My youngest is now beginning to look at colleges. Baylor is out of the question due to price AND he wants to be a coach ($60,000 per year to become a coach? Uh, no.) Anyway...he's looking at Tarleton, Sam Houston, and A&M-Commerce. Would appreciate any current info about these schools...impressions, having a kid that goes there...anything. Thanks.

I go to stephenville regularly for business. Not a bad town...lots of ranchers and pickup trucks. I hear they have a good rodeo team.

Commerce is a tiny town but turning out schoolteachers by the hundreds has been the college's calling card for a very long time.

fadskier said:

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My youngest is now beginning to look at colleges. Baylor is out of the question due to price AND he wants to be a coach ($60,000 per year to become a coach? Uh, no.) Anyway...he's looking at Tarleton, Sam Houston, and A&M-Commerce. Would appreciate any current info about these schools...impressions, having a kid that goes there...anything. Thanks.

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I feel your pain. My daughter wants to be a track coach. She's doing two years at MCC and will decide on whether to continue locally at Tarleton or Tech (thru MCC) or go to Baylor. My pride wants her at BU; however, $60K for two years for a teaching certificate is not a wise investment.

I would suggest that your son investigate Texas State. They get a bad rap as a party school; however, they have one of the top Education schools in the state. Plus they have most major sports. He could learn under guys on their way up. Great for connections in the future.

I take a group of kids to tour TAMU-C every year.

The school is undergoing some major renovations (new buildings, programs, etc). It's a lot different than it was 5 years ago when I started going out there.

They have the cheapest tuition and fees in the State of Texas.

They have a ton of financial aid available for all kinds of things.

If you're going into education this has to be in your final list. Cost plus that is their wheelhouse major.

Students love the school--hate the town. Every year there is a least one student who comes up to my kids and says it's very boring here. School is cool, but it is very boring in this town.

Small campus in the middle of nowhere. Dallas is a little over an hour away (and it isn't a commutable kind of drive in my opinion). Everything else is very country.

Consider UT-Dallas. It has higher SAT entrance scores that UT-Austin and has a very good engineering school. I work with numerous graduate from there and have found them all to be top notch. It is also relatively inexpensive and convenient if you live in the D side of DFW.

Pea Weevil

Have him apply to everywhere he wants to go. Even Baylor. See what kind of financial aid package each school will give him. Then make your decision. If he has a really good SAT score that will help. Especially at Baylor.

Listen to VaeBear. I got a ride at Baylor because a computer in Ohio misgraded my SAT scores.

In one of the town hall meetings, Dr Livingston spoke about the need to get tuition down (or scholarship up)
for degrees like teaching that would not produce the income of business and engineering degrees.

Baylor has traditionally produce a lot of teachers - economics matter, I hope they address this.

JC for two years, while working and saving money. Cash flow ANY state school with a decent school of education. UNT, Tarleton, SFA, SHSU, TSU.

VaeBear said:

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Have him apply to everywhere he wants to go. Even Baylor. See what kind of financial aid package each school will give him. Then make your decision. If he has a really good SAT score that will help. Especially at Baylor.

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My granddaughter picked out her school of choice. Unfortunately the financial aid package offered by that school did not allow her to attend within the budget set by her parents, so she chose a runner up. Because she is a very nice young lady, she called her financial aid counselor to thank her for the support rendered, but to let her know that she would have to go to another school. Somehow the counselor found a way to up the amount of her package enough that she was able to go there. Churchill is reported to have said: Never give up, never give up, ...

fadskier said:

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My youngest is now beginning to look at colleges. Baylor is out of the question due to price AND he wants to be a coach ($60,000 per year to become a coach? Uh, no.) Anyway...he's looking at Tarleton, Sam Houston, and A&M-Commerce. Would appreciate any current info about these schools...impressions, having a kid that goes there...anything. Thanks.

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My wife went to A&M-Commerce on a full ride academic scholarship, was in a sorority, and loved every minute of her time in Commerce(outside of it maybe being a little small).

