Surly kids applying / attending UT

[pacman 7355]

On 3/6/2020 at 6:05 PM, Beau Vine said:

Someone needs to explain to me what the fuck my daughter is doing in school, because I don't understand:

 

That's okay, Beau.

Those who can't, teach.

Edited March 9, 2020 by pacman

[DaysOff 7951]

You're allowed to save that for grad school.  

Yep. My daughter was a McGovern Scholar at UTMB where basically everything was covered, so she hss sufficient hours left in her TTF for her masters this fall at UT.

[crash_davis 23113]

Looks like UT Austin just accepted all the CAP kids. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by crash_davis

[chitwood 155]

Where did you see that?  We haven't seen anything.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

14 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Looks like UT Austin just accepted all the CAP kids. 

What does that mean?  A CAP kid can go to Austin for their freshman year?

[crash_davis 23113]

Yes, my daughter just saw an email to one of her CAP friends from UT stating that he's now accepted to UT Austin. Not sure who all the email was sent to. She heard from one of her friends whose dad is somewhat connected to UT that UT didn't get enough Liberal Arts acceptances, so maybe this only applies to LA's majors?

Edited April 10, 2020 by crash_davis

[chitwood 155]

1 minute ago, crash_davis said:

Yes, my daughter just saw an email to one of her CAP friends from UT stating that he's now accepted to UT Austin. Not sure who all the email was sent to. She heard from one of her friends who's dad is somewhat connected to UT that UT didn't get enough Liberal Arts acceptances, so maybe this only applies to LA's majors?

Hope so. My daughter got CAP’d and applied to Liberal Arts. She appealed and it was denied. I’m not holding my breath. She also didn’t accept a CAP agreement so don’t know if that matters. 

[jimmyjazz 45948]

LOL, that's a little different than "UT Austin just accepted all CAP kids".  

I haven't seen an email, but I think our correspondence mostly goes through my daughter's email address.  I'll have her check.  Thanks.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

I called the Admissions Office -- apparently this happens every year to a select batch of CAP students.  A student's "mystatus" portal should show an update if they have been selected.

[crash_davis 23113]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

LOL, that's a little different than "UT Austin just accepted all CAP kids".  

I haven't seen an email, but I think our correspondence mostly goes through my daughter's email address.  I'll have her check.  Thanks.

Yea I may have jumped the gun. The email addressed CAP kids and didn't make the distinction so I assumed it was sent to all CAP kids. Only heard about the LAs shortage after she started asking her friends. And the student who received this email appealed and was just denied last week. And then he gets this email. I guess that's good but what an emotional rollercoaster for the kids.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

I wonder what % of CAP kids are liberal arts designees?  I would think virtually all who accept the agreement are (like my daughter), but UT might be agnostic as to who they designate from the overall pool of applicants in the first place.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

15 minutes ago, chitwood said:

Hope so. My daughter got CAP’d and applied to Liberal Arts. She appealed and it was denied. I’m not holding my breath. She also didn’t accept a CAP agreement so don’t know if that matters. 

I could scroll back, but I'll just ask:  where is she planning on going?

[chitwood 155]

28 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I could scroll back, but I'll just ask:  where is she planning on going?

Still hasn't decided.  Trinity, Reed, Rhodes, Wooster, Macalester, Carleton?  Boy is down to UT, Rice or Michigan State.

[Guest Lobo]

6 minutes ago, chitwood said:

Still hasn't decided.  Trinity, Reed, Rhodes, Wooster, Macalester, Carleton?  Boy is down to UT, Rice or Michigan State.

All great choices.  Macalester is an interesting college, haven't seen/heard that name since I lived in Chicago.  But it's a tiny school but beyond diverse.  Aside from being a great academic environment, they have something crazy like 100 different countries represented by a student population only in the 3,000 range.  I mean that's UT level diversity in a tiny portion of population.  A guy on my baseball team in high school ended up there and taught me about it, he freakin' loved it.  Saint Paul is a very nice city, but of course---you know...the weather.  

[Not a cat 5656]

7 minutes ago, chitwood said:

Boy is down to UT, Rice or Michigan State.

That's an odd combo.  Kind of like where you see a football recruit is down to Bama, Clemson and Tech.  Does MSU have some program he loves or something?

[jimmyjazz 45948]

16 minutes ago, chitwood said:

Still hasn't decided.  Trinity, Reed, Rhodes, Wooster, Macalester, Carleton?  Boy is down to UT, Rice or Michigan State.

