3.0 to 3.3 (GPA) Parents Thread (2012 HS Graduation)

Parents Forum
181

<p>Just coming back to say that DS and I went to Lycoming’s “preview day” last week and we both loved it. His only objection is that it is in “the middle of nowhere,” which I am now understanding means “anywhere that is not Manhattan.” He was very impressed with the lovely campus, and I tried to explain to him that the beautiful traditional college campus with the brick buildings and grassy quads is not generally found in an urban environment, but I don’t think he believes me.</p>

<p>Anyway, it seemed like a really nice school and he says he will definitely apply. They do a nice job with their open house. Our experience was just as kathiep described above. Everyone was so nice, welcoming and encouraging. I really got the sense that they care about their students and will push and prod them if necessary. They talked about being “relational” and involved with students, even “intrusive” if a kid seems to be floundering. </p>

<p>There was a lot of talk about post-college “outcomes,” which I liked because I know DS worries about the future and what he will do with his life. It was interesting to me because a year ago I was touring colleges with my very high-achieving daughter, and I don’t remember ever hearing any talk about “outcomes” at the likes of Amherst and Yale – I guess a good “outcome” is simply assumed if one gets into Yale? :slight_smile: Anyway, this was a different kind of experience – the kids seemed relaxed, the parents seemed relaxed, there were not the constant whispers of “where else are you looking?” At one point, a parent asked the admissions director about acceptance rates and he started by saying something to the effect of, we want to be an admissions office, not a rejections office. I wanted to hug him. :)</p>

<p>Now I just have to get my kid thinking about writing his essay. :o</p>

182

<p>Tangosmom, I think your child has a strong shot at Rutgers OOS. Rutgers and Binghamton, unlike UDel and UConn, are easier OOS. Being in NJ, I know many kids there and can comment.</p>

<p>I am sorry to see my subscription to this thread somehow lapsed and I missed the June/July surge in activity. I see that through the years, the same questions persist, such as:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Why won’t my child put 1/10 as much effort into figuring out the right college as he will into figuring out how to beat a video game level?</p></li>
<li><p>Why does my child seem to make decisions about schools for the most irrational reasons or come away from a visit I accompanied him on with a polar opposite impression from mine?</p></li>
<li><p>Why do I get more suggestions for Central PA schools than NY, CT and NJ combined?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I survived the process–my son is about to be a sophomore at Susquehanna, with friends at most of the usual east coast suspects–and you will, too.</p>

183

<p>Simpkin - loved that comment from the admissions director at Lycoming:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>We all need more of that philosophy!</p>

<p>I’m looking forward to hearing about your visits to Towson and Susquehanna - please do post your impressions.</p>

184

<p>simpkin, I loved that whole story! Sounds like you found one good fit for your son! You are both on your way!</p>

185

<p>^^^^^1. Why won’t my child put 1/10 as much effort into figuring out the right college as he will into figuring out how to beat a video game level?</p>

<p>OMG so very true. </p>

<p>And why is it that standing over them shouting, “Don’t you care about your future???” accomplishes nothing?</p>

186

<p>I found that the nonprestigious LACs were acutely aware that parents were wondering 'What is the benefit of going here instead of a cheaper public college?" and that kids are thinking “Why should I go here instead of a school whose games are on ESPN?” </p>

<p>I think that for many parents and kids, whose high schools fawned over only the academic and sports stars, having a school compete for their attendance is very refreshing.</p>

<p>For parents, aside from the possibility that financial aid will reduce the cost gap, I think the test is “Will my child be better off at a school with small classes, fewer kids competing to lead campus groups and closer attention paid to his being on track to graduate in 4 years and get a job?”</p>

<p>For a self-starting child, the size of a Rutgers, Towson, etc may not matter; for a child intent on studying engineering, business or computer science, some LACs will not have the right offerings. </p>

<p>My son always wanted a big ESPN school–but his visit to one changed his mind completely once he saw the crowds and buses used to get around campus. His LAC experience has not (yet?) lit a strong intellectual fire within him, but he has given no thought to joining his many friends who love their state flagships.</p>

