<p>I’m not familar with Florida schools but I do know it’s not too late. There are colleges that will accept her but community college isn’t the worst place either. I know more about Midwestern schools but I’m sure that there are other posters on CC who can help you come up with a list.</p>
<p>I would recommend applying to some rolling admissions schools. It’s helpful to have an acceptance or two early in the process to ease any anxiety.</p>
<p>Knowing your budget and some other preferences would give people a better chance to help you.</p>
<p>I’ve spoken of Flagler College’s merits earlier in the thread, but I will mention it again because it sounds like a great fit your your daughter. It’s in northeast Florida, practices a holistic approach to admissions & has an OUTSTANDING Education Dept. They seem quite willing to forgive a blemished early transcript as long as a trend of improvement is demonstrated. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions about FC, as I’m a junior there. Good luck!</p>
<p>Simpkin, congrats on the very productive tour–and nothing feels better than a match school you and your child both love.</p>
<p>Flmom, in addition to the excellent advice from proudwis, from your description, perhaps a small school with small classes and close attention paid by faculty would be best? I also suggest that her half-Hipanic background could help her in admissions and aid, and, if she is willing to venture far from home (and if you think that wise and affordable), geographic diversity would add a “hook”. In particular, small rural schools in the east and midwest are often very anxious to add diversity to their student bodies.</p>
<p>Thanks, I hope it is a match. I figured out his GPA recently and it is even lower than I thought. Below 3.0. His SATs are at the mid to higher end for all these schools, and his recommendations should be good, so I hope someone will take a chance on him. I really need to get him started on his essay.</p>
<p>Simpkin, Try to focus on the things that your son still has control over. It’s important that your son work hard first semester. The schools he applies to will probably want to see those grades before making a decision. It will help if he can pull A’s and B’s first semester. </p>
<p>Small schools will consider more than grades and test scores, so good recommendations and essays will help also.</p>
<p>MuppetMom, I just noticed your post. You may have the answer already, but if not, I just wanted to say that the above schools are absolutely viable options for a B student, especially one with your son’s ECs. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that they are very different schools. We took our daughter to St. Norbert and although I thought it was a lovely campus with a friendly, close community, it was far too small for her. Loyola is beautiful—right on Lake Michigan—and has a real city vibe rather than the St. Norbert small-town feel. DePaul is huge and is more of a neighborhood than a contained campus. </p>
<p>St. Olaf might be a reach school. It didn’t use to be that way, but it has become far more competitive in recent years.</p>
<p>Simpkin, you so obviously have a great grasp of the situation that I am sure my advice is not needed. However, being unable not give it since I am rooting for your son, and following up on momjr’s excellent advice, perhaps you can use his attraction to McDaniel, a match but far from a safety, as motivation for him to work very hard on his essay and first semester.</p>
<p>Similarly, Flmom, if your daughter sees a school she likes, it can help her in the same way.</p>
<p>I hope I have a grasp on the situation, but I can use all the good advice I can get. I will talk to him about his fall grades. I think he is more motivated now. Between helping to move his sister into her dorm, and then going on these college visits with me, I think the whole concept of college suddenly became real to him in a way that it hadn’t been before.</p>
<p>A lot of kids are like ostriches–they pretend that if they ignore the scary college process, it will go away. Awareness it will happen anyway is an important first step–and seeing that it might actually be ok is a great second step.</p>
<p>Good for him and you,PWM. My kids only did two(s2) and three(s1) apps. and had them in by early Oct. Had acceptances to their favorites by T’giving. They were able to enjoy senior year (to the hilt). Good luck to your S.</p>
<p>think i posted this somewhere in this thread before but for those still looking…a tier 1 university with reasonable oos coa and merit for kids in this gpa range. school is VERY strong in sciences and anything health related… 11k undergrads, 17K total students. urban campus but all together. if anyone wants info on the school, programs, honors colleges etc feel free to pm. Quick app online no essay required</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5DWelcome%5B/url”>http://www.uab.edu]Welcome[/url</a>]
UAB (University of Alabama Birmingham) Tier 1 university
oos costs:
Fall 2011 First-Year Freshmen Estimated
First-Year Freshman Out-of-State
Tuition and Fees* $14,256
Books and Supplies** $1000
Meal Plan $450 - $3,894
Total $15,706 - $19,150
Residence Hall (Blazer/Camp Hall)*** $5,200
Grand Total $20,906 - $24,350</p>
<p>oos merit:</p>
<p>Blazer Elite Scholarship
$10,000
Based on academic achievement (28-36 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Gold Scholarship
$7,500
Based on academic achievement (26-27 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Pride Scholarship
$5,000
Based on academic achievement (24-25 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)</p>
