Janeway Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) I am wondering about this. I told son to consider a wide variety of schools and consider the notion of financial safeties and explained all that to him. He has his heart set on Hillsdale. He also has Baylor University on his list. He currently wants to study the classics. As far as I can tell from trying to use the net price calculators and such, it is up in the air if either of these will be financially doable. I think Hillsdale is less likely to work out financially than Baylor. With a major in the classics, there are not a ton of colleges or universities that actually have a Latin major or a classics major. He is now looking at places like Rhodes College and Hendrix. I feel like, unless Rhodes or Hendrix came out with significantly better financial aid packages, they would not be good choices. Since son has a disability (but uses no accommodations currently) I checked in to disability offices and such at Hendrix and it was not good. The director in the disability office, without knowing who I was or any details about my son, upon hearing my son has ASD, quickly told me that people with ASD do not do well there and to look elsewhere. Baylor, on the other hand, was cheery and nice and said they have students with ASD and seemed happy and eager and have no qualms about having a student with ASD. I have not spoken to any sort of disability office at Rhodes or Hillsdale. Son is not Catholic and not interested in looking at U of Dallas. Point is, our "college road trip" we were going to take is over spring break and to Rhodes and Hendrix. Neither school is on spring break at the same time we are. Now it dawned on me the other night that perhaps, we are putting the cart before the horse. I want him to see what college looks like and start to get comfortable with the whole thing, BUT, since Hendrix and Rhodes would only be seriously considered if they really seemed extra great or if they offered a much better financial aid package, I wonder if we should skip doing that road trip. I had figured we would add in seeing Memphis and/or Arkansas to the trip. We could leave on Friday as school gets out at noon and stay in Arkansas and maybe hike or see other things, or head on to Memphis. We have not had a vacation in years. but perhaps the entire trip would be a waste. What do you think? Should we wait and visit only after admission and financial aid packages come out and the schools look like real possibilities? Or go ahead and visit this spring so he can see and get an idea to what the smaller liberal arts college looks like? edited to add: I also wonder if, even though I tend toward the larger university, son might feel overwhelmed there and a smaller school might actually be the better choice for him. Edited February 2, 2019 by Janeway 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 I can't recall, is your son a junior? Are the schools in question very far away from your home? Is he very interested in seeing them? I probably would not go to great expense to see those schools at this point, but if it is convenient to stop in, there's no harm in doing so. It would probably be useful to visit schools in similar categories (large public, small private, etc) so he can get an idea of different sorts of schools as he makes his list 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 I think it’s good idea to do at least some college visits before applications, just to give students an idea about the different types of schools out there. That doesn’t necessarily mean traveling far to top choice schools, as that can wait until admission and financial aid decisions have been made. It sounds like he would prefer a religious, conservative school if Hillsdale is his top choice. Attending a large school but majoring in something like classics or Latin would likely mean he would be part of a small department. If he also joined faith based groups and other clubs on campus, he could likely find friends with similar interests. And if the school had good support for ASD, so much the better. Is this the same son who wants to attend the Air Force academy? Does he have other areas of academic interest? I thought most of the majors at the academy were STEM oriented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 I think visiting colleges before senior year is a great idea, if only to get an idea of what kinds of colleges appeal to him most. And trying to fit all the visits in after acceptances come in can be really stressful, depending on how many schools he applies to. My son is considering Hendrix, and we found their financial aid very generous (and much better than the NPC showed) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 5 hours ago, Frances said: I think it’s good idea to do at least some college visits before applications, just to give students an idea about the different types of schools out there. That doesn’t necessarily mean traveling far to top choice schools, as that can wait until admission and financial aid decisions have been made. It sounds like he would prefer a religious, conservative school if Hillsdale is his top choice. Attending a large school but majoring in something like classics or Latin would likely mean he would be part of a small department. If he also joined faith based groups and other clubs on campus, he could likely find friends with similar interests. And if the school had good support for ASD, so much the better. Is this the same son who wants to attend the Air Force academy? Does he have other areas of academic interest? I thought