187

<p>When we did top schools visits with D1 we heard plenty about future opportunities, as I recall. I don’t think there’s such a divide as it may seem from simpkin’s experience, more just a “different strokes” kind of thing.</p>

<p>Good luck to the '12 3.Xers! It’s an exciting time, now that the process can actually get moving. Enjoy senior year. And try to have faith that things will turn out in the long run. They really just about always do. Make a good list, get the apps done. Deal with the choice of where they’ll go later - now all you’re doing is getting their hat in the ring.</p>

188

<p>

</p>

<p>That is so true. We attended an open house at a LAC last month. I went to presentations by professors from two departments, biology and neuroscience. They spent nearly as much time talking about their relationships with their students as they did about their academic programs (and this school is noted for both biology and neuroscience, among other programs). The neuroscience prof said that in 25 years, they had never had a major who wanted to get into med school not make it - “because we work with each of our students to make sure they’re more than prepared,” she said. The biology prof talked about the close relationship that each student forms with his or her advisor - she said that she meets with each of her advisees three or four times a semester. The neuroscience prof also talked about her experience as a student and a big public U, where she saw her advisor once a year and the advisor didn’t even remember her name.</p>

189

<p>Alright, so I’m a student going into senior year and I was wondering if any of you guys have kids with similar problems as I do. My GPA is 3.3 (UW is practically the same as W), I’ve taken a few AP/honors classes, 31 ACT, etc etc, BUT I failed a semester of honors English sophomore year AND I’ve gotten my fair share of C’s (6). Let’s just say that it took me until last year to really start putting in effort.</p>

<p>As you might expect, finding colleges that are right for me is proving difficult. I can’t go to any highly ranked schools because I have too low of a GPA (and the F is killing me) BUT I also can’t go to a school that’s too open/easy. Any similar experiences?</p>

<p>Oh, and my first choice right now is University of Oregon…so I’d love it if any of you have experience with that particular school. Also University of San Francisco and American University I’m heavily looking into.</p>

190

<p>Simpkin, I am so glad that you liked Lycoming. I felt the same way about that school. If my son was going to be able to survive college and grow up; he had the best shot of doing it at Lycoming. They bent over backwards to try to help him. When he found himself in academic trouble after the first semester, they really worked with him. And, it helped. His grades came up a lot. We thought he would really make it. Unfortunately, the first semester of his second year his grades tanked again. He could not handle the work required of the sports team and the work required of his academics at the same time. He didn’t know what he wanted to major in. So, he asked to come home at the end of the semester. But, he had been fighting depression for several years at that point and just needed to be home with the family. He has always been a “home boy”…his family (even the extended part) is very important to him. I am happy to report that he is off his ADD and depression medicine for over a year now. He has finished his EMT-B and is working on getting his paramedic. He is happy and loving the EMT stuff. Still living at home…but talking about moving out when finished with his classes.</p>

191

<p>MuppetMom, that’s great that your son found somthing he loves to do. Everyone takes a different path but not everyone finds something they love doing.</p>

<p>How is the search for a Wisconson/Illinois/Midwest college going?</p>

192

<p>Wismom, Thank you so much for the ideas for colleges. My son has looked at them and added a few to his list. He particularly liked Carroll and Carthage. We wondered about some that did not make your list. What about St. Norberts? Or Depaul and Loyola-Chicago? Are they not viable options for a B student?</p>