<p>Thanks PackMom. All 3 schools are rolling admissions so I am hopeful he will have results by his birthday at the end of October. His high school transcripts won’t go out until the middle of Sept but 2 of the 3 schools indicate a turn around time of 2 weeks once they receive all the information.</p>
<p>I still can’t get the kid started on his essay. He got a letter from Albright offering a quick application and submission of a graded school paper rather than an essay – easy, right? Well, in the mess and disorder of his room, I cannot find a single graded paper for him to submit. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, we have a new issue. One day, he was in a “no college will want me” funk and I made the mistake of telling him that he could get automatic admission to U. of Kansas just by his SAT scores. So then he looked up Kansas in one of those college guidebooks that makes every college sound like paradise, and now he wants to apply there. Of course his dad and I think a big state university is the absolute worst idea for him but DH made the mistake (IMO) of saying, “We won’t pay for you to go to Kansas” and now Kansas has become the forbidden fruit. And he’s also saying things like, “I’m not going to a small college just because you want me to go to a small college; you always think you know what’s best for me but you don’t,” etc. etc. <em>big sigh</em></p>
<p>I said that if he really wants to look at bigger schools I will take him to see Hofstra and Quinnipiac. Obviously, this has to be his choice, but of course I do think I know what’s best for him. :)</p>
<p>simpkin, just be sure that you are willing to pay for Quinnipiac or Hofstra. We had an acceptance to each in our house. Hofstra was very generous with merit aid (my son was on the upper end of applicants at that time), but the gpa to keep it climbed to a 3.2 after a few semesters. No additional FA offered, but they made themselves very competitive for us financailly with the merit award. Then I saw that FA on average was not great, so it came off the table. I did not want to get stuck if my kid lost that merit aid. </p>
<p>Quinnipiac offered a horrible package to my son.</p>
<p>If a larger school is what he wants, what about the less selective in state publics, for example, Montclair rather than Rutgers or Buffalo rather than Binghamton? Remember, too, to check out the air fare to Kansas during holiday periods in assessing costs; it adds up fast.</p>
<p>simpkin - I have recent experience with this issue - thought I would share. DH and I feel our son would be best off at a small - medium sized school. However, last spring he expressed interest in Virginia Tech. I think it’s a great university - but too big for my son. Nevertheless - we agreed to visit and did so in April. He liked it - but also admitted it felt too big. But he still wanted to keep it on the list and apply - and I said fine. In the past few weeks he has been willing to spend more time discussing his college list - going through pros and cons - and has realized that VT may not be the best choice for him for several reasons.</p>
<p>I think the best thing I did - was to do nothing. Didn’t tell him he could not apply there - did not tell him we wouldn’t pay for it - nothing of that sort. And frankly - had he continued his interest in VT - I would have laid out my view of pros and cons - but certainly would have allowed him to apply. For all I know - he still may do so!</p>
<p>Why not let your son apply to Kansas? An acceptance might be the morale boost he needs. Applying doesn’t = matriculation - it’s just having options.</p>
<p>Some of the best advice I have been given on CC is to calm down, back off, hold my tongue and allow my son to find his own way. It has been a tough experience - but has actually worked very well. Hope your situation smooths out as well.</p>
<p>Sometimes they really do listen. They might not admit that you are right, they might challenge you, even laugh at your ideas, but sometimes at the end of the day they will take your advice (esp. if you don’t push too hard). </p>
<p>I can tell you that we gave our kiddo a piece of advice about a year ago and we did offer similar advice on and off (within conversation, but kept it low key). Six months ago he laughed at our advice. Well, he recently did act upon our advice. Of course, he let me know that he was not going out of his way to do so, and about how a situation just turned out to be such that this how things fell into place. I do think that he was listening and considering our suggestions for a year and then he decided to follow our suggestion.</p>
<p>Cross posted with RVM. I think that she has some good advice. </p>
<p>We let our son apply to a school (one of many) and he was accepted. It does have a party reputation, and once he had other options, I did tell him that we would not send him. A friend of his told him that this was his “dream” school. That comment elevated this school for my son. We knew it was not a great fit for him, and I did not want him to go to this school at the end of the day. Our son understood that since we were paying for college, that he would need to also comply with our wishes. He did not argue with us at all. We did set ground rules with him and part of those rules were not to “fall in love with” any school because we need to compare packages first. This helped in his not being too invested in that one school (btw, he never even visited that school).</p>
His SATs are at the mid to higher end for all these schools, and his recommendations should be good, so I hope someone will take a chance on him. I really need to get him started on his essay.</p>