<p>I can see this will be a very late addition to this thread but wanted to add my 2 cents:
We took our oldest all over the east coast and to every small LAC recommended by Loren Pope in Ohio and PA. He was the kind of kid tortured by high school–found it a drag and couldn’t wait to get out. He graduated with a 3.4 GPA and decent SATs. He was accepted to every school he applied to(including Pitt, Penn State, COW, OWU, Allegheny), but JCU was at the top of his list after his first visit. He loved the beautiful campus and friendly welcome from students and faculty. He wanted to be very close to a city but have a separate campus and JCU fit that bill. He had no idea what he wanted to do and after his high school experience, we were just grateful he did not refuse further education. John Carroll has made a student–a happy, turned-on, excited student out of my son. He loves his professors and enjoys a close relationship with many of them. He has made great friends on campus, the kind that will be life-long friends. He genuinely appears to love his studies and is an avid reader on top of his demanding classes. In addition, he has been very active in a variety of social justice activities & volunteering that is strongly encouraged on a Jesuit campus. He has taught social studies every year to students in the Cleveland Public schools and loves this experience. There are many higher ranked schools, but John Carroll has taken a demoralized, underachieving kid and made an engaged scholar out of him. His confidence, writing, thinking and study skills are far beyond what they were in high school. He just finished his junior year. I could not be prouder of him or more grateful for the kind of well-rounded education he has received.</p>