most of the majors at the academy were STEM oriented. No, different sons. This is the son who goes to a classical school and loves Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 6 hours ago, GoodGrief1 said: I can't recall, is your son a junior? Are the schools in question very far away from your home? Is he very interested in seeing them? I probably would not go to great expense to see those schools at this point, but if it is convenient to stop in, there's no harm in doing so. It would probably be useful to visit schools in similar categories (large public, small private, etc) so he can get an idea of different sorts of schools as he makes his list It has been pointed out to us by the kids, several times, that we have not been on vacation in six years. It would be a 7 hr drive to Rhodes, but we would pass through Arkansas. I was thinking it might be a chance for us to take the weekend to see Arkansas and then just spend Monday in Memphis and then Tuesday at Hendrix which is in the middle of Arkansas. So, not a convenient trip other than that we have been curious about the area anyway. 5 hours ago, Frances said: I think it’s good idea to do at least some college visits before applications, just to give students an idea about the different types of schools out there. That doesn’t necessarily mean traveling far to top choice schools, as that can wait until admission and financial aid decisions have been made. It sounds like he would prefer a religious, conservative school if Hillsdale is his top choice. Attending a large school but majoring in something like classics or Latin would likely mean he would be part of a small department. If he also joined faith based groups and other clubs on campus, he could likely find friends with similar interests. And if the school had good support for ASD, so much the better. I think he would prefer a very conservative school like Hillsdale. But we think Hillsdale might be too far away. Would love to find something similar but closer. 2 hours ago, kokotg said: I think visiting colleges before senior year is a great idea, if only to get an idea of what kinds of colleges appeal to him most. And trying to fit all the visits in after acceptances come in can be really stressful, depending on how many schools he applies to. My son is considering Hendrix, and we found their financial aid very generous (and much better than the NPC showed) That is good to hear about Hendrix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 38 minutes ago, Janeway said: I think he would prefer a very conservative school like Hillsdale. But we think Hillsdale might be too far away. Would love to find something similar but closer. I am a Hendrix alumna and a huge fan of the school, but it is not conservative, IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Just curious--does he plan to go into education, write, something else? or does he plan to continue to his doctorate? What do classics majors do? I'm very ignorant about this sort of degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 5 hours ago, Chris in VA said: Just curious--does he plan to go into education, write, something else? or does he plan to continue to his doctorate? What do classics majors do? I'm very ignorant about this sort of degree. He wants to go in to education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 If affordability is a major concern, I'd check out UT Austin and U of Houston. They both have classics programs and they're in-state. If you think he might not get in to UT Austin directly, I'd check out the CAP program. Students do a year at another UT campus (UTD is not included, but Arlington is) and then transfer automatically if they make the minimum GPA. They're both huge, but the Classics departments will be small and they both offer living arrangements that might work for him, UofH Honors housing and UT Austin's Jefferson Scholars living learning community. Houston links: https://www.uh.edu/class/mcl/classics/about/ http://www.uh.edu/honors/ UT Austin links: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/classics/ http://housing.utexas.edu/future/living-learning-communities 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 2 hours ago, chiguirre said: If affordability is a major concern, I'd check out UT Austin and U of Houston. They both have classics programs and they're in-state. If you think he might not get in to UT Austin directly, I'd check out the CAP program. Students do a year at another UT campus (UTD is not included, but Arlington is) and then transfer automatically if they make the minimum GPA. They're both huge, but the Classics departments will be small and they both offer living arrangements that might work for him, UofH Honors housing and UT Austin's Jefferson Scholars living learning community. Houston links: https://www.uh.edu/class/mcl/classics/about/ http://www.uh.edu/honors/ UT Austin links: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/classics/ http://housing.utexas.edu/future/living-learning-communities I am sure he would get in to UT directly, but they do not give financial aid unless someone qualifies for pell grant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Baylor is a large school and it is easier to find friends in a school with a larger enrollment. The Dd of one of my friends/colleagues went there. More importantly, Baylor reacted exactly the way you might pray that they would react, before you contacted them. I would put Baylor at the top of the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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