@anxiousdad2020 you mentioned several times that the tour was long, the walk was long, your son is worried about the long walks every morning carrying heavy books, etc. Remember you were at altitude. You might not have attributed it to the altitude but some of it was. Your son will get used to it after he’s been there a few weeks.
Last week the NHL held a game at the AFA, at about 7000 feet. The Avalanche players, who are used to playing at 5200 feet, noticed it. The Kings, who usually play at sea level, really noticed it.
It is absolutely true that the U runs out of housing. It is not a gimmick. If you even have a small chance of attending, send in the nonrefundable housing deposit. I believe that you do not have to accept the offer of admission to do so. I have several friends whose children did not get housing in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 freshman admission cycles. They waited until they heard back from other schools and were too late. I would call the Housing office and see exactly “how late is too late”.
Has anyone received an invitation to interview for the Eccles scholarship? D20 has a generous scholarship and Honors college admittance, but the Eccles program looks like it would help foster to a greater extent discussion based classes and mentoring by professors, which is something drawing her to a much smaller LAC. Utah, however, looks like it has much stronger offerings in computer science with game development emphasis, which is one of her interests and the area to which she’s been admitted. She’s also very interested in English/creative writing/theater, and I’ve pointed out that the current COA would make it feasible for us to help pay for more than 8 semesters even if anything beyond 8 is full OOS pay.
2020 Application Timeline
Application opens: Jan 15, 2020
Application Deadline: Feb 11, 2020 11:59 (MST)
Feb 12: Application Review Begins
Early March: Interview Invitations Sent
March: Interviews (in-person or Skype)
March 31: Notification of Status
April 17: Commitment Date
So expect notifications next week. Remember the bolded statements on the website about how those notifications go to your U email account not your personal one so make sure you are checking that.
Interviews will probably be Wed Mar 11 to Wed Mar 18, 3-6pm MT each weekday (though one week later Mar 18-25 is possible depending on how quickly the process has gone). In past years, OOS applicants have been given first choice of (15-20 min) slots for the first couple of days after notification. Instate applicants generally must attend in person, but that’s completely optional for OOS applicants (and most of them just do Skype).
There was a scholarship notice at the bottom of the email informing D of her acceptance to U of Utah. It also shows up on the Financial Aid page of her portal homepage. Have you set that up yet? You’ll want to do so promptly because that’s where one logs into university email, and where one fills out the housing application, etc. Look for the piggybank icon and click it, then select from the menu on the left side for 'scholarship offer" with another piggy bank icon and click on that. The scholarship also showed up in the U of Utah email account.
Confirming means that you are choosing a particular university to enroll in and following the steps to do so; in this case by paying the $300 fee and selecting the appropriate button. You can fill out the housing request without paying the enrollment fee, though there is a non-refundable $130 payment to do that, and if you choose to go to another school, I think you have to cancel the housing agreement by May 1.
I had a similar question about scholarships. My D was recently accepted with a 3.67 GPA and a 1110 SAT. I’m assuming that she didn’t get a scholarship, because I can’t find a piggy bank icon and the letter only states:
“You’ve been accepted to the
University of Utah!
It is with immense pleasure that I inform you of your acceptance to the University of Utah. This opportunity comes in recognition of your academic and personal achievements, and I am positive that you would be a valued member of our community.
To get an early start on your enrollment, click the button below.
We are still waiting to hear on the Eccles Scholarship. My son has already received full 4 year out of state tuition. It looks like one advantage of Eccles (other than including room and board) is that there isn’t a gpa requirement to keep the scholarship. Can anybody confirm this is correct? Are there any other advantages to this scholarship?
@2020MomTwins The Eccles requirement to renew the scholarship is a 3.5 GPA rather than 3.6 for the other scholarships. We were told that no one had ever failed to meet that threshold, a GPA of 3.8-4.0 is typical for these students.
The scholarship includes a book allowance ($400 per semester) and money to attend a conference, and there appears to be some level of priority in selection for competitive opportunities like the Legacy and Ecology minor, Oxford conference, etc.
Note also that fees are covered, which are not included in the full tuition scholarship, these can run to as much as $2000 per year depending on the course selection. And they appear to be happy to allow you to take additional credits over 18 per semester for free, which may or may not be the case for the full tuition scholarship.
The cohort element is also not to be underestimated, there are classes together each year and some trips as well, and with the cohort all living together in the first year, many of them form close friendships, within a group that has high ambitions and support to apply for competitive national scholarships (Truman, Churchill, Fulbright, etc.).
I called the office and found out that my D received the WUE scholarship! I was also able to work with my D in resetting her password and following their instructions to see it online.
Next week is spring break, so I’m pretty sure they will be sending out the invitations by no later than Friday afternoon. And interviews will then presumably be Mar 18-25.