Yeah, I think we're close to out on Trinity.  She got 2 scholarships for something like $30K annual but it still leaves a big bill, being a very expensive school, and we don't have a clear picture on how it lines up with a desire to go to a great grad school.  They have very few graduate programs, so if anyone has an idea how a Trinity degree affects students down the line trying to do grad work at Stanford, UT, and the like, I'm all ears.  It obviously has a great rep as an undergrad institution in Texas, but beyond that, I just don't know.

#wrongthread?

[chitwood 155]

38 minutes ago, Not a cat said:

That's an odd combo.  Kind of like where you see a football recruit is down to Bama, Clemson and Tech.  Does MSU have some program he loves or something?

Mechanical Engineering. Michigan State offered him a full tuition and fees scholarship in addition to paid research positions with professors as a freshman. Got the cost to under 10K. Also a chance to live somewhere else since he is born and raised in Austin. That said, he is probably 85% at UT. He got into Cockrell, admitted into engineering honors and got a 10K scholarship. He really likes Rice but they are offering $0. 

[chitwood 155]

33 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, I think we're close to out on Trinity.  She got 2 scholarships for something like $30K annual but it still leaves a big bill, being a very expensive school, and we don't have a clear picture on how it lines up with a desire to go to a great grad school.  They have very few graduate programs, so if anyone has an idea how a Trinity degree affects students down the line trying to do grad work at Stanford, UT, and the like, I'm all ears.  It obviously has a great rep as an undergrad institution in Texas, but beyond that, I just don't know.

#wrongthread?

I think we are close to deciding yes to Trinity. She competed and got the Trinity Tower scholarship which is full tuition. Gets the cost under 20K. I think Reed is her slight favorite, but they offered very little $. Would be almost 40K a year more. 
 

 I also think Trinity provides a great path for grad school. The fact that they have few graduate programs is irrelevant, most small liberal arts schools don’t, and they send tons of students to grad school (including me DePauw grad straight to UT law school). 

Edited April 10, 2020 by chitwood

[Not a cat 5656]

That makes sense, chit.  I knew he had some high level scores.

Not to muddy up the thread but as someone who went to UT when it was 500 per semester that has a 2021 grad about to go through this, how does all this grant money work?

Do they just say hey you're accepted and your cost is 30k instead of 60?  Do you have to fill out a FAFSA?  I'm caught in that middle ground of not surly 1% where stroking a check for 60k per year wouldn't hurt but also make more than what admissions officers would consider needy.  So surly middle class/American upper middle class.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

Everyone has to fill out FAFSA.  Just resign yourself to it.  It's not that bad if you have your tax return handy.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

chitwood, that is awesome for both your kids.  We didn't try for that Trinity scholarship, not sure if she would have had a chance, but we did go down and had her audition for a music scholarship, and she got that, which added a nice chunk to the amount the school ponied up to start with.

I'll think more about Trinity.  I think there are aspects about small school life that suit her better.  My big concern is that I have two close connections to the UT Psych program and they both indicated that getting into the PhD program was pretty much a non-starter if you're not coming out of a top 20 undergrad program.  The fact that she can CAP into UT Psych renders that a non-issue, and of course makes the cost almost irrelevant.  She did accept the CAP admission via UTSA, but of course it isn't binding.

[Not a cat 5656]

11 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Everyone has to fill out FAFSA.  Just resign yourself to it.  It's not that bad if you have your tax return handy.

Oh I'm resigned to the fact I'm going to gave to fill them out, just wondering how much aid is dependent on that and how many hoops are you jumping through?  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

31 minutes ago, Not a cat said:

That makes sense, chit.  I knew he had some high level scores.

Not to muddy up the thread but as someone who went to UT when it was 500 per semester that has a 2021 grad about to go through this, how does all this grant money work?

Do they just say hey you're accepted and your cost is 30k instead of 60?  Do you have to fill out a FAFSA?  I'm caught in that middle ground of not surly 1% where stroking a check for 60k per year wouldn't hurt but also make more than what admissions officers would consider needy.  So surly middle class/American upper middle class.

Also, if it is still on there (it's been a year since one of my children applied), there is a box/thingy you check to say "Yes, I'm interested in scholarships, aid, etc" or some language like that. Check it.

Our oldest was NM and had no end of offers, etc. Our next child almost didn't check the box, thinking 'well my grades aren't as good, etc' but we suggested that he do so anyway and besides a full offer to UTD, he also was offered smaller scholarships to the big two. They were merit based more than aid based as far as I can tell, and then  he picked up another one after his first semester with his grades being good.

