Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[alum]

^^^Go Bears!

[KDCat]

The neighborhood around University of Chicago is very tough. I worked at the U of C hospital there one summer. The neighborhood problems do sometimes flow over on to campus. In the summer while I was there, some teenage girls stole a car and crashed it by my building; certain patients were gang affiliated and brought weapons into the hospital; someone was mugged for a backpack and a bike; stuff like that. Any campus in a big city is going to have problems, but U of C campus seemed a little dicier to me than most.

The campus is beautiful, though. The faculty is top notch. It's a very academic school. The students are very smart and very serious.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

You had me with this

But redeemed yourself with this:

lol.... I definitely didn't mean to sound so harsh. I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

lol.... I definitely didn't mean to sound so harsh. I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

This quote describes my life. I got an English degree and have a more professional M. Ed, as do several of my friends.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I am just a very strong proponent of a strong liberal arts education that leaves the professional stuff to grad school.

As am I.

I think every college, except super-duper conservative Bible colleges and the service academies, can be a "party school;" party schools aren't necessarily filled with Animal House antics all the time.

I had friends in college who took every class pass/fail and partied like it was 1999 every night (to their credit, it was!). On the same token, some of my friends at UF and FSU kept their nose to the grindstone harder than any Ivy League student I knew. Columbia doesn't have Friday classes for undergrads (with the exception of discussion sections and seminars); imagine what Thursday nights are like!

[agzg]

I don't have thoughts about many of the schools except I'm very excited for this thread!

[Eightisgreat]

Your list is strong. My daughter did a summer program at Brown and really liked it but being from Texas is was a culture shock to her. Very liberal campus and lacking social graces that you find in the South. That is not a "bad" thing, but it is very different. If your daughter is drawn to liberal arts based education and likes the big school attitude, have her look at....

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/about/

(Plan II-University of Texas Ausitn)

I believe UT is pretty "non" southern for being in Texas, liberal (but in a conservative state...so it is relative) and endless educational options. Now as far as scholarship dollars...few and far between but some kids snatch in-state tuition waviers and that helps. They have a scholarhsip program that started this year called the 40 acres scholars, but they only took 10 kids, but for applications this year that number is 75. This is a full ride including a living stipend and study abroad grant for 4 years. Grab on to one of those and it becomes a no brainer. Austin is a dynamic city which I equate to an onion...endless layers.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by agzg

I don't have thoughts about many of the schools except I'm very excited for this thread!

Ditto.

[Eightisgreat]

The 40 acres scholarship is a biggie and the odds are much better this year. Make sure she is applying to big outside scholarship also, like Coca-Cola and any others she might qualify for. (Try FastWeb) That way if she is to bank on of those, then she does not have to bank on a specific University coming through.

[AGDee]

She used to have NYU on her list until she saw that area while in NYC. She crossed it off her list then. She doesn't know that she wants to be a creative writer as a profession and that's part of her dilemma. She's really into political/social issues too and I honestly could see her being a political pundit someday... or maybe even a Senator or something. But, writing is definitely her gift.

[AGDee]

That looks like a pretty awesome program. A lack of scholarship money would be an issue, even if she scored an in-state tuition voucher. Until she added Tulane to the list this week, she wasn't considering anything in the south. I was just in Austin for a week on business and saw a few layers.. and a million bats

[alum]

Ivies and many other private schools do not give out merit scholarships, only need-based. They also use the CSS Profile when calculating the Estimated Family Contribution. Unlike the FAFSA which only considers the custodial parents' income, CSS Profile will assess the non-custodial parent's income in addition to the custodial parent.

Quite a few colleges have EFC calculators on the admissions portions of their websites so that the applicant can get a rough idea of how much aid will be likely.

[KSig RC]

UI is only a party school if you want to party - certainly no more so than Ann Arbor. Iowa City is a very cool place to live, as well. The CW program isn't very large, but she'll have multiple opportunities to enter at different stages. If she's serious, she should definitely visit, and possibly consider a workshop - it's definitely worth seeing the campus and campus life.

Tulane is doing very well post-Katrina - two friends were in law school during Katrina, and to hear them tell it, the campus has come out amazingly well. My impression has never been that it's particularly "capital-S Southern", but that's because it draws from all over the south (and nation).

From my limited experience there, I've always felt WashU was similar in many ways to U of Chicago - the differences being primarily the differences between STL and Chicago.

[KSUViolet06]

^^^I didn't get ANY outside scholarships that I applied for via FastWeb (and this was as an excellent student with lots of involvement and such.) Waste.

My biggest successes were via my school's incoming freshman scholarship app. I got 3 or 4 scholarships and a room/board grant, ending up with a pretty much full-ride for undergrad.

I suggest that new freshmen apply for all of the incoming freshman scholarships that you meet the requirements for. If it requires a 3.5 and you have a 3.6, don't just rule it out and say "I wouldn't get it." You never know.

[KSUViolet06]

^^^I tell really bright kids (who have the potential to get into Ivies) that all the time. Don't say "Oh I could NEVER afford Harvard/Princeton/etc." If you can get in, they do their best to meet the needs of students.