University of New Hampshire is a really solid university and a couple of hours from Boston. Definitely a NE college feel. But it is snowy in the winter months.
To the south is the University of Rhode Island.
Lots of options in between as has been mentioned previously.
Rhode Island is very close to Boston, so check out schools there (I’m blanking on the name, Johnson & Wales?) Also, Springfield College, Quinnipiac, are all good for B students. You should check out the maps on niche to see what else is on your travel route.
Johnson and Wales. Roger Williams. Bryant. Salve Regina.
The first is in downtown Providence. Bryant is rural. The other two are in beautiful coastal locations.
According to my son’s gc, UNH isn’t an easy admit for a B student, at least OOS, and that’s from a fairly competitive parochial school. I was kind of surprised. Anyway, time will soon tell because MY B student applied EA to UNH. UMaine is an easy admit and offers a tuition match program.
@taverngirl Good point. I wasn’t thinking it would be easy but a bit more accessible than some of the Boston juggernauts.
UNH Is a great school and really underrated imho. It has everything and great campus. Close to Portsmouth NH and short ride to Boston compared to normal driving in the big states.
Fingers crossed for you and your student!!
@privatebanker Agree re: accessibility of UNH, and that it’s an awesome school. The campus, student body, town of Durham, and hockey(!), all really great. It’s like the perfect state school. We’re instate for UConn (also great) but neither of my kids applied due to size. And honestly, the location is a bit lacking.
I am actually from New England and applied to UNH myself 30 years ago. Got pushed to second semester admission and ended up going to Grinnell instead?! Crazy how these schools admit rates change so much over time. Will definitely mention to my son. Thank you for all the suggestions!
UNH is an easy admit for a B student with SATs in the 550-650 range (mid 50%). It’s a small state and 52% of the student body are not residents of NH.
The Dean of the Business School stated publicly they under-enrolled this year because so many students decided to go to University Mass-Amherst rather than pay out of state rates. They have a very pretty campus with a solid business program and great hockey.
If he is interested in nursing, he will need to apply to nursing programs at the schools he is interested in. Be sure to check the NCLEX pass rates (every state lists by school name on their state government website). He must be admitted as a freshman and most schools don’t allow students to transfer in because of set curriculums.
Good Luck!
Re UNH, my OOS (mid-Atlantic) S19 got in last year as a solid B student with below average SAT scores from a smallish parochial school. He did have excellent ECs. He also got into UMaine and URI. One of S19’s classmates is a freshman at UNH and loves it.
Another vote for Stonehill
If he becomes more serious about nursing, you might look at Colby-Sawyer in NH. It’s about 90 minutes from Boston (New London is the second-to-last stop on the Dartmouth Coach from Boston South Station to Hanover, which is affordable, reliable, and frequent.) The nursing program is the school’s claim to fame - they have a close partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and 80% of Colby-Sawyer Nursing grads end up working at Dartmouth-Hitchcock after they graduate. They are expanding that partnership, with a plan to scale up the size of the nursing program to a graduating class of 100-150 (vs 30-40 currently) in the next 5-7 years. The college has D3 soccer, and local partnerships that allow their students to join community music ensembles for credit. I wouldn’t send a kid all that way from Texas to NH for a general liberal arts education at Colby Sawyer, but if he moves toward a commitment to nursing, it could be one to look at, especially since any direct-entry program is going to be several notches more competitive than general admission to the same school.
Providence College could be worth a look - Providence is a nice small city for students, and excursions to Boston are easy by car or train. It’s a D1 school but it has an active club soccer team that competes against Boston area club teams from BU, Northeastern, etc.
Endicott could definitely be worth a look. D3 sports and a nursing program as well as an array of business majors. The student body is 62% female, which is a matter of preference from a social standpoint but probably means they work hard to recruit guys. Very nice campus and coastal location, with a surprisingly high percentage of students (>90%) living on campus.
I know several kids who’ve gone to Quinnipiac for nursing. They all love it.
And a few weeks on…I have had two go to URI, both meh students but got very good aid for OOS. They both liked it a lot. A third is at UNH (in-state) and loves it.
There is an MBTA train from Wickford Junction (15 minutes by car(?) from URI campus) that goes to Boston as well as an Amtrak station fairly close (10-15 minute(?) walk).
UNH has an Amtrak station right on the campus but I don’t know the details or cost to get to/from Boston. UNH is right next to Portsmouth, which people from outside NE may not be familiar with but which is a great little city. My S19 was a high school soccer player and played intramurals in the fall at UNH.
We live in the Boston exurbs and we looked (I also have a D21) at some of the closer in schools but I always get queasy thinking about the housing situation. The Boston housing market is chao$$$ and most of the nearby schools don’t guarantee housing past the first year, if even that.
Probably because both NH and RI are small states, both are about 50/50 IS/OOS, which might matter to someone coming (as we say here) “from away”.
Good luck and enjoy your trip to this part of the country.
The daughter of an acquaintance got into UNH for class of 2022 with below-B stats. OOS, bottom third of class, ACT was 24 I believe. Played some high school sports but no leadership (captain) positions. No ECs of note. She is at UNH now and feels she fits in and can keep up her grades with relative ease. Travel to Boston via public transport is arranged without difficulty. Sounds like this is a solid safety albeit not in Boston proper, obviously.
This is great! Thank you so much everyone. I’m so happy to see some B-parents responding.
So if he ends up being really interested in nursing, be prepared for the fact that it’s a major that many schools will require you to declare at the start and one that will be more competitive than others at the same schools. A school like UNH might be an easy admit for something like a business major but their nursing program is very competitive. So pay attention to whether he’s really interested in nursing because GPA and SAT/ACT scores will matter a great deal. Schools that are test optional for other admissions still require SAT or ACT scores for nursing applicants.
As for schools in the Boston area, Emmanuel is a good option. Great area, right by Fenway Park, it’s part of the Fenway Five consortium and it’s small enough to be cozy. But not everyone wants a small school. The campus is tiny in comparison to a lot of others. It will depend on what he’s looking for but Boston is tough. The schools are competitive and the money they give isn’t always great cause they know there are plenty of people willing to pay it to be in the area.