<p>I know I’m not a parent but can i just say how much I love this thread. I fall under this gpa range and I felt bad about my gpa when I would see othe posters with 3.8 gpas talking about the schools they want to get into. I didn’t know about all these schools so this thread is great :)</p>
<p>My top school is Loyola Marymount University and I’m nervous cause my gpa is a 3.27 at the moment 
I’m afaraid I won’t have a chance. Does anyone know the acceptance for LMU?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>EJM, stay positive! Unfortunately, I cannot give advice on West Coast schools.</p>
<p>Ejm105989, my son is applying there too, same GPA! His last (I hope) of 15 or so Applications. Good luck and keep us posted. It is a bit of a reach for this group.</p>
<p><a href=“http://admission.lmu.edu/requirements/profile.htm[/url]”>http://admission.lmu.edu/requirements/profile.htm</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://admission.lmu.edu/Assets/Undergraduate+Admission/LMU+AT+A+GLANCE.pdf[/url]”>http://admission.lmu.edu/Assets/Undergraduate+Admission/LMU+AT+A+GLANCE.pdf</a></p>
<p>I think this thread has done a wonderful job of proving that there are tons of Colleges out there that are happy to accept our B students, many with merit aid. Also, I think it’s so interesting to learn of Colleges that I’ve never heard of in different parts of the country.</p>
<p>My son has told me about friends of his that are just applying to local state colleges because their parents have told them that that’s all they can afford. Our small high school does a pretty good job of giving parents information about colleges but I really think the majority of parents do not realize how many good small colleges there are out there that are affordable and would nurture their kids.</p>
<p>Kathiep, I agree with you. In our district most students have their eye on our instate flagship. We do have a fair number of students who do attend public and private schools in New England states, MD, PA, and NY (our district is in NJ), but most students look at Rutgers (our instate flagship). Very few students martriculate to other parts of the country. </p>
<p>My son was a B+ student with ACT scores in line with a B+ GPA. He was accepted to all of the private schools he applied to, and most or all (don’t recall off hand, but probably all) offered a merit scholarship. He even was offered a merit award at a reach school (I was surprised that he was even accepted).</p>
<p>In states like NJ, where in state costs are higher than average, most high schools are shamefully negligent about informing parents of low cost private and out of state public options, especially in affluent towns, where they assume everyone has unlimited budgets.</p>
<p>yabeyabe, I agree. Our son’s private school is costing the same amount (including airfare and our travel/hotel stays in the calculation) as our instate options. The reason is that he chose a private school with lower sticker price than most to begin with, was awarded merit aid and will keep it with a 2.0 college average, and we were offered a small amount of FA. Additionally, our son does not need and does not have a car at his school. Frankly, without FA, the cost of the school after son’s merit aid is about equal to our instate school pricing. I love NJ, can’t you tell!!!</p>
<p>I agree our public school district’s guidance counselors were totally useless! They don’t have the time to do any research etc & have numerous kids to take of. We knew from the beginning that in order to get our 4 children into great colleges with excellent FA packages that we would be educating ourselves, doing all the research etc, so I started when the oldest was in the 7th grade. </p>
<p>Now I am addicted to CC! Oh well, I suppose I could be addicted to worse things. 
</p>
<p>Happy New Year to everybody & their wonderful kids!</p>
<p>S got early admission to Elon and our state flagship school. GPA is in this category, but very high SATs. Now on to some significantly tougher ones (no early admissions remaining). And to the tough part of figuring out how to pay for it all.</p>
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<p>Our area would not be considered “affluent” but our counselors (at least my D’s GC) were just as clueless. He gave her one suggestion for a college to investigate and it was an OOS private that his son attended - not one that necessarily fit her stats, interests, or budget. Never even asked what our budget was! So at that point, we became educated and took over the college search process. When it was S’s turn, he had a different GC who might have been better, but we didn’t have any communication with her about college search until we were done and S brought her the college applications that she needed to file.</p>
<p>S only looked at one NJ public because they were supposed to be a top school for one of the majors he was considering at the time. We went to the open house and saw the equipment they were using (necessary for the major) was so out of date, the school came off the list. He said the equipment at his HS was far more modern.</p>
<p>I advise all my friends in state not to overlook privates. As northeastmom pointed out, one can actually do the same or even better cost-wise at a private with good merit than at an in state public.</p>
<p>Our head of guidance told our PTSO their department views the college search process as the parents’ job: “Why should our list be better than theirs?” I replied: “To begin with, we have parents in this school who did not graduate high school or who went to college in Korea or China. As, for the rest of us, if after being in guidance for many years, if your team’s collective knowledge of colleges isn’t greater than that of individual parents who have not looked at colleges since they were teenagers, something is very wrong.”</p>
<p>Great response, yabeyabe2! I realize GC’s are asked to be knowledgeable in so many areas from troubled kids to gifted kids and everything in between. I would love to see high schools have GCs that specialize in the different areas. A student would then visit a GC that is most experienced in that particular area. Maybe they could better serve the students that way and not be pulled in so many directions.</p>
<p>Thanks Kitty. I told him that part of the problem is that most guidance department do not share knowledge internally–if one counselor knows a lot about Penn State and another about Rutgers, they should spend a few minutes educating each other.
And they make no effort to enlist the enthusiastic newly hired recent graduates to talk about their schools.</p>
<p>Thanks! I really like LMU I know it is a bit of a reach for my gpa so I’m hoping my ECs and SAT scores, and recc, help me :)</p>
<p>EJ, if financial aid is not crucial, consider whether applying early decision will help your chances. Also, some schools like kids who show a lot of interest in the school–more than 1 visit, etc</p>
<p>Good luck–and ignore every CC thread aimed at kids not in your category–e.g., the ones who whine over 2390 SATs</p>
<p>And always, always set your sights on more than 1 school!</p>
<p>What a difference a week can make. My D stated she was purchsing an ornament to the school she wanted to attend, and that it would be her Christmas present to her dad and me. Imagine my surprise when I opened the present and the ornament was from Ohio University. So, she has made her decision and hopefully it is finalized. She said that it took her to until the end of the tour to love ECU, but that the minute she saw OU’s campus and it’s Forensic Science program she knew it was for her. On the financial end it is actually less expensive than ECU and has her specific major of Forensic Chemisty. As long as she is happy with her decision, we will support her.
So excited to see all of the positive results coming in for acceptances.</p>
<p>What a cool way to make the announcement! Congratulations. Glad it worked out.</p>
<p>RSC, best wishes for your daughter!</p>
<p>That was a cool way to announce a decision rscqueen! We met the Ohio University rep at the Philadelphia College Fair. Son and I both thought the college interesting but it went off our list because of too many other good schools. Glad your daughter fell in love with it! My daughter gave me an ornament from her grad school for Christmas and it felt good to hang it.</p>
<p>rscqueen - My older daughter is at OU and I think it’s a great choice. It may not be as high profile as some others your daughter (or mine) could have chosen from but it’s got a lot of advantages. Nice size, lots of opportunities to get involved in a meaningful way and I do like the fact that Athens is a small town. DD2 wants a bigger campus in a large city so we have visited a few of those and it has definitely made me recognize what a relatively safe environment DD1 enjoys.</p>