Another school that fits in with these is UT-Tyler... Great academics, athletics, student life, and a beautiful campus in one of my favorite towns in Texas. It happens to be my Alma Mater so I'm slightly biased, another nice thing about that school is since the student body is pretty into everything "Patriots"(school mascot) you don't see a ton of burnt orange walking around or UT Austin indoctrination.

Also if he broadens his search to out of state schools look at Arkansas, they are throwing money at Texas HS students.

My oldest is about to be a Senior in high school. He's down to Baylor, Okie State, and Central Arkansas after looking at most discussed here. Baylor is 1A right now but unless they really throw a great package his way, it will most likely be Okie State.

We were extremely impressed with OSU and UCA. OSU reminded me of a slightly larger Baylor, but slightly nicer as a whole. Very friendly students and staff. UCA was like Baylor in 1988. Again, very nice for the most part and super friendly.

He just missed National Merit but has done very well on the actual entrance exams (1430 SAT, 34 ACT). Seems that Baylor gives much higher scholarships only if you are National Merit, at least according to what you can figure online. Hoping Baylor kicks it up when decision time comes, but really feel he would be in great shape at either of the others.

Knight Bear said:

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My oldest is about to be a Senior in high school. He's down to Baylor, Okie State, and Central Arkansas after looking at most discussed here. Baylor is 1A right now but unless they really throw a great package his way, it will most likely be Okie State.

We were extremely impressed with OSU and UCA. OSU reminded me of a slightly larger Baylor, but slightly nicer as a whole. Very friendly students and staff. UCA was like Baylor in 1988. Again, very nice for the most part and super friendly.

He just missed National Merit but has done very well on the actual entrance exams (1430 SAT, 34 ACT). Seems that Baylor gives much higher scholarships only if you are National Merit, at least according to what you can figure online. Hoping Baylor kicks it up when decision time comes, but really feel he would be in great shape at either of the others.

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They don't. My son was 1550/35 but was only National Merit commended. He scored a 20 on NMSQT and cutoff for Finalist was a 21 in Texas. He would have been a National Merit Finalist in 45 states and Puerto Rico but not in the state in which we reside. I wish I had better news. The upside is that he has >30K/year in scholarship money. My guess is that your kid will be the same.

Knight Bear said:

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My oldest is about to be a Senior in high school. He's down to Baylor, Okie State, and Central Arkansas after looking at most discussed here. Baylor is 1A right now but unless they really throw a great package his way, it will most likely be Okie State.

We were extremely impressed with OSU and UCA. OSU reminded me of a slightly larger Baylor, but slightly nicer as a whole. Very friendly students and staff. UCA was like Baylor in 1988. Again, very nice for the most part and super friendly.

He just missed National Merit but has done very well on the actual entrance exams (1430 SAT, 34 ACT). Seems that Baylor gives much higher scholarships only if you are National Merit, at least according to what you can figure online. Hoping Baylor kicks it up when decision time comes, but really feel he would be in great shape at either of the others.

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I live 45 minutes from OSU. Don't let him go near it. Kids that go there from my daughter's high school say that OSU is easier than high school and laugh about it.

With those scores, Baylor will give him $20k/yr just for applying and then he can make up the difference with additional scholarships.

Is this the thread where we all brag on kids SAT scores and act like it makes us better people?

bularry said:

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Is this the thread where we all brag on kids SAT scores and act like it makes us better people?

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No, it's where people in similar boats look for input from fellow Bears.

Why are you even on this thread, much less the site? It definitely doesn't appear that you support Baylor nor those that do either.

Totally with you on your wise decision not to sink a quarter of $1 million into a Baylor education. It's just not worth it. My oldest went there undergrad only because he got a hell of a lot of scholarship money. When the time came for law school he didn't even apply. No way I'm going to spend three times what it cost to go to Texas, TT, A&M, etc.

Oh, he only did Okey Dokey on the LSAT. Just didn't want anyone to think I was bragging.

fadskier said:

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Knight Bear said:

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My oldest is about to be a Senior in high school. He's down to Baylor, Okie State, and Central Arkansas after looking at most discussed here. Baylor is 1A right now but unless they really throw a great package his way, it will most likely be Okie State.

