WPI Early Decision/Action for Fall 2023

Where did you find/access this information? In your son’s WPI portal? Thank you!

Also, how amazing that it is the same as tuition exchange! At least it takes the heat off getting that near-impossible scholarship!

In the portal, there are two tabs: one for admission, and one for financial aid. On Friday the admission said something like completed, and the financial aid tab said something like in progress. Yesterday, the financial aid changed to completed also for my son. If you click on that tab, it has the financial aid package breakdown.

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Thank you so much!

Agree that including the loans in there is a bit deceptive, and they also don’t add all the columns at each step like I’ve seen other schools do.

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He decided on RIT. We just couldn’t give up the sure thing of the TE scholarship (Plus $2k extra in other scholarships) and the fact that it’s 6 hours closer to home!)

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Does anyone know what the Theory and Practice award is? My son just got an email that $2k was added to his offer. I’ve never heard of it before.

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We just saw that, too, in my son’s portal. I don’t know what it is (perhaps it’s given to all admits?) but I’ll take it, haha!

Congratulations! I’m sure he will have an amazing experience there. That’s wonderful that he got the TE!!!

They are 4 year awards with conditions on maintaining satisfactory academic progress.

Anyone here have a kid who is planning to attend WPI? It remains one of my son’s favorites and he did not get admitted to the 2 other schools he labeled in his “top tier,” but it is substantially more expensive than the other schools he got admitted to as he got much better financial packages (and they are still coming). It’s hard to justify spending so much money when the outcomes in Computer Science seem pretty similar across schools, but he really liked WPI. He’s intimidated by the 7 week quarters but really liked the school/program, and is happiest around other STEM kids, which he likely wouldn’t have with the other schools that are finalists on his list… I’d love to hear from other families! Thank you!

We are struggling with a similar decision. My son has gotten into three schools (waiting on two more, but they are both fairly significant reaches, and would probably also cost as much as WPI). Of all the schools he applied to, WPI is his favorite. But it is also by far the most expensive of the schools has gotten into (2x the cost of one school, 1.5x the cost of the other).

I think there would be a lot of great things about it for him personally and academically. However, I just keep asking myself, is it really $120,000 better?

My son actually really likes the idea of the quarter system. He prefers to manage fewer things at a time, and he likes to really dive into a subject and learn it intensely and quickly. And, in general, he’s not that excited about study abroad, but he likes the idea of the kind of short study abroad or study away programs that WPI offers. I would like for him to be able to go, but I’m not sure if it is wise financially. :disappointed:

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If DS has gotten into an honors program at a flagship with substantial merit, I would look at that seriously since it may provide him with a more intellectual environment that he seems to crave. As you note, outcomes at CS are similar across schools.

We are as one, haha! My son really likes it but “is it worth another $120,000” is exactly what I’m thinking. He works soooooooooo hard and I hate crushing his dreams, but how do I justify that cost when that money could be used to help him get started in life in ways that are likely more valuable? Ugh.

That is exactly what is happening - yup! One of the schools even gave him a “professorial assistantship” which seems an incredible opportunity, they are practically throwing money at him, and they invited him to the Honors College (which normally he wouldn’t care about, but it’s a substantial additional scholarship). The program isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good. And if he lives in their Honors Engineering LLC, I’d like to think/hope he’d find other STEM nerds like himself… UGH! It’s so hard to justify the WPI price tag.

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I tired to work with my daughter to set “price tag” on each school that I would pay, before she submitted the applications. E.g, full price for ivy level colleges, then scaled down for different levels of colleges, till the cost of state colleges.

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My son is a junior at WPI. While it was definitely not our most affordable option, it has been a great fit for him. He has enjoyed his classes and the faster paced quarter system. He has found the atmosphere to be more collaborative than competitive, which was what initially had drawn him to the school. I have found the school to be very open with communication about what is going on. WPI has also greatly expanded on mental health resources for the kids. In fact, tomorrow is one of their wellness days where they have no classes and different activities for the kids to participate in during the day. Good luck to you all on making your decisions. It is a stressful time!

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Is anyone else who applied EA II seeing “Your application is under a second review” Assuming that probably is not the best of signs…

EA II decisions are out.

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Following up as my son was deferred back in January for EA1 to RD. What a surprise tonight when he got an email that his decision was ready. He was accepted with a $23k/yr scholarship as well as grant money but the COA is still over $40k/yr which is about $15k over our EFC. He has another school he has been accepted to that he is very interested and the COA is a bit more palatable. Not sure what the final decision will be as he’s still waiting to hear from two more schools.

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