but the U is pretty generous with As, they list the GPA percentiles by major here: https://www.obia.utah.edu/data/student-data/gpa-percentile/ and you can see that in most majors a 3.6 is the top 20-30% of the class. Given your son would be top 1-2% going in, that shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve if he works consistently. As a point of reference the Eccles requirement for retention is 3.5 and we were told no one had ever lost the scholarship due to their GPA being too low.
And if that was a concern, getting residency would reduce tuition to sub $10K pa. Note that my comment about timing of when you go to Utah in post #2 was incorrect, in fact you just stay the summer after freshman year, you don’t need to go early.
D18 had a 1520 SAT, uwGPA of ~3.95 and got one year full tuition. It’s probably not enough for us to consider the University of Utah. She has a nearly full-tuition at another University of similar rank.
My daughter will be attending in the fall. Do you mind if I ask which dorm your daughter is in? Mine isn’t in Honors either and she felt the Lassonde dorms were too industrial. She’s looking for a “traditional” dorm experience. Ant feedback would be helpful.
@Carryup there are several more traditional dorms to choose from - Chapel Glen, Gateway, and Sagepoint (https://housing.utah.edu/housing-options/undergraduate-housing/). Some dorms have themed floors you can be a part of if you want to live with others whom you might have something in common with. https://housing.utah.edu/housing-options/living-learning-communities/ My D is in Sagepoint in the Fine Arts community. She likes her suitemate (they each have a single) and has other friends on her floor. The walls are very thin and she hates how loud her neighbor is. The walk to meals in the Heritage Center is somewhat long but she manages. She can see the mountains out her window. 
Sounds good! I’m glad to hear she doesn’t mind the walk to thr PHC. My D is considering Sage Point as well and the walk to the PHC and shuttle stop was my only concern. Thanks for your help!
You’re welcome. I know my D is a bit tired of the HC’s food options, and the walk wears on her some (she’s a dancer with long days) but it has been doable. She really likes having a single room and being on the fine arts floor.