<p>I spent the last few days reading the other 3.0 threads from past years, trying to get a feeling of where my son falls. I am so highly frustrated by the GPA confusion I could scream. My son has a 3.3 W GPA from a private Catholic school. They send out a transcript that will have his first semester grade, his second semester grade and his final for every class taken. He is in all Honors classes, will be in AP Calc and APUSH this year (junior). If I calculate his GPA per our local flagship public (the best in the county and close to the top in the state) he would have a 3.7 as his Cs in 2 classes would not have been Cs as the exam is not as heavily weighted (honors physics, honors Alg 2). And they weight more heavily for their top classes. We only get a .25 for honors and .5 for AP and no boost if it’s a C or lower. His class rank is lower than you would expect because a good number of kids don’t take honor classes and get As in the regular. I don’t even know how to pick schools for him based on this info. He has great ECs…(well, OK I think they are great?). He was president of the class for the last two years, Captain of his club team this year, JV soccer, volunteer hours with local soccer club, jazz band. Are we delusional and aiming too high or too low?<br>
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Loyola-Chicago
Depaul
Marquette
St. Norberts
St. Olaf
University of Wisconsin Lacrosse/Eau Claire
Carthage college
Carroll College
Iowa university
Ohio University
Ithaca
Marist
St. Joes (Philly)</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

193

<p>MM, I’m glad your son found some schools he liked! </p>

<p>In my opinion he would have no problem be admitted to Carthage, Carroll and most likely St. Norberts. I haven’t had that much experience with St. Norberts so someone else may have more up to date info. I think he would have a shot at Marquette but I don’t know about merit money. </p>

<p>The state schools in Wisconsin have become more competitive, especially Madison. A lot of local kids were rejected this year by Madison with his stats so I think that Madison would be a reach. With Madison I don’t think being from the east coast will give him any help with admisstions but for UW-La Crosse / Eau Claire it might. For both UW-L and UW-EC he falls in the middle of the pack for ACT (if I remember right he had a 25 or was that someone else’s son?). It will really depend on how they view his transcript. I think he certainly has a chance for both of those schools.</p>

<p>I really don’t know enough about Loyola or DePaul to comment. Maybe someone from Illinois will be able to help.</p>

<p>The public schools in Iowa use a Regents Admission Index (RAI) as a starting point for admission. There are calculators on their websites so you can get an idea of his acceptance/rejection there.</p>

194

<p>MuppetMom, that’s so great that things are going better for your son now. Sounds like some worrying times for everyone. It’s good to hear that he got a lot of support from the college.</p>

195

<p>Has anyone on this thread looked at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois? I have heard very good things about the school from several people lately. I’ve also heard a little bit about Drake in Iowa.</p>

<p>Any input? I am helping my neighbor’s son come up with a list of schools to check out…he a rising junior at a fairly large public, and a solid B student who get the occasional A or C</p>

196

<p>Muppetmom, thank you for sharing your son’s inspiring story of perseverance and self-discovery. It also serves as a useful reminder that a school such as Lycoming may not be very selective or prestigious, but can be both very challenging and very supportive.</p>

<p>On your list, I note that a very thoughtful poster on last year’s thread will be dropping her child off at St. Olaf’s soon. If it stays on your list I can try to put you in touch. Her child had many good options, so St. Olafs seems worth careful consideration.</p>

<p>Our HS has over 30 kids accepted to St Joe’s every year and I grew up near it. It has a very nice campus (much less urban than Loyola or DePaul) and excellent academics and school spirit–but a very high price tag, without giving a great deal of aid.</p>

<p>I think DePaul and Loyola are solidly in your range–Ithaca and Marist are more selective, but well worth considering. Loyola MD, Duquesne, Xavier, Siena and Fairfield may be fits with your criteria.</p>

<p>DrNiko, best of luck; I think you can overcome your setbacks with a strong senior year, but American may be a stretch, as well as very different from your 2 other choices in size, student body, etc</p>

197

<p>I know a family whose S goes to Bradley and loves it - and they all love it so much that their D is starting in the fall as well. Nice kids, good but not top students; Bradley seems like a very nice all-around school with great programs. I’ve gotten the same impression from Drake, although I don’t know anyone who goes there.</p>

198

<p>Bradley was on my DD’s list for a while - she just wasn’t interested in Peoria! But we met an admissions counselor from there, and were impressed with what we heard.</p>

