<p>My son has about a 3.1-3.2 unweighted GPA with about a 3.4 weighted. ACT score was 31, SAT 1960. He wants midwest or NE LAC, I want not too much $$! </p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>
<p>Are you in the midwest, or the northeast?</p>
<p>There are so many nice, decent liberal arts colleges out there that it can blow your mind. Just throw a dart at the map, draw a circle about 150 miles in diameter, and you are bound to hit something.</p>
<p>Iowa has several good LACs, and the private colleges and universities there sponsor a week of college tours/visits in August. Kids who visit three or more of the schools during that time have application fees waived to all of the private colleges in Iowa. I don't know the dates or details for this year, but you could check out the websites for Coe College, Cornell College, Luther College, Wartburg College, and Drake University (for starters). One of them should have a link to this information.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>We're actually in Southern California, but have family in Milwaukee and my son has dreams of going to school back east. He's resistant to Wisconsin, probably because I've pushed it so much. :( I'd like him to see both Beloit and Ripon, and perhaps Clark in MA and Wagner in NY. </p>
<p>He thinks he wants to be very close to a metropolitan area, but hasn't done any research on his own yet other than a college fair where he became enamored of Bryant in RI which is a long way to go for visits!</p>
<p>Wagner would love, love, love him for gender and geographic reasons. It's also a heck of a nice school with a lot of very, very atrractive women (for theatre reasons).</p>
<p>Zoosermom - Actually, one of my concerns about Wagner is the male/female ratio! I'm not sure how he'll feel about that as he's definitely NOT a theater type.</p>
<p>"Zoosermom - Actually, one of my concerns about Wagner is the male/female ratio! I'm not sure how he'll feel about that as he's definitely NOT a theater type."</p>
<p>But the very attractive women are there for that reason. That's the up-side. An abundance of beautiful woman.</p>
<p>Check out collegedata.com for the admissions data at the schools you may be interested in. They give a pretty good breakdown of GPA and SAT scores. (see example below) Make sure you have a couple safety schools too.</p>
<p>Grade Point Average of Enrolled Freshmen Average GPA 3.68
3.75 and Above 47%
3.50 - 3.74 25%
3.25 - 3.49 16%
3.00 - 3.24 10%
2.50 - 2.99 2%
2.00 - 2.49 Not reported
SAT Scores of Enrolled Freshmen SAT Math 598 average
600-678 range of middle 50%
Score of 700 - 800 22%
Score of 600 - 700 56%
Score of 500 - 600 19%
Score of 400 - 500 3%
Score of 300 - 400 0%
Score of 200 - 300 0%
SAT Critical Reading 607 average
580-688 range of middle 50%
Score of 700 - 800 23%
Score of 600 - 700 47%
Score of 500 - 600 25%
Score of 400 - 500 5%
Score of 300 - 400 0%
Score of 200 - 300 0%</p>
<p>Take a look at Kalamazoo in Michigan, Knox in Illinois and Earlham in Indiana. Your son's credentials would give him a reasonable chance of admission at all of them. All excellent midwestern LACs but not in Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Having said that, as someone who lives in Wisconsin I think you should still encourage him to look to God's country. Illinois, Michigan and Indiana are nice, but they aren't Wisconsin. :) In addition to Beloit and Ripon he might want to look at Carroll in Waukesha or St. Norbert's in DePere. And Lawrence, of course, although admission is tougher there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input - we already visited Lawrence two years ago because I thought that would be perfect, but he wasn't into it...too young I think.</p>
<p>We're visiting in June, but he got the PSAT NMSC referral letter where we can name two schools and can't figure out if it's worth using them on schools we are already interested in!</p>
<p>He might want to look at Bradley, University of Denver, Wittenberg--there are a lot of good schools out there.</p>
<p>wow you guys really underestimate people...you are recommending schools i've never even heard of (except University of Denver).</p>