So yes, fill out the FAFSA, and mark the interest in scholarships/aid and roll the dice.

[chitwood 155]

4 minutes ago, Not a cat said:

Oh I'm resigned to the fact I'm going to gave to fill them out, just wondering how much aid is dependent on that and how many hoops are you jumping through?  

It all depends on the school.  Some schools give tons of merit-based aid, and some give basically none.  Go to their individual websites, particularly the smaller schools and go to their admissions and financial aid pages.  Most are pretty transparent.  Made the mistake on the twins not to look that up ahead of time and visited some schools that give very little merit-based.  Won't do that again with kid 3 so she doesn't get her hopes up.

[jimmyjazz 45948]

14 minutes ago, chitwood said:

It all depends on the school.  Some schools give tons of merit-based aid, and some give basically none.  Go to their individual websites, particularly the smaller schools and go to their admissions and financial aid pages.  Most are pretty transparent.  Made the mistake on the twins not to look that up ahead of time and visited some schools that give very little merit-based.  Won't do that again with kid 3 so she doesn't get her hopes up.

I would add that this is a pretty common mistake -- we made it -- and it's exacerbated by the ease with which kids can apply to a bajillion schools through Common App, etc.  It's an unintended consequence.  What happens is first-time "college parents" think "fuck it, it's only $60, let's go for 15 schools", and then they fail to realize just how unique each school is, and how much of a bookkeeping burden that is going to put on them.

I eventually got so cross-eyed trying to track about 5 Big 10 schools, a couple in the Pac 10, 3 or 4 in Texas, along with the random Tulane et al that I just kind of punted.  That's not good.  Ultimately, it comes out of my pocket, too.  I'm not saddling my kid with debt.

I'd strongly suggest to parents that they go with a half dozen schools, tops.  Maybe try to pick a reach (Stanford or Vandy), a gimme (TTech), and 3 or 4 that are possible but fit the bill for your kid (public Ivies, privates like Trinity, etc.).  Beyond that, it just becomes overwhelming.  Resist the temptation.

[Not a cat 5656]

This is very good advice.  I'm trying to get my daughter comfortable with the concept of a safety school without making it seem like I don't believe she can get into her dream schools.  

[Iceman 2710]

15 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I would add that this is a pretty common mistake -- we made it -- and it's exacerbated by the ease with which kids can apply to a bajillion schools through Common App, etc.  It's an unintended consequence.  What happens is first-time "college parents" think "fuck it, it's only $60, let's go for 15 schools", and then they fail to realize just how unique each school is, and how much of a bookkeeping burden that is going to put on them.

I eventually got so cross-eyed trying to track about 5 Big 10 schools, a couple in the Pac 10, 3 or 4 in Texas, along with the random Tulane et al that I just kind of punted.  That's not good.  Ultimately, it comes out of my pocket, too.  I'm not saddling my kid with debt.

I'd strongly suggest to parents that they go with a half dozen schools, tops.  Maybe try to pick a reach (Stanford or Vandy), a gimme (TTech), and 3 or 4 that are possible but fit the bill for your kid (public Ivies, privates like Trinity, etc.).  Beyond that, it just becomes overwhelming.  Resist the temptation.

You're spot on about limiting to 5 or 6.  It gets dizzy AF in a hurry.

Another approach, "Son, we will pay for 3 or 4 applications.  The rest are on you."  Are they really truly interested in a dozen different schools?  What are they trying to achieve?

Remember, especially with daughters, you( most likely) have weddings in the future...precedents are already being set. " Dad will pay for EVERYTHING!!!"

Edited April 11, 2020 by Iceman

[Bateshorn 9927]

The Boy has decided on Trinity.  He’s pretty excited.  It came down to Lewis & Clark, Trinity, and Loyola Marymount.  The weird thing is LMU offered him a huge pile of merit, but zero need and it made it unaffordable.  Trinity offered 23K on merit plus solid need, actually made it about the same price as College Park.
 

Re: Safety Schools- make sure you apply to a public option where you are guaranteed admissions and might get merit aid.  Just in case everything goes tits up.  For us that was UMaryland-Baltimore County.  They offered him an honors college plus Merit.  It wasn’t really something he was interested in, but I wanted a local option just in case. 
 

I guess I’ll see some of you fuckers at Matriculation in San Antonio....assuming it happens.