We were extremely impressed with OSU and UCA. OSU reminded me of a slightly larger Baylor, but slightly nicer as a whole. Very friendly students and staff. UCA was like Baylor in 1988. Again, very nice for the most part and super friendly.

He just missed National Merit but has done very well on the actual entrance exams (1430 SAT, 34 ACT). Seems that Baylor gives much higher scholarships only if you are National Merit, at least according to what you can figure online. Hoping Baylor kicks it up when decision time comes, but really feel he would be in great shape at either of the others.

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My eldest also scored a 34 on ACT and had a perfect math score on it. Got the President's award that still left us with about $36,000 per year...that was it. He called and was told that Baylor isn't in need of students as applications were at record levels. He eventually got three full-ride offers at out-of-state state school's and UT-Dallas. Because of his choice of major, he went out of state.

Daughter graduated last year, got $12,000 from BU...went to an in-state state school (Lone Star Conference) and got a lot more from that school. She has loved it and I have loved the small "bill."

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Which out of state schools, if you don't mind saying? Also, what major? Mine wants to major in Statistics and/or Mathematics, possibly even Accounting.

Knight Bear said:

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fadskier said:

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Knight Bear said:

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My oldest is about to be a Senior in high school. He's down to Baylor, Okie State, and Central Arkansas after looking at most discussed here. Baylor is 1A right now but unless they really throw a great package his way, it will most likely be Okie State.

We were extremely impressed with OSU and UCA. OSU reminded me of a slightly larger Baylor, but slightly nicer as a whole. Very friendly students and staff. UCA was like Baylor in 1988. Again, very nice for the most part and super friendly.

He just missed National Merit but has done very well on the actual entrance exams (1430 SAT, 34 ACT). Seems that Baylor gives much higher scholarships only if you are National Merit, at least according to what you can figure online. Hoping Baylor kicks it up when decision time comes, but really feel he would be in great shape at either of the others.

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My eldest also scored a 34 on ACT and had a perfect math score on it. Got the President's award that still left us with about $36,000 per year...that was it. He called and was told that Baylor isn't in need of students as applications were at record levels. He eventually got three full-ride offers at out-of-state state school's and UT-Dallas. Because of his choice of major, he went out of state.

Daughter graduated last year, got $12,000 from BU...went to an in-state state school (Lone Star Conference) and got a lot more from that school. She has loved it and I have loved the small "bill."

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Which out of state schools, if you don't mind saying? Also, what major? Mine wants to major in Statistics and/or Mathematics, possibly even Accounting.

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His has a double major of physics and math...got full ride offers from South Dakota School of Mines, Colorado School if Mines and I don't recall the other. He chose Montana State because of what they concentrate on in physics...which I cannot even attempt to explain. They did not give him a full-ride but it was "full-enough." Boy inherited his mama's brains.

This will raise some eyebrows here, but I had two kids who went to Oklahoma State. At that time half the students were from Texas, and amazingly, the turnkey price for out-of-staters was less than $20 K. It is probably higher now, but I actually like Stillwater...home of Hideaway Pizza and Ekimo Joe's.....but really, it is a pretty good environment and they treat families well. Here in Texas I like Sam Houston, Texas State (great country music!), and Tarleton. Good luck! It will be a fun time no matter where. Also, I think that maybe UT Tyler might be an overlooked jewel, but I don't know about their football. Tom T.

Knight Bear said:

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bularry said:

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Is this the thread where we all brag on kids SAT scores and act like it makes us better people?

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No, it's where people in similar boats look for input from fellow Bears.

Why are you even on this thread, much less the site? It definitely doesn't appear that you support Baylor nor those that do either.

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Knight, my kids had a good experience in Stillwater. My oldest went to Baylor, played for Coach Teaff, and is a very smart CPA. I went to Baylor, as did his mother. t.

Thanks Tom. He is looking at their Honors College too (at OSU). We were really impressed with their setup. Different than most schools.

Sam Houston and SFA are distant favorites. We drove through UT Tyler but he didn't feel much for it. Tarleton is a fall back along with McMurry. He isn't a fan of mesquite trees and scrub brush though. Lots of kids from his school go to Tarleton, another negative, for the most part for him.