<p>LAC and not too much money are oxymorons. Tell him to go to Ohio State, Michigan State, or whatever in state tuition school you are close to and when he improves his grades he can transfer to a school of his choice. Right now, he doesn't have much of a say. Why overpay for a lesser mediocre LAC? Amherst ok but not Butler or Bradley or whatever.</p>
<p>My son (graduating in June) was almost exactly the same as your son. Unweighted GPA after Junior year was 3.1, weighted 3.8, 2000 SAT (1380 Math & Reading) and 30 ACT score. </p>
<p>It was tough looking at schools because many of them want high GPA and/or all Honors/AP classes. However, your son might add geographic diversity to an E. Coast school.</p>
<p>If you want merit aid (lower cost school), then focus on LACs that are ranked >50 in US News. Some suggestions of schools that give merit aid are Allegheny, Ursinus, Muhlenberg, Hobart and many others. My S received $12,500 per year grant from Ursinus; this would bring tuition, room & board down to approx. $30,000. I think it's unrealistic to expect any more money than this considering grades and scores, unless your S is a great athlete, etc.</p>
<p>S will not be attending Ursinus for a variety of reasons - it turns out that Penn State main campus offers more of what he's looking for.</p>
<p>Schools in Ohio that give merit aid and might fit include Denison, Wooster & Wittenberg</p>
<p>I probably should explain the "not too much $$" - I've seen some LAC's or smaller U's with $35,000+ tuition equally close to $50K/year. I'm hoping to stay under $40k (tuition below $30K)...his grades (meaning his commitment) just don't warrant an extra $50,000 over the 4 years. He's a bright, great kid, just not motivated yet, but I hope that comes with maturity and college.</p>
<p>He's got no sports or EC's worth talking about, mostly honors classes, 3 AP's so far with 2 more in senior year, so his coursework has been difficult.</p>
<p>S is at a small magnet school in L.A. - 250 kids total in the HS based at the Los Angeles Zoo, so it's a science magnet (the first 2 years he had to take 2 classes/year at the main campus - 2,000 kids). While no EC's, he HAS had to take 2 buses to and from school to home each way (about 1-1/2 to 2 hours per day) which he'll try to explain in his apps.</p>
<p>He really fits with the small school, thus the emphasis to LAC's. </p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas so far...I'd like to see him get into a LAC that I've heard of, and some of these I haven't...even after a TON of research!</p>
<p>My son has similar statistics. SATs were a little higher, 2040, up from 197 on the PSAT. Same GPA, to the decimal point! </p>
<p>He was rejected, as expected, from Bowdoin, which he only applied to because he's a legacy (double). He was waitlisted at Kenyon and accepted at Lawrence U, Ursinus, Wooster, Wittenberg, Ohio-Wesleyan and Ripon. All offered merit aid, except for Lawrence. Merit awards ranged from 7K to 16K.</p>
<p>We're in Massachusetts and have family in Appleton, WI. </p>
<p>My son fences, though not at school, so I think that helped him get into Lawrence, which was a bit of a reach for him. </p>
<p>Ripon has rolling admissions and accepted him within 10 days of his filing the application, so that's one you could know about very early on...it helped take the pressure off as we waited for the others. </p>
<p>He's heading to Lawrence, just put the deposit in the mail today!</p>
<p>Check out the University of Mary Washington in VA. It is a public LAC and should fit your $ requirement.</p>
<p>you should check out, as happymomof1 pointed out, Cornell College in Mount Vernon Iowa. Cornell is unique in that it follows a block plan; student only take one course at a time for three and a half weeks. </p>
<p>Cornell has many accolades
The college has been named one of 40 colleges that change lives by Loren Pope,
and the new York times named it one of 20 stealth powerhouses in higher education
The Princeton review ranks it in the top 20 for professors are accessible and class discussion encouraged.</p>
<p>and it is only about 15 min from Cedar Rapids Iowa pop. 200,000</p>
<p>At 31, his ACT score is probably better than his 1960 SAT. Should we only submit that?</p>
<p>Congrats to your son, Kwl718 - I loved Lawrence when we visited, but regret dragging him there so early. :(</p>