<p><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/special/college06.html%5B/url%5D">http://biz.yahoo.com/special/college06.html</a></p>
<p>Dstark, we must be on the same wavelength tonight as I signed on to post a related link--- The article on Yahoo is actually a reprint from US News. And US News just this week issued a new ranking that lists exactly WHICH schools are "A+ options for B students" in greater detail. You can access the school names for free, but anyone with a premium online addition (costs $15 or so) will find a wealth of information, including details about the 25-75 percentiles for GPA's at these schools, and the percentage of students accepted with GPA's BELOW 3.0. I was truly surprised at some of the numbers at some pretty good schools. </p>
<p>be careful here, most of these schools are not big on need based aid, and are unaffordable for many families. That's part of the reason they're full of B students.</p>
<p>Thank you Dstark and carolyn for posting these links. There are LOTS of great colleges out there for kids with less than perfect grades/test scores. When I first started helping my kids look for schools I was depressed thinking after all their hard work they would end up at a school that was not worth attending. Not true! DD and DS are all fired up now about some wonderful schools that will be everything they have dreamed of, whether they have a 3.0 or 4.0.</p>
<p>Carolyn, I am being cheap this year and did not pay for the online edition of US News. :) </p>
<p>I am really surprised to see Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on the list.</p>
<p>I'm curious to know how many students get into the school with gpas below 3.5 or 3.0. Do you have that information?</p>
<p>I was also surprised to see Penn State on the list.</p>
<p>Speedo, hate to disagree, but there are actually quite a few schools there that are very decent with need based aid, as well as many with high numbers of students receiving financial aid, especially among the LACs listed.</p>
<p>Speedo, I don't understand your statement...could you elaborate on the link you're seeing between affordability and B students?</p>
<p>Just Checked Allegheny, A Good School No Doubt, On The College Board's Site - Only Meets Need In 50% Of Students And Average Debt At Grad Is $24,000. Be Careful. Wooster Is Still Good As Is Muhlenberg. Places Like Susquehanna, Lycoming Are Not Good Financially Especially For Low Income Students. Most Of These Schools Practice Tuition Discounting To Attract Middle And Upper Middle Class Students. A Real Good Place For The B Student Is The Lower Level State Colleges. In Pa, Places Like Millersville Or West Chester Are Full Of These Kinds Of Students. By The Way Is It A B In Level 1 Or Level 2 Classes Theyre Talking About. There's Quite A Difference. This Looks Like Marketing To Me.</p>
<p>Speedo, I don't see what you're seeing. I just looked at the Southern Master's Category, and just in the Top 10 I see several state schools (James Madison, College of Charleston) along with several other schools that routