College Admissions

[Horny4TCU]

His GPA was over 4.0 on a 4.4 scale and ACT of 31. He took as many honors classes as he could. Active in varsity sports, student body government, etc.

I had similar numbers when I applied to TCU years ago and had almost a full ride. I’m hearing southern schools in general have gotten really competitive.

Also interesting that roughly only 30% of applicants submit standardized test scores. That likely helps increase diversity, but hurts those with strong scores.

Well, I wouldn't make the cut if I tried to apply. Glad I got my BS and MS from TCU when I did...

My GPA coming out of high school was a 3.6 and my ACT was a 32. I was deferred, too. And this was back in 2005. Luckily I knew someone on the inside

 

[Horned Toad]

First, remember, deferred is not rejected! It ain’t over yet!

But a serious consideration for your family will be this: typically deferred applications can’t expect to receive academic scholarships if/when later admitted. If that’s a factor for your family, keep it in the back of your mind.

There are some steps that she can take to try and increase her odds. Visiting Fort Worth? Try and set up an appointment with her TCU Admissions Counselor (assigned by region/high school). Use the brief time intentionally - is TCU her first choice? Why? What isn’t on that application that they should know? Did she have a particular accomplishment in the fall—-her best grades yet? A leadership accomplishment? If so, send a brief note to her admissions counselor and an updated transcript.

How much contact is too much? You’re looking for the sweet spot — stay in touch and show your intention, but don’t become obsessive or annoying. Show good judgment in what you supplement with.

This^^^

My daughter got deferred in 2018. She was defeated at first because TCU was her only choice and she would say that she bled purple (she got accepted at UT and A&M) but then she got creative. She did exactly as you recommended. She wrote a very sweet letter to the Dean of Admissions outlining why she wanted to go to TCU and if he gave her a chance he wouldn’t regret it. For some reason he replied that he liked brownies. She then went and baked some from scratch and brought them to the admissions office and dropped them off for him. She stayed in contact with her advisor and about a month or so later got an acceptance letter. We got zero scholarships although she was in the top 5% of her class. But we figured out a way to make it work with no debt for either of us when she graduated. I think the most important thing she did was that she really showed an interest that if she got admitted, she was coming, hell or high water.

 

[ticketfrog123]

Practically every college needs a % of their kids to be payers, that's just the economics. The work being done on the endowment right now is critical to making this less and less of a focus.

Maybe.

The work that has been done on the endowment in the past decade had 0 impact on scholarships. The number of full rides and the value of the dean’s scholarship (25k) has not changed with larger class sizes or higher tuition

 

[ticketfrog123]

Pretty sure that's not the case for Cali interest in TCU. Outside of USC and Stanford (elite academic profiles), the other private universities in Cali have really good academic profiles, except they are not FBS type schools. TCU has had a very high profile in that state because of LT's success (and civic contributions in San Diego) with the Chargers, and of course, the Rose Bowl victory. California kids also go to Baylor and SMU, and it's not exclusively because they are just a bunch of rich kids from Rancho Santa Fe, Palos Verdes Estates, Huntington Beach, etc....

What other private schools in Cali are there? My cali TCU friends all crack jokes about Pepperdine and Santa Clara not being great schools

 

[froginaustin]

What other private schools in Cali are there? My cali TCU friends all crack jokes about Pepperdine and Santa Clara not being great schools

Claremont Colleges come to mind. U. of San Diego is supposed to be pretty good. Don't play D1 football, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. There's a Loyola somewhere in (I think) southern California. Most of the Jesuit schools are pretty demanding even if not Stanford-type selective in admissions-- and I assume Loyola means it's Jesuit.

 

[ticketfrog123]

Claremont Colleges come to mind. U. of San Diego is supposed to be pretty good. Don't play D1 football, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. There's a Loyola somewhere in (I think) southern California. Most of the Jesuit schools are pretty demanding even if not Stanford-type selective in admissions-- and I assume Loyola means it's Jesuit.

Claremont McKenna and the Harvey mudd consortium are not that different from Stanford. Higher difficulty and prestige than USC for sure. Rice University vibe for Cali,

Loyola is not anywhere near TCU/SMU caliber either (all of the loyolas in any time zone)

 

[TCUdirtbag]

Maybe.

The work that has been done on the endowment in the past decade had 0 impact on scholarships. The number of full rides and the value of the dean’s scholarship (25k) has not changed with larger class sizes or higher tuition

 

[ticketfrog123]

There’s always been 60 chancellor scholars for as long as I can remember

 

[HFrog1999]

Well, I guess my son’s going to get bad news in the mail this week.

My friend’s daughter is going to TCU on a full music scholarship.

 

[hometown frog]

There’s always been 60 chancellor scholars for as long as I can remember

I didn’t think there were that many chancellor schollys. I know they downselect to approx 120 candidates going into the interview phase, but deets around the actual number given out gets a bit murkier from my digging

 

[Sweat Equity]

Well, I guess my son’s going to get bad news in the mail this week.

My friend’s daughter is going to TCU on a full music scholarship.

Just have your son try out for women's swimming (or rifle, soccer) and get a full-ride. Problem solved. Equality.

 

[Gary's Shirtless Revenge]

Maybe.

The work that has been done on the endowment in the past decade had 0 impact on scholarships. The number of full rides and the value of the dean’s scholarship (25k) has not changed with larger class sizes or higher tuition

Highlighting niche areas to make a broad point: Not a great strategy! TCU has increased overall aid and effective subsidy rates meaningfully, but we have a long way to go.

 

[What Up Toad]

Well, I guess my son’s going to get bad news in the mail this week.

My friend’s daughter is going to TCU on a full music scholarship.

You've got to be really good or be pretty good and play a niche instrument like bassoon to get a full ride in music at TCU.

When I was a freshman, I knew a girl who got a partial scholarship for playing saxophone. She was one of 2 people that they admitted. They only have 4 spots per band and that includes grad students.

She said that basically everyone who's good in the area goes to University of North Texas because the program is both better and cheaper.

 

[HFrog1999]

You've got to be really good or be pretty good and play a niche instrument like bassoon to get a full ride in music at TCU.

When I was a freshman, I knew a girl who got a partial scholarship for playing saxophone. She was one of 2 people that they admitted. They only have 4 spots per band and that includes grad students.

She said that basically everyone who's good in the area goes to University of North Texas because the program is both better and cheaper.

She is really good.

She plays in the marching band as well, so she’s had a dream sophomore year.

 

[Frog Attack II]

Have lived through this... it's going to be fine... had boys that bled purple (been going to games as far back as the womb)... but when the oldest didn't get in... we knew the 2nd wouldn't. So the 1st applied to some publics and privates. University of Tulsa threw the $'s at him... he went there. Had a heck of a time, came home to root for Frogs when he chose to and got a great degree from their business school (focus in Energy Mgmt). 2 years out and he's making excellent $.

Youngest applied to Tulsa and Creighton... Creighton won out with the Scholly $. He's having a good time there now. Good grades and is going to Fiesta bowl. Hoping to graduate in 3.5 yrs.

Different paths, but you can still be a frog no matter wyes. Go where the Scholly $ is!

 

[Planks]

I think back then it was, if the check cashes, welcome to TCU!

I think that’s still the rule, given a large enough check.

 

[TCU2002]

Have lived through this... it's going to be fine... had boys that bled purple (been going to games as far back as the womb)... but when the oldest didn't get in... we knew the 2nd wouldn't. So the 1st applied to some publics and privates. University of Tulsa threw the $'s at him... he went there. Had a heck of a time, came home to root for Frogs when he chose to and got a great degree from their business school (focus in Energy Mgmt). 2 years out and he's making excellent $.

Youngest applied to Tulsa and Creighton... Creighton won out with the Scholly $. He's having a good time there now. Good grades and is going to Fiesta bowl. Hoping to graduate in 3.5 yrs.

Different paths, but you can still be a frog no matter wyes. Go where the Scholly $ is!

Tulsa and Creighton are excellent choices. Tulsa is extremely underrated as a city, too.

Business and medical areas at Creighton might be a better overall situation than TCU, actually.

 

[Dadof1Frog]

Been on this site for the last 15 months and am finally piping in. California Dad here of a HFD in her 2nd year. We had absolutely no prior connection to TCU other than a friends daughter went here several years ago. My daughter made a visit to TCU during her sophomore year in High School and came home saying this is where she wanted to go. She did relatively well in High School and had many options including that Pony School in Dallas (which admittedly was my initial preference for her) as well as many of the smaller private schools in California (Loyola, Chapman, USD, etc). All of whom's cost and scholarships packages didn't differ all that much from TCU's offer to her (and sending her to TCU is a financial sacrifice for us). For us and many of the California families that we know, one of the main attractions of TCU is that it offered a saner education environment (especially during Covid) that wouldn't try and overly indoctrinate my kid. I'm not a raging conservative but the majority of the schools in California have completely gone off the rails with the political indoctrination and the lack of diversity of thought (Colleges used to be beacons of Free Expression). I can't tell you how many of my friends kids have graduated from these schools with a completely different mindset from when they went in. I know TCU is not perfect but its so so much better than the alternative we would have been looking at. So yes, the big time football is part of the attraction but only part. Based on the direction of this State, I would suspect that the applications from California will only continue to increase. Oh and my daughter loves TCU and she made the right choice over that Pony School.

 

[Brevity Frog]

My child had an ACT 34 and a perfect GPA last year. A top candidate with all the accolades and awards you might want. Got admitted to TCU but only on a Faculty scholarship ($19k iirc). Also got into a (US News) Top 10 university and is super happy there. In the highly selective college admissions world, TCU isn’t that big of a deal. So kids getting into super selective schools with admissions rates of 3 to 5% are getting into TCU as well, but not with nearly as good scholarships as you’d think. We aren’t the only ones this has happened to. TCU is making many odd admissions / scholly choices IMO.

I’ll also add: of all schools toured (a very high number), TCU’s tour was most rotten. The influx of CA kids is not a good look for TCU IMO. A very different group of kids than the solid groups from TX, OK, KS, MO, AR, and NE that I went to school with.

 

[ticketfrog123]

Highlighting niche areas to make a broad point: Not a great strategy! TCU has increased overall aid and effective subsidy rates meaningfully, but we have a long way to go.

Niche areas? The topic was scholarship dollars and quantity.

Whatever you’re claiming is not a quantifiable data point that’s public. “Overall aid” includes loans which is BS and is obviously not a scholarship or subsidy.