<p>EdieNJ there is another thread started by a parent looking for schools similar to Marist. It’s called Best Way to Find Similar Colleges and it’s on the Parents Forum.</p>
<p>EdieNJ - here’s the thread proudwisemom is referring to: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1208547-best-way-find-similar-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1208547-best-way-find-similar-colleges.html</a></p>
<p>Heads up though, West Chester, like Delaware is one of those B student “hot” Colleges. It probably gets more applications of that tier (Millersville, Kutztown, etc) in the PA state colleges then any others. My son is a happy freshman at Champlain in Computer Networking and Information Security. Lot’s of techy majors there and an emphasis on hands on instruction.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Marist thread/link.</p>
<p>Champlain was on our list of places to visit this summer that we never got to. So were RIT, Alfred, Drexel and Ithaca. </p>
<p>Son thinks he wants Computer Science, so we are looking for schools with a significant department. As a B student, we are not searching for the “top programs” just solid schools where the computer science department is not an after thought. DS’s preference would be to find such a school within 2 hours of our home in north central NJ. Add to it that DS wants a school with a campus and Marist seems to stand out.</p>
<p>Finding info about the size of the CS department is not always so easy. In looking at even Marist’s website I cannot find anywhere that tells me how many students major in / graduate from Computer Science Majors. I am always suspect of schools that don’t post their Common Data Set.</p>
<p>I had a very good meeting with the high school college counselor this morning; she spent over an hour going over the process and talking about various schools. And she is going to follow up with my son about making progress on his essay (so far there has been none) with the goal of meeting 11/1 Early Action deadlines.</p>
<p>My son is currently angry at me and his dad for reasons having nothing to do with college and has now changed his criteria to “anywhere that is at least eight hours from home.” That was pretty much his only contribution, besides occasionally muttering, “It’s MY choice.” But it was still a useful meeting from my perspective. The counselor said we should take American and UVM off the list as way too reachy, cut down the number of small schools, and add some bigger-but-not-huge schools. </p>
<p>The small schools currently on the list are McDaniel and Lycoming (definitely will apply), Hood (visited and liked), Susquehanna, Elizabethtown, Albright, Moravian, and Hartwick. I’m not sure how to cut these down without visits so I guess we need to do more visiting.</p>
<p>She suggested that for larger schools, he think about adding Rowan, University of Rhode Island, Roger Williams U., Buffalo State College, and SUNY Oswego. I recall researching the first three and rejecting but now I don’t remember why and can’t find my notes. 
If anyone knows any of these schools, I would love to hear about them.</p>
<p>My DD is applying to Roger Williams, and we really enjoyed our visit there. Small, but not super small, and they have a real emphasis on helping students succeed. My D and I thought the campus was beautiful, and the housing options were great. Bristol is a quaint town, seems very safe, with a walkable shopping area.</p>
<p>EdieNJ, Marist does have a really nice campus and their Computer Science building is brand new! We stopped in and walked through it on our way up to Champlain this Spring for an accepted student event. You know they say that IBM stands for I Built Marist. </p>
<p>Of the other schools you mentioned, Drexel, RIT, Ithaca and Alfred,- Alfred is the only one we did NOT visit! Drexel was a real favorite but again, they just didn’t have the money we needed, even if our son contributed heavily from his co-op earnings. Drexel’s Ischool is exemplary and it may be in the picture for grad school. If you are looking for a campus feel though, that may not be the place. It’s truly and urban school with not a lot of green space. RIT is huge. My nephew goes there, majoring in software engineering and frankly, always stressed from working so hard. I think my son was worried about that possibility. Ithaca is a neat college, but we didn’t feel that the CS department was as strong as son was looking for. More like a liberal arts college that added Computer majors as an afterthought.</p>
<p>Champlain is a liberal arts college but it’s very techy and wired. It has one of the top ranked game design programs in the country and that program is competitive to get into. It does have a real campus and the town of Burlington has got to be one of the best college towns there is. I may be a bit biased…</p>
<p>I found the common data set for Marist here: <a href=“College Navigator - Marist College”>College Navigator - Marist College;
<p>Thank You I couldn’t find that anywhere.</p>
<p>OK so according to that data 37 out of 1203 degrees were issued in Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services. That kind of scares me. :(</p>
<p>Is this program too hard to get into or too hard to stay in???</p>
<p>If anyone is interested in Alfred University (NY) I have a junior there, so please feel free to send me a PM… Look over my posting history & you can see what I have said about AU when I have recommended it…</p>
<p>OK so I looked up some of the other schools my son liked as well as the ones you mentioned.</p>
<p>School # of cs majors graduated
Matist 37
Fordham 25
Elon 10
Scranton 1
Susquehanna 6
Champlain 129
Drexel 206</p>
<p>Looks like we need to drive to Burlington.</p>
<p>[Clarkson</a> University: Undergraduate Majors & Minors](<a href=“http://clarkson.edu/academics/undergrad_programs.html]Clarkson”>http://clarkson.edu/academics/undergrad_programs.html)</p>
<p>EdieNJ, if you are driving to Burlington, drive over to Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.
Computer Science is available. SUNY Potsdam is there & in Canton, there is St. Lawrence University & SUNY Canton. So 4 colleges in Potsdam & Canton. </p>
<p>Your son might like to look at Clarkson. I don’t know how far he wants to be from home or his stats, but have him take a look… Many kids fly from the Ottawa ONTARIO airport, also Cape Air is at the Watertown International Airport (about 60 miles from Canton, 70 miles from Potsdam, roughly)</p>
<p>We visited Clarkson after our first visit to Champlain. We drove from Burlington to Montreal, spent a few hours there and then drove over to Potsdam. That was one of those schools that looked great on paper but just didn’t sit well with either of us. So much so that son didn’t even apply, but both of us were wondering if it was a sort of flukey bad admissions event combined with a bad tour. By the time it came time to apply though, son had so many colleges that he really DID like, that it didn’t make sense to apply to a school where he absolutely would have to visit again to decide.</p>
<p>EdieNJ, If you really do go up to Burlington, let me know. My son is a friendly guy and would be happy to talk tech and colleges with you guys.</p>
<p>Thanks Kathie.</p>
<p>I just went on the Champlain web site to explore our visit options and discovered there is a regional reception in NJ in Oct. Maybe we can go to that and it will give us more time to visit after he applies.</p>
<p>I just got my acceptance letter from New Mexico Tech yesterday. I went in as an electrical engineer. My GPA was 3.116 and ACT was 32. I just have a feeling that the ACT score got me in.</p>
<p>David, congrats.
Edie, is your only concern about Marist the number of CS majors? I recall it ended its Catholic affiliation because it entered into an extensive partnership with IBM; could there be another major similar to CS you might have missed?
As a separate thought, from a professor attention perspective, there may be something to be said for not being 1 of 100+ majors, although there might be course offering or placement concerns at a smaller school.</p>
<p>Newtothis, I have heard good things about the campus at RW.</p>
<p>Simpkin, re differentiating among Susquehanna, Elizabethtown, Albright, Moravian, and Hartwick, when I looked 2 years ago, Albright had a much lower 4 year graduation rate than Susquehanna (which was first in its category) and Moravian. </p>
<p>I also believe Moravian and Albright are in small, somewhat gritty cities; the others are much more rural. Moravian’s campus is also in 2 parts, which are about half a mile apart, which I found a bit of a downer. Susquehanna’s campus is much larger and newer looking. I have heard good things about Hartwick and Etown, but not seen them. </p>
<p>We know a lot of kids at Rowan, drawn by in state tuition. They like the campus, but note that many kids commute or go home on weekends. URI has a good beach location and a rep for big parties. If the snow level of Buffalo does not cause concern, I would check out Alfred as well. </p>
<p>Given your son’s positive reaction to 2 small schools and the risk of getting lost at a large school, although I can understand the counselor’s reasoning, it seems to me that your approach of looking at a lot of small schools to find the best of the bunch was right on target. In addition to open houses, you might want to look for schools with Action Days or similar programs where kids can meet other kids with similar interests, as well as professors.</p>
<p>A b+ student with a 25 on the act. Could he go to the university of Minnesota thats his dream school</p>
<p>I haven’t been on CC in quite some time and was thrilled to see that the 3.0 to 3.3 thread is continuing into 2012! I wish your sons and daughters the best this year, and I hope they all find the perfect fit for them!</p>
<p>RtR</p>
<p>HI RTR! I hope all is well.</p>
<p>Bryan, I imagine a lot depends on whether you live in Minnesota. I would post on the Minnesota forum on CC. Generally, public schools are pretty clear GPA/ACT policies, as this protects them from in staters seeking to get in through politics despite low scores.Best of luck</p>
<p>Good Luck to all of you. My oldest ds (a 3.2 GPA kid)is a 2010 HS graduate. He’s now in his sophomore year and doing great. </p>
<p>There is hope! He really blossomed at school. This was after all of my worries in HS and the summer before college (I had many gray hairs)</p>
<p>VBC Mom</p>
<p>Thanks VBCmom–I am sure everyone is wondering where your child is attending</p>