Trinity University: Anyone have a student there? Visited there? Considered them?

[katilac]

Any input on Trinity University? 

 

They've invited dd to compete for their full scholarship. They look promising in many ways, but their compete day isn't until the end of February, and we hate the thought of not knowing till March. 

 

Are they so awesome dd should be patient and give it a try? 

 

They are not affordable for us w/o this, according to their calculator, and she does have several good offers in the bag. 

 

I think we're burning out, lol. 

[Butter]

Trinity is utterly amazing.  Their full scholarship competition is really cool and seems unique.  They basically put kids through mock classes and award the scholarships based on interaction and answers (so make sure your daughter is not quiet during the competition!).

[brehon]

My niece is in her sophomore year there and loves it!

[hopskipjump]

After the reviews... *I* want to apply to go there! lol

[OneStepAtATime]

Went there all 4 years, as well as both my parents.  They both did well at Trinity and so did I.  Great school.  

 

FWIW, I agree with up thread that at least in my day it was mostly middle to upper middle class kids but I had lots of friends from all kinds of backgrounds and parental income levels as friends (lots of scholarship kids in my immediate circle) and we stayed close knit.  A lot of us were doing workstudies to help fill in the gaps financially and that was actually really a cool way to get to know people better and get to know the campus better.  Loved their workstudy program.  I made a lot of really good friends there and stayed in contact with a couple of professors for a time.  In fact, most of my friends from college and I are still close friends and travel to see each other upon occasion.   The campus is beautiful, the professors I had, with maybe one exception, were experts in their field and good teachers, the classes were usually fairly small so lots of time for discussion and direct interaction with the professor, etc.  And in case this is important, the chapel is beautiful.  

 

One thing I might add, a friend of mine works there now and the feedback I am getting from him is that it is pretty competitive academically.  Some kids seeking double and triple majors, as well as multiple minors, to stay competitive in their fields.  I don't know if that is just for one or two disciplines or how accurate his observations are since his job does not take him into the classrooms but I thought I would share.

[OneStepAtATime]

OneStep, my work-study job was doing the laundry for the football team. I reported to the dungeon, er, I mean, basement of the gym at from 8:00-10:00 at night and washed up the uniforms. My only comraderie was with the humongous roaches that scurried around in that dank room. Not exactly some of my more pleasant memories in life... though I admit that it did prepare for being the mother of six stinky boys. (LOL)

Oh dear! I worked in the library and the rare book archives as well as at the radio station. I really didn't have a lot of interaction with the football team (even when my roommate was dating one of the players) so I didn't realize there were workstudy jobs in the basement area. So sorry you didn't have a better workstudy experience!

[katilac]

Trinity is utterly amazing.  Their full scholarship competition is really cool and seems unique.  They basically put kids through mock classes and award the scholarships based on interaction and answers (so make sure your daughter is not quiet during the competition!).

 

Thank you, we had no idea what to expect at an all-day competition. Academic Hunger Games, got it. 

 

She has another one that is a half-day, so they may do something similar (these schools parcel out information like the CIA), and one more that is just requires a fairly short interview. I think that one will be her favorite, lol.

[hopskipjump]

Not exactly some of my more pleasant memories in life... though I admit that it did prepare me for being the mother of six stinky boys. (LOL)

 

This made me literally laugh out loud. :rofl:  Life is sure funny sometimes!! lol!

 

[AngieW in Texas]

We toured the university. My dd was planning to major in neuroscience and that was one of the few schools in TX to offer it.

 

The campus was beautiful. My dd really liked that you could participate in theatrical productions whether or not you were majoring in theater. That really appealed to her even though she had no interest in getting involved in theater.

 

She really didn't like that you had to live on-campus until your senior year, although she did like the dorm setup.

 

As it turned out, she ended up at UT Dallas and changed her major to speech pathology during her first semester and then added child learning and development as a second major during her second semester and she has lived on campus every semester because she loves living on campus in the dorms. Being required to live in the dorms was a major factor in her deciding not to even apply to Trinity, but that turns out to be the kind of living arrangement she likes best.

[katilac]

She does want to live on campus, so that aspect is actually a big plus for her. 

 

She's leaning towards not competing, though. If she doesn't, she will be done with all such things in a mere two weeks, with only a half-day trip two hours away and a local interview in that time. Trinity's competition would be a full month after that, and require at least 3 very long days of travel and competition.

 

It would be more tempting if she didn't have some strong choices already, but all of that combined with the distance will probably have her opting out. San Antonio is 2 hours further than her current top choice, which is already too far for her preference! 

 

Thanks for all of the input, so much more helpful than university web sites  :001_smile: