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

Parents Forum
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<p>Shrinkrap, thanks so much for linking to that list! A couple people did suggest it but I was apparently using the wrong search terms and didn’t find it before now. What’s most helpful is that I’ve identified a lot of those schools as possibilities, using the college guides, but there’s a lot of great commentary (as there is here for the east coast schools) that’s going to help us tease out some better choices. </p>

<p>Also, as I scrolled through, I did see your post about your S’s school acceptance results (great job!). My D’s stats are so close to his (.1 lower on the GPA and 20 or 30 higher on SAT’s) that your experiences will be especially helpful. :-)</p>

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<p>Simpkin, my older son spent a couple of years at Lycoming. I thought it was a good school. The professors were interested and seemed to care about how the kids were doing. I didn’t have a problem with the dorms. They were no worse than some of the older dorms at U of Del or U of Md. I really liked that everyone had to live on campus. It really kept it from being a “suitcase” school. I think they made some exceptions, but not many. His friends were all very nice boys and girls from NY, NJ, PA and Md. The dining hall was open all day and you could go in as many times as you wanted. So, if you just wanted coffee and toast before your first class, you could go in and get it. then, return after class for a bigger breakfast, and later for lunch, and a snack… That worked well for my son. I thought the academics were good. My son didn’t stay because he didn’t know what he wanted to major in, didn’t want to play on the soccer team any more, and really wasn’t ready for college anyway. All of this info was from 4 years ago, so things may have changed. If you have a child who needs to grow, I would recommend this school.</p>

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<p>Simpkin,
Stephenson University used to be Villa Julie. They are actively trying to become a “college that will change lives”…not that they are trying to break into that list, but they are trying to become that type of college. I just saw a news spot this morning about their brand new football team. It is new this year, the field and facility look very nice and will be brand new.</p>

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<p>for a 3.0 and a 28 act… receive 10K merit scholarship per year (tuition and fees are 14K) at University Alabama Birmingham. Tier 1 university. Very strong for science kids…or health majors.</p>

<p>[About[/url</a>]
The university sits in downtown birmingham. </p>

<p>oos costs: 19-23K
[url=&lt;a href=“http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/financial_aid/costs/]UAB”&gt;http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/financial_aid/costs/]UAB</a> - Paying for College<a href=“includes%20tuition,%20room%20and%20board,%20books%20etc”>/url</a></p>

<p><a href=“http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/fina...arships/69028/[/url]”>http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/fina...arships/69028/](<a href=“http://www.uab.edu/home/about]About[/url”>ABOUT UAB - The University of Alabama at Birmingham | UAB)</a></p>

<p>there are 4 different honors colleges … the students in sci/tech get incredible opportunities for research even as a freshman. Sci’tech also pays for your phd at uab. …Dr. Diane Tucker is the person for sci/tech …</p>

<p>[UAB</a> - Honors Programs](<a href=“http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/academics/special/]UAB”>http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/academics/special/)</p>

<p>here is a link to a freshman dorm…suite style
[Blazer</a> Hall | Capstone Company Campus](<a href=“http://www.blazerhall.net/]Blazer”>http://www.blazerhall.net/)</p>

<p>[UAB</a> - Campus Tours](<a href=“http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/visit/campustour/]UAB”>http://main.uab.edu/Sites/apply/visit/campustour/)</p>

<p><a href=“Students | UAB”>Students | UAB;

<p>uab’s app takes about 5 minutes…no essay</p>

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<p>My son is interested in going to school in Wisconsin or Illinois or that general area. Does anyone have any information on colleges in that part of the country? He has an unweighted 3.25/85 all honors classes in a private catholic school. His Sats are estimated at 1950.<br>
Thanks!</p>

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<p>just to clarify the numbers above for UAB are for OUT OF STATE costs</p>

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<p>MuppetMom, I live in Wisconsin and have researched quite a few schools in the upper Midwest for my B student son. What in particular were you looking for?</p>

<p>rural/suburban/urban
small/medium/large
sports to watch,greek life,special interest clubs
public/private</p>

<p>Does he know what he wants to major in and what is your budget like? Do you live in a state that participates in the MSEP?</p>

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<p>MuppetMom,</p>

<p>University of Iowa and Iowa State have an RAI index that they use for admission. If interested, go to their site and use the RAI calculator. They guarantee admission if you have a minimum index score.</p>

<p>Truman State also uses some type of index to determine admission.</p>

<p>These are all really strong schools for B students.</p>

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<p>Proudwismom,
He is interested in being a trial lawyer. He has talked about majoring in Pre-law, or History, or Business. I think he is mostly still undecided on the actual major…but he is pretty sure he wants to be a lawyer.</p>