 

[Beau Vine 54226]

On 4/10/2020 at 12:47 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I wonder what % of CAP kids are liberal arts designees?  I would think virtually all who accept the agreement are (like my daughter), but UT might be agnostic as to who they designate from the overall pool of applicants in the first place.

All the business and engineering slots are full even before they get to the CAP kids, so...

[jimmyjazz 45948]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

All the business and engineering slots are full even before they get to the CAP kids, so...

Sure, but does UT see it as their business to penalize an unaccepted engineering applicant with a better resume than a liberal arts applicant, just because of their preferred major?

I'm not saying they don't, nor that UT doesn't weigh first choice major almost exclusively, but honestly, like some other policies, I don't think it's in the school's best interest to be playing games and penalizing the very best students because of arbitrary rules.  (I say this as the father of a kid who numerically doesn't really clear that "top of the top" bar, but will almost surely graduate from UT because she's not STEM/business and can thus find a way in.)

[Beau Vine 54226]

Ah, I misinterpreted what you were asking. I would guess/hope that UT doesn't consider the major of the CAP kids, because the kid who didn't get into Cockrell can still major in Physics or something sciency.  Of course we found out with the fiasco with my daughter that UT doesn't do some of the things that a normal rational person would guess/hope that they do.

[chitwood 155]

Well the boy made his decision. 
 Cockrell School of Engineering at UT it is  

 

[Not a cat 5656]

That's great for both of you, I bet with his sister considering her more expensive schools that will ease the pain considerably.

How does all this apply to specific schools at UT work?  Back in the stone age days I just remember applying generally to UT and then for certain upper grad things like business you'd have to apply after a couple of years of undergrad work.  I think you had to apply right away for plan 2 but that's it. 

Do you apply to specific schools and each considers you?  So you can have 3.9 w a 1500 SAT and you get rejected from computer science so you're screwed even if economics or history was also an option?  And if you're accepted into liberal arts you can never break into another major if you change your mind after a year?  

[chitwood 155]

You have to apply to a specific school/major, but you also put a second choice. Call me tomorrow for more details. 

[TXSG8R 3362]

So UT related, we signed an apartment lease in November for next school year for our son.  Son got an email today that said something about looking forward to seeing everyone on campus in May 2021.  What are the chances that the apartment companies are going to release people from their leases if kids aren't able to go to school until then?  I know they arent tied to the university, but they also live largely off those UT kids, so if UT wanted to lean on them about it, they probably could.  Hoping one of you assholes has some insight into how that whole off-campus housing situation would be handled by the school/city.  

[Tailgate 3021]

1 minute ago, TXSG8R said:

So UT related, we signed an apartment lease in November for next school year for our son.  Son got an email today that said something about looking forward to seeing everyone on campus in May 2021.  What are the chances that the apartment companies are going to release people from their leases if kids aren't able to go to school until then?  I know they arent tied to the university, but they also live largely off those UT kids, so if UT wanted to lean on them about it, they probably could.  Hoping one of you assholes has some insight into how that whole off-campus housing situation would be handled by the school/city.  

Would you mind sharing some of the content of that email regarding May 2021? Curious as I have a new freshman starting at another school and have been trying to get info on this but realize most decisions won’t be made for a month or two....I would think. There is an enormous amount of dollars that would be lost for colleges to go virtual for a year.

[TXSG8R 3362]

4 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

Would you mind sharing some of the content of that email regarding May 2021? Curious as I have a new freshman starting at another school and have been trying to get info on this but realize most decisions won’t be made for a month or two....I would think. There is an enormous amount of dollars that would be lost for colleges to go virtual for a year.

Disregard, he didn't read it close enough.  This is in reference to an event scheduled for May 8th.  The reference to hoping to get together in May 21 is probably built around that specific date for this event.  

Quote

Members of the UT Community,

As one of our most meaningful traditions, UT Remembers serves as an opportunity for us to gather together to honor members of our community who have passed away in the previous year. Given the public health need to avoid large gatherings on campus, the UT Remembers program scheduled for May 8, 2020, will not be held this year. 

Our hope is that we will return to assembling together safely by May 2021, and at that time pay tribute to all whose lives were lost this past year. We will recognize loved ones at the 2021 UT Remembers by reading their name aloud and tolling the Tower bell once in tribute.

That being said, I think its still likely that being on campus next fall is in jeopardy, so the question about the apartment stuff still stands.  

[jimmyjazz 45948]

So UT is cutting their summer school tuition from 85% of fall/spring value to 50% of that amount.

This appears to be UT-Austin only.  Does that make sense?  Why would the Board of Regents not institute system-wide cuts for something like that?

I called UTSA (my daughter's CAP campus) and they didn't know anything about it.

[CycleTex87 2970]

23 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

So UT is cutting their summer school tuition from 85% of fall/spring value to 50% of that amount.

This appears to be UT-Austin only.  Does that make sense?  Why would the Board of Regents not institute system-wide cuts for something like that?

I called UTSA (my daughter's CAP campus) and they didn't know anything about it.

I saw this also. I gently urged my UT sophomore daughter to load up on summer school classes that she needs to get out of the way.   Hours at UT will never be cheaper. 

[pacman 7355]

Hadn't checked this thread in awhile. Apparently, the kid did get in but not to nursing. Money not great either, so the kid is sticking to ut arlington. Will try again before nursing really starts up junior year, maybe after next year.

Tough go for seniors this year but gained some confidence from this and, ultimately, made an adult decision.

Edited April 21, 2020 by pacman

[chitwood 155]

On 4/12/2020 at 9:13 PM, chitwood said:

Well the boy made his decision. 
 Cockrell School of Engineering at UT it is  

 

And the daughter chose Trinity. All in all they both saved me lots of money and are happy with their decisions. Now we just see if they get to start school on campus this fall. 

[Guest Lobo]

Congrats to all you Longhorn parents again.  Thought I'd put this here to demonstrate, despite bullshit USNWR rankings, how far our school has come.  Granted these are the Forty Acres Scholars applicants, so skewed a bit.  But we had more declines than I can ever remember.  But here are the list of schools at which the students who declined our offer will be matriculating net year (and this is all 11 of them):  Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Cal Tech, and MIT.  That's it, no Rice, no A&M, no UCLA. Our school is on yet another upward trajectory and your children will have an incredible experience there surrounded by other brilliant kids.  Hopefully that helps some of the sting off each semester when you're cutting checks.  I envy y'all.  I've got 13 years to go until my daughter enters college. Who knows what the world will look like then?  

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

Proud dad here, oldest daughter just texted that she's been accepted to the Class of 2025 at UT. Life moves pretty quick!

[Guest Lobo]

Congrats, man!  Great news.  Which CSU is she aiming for?  Or undecided at this point?  

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

Thanks! Her plan is to graduate with a BS in Environmental Science. 

[orange dream 1251]

That's great.  Is she a January 2021 entry or an auto admit for Fall 2021?  I didn't think they were "accepting" Fall 2021 yet.

Either way congrats!!

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

That's great.  Is she a January 2021 entry or an auto admit for Fall 2021?  I didn't think they were "accepting" Fall 2021 yet.
Either way congrats!!

Fall of 2021.

[Guest Lobo]

Looked through my FIN/HDF 322F roster (both sections) and seems I had about 10 or so Environmental Science upperclassmen in my two lectures on Monday out of ~150.  I know what "Environmental" and what "Science" means but I don't know what the program itself is all about but I know it's much harder academically than the shit I pulled.  it's apparently a top tier program and she sounds like an early admit, so kudos.  Have a virtual drink on me tonight.  

I went to school in Florida with a guy who majored in that and it took him 7 years to graduate, and he almost killed us at a Widespread Panic show in Jacksonville once, and now he's in charge of all the flora and fauna around the Cape Canaveral Launch Site.  So you and your family are wildly ahead of the game.  Hook 'em.

[phdhorn 6224]

Congrats!  Man, how time flies! It seems so long ago to my son got accepted to UT engineering. 4 years later almost it's like another life for him now as he's thinking of graduation. I can't tell you how much of a life changer his UT experience has been.Lots of kids go through, it does some good, others not so well, but a few it really changes their lives. He's one of them. It just happened to be exactly what he needed.

Soak it up, there's no better feeling as a parent. I'll never forget the day the day he found out he got in.

[Willfully Horn 8017]

Our eldest announced she absolutely had to move out of state for her college years. We dropped her off in Ft Collins a year ago August. She loved the town, (there is a taqueria/Mercado half a mile from her old dorm,) loved her friends, liked CSU, and hated the cold. Finished one semester, gave away her bike, boxed her dorm room up and shipped it here, and was on the earliest flight she could find back to Austin.

She is a sophomore at UT now. Natural Sciences.

Hook ‘Em!