Ann.without.an.e Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Trying to add to our visit list. Already visited or scheduled: Duke Chapel Hill NC State Oxford Emory Furman Wake Forest What about Wofford, Sewanee, Presbyterian, Anderson - any thoughts on these? any other schools we should consider? She wants to stay as close to Charlotte as possible, with a 4-5 hour max range ;) She's considered expanding that a tad for Vanderbilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Davidson? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Given what you've posted about finances I think I'd encourage her to apply to at least one in state true safety (i.e., a state university other than UNC-CH or NCSU). UNC Charlotte, Greensboro and App State are all within her desired geographical range. And maybe consider University of South Carolina. We were very impressed, and they offered DS a lot of merit aid (we didn't qualify for need based aid, so I can't address that). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Davidson? I just keep hearing that they are absolutely NOT homeschool friendly. Several people have told me not to waste our time :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Given what you've posted about finances I think I'd encourage her to apply to at least one in state true safety (i.e., a state university other than UNC-CH or NCSU). UNC Charlotte, Greensboro and App State are all within her desired geographical range. And maybe consider University of South Carolina. We were very impressed, and they offered DS a lot of merit aid (we didn't qualify for need based aid, so I can't address that). Yes, I think we will visit Western Carolina or App to cover that territory ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I went to Furman my first semester, then transferred to Presbyterian and graduated there. as for PC, Clinton is small but we never lacked for things to do and Greenville, Columbia and Charleston are all within an hour or three :) Laurens is a bit bigger and is about 15 minutes away. The professors I had there were amazing, and even now (30 years later) I am still in frequent contact with some of them. I loved my time there but it is a small town if that matters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 High Point University is another possibility. What is she interested in studying? I can't recall if you've said before. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 High Point University is another possibility. What is she interested in studying? I can't recall if you've said before. She loves it all and that adds some difficulty. She doesn't seem to be interested in engineering (even though she is math strong). I think if she could plan her life out as she wished she would be an English/Lit teacher or an English/Lit professor and also write on the side. At the same time, she loves mathematics and has considered the accounting/finance/CFO route. She knows she would adore teaching early elementary too. If she didn't want to get married and stay home with her children then she would most definitely be a pediatrician. I know, I know....theoretically she can "be both" but the reality is med school requires such a mountain of debt that unless she marries someone with quite a large income she would be required to work for years and years to pay off the debt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 Given what you've posted about finances I think I'd encourage her to apply to at least one in state true safety (i.e., a state university other than UNC-CH or NCSU). UNC Charlotte, Greensboro and App State are all within her desired geographical range. And maybe consider University of South Carolina. We were very impressed, and they offered DS a lot of merit aid (we didn't qualify for need based aid, so I can't address that). The other thing I meant to mention is that there is a 4 year private school close enough that she can commute. We are viewing it as her safety. She will probably DE there next year. She broke their middle 50% of the ACT in only 8th grade. They have a good reputation but dd would be high stats for them. They aren't super expensive either so if DD can get any bit of a scholarship then not paying room and board should make that school very affordable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 She loves it all and that adds some difficulty. That is tough! She sounds like a well rounded person though & should be an asset to whichever profession she decides to go into. Is Elon on your list? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 That is tough! She sounds like a well rounded person though & should be an asset to whichever profession she decides to go into. Is Elon on your list? Elon is a school we'd like to visit. I had it on our list and then someone here said it wasn't a good fit for a motivated/high stats girl. To be honest, I don't know what I would do without the WTM'ers but sometimes some of them leave me befuddled. If I put a school like Elon on my list then they tell me it isn't good enough. If I leave it off, they tell me I appear to have no safety :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Elon is a school we'd like to visit. I had it on our list and then someone here said it wasn't a good fit for a motivated/high stats girl. To be honest, I don't know what I would do without the WTM'ers but sometimes some of them leave me befuddled. If I put a school like Elon on my list then they tell me it isn't good enough. If I leave it off, they tell me I appear to have no safety :lol: LOL! Remember everybody's got an opinion, and those opinions can range anywhere from invaluable to worth exactly what you're paying for them! When people speak of safeties they mean schools that are sure acceptances and that you know are affordable. Typically a student's stats will make them over qualified for a safety. Because that's what makes it a safety in terms of an almost sure acceptance. And being over qualified often means the school will offer very substantial merit aid. A student who is a match for a school usually isn't going to enhance a school anymore than almost every other match applicant is. That's what makes them matches. When a student applies to a school for which she is over qualified then yes, that student is probably going to be enhancing the student body. She's bringing something more than their typical applicant. And therefore schools are willing to offer lots of merit aid to entice that student. DS's pure safety was UNC-Wilmington. His stats put him out of the ballpark for them--in terms of rankings and things like that it probably isn't anywhere near "good enough" for him (although I think it's a good school and we know lots of kids who are getting great educations there now and have in the past). But it's a school we knew was almost certainly a sure acceptance, total cost of attendance is way less than our EFC and affordable for us w/o any aid, and it's a school where he would have been relatively content (if not intellectually challenged) to spend a year until he could transfer. In our opinions it was a necessary application for peace of mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 U of Virginia and Washington and Lee offer great financial aid, but no idea of the distance. U Alabama is further than you'd like, but could make a good safety. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Sewanne is in the middle of nowhere and is a heavy frat-school, at least it was when I visited there. It's GORGEOUS, but pretty remote. The impression I got was that drinking is a pastime, but I am sure that there are students who slip through those partying cracks. :) W&L in Lexington, VA is a very good school (I know this personally ;)) but also has some of the frat culture of Sewanee. W&L is very well endowed and, at least 10 years ago, was offering some stout scholarships. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 U of Virginia and Washington and Lee offer great financial aid, but no idea of the distance. U Alabama is further than you'd like, but could make a good safety. Sewanne is in the middle of nowhere and is a heavy frat-school, at least it was when I visited there. It's GORGEOUS, but pretty remote. The impression I got was that drinking is a pastime, but I am sure that there are students who slip through those partying cracks. :) W&L in Lexington, VA is a very good school (I know this personally ;)) but also has some of the frat culture of Sewanee. W&L is very well endowed and, at least 10 years ago, was offering some stout scholarships. Yes, W&L....that is one we are interested in visiting, I just forgot to mention it. We hope to make a visit sometime in the next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I'm following this since my older son is interested in going to a southern LAC (even though we live on the other side of the country) and I've been looking to expand our thinking about schools. We just visited W and L and we were all very impressed. I think it and Davidson were the standouts of our trip. They have been given a huge donation that is translating to a lot of merit aid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 They have been given a huge donation that is translating to a lot of merit aid. Just to be clear...Davidson or W&L? Also, did you mention to anyone at Davidson that you homeschool? Did you sense the resistance that I have heard so much about. I keep hearing to avoid them but when I called and asked specifically about HS'ing they seemed open. They said they simply need more than mommy-grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 We visited Davidson and spoke with an admissions rep. He did kind of snicker at homeschooling and I didn't get a good feeling. He gave us the business card of the guy that handles homeschool apps and it was the director if admissions. We followed up with an email asking about homeschool requirements and never got a response. While we were waiting for the meeting we flipped through a directory they had out of all their current students organized by state and high school. On the back page was the homeschool list. They had 2 homeschooled students both graduating in the same year. So that means the other three classes has zero homeschoolers enrolled. Loved Davidson and the financial aid policies but decided ds would only apply if he was a recruited athlete. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Just to be clear...Davidson or W&L? Also, did you mention to anyone at Davidson that you homeschool? Did you sense the resistance that I have heard so much about. I keep hearing to avoid them but when I called and asked specifically about HS'ing they seemed open. They said they simply need more than mommy-grades. Sorry. I was meaning W and L. Going on memory, a man named Johnson has given them a $100 million gift which has resulted, among other things, in 10 percent of their class (44 kids) each year coming in on a full merit aid. I got the sense that gift and others also has led to other merit aid being available (not just the 44 full scholarships). Another family's tour guide (not ours) was a Johnson Scholar and was a African American young man from Chicago. That other family said they got the impression that they were using that money to diversify their students, which seemed like a great thing. There is a special early process to be considered for this scholarship and as I remember they bring finalists back to campus. Davidson also has a lot of merit money and a signature full ride scholarship that I gather has been around longer than W and L's. It also requires an early application. I seem to remember for that one you have to be nominated by the school. I'm not sure how that would work with homeschoolers. There seemed to be other merit aid available too, and they really emphasized that. Davidson really emphasized committment to community more than any other school we visited. I think they are really looking for kids who will commit deeply to the school community there, and any way you can demonstrate that would be helpful. My older son isn't currently homeschooled so I'm afraid I didn't ask about that at Davidson. I didn't remember anything said either way. One thing that I did notice was that all the schools we visited in VA (W and L, W and M and Virginia) mentioned homeschooling in a welcoming way (even if just in passing). It made me wonder if homeschooling is more prevalent in VA or somehow they've been schooled on it. I met the woman in charge of homeschool applications at William and Mary and she was someone I'd follow up with if relevant. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofgals Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Oldest dd is about to graduate from Samford University (in Birmingham, so that's at the far end of your dd's scope). She was undecided, and one of the appeals of the school is that they have a number of options for majors. As a member of their honors program (University Fellows), she received good scholarship money, top-notch advising, and Fellows are allowed to register ahead of all other students for classes. (And, another awesome part of the Fellows program is a trip to Italy during the Jan term of the sophomore year.) They work well with homeschool students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen the RD Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 University of Richmond? We were supposed to visit there in Feb, but that was when Richmond received 1' of snow! Unfortunately, that cancelled our trip, but we plan to go back. From everything we've researched they have an excellent reputation and students truly seem to love their experience there. They are apparently very generous with aid, too. HTH, Jennifer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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