<p>For the school…I think he wants rural or suburban and maybe urban. Not really small as his current high school is only 500. He loves sports and particularly the Green Bay packers (he was a fan from way back before they won the super bowl this year…saddest day of his life when Brett Favre deserted the team!). So, I would think sports to watch would be a good idea. Private or public is fine. The budget is up in the air…although tuition not more than 25,000 ( I hope…unless it’s fabulous). Would love to get some merit.</p>

<p>We are from the east coast…I don’t even know what MSEP is…LOL!</p>

<p>You would think by my 3rd child I would know what I was doing but I am really lost!</p>

<p>He is also an officer in the Student government; plays high school soccer and is captain of his club/travel soccer team; and plays the bass in the jazz band.</p>

<p>Thanks Haystack! I will research them and talk with him about your ideas!</p>

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<p>MuppetMom - I would look at Carthage College, Ripon College and Carroll University. They’re all along the eastern part of WI, nice schools, good for a B student. </p>

<p>For sports the publics might be a bit better - there is a UW in Green Bay that he could get into! UW-Milwaukee is large and urban; UW-Oshkosh feels more like an LAC and is between Milwaukee and Green Bay.</p>

<p>For a big football type of school, I second the U of Iowa/Iowa State suggestion. </p>

<p>Lots of schools out here. I’d suggest you run a list through the college board or other general search websites and let us know more details on what he likes.</p>

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<p>MuppetMom, here are some suggestions for you and your son to explore. If I know of anything special regarding the school I will mention it. If you have any specific questions about schools please let me know.</p>

<p>Northern Michigan Univeristy. This is my son’s first choice school. For some the small city (20,000) and the snow and cold are a deterrent but for an outdoor enthusiast it’s wonderful. We visited and everyone was friendly, the staff we met with were open and honest and it’s in a beautiful location. Marquette had more than enough stores and restaurants to make my son happy. NMU provides all students with a laptop and for a one time fee all students are admitted to athletic events for free. It has a DI hockley team but I think all other teams are DII. It is home to an Olympic Education Training Center (Apollo Ohno attended). The football team plays in the world’s largest wooden dome. There are appox 9-10,000 students with a good OOS population. There is merit aid available for B students.</p>

<p>Cathage College in Kenosha, WI. My son will apply here as well. We visited and the students were friendly and seemed happy. It’s a compact pretty campus on Lake Michigan. They offer a great J term. There are around 3,000 students. They have guarenteed merit aid for B students and the chart is on the website.</p>

<p>Ripon College in Ripon, WI. We did not visit but did drive thru the campus. It’s a smaller school with around 1,000 students. They do list the unique opportunties for each major on their website.</p>

<p>Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. My son’s guidance counselor loves this school. It doesn’t offer the majors my son is interested in so we didn’t consider it.</p>

<p>UW-Green Bay is an obvious choice for someone who loves the Packers. I do know kids who have attended and they enjoyed their time there. It seems like most kids want a car as the school is not that close to the city. There are tunnels for students to use to avoid the cold. I have heard though that a lot of kiids use them all the time so there aren’t many kids out on the lawn studying or playing ball.</p>

<p>UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire are the 2nd and 3rd most selective schools after UW-Madison. UWEC is known for the big hill kids climb to get from the academic areas to the dorms. UWL has a great marching band and the kids make fast friendships.</p>

<p>Across the Mississippi in Winona, MN there are 2 schools. Winona State (public) and St. Mary’s (private). Winona State is another laptop campus and has around 8,000 students. It’s popular with kids in our area. St. Mary’s is considerably smaller at around 1300 students. A friend’s daughter attended with generous merit aid and had no problem being accepted into grad programs. Another friend’s husband teaches there.</p>

<p>University of Northern Iowa is the 3rd public in Iowa. We visited but is seemed too hectic for my son. It has admission guidelines (RAI) like U of Iowa and Iowa State. I think they did well in basketball a year or two ago.</p>

<p>Other privates you might want to consider are:</p>

<p>Augustana in Illinois
Elmhurst in Illinois
Aquinas in Michigan (They do reimburse visit expense for accepted students)
Loras in Iowa
Simpson in Iowa
St. Ambrose in Iowa (claim to have the best dorms in the Midwest)</p>

<p>All range from around 1500-2500 students. I do not know their financial aid information.</p>

<p>If you go a little farther west there is U of South Dakota, South Dakota State and U of North Dakota. The South Dakota schools are a real financial bargain and North Dakota is pretty generous with aid to get more students to attend.</p>

