My S21 isn’t your typical CC kid but is finding his way through high school. His executive function and anxiety issues have provided challenges for sure but he’s working through them with the support of a coach.
He’s a multi-sport athlete and a kind person. Not a lot of EC’s other than sports (year round). He’s working with a 2.5 GPA right now. Probably won’t change drastically as it’s just hard to make big adjustments mathematically at this stage of the game. He’ll take the SAT for the first time in May. He’s aiming for somewhere around 1000 - 1020. He’s very clear on what he wants to do ultimately and that’s become a high school chemistry or biology teacher.
He’s excited for college and has gone on several college tours (as well as tagged along on his older brother’s) to get a sense of what he likes and doesn’t. More to do there but he knows he wants a contained campus–no urban sprawling campus for him–and something under 15,000 students for sure–I worry that big might be a place he’d get lost given the EF challenges.
The current list of schools is LONG. And may seem like they are disconnected from one another. That’s okay. There’s been a lot of research to get to this list. What I’d love at this point is any feedback folks have on them as they tend to be places that are hard to get personal perspectives on. Of course if there are others you want to suggest, happy to hear them!
Lycoming
Mass College of Liberal Arts
Hartwick
Elizabethtown
St. Bonaventure
Roanoke
Moravian
Castleton
Salve Regina
Western New England
Endicott
LaSalle
Keene State
Xavier (OH)
Roger Williams
University of Idaho
Radford
University of Montana
Wichita State
Bowling Green
Montana State
So that people don’t get too focused on a couple of things–we are talking about Comm College too. He’s open to that and it’s a path we’ll explore separate from this discussion. Also we’re full pay and so not chasing merit. Just want to find a place that my boy will thrive.
My daughter (who has around that test score range and a higher gpa, but homeschooled so it’s mostly ignored) is considering Radford. She plans to double major in dance and elementary education and has visited twice. She really likes the school and the campus. Everyone has been kind and helpful throughout the process. It’s location is probably the only reason she hasn’t already committed- she doesn’t need urban but it’s really far from everywhere. That doesn’t sound like an issue for you guys. Her list is built around dance, but another small, contained school (with secondary ed degrees) where she has been accepted is Dean. She’s also been accepted to Goucher, which has a 4+1 MAT degree that can be combined with either Chem or Bio (or dance, ha).
@milgymfam thanks so much! He has the stamina for dance but not the skills. Too bad! I’ll have to check out Goucher.
What’s your take on Radford for OOS students? He’d be coming from MA. I love the idea of him going away to school but worry a little about being at a place that’s dominated by students who are from very close by.
Regarding the likely SAT or ACT scores and the son’s plan to be a teacher, I encourage the OP to look into the Praxis waiver requirements in your state or where he goes to school. Maybe others know more about this, but my niece’s ACT scores were too low for her to waive out of the Praxis exams required by the state for education majors and she had a heck of a time passing them to formally get into the ed program at her college. I see some states require a 24 ACT but another requires a 22. Might want to have awareness of the exact SAT or ACT score needed to waive out of the core Praxis exam where he is going.
If he wants to teach in your state, you may want to check the non flagship state universities in your state to see if they have teacher prep tracks that can be added to a biology or chemistry major to get a head start on teacher credential requirements.
DS22 has a similar profile. EF issues, combined with some poor choices socially his freshman year, mean that despite his current upward trend, the GPA math is the math. He has a little more time to turn it around, but he will be in the low 3.0 range only if he has no further dips.
We are in the thick of decision time for DS20, but will be making a much different list for DS22. Already started it, and several of them are on your list, so thank you! Will be following with interest. DS20 applied to Salve and was accepted with merit and an offer to play his sport. We’ve visited 3x now, so if you have any questions, I’m happy to give you my perspective. He hasn’t made a decision yet, but it will be on DS22s list regardless. It’s a hidden gem.
Thanks @CheddarcheeseMN those waivers are definitely on the top of my mind if not his right now. RI schools for instance have some pretty stiff (relatively speaking) SAT requirements to even be admitted into ed programs because of the state testing at the end. So we’ll take another look at the list depending on how he does in May.
@ucbalumnus he’s not tied to staying here after college right now and so flexible in that regard. But we do have several MA schools on the list and one state non-flagship (MCLA) in case ultimately he wants the flexibility of being close to home.
My D21 and I just visited Montana State last week. I was very impressed with it. I can’t speak to the teaching programs but overall it seems like an excellent school.
@thumper1 I’ll have to give Plymouth another look for the master list. I don’t remember why I didn’t include it. We toured Keene and in the immortal words of an almost 17 year old “it’s not the worst I’ve seen and the laundry is free.” Seriously though, he wanted to keep it on the list even as others came off. So if you think they’re similar, I should look again.
@CTCape sounds familiar. The search for S18 was very different. This time feels like threading a needle. But they’re both amazing kids in their own right.
S21 has visited Salve and says that so far it’s his favorite. Loves the smell of the salt air! It’s a reach for him for sure and the ed program makes it even more so because that and nursing are the only programs that aren’t test optional should things not go optimally in May.
It’s a gorgeous place, right? You might be surprised. I think male applicants have a slight edge. Definitely have him do an interview. I think it helped my S for sure.
@Johnny523 I just read your review of the visit. So great when folks visit those schools that aren’t covered very often and share the insight. Thanks!
Question for you–my boy is a sports kid but not outdoorsy (AT ALL!) He’ll play a pick up game of soccer with whoever is available whenever they’re available but get in a kayak? Nope. Not even if water was the only way to the soccer field. What’s your take based on what you saw there about cultural fit? I know that at a large university there are people for everyone but perhaps my bias is kicking in here to wonder if this would be too much of a stretch for him.
S17 had similar stats, maybe a bit higher. Only sports for ECs. He was accepted to Lycoming and Castleton (recruited there). I loved both, but both too small for S17.
Castleton is very rural; one of his classmates went there and basically said weekends are skiing and drinking! But pretty campus and they definitely give that personal touch.
Lycoming is in a small city, also small school with a personal touch. We went to accepted student day and the kids all seemed great, super friendly. I’d bet you’d also get merit there, at the time son applied they said you needed a 3.0 to get $20k. He got $20k (as did his friend who went to Castleton). By contrast, Castleton gave him $0 saying he didn’t have a 3.0!
Echoing above poster about the Praxis Core that’s now required to get into Ed programs. S17 had an 1150, pretty evenly split; his ERW score was high enough to skip the Praxis Core, his math was not. The math killed him - he dropped his double major in Ed/history because of the math! He may look for a post-grad teaching certification program if he decides he still wants to teach.
@NJWrestlingmom thanks so much for that info. The take on Castleton was a little of what I was afraid of. Nothing wrong with it but not my son. Lifetime in New England but never been on skis and no desire to. And not a drinker–at least not yet–and says he wants a place where he can find fun without it. I’m a little bummed because Castleton on paper is as close to a safety as I think he’s going to find.
Lycoming is a place I really want him to visit and your notes reinforce that for me.
In a post-grad program does Praxis testing still come into play?
Teacher here–Praxis depends on state. Waiver using SATs is only the basic Praxis. Once he goes through college and does some prep, it may not be as hard to pass if he doesn’t get the waiver.
The other teaching-specific Praxis tests will be about content/curricula/instructional knowledge. No way to know how he will do until he’s been in an ed program.