199

<p>Hello, My son will be leaving in a few weeks for Albright. He is a VERY social boy which probably was part of the reason he only scraped out his 3.0 (no honors). SAT’s were in the mid 500 for each category, actually lower than that I think in Reading. He can read just fine, he just would rather not do his vocab work (all through high school) which does not help with SAT test.</p>

<p>I wanted to say that he only applied to schools that liked him for his sport. He barely qualified for Rowan and would only have gotten in due to his extracurriculars. The SAT reading hurt him there. I don’t think there would have been any fin. aid either</p>

<p>He applied to several LAC and visited a few. Delaware Valley College, Albright, Pace University and Widener all offered him a scholarship, I think based on GPA. They also had varying amounts of grant money available for aid. He never finished his financial aid app for Lebanon Valley because he liked the other three better.It seems like a lot of students get aid. </p>

<p>It’s important to know about the scholarships for B students at these schools, because many families won’t consider them due to the tuition. My brother had always told me that at private schools nobody pays sticker price.</p>

<p>I thought my son would like a larger school, but there weren’t a lot under consideration. I thought he would pick Widener because it is closer and a little bigger and closer to Philly too. Strangely after visiting Albright he said he liked it better. I haven’t figured out why yet. I think he liked the small campus. I know he likes the idea of not having to go far to get to class, or dinner or the gym facilities. It’s close enough to life without being in a major metropolitan area. There’s a Wawa and fast food. A short ride to shopping and entertainment.</p>

<p>He DID NOT like Pace. It’s a little far, just up past New York City. We went when it was snowy. Our tour group was too big and we didn’t see much. The dining hall is not “all you can eat” and they have a split campus with some dorms and facilities being 3 miles away. They do have a metropolitan campus you can take classes at if you’re into that. He knew quickly it wasn’t staying on his list and it was the most expensive. They also did offer a scholarship, but the other fin aid was not as good.</p>

<p>WAIT, here’s a big reason he DID pick Albright, All the dorms are air conditioned!!! They are not new, but they each now have an a/c unit. He’s gone to enough sports camps in the summer to appreciate the a/c! I hope it’s not the real reason…but you never know.</p>

<p>To keep talking here…he let me take the lead on his college research. If I waited for him it wouldn’t have gotten done. My fault, I get impatient and want things done and I them done right. I also like to know all the details so why not just get all the info and let him know? So, it’s both our fault. He is very open on his major…leaning toward business but my do a co-concentration in crim justice…oh yes…</p>

<p>Albright has “concentrations” not majors. Students can “create” a co-concentration and at his interview it came up that he liked both bus and cj and they said he could work that out. People have all sorts of combos,such as music/business or sociology and education or whatever. They do have a program for undecided students as well. I didn’t think my son cared about the education part of college (social and sports are more fun) but maybe it played a role.</p>

<p>I raised them to go to college. We don’t have a family business and they didn’t go to trade school, but neither son had a concrete goal (vague notions of owning a store or being a cop) so they weren’t searching for that school with the best academics to prepare them. This is why he (and my older one) sort of let me take over. Which I enjoyed.</p>

<p>He’ll be off soon. He DID make his own choice and I hope he likes it. I wasn’t stupid enough to suggest where I thought he should go.</p>

<p>Finally, if he could have gotten into Monmouth University it would have been perfect. He didn’t apply because he couldn’t play his sport there. Nice campus, nice location, but we never found out how the aid would be. It was so pretty and so close to the beach, and just the right size (5-6000 students.)</p>

200

<p>My son considered Stevenson. The big draw was the birl/boy ratio. It leans heavy on the girl side as it used to be an all girls school (villa julie I think). They added a football team last year to try to increase the male enrollment. It add the athletes and boys who like the idea of a school that has a football team. I read an article about it. He found other choices closer to home.</p>

<p>Also…has anybody’s kid been too lazy to do visits? Mine hated giving up time from his busy schedule (sleep, eat, socialize) to work on his future. He went, but leaned towards the schools 2 hours away or less!</p>