<p>MSEP is a tuition agreement between midwest states.</p>

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<p>Muppetmom,</p>

<p>If your son is interested in being a trial lawyer, it is not necessary to be a pre-law major as law schools don’t require any particular set of classes. They do, however, look at grades and LSAT scores. I’ve been a civil rights and trial (and appellate) lawyer for almost 30 years. I would stress the importance of developing A-1 writing, critical thinking, reasoning and research skills (although legal research is its own beast). </p>

<p>So it’s fine to major in something he enjoys, but to do it somewhere where there is a meaningful undergraduate thesis requirement or opportunity for undergraduate research, or an opportunity to write for a publication. In a decent world law schools would look at things like participation in activities like student mock trials and volunteer activities, but if I understand this darned real life, they mostly look at grades and lsats (but others may know more about specific schools). So I would recommend taking a sample lsat early to see if it reflects his strengths, and preparing robustly if it does not.</p>

<p>The American Association for Justice (AAJ) is the national association of trial lawyers. They welcome students to participate in their annual summer conventions and make registration inexpensive for them, and offer scholarships. I had a college student friend participate and she found the sessions fascinating.</p>

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<p>My son is one of those kids who doesn’t believe in HW so his GPA is only a 3.23.</p>

<p>He takes a fairly rigorous curriculum - honors math since grade 7 (AP Calc BC this fall), honors science since 8th (AP physics C and AP Bio this year), AP Euro (5 on test), APUSH (no score yet), will be taking AP Comparative World Govt and AP Macro/Micro next year. </p>

<p>He has a documented writing disability but refuses extra time. </p>

<p>SAT is 680 V, 670 M and 540 W. ACT comp is 30 (subscores range from 21 in writing to 34 in science). He did not study or take a prep course for either test and will retake in the fall. To counter his low GPA, he takes a lot of SAT II’s. Grades range from 680 - 770None of his advanced work has been in english or foreign lang.</p>

<p>ECs are light - Robotics in grade 9, chess club and team all 3 years and Boy Scouts. He has worked at a scout summer camp for 3 years. He tutored last year in Business Law, physics and calculus.</p>

<p>He is interested in history and physics. He wants a small to medium school and would prefer ruralish to urban, He will not consider any cities at all. He does not want a very sports oriented school (a frisbee team would be nice, but he wouldn’t bother with any other sports to play or to watch). He is not in to music or theater. He wants to be able to wear shorts all year round.</p>

<p>I am totally at a loss - we are considering some SUNY’s but other than that, I have no ideas.</p>

<p>Anyone have ideas of where I could look? He would like the West Coast but we are in NY so that’s really not feasible.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

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<p>Joan, you might want to check out the Jewish B student and Western 3.0 threads. Both would give you ideas of what schools might be an option. While the Jewish thead parents are concerned about Jewish life available for their kids they are welcoming to all and the same schools for B students would work for non-Jewish kids as well.</p>

<p>Some that I remember being discussed were College of Charleston, Roanoke, and some of the Virginia schools and some of the directional North Carolina schools. Some of those would allow your son to wear shorts year round.</p>

<p>A lot would depend on your budget.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/907349-western-schools-3-0-3-3-kid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/907349-western-schools-3-0-3-3-kid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/931514-colleges-jewish-b-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/931514-colleges-jewish-b-student.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Muppetmom –
Marquette in Milwaukee may be a little bit of a reach with your son’s grades…but…they like East Coast kids. They are in the Big East for sports…and not far from where the Brewers play (and where the Packers play their Milwaukee games…if they’re still playing any games in Milwaukee.)</p>

<p>Michigan State is also a possibility for an East Coast kid with your son’s test scores. Big Ten sports…</p>

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<p>The Packers don’t play games in Milwaukee anymore but Marquette is a nice school and Milwaukee offers a lot of opportunities for things to do. One of my cousins attended and received a great education. It’s more of an urban school with about 8,000 undergrads.</p>

<p>Another private in Iowa to consider would be Coe College. I know a boy attending and he said a lot of East Coast kids attend. Coe has around 1300 students. It might be more of a reach for your son based on their averages so merit aid might not be there. If he has a lot of volunteer hours Coe does take that into consideration and I believe has scholarships based on it.</p>

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<p>Joan52 - Schools that come quickly to mind, are Ithaca and Franklin & Marshall.</p>

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<p>^^except you can’t wear shorts year 'round there :)</p>

<p>Joan52, how far south is he willing to go to attain his fashion plan,lol?</p>

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<p>Other excellent schools you might want to consider…Bradley in Peoria, illinois, and Drake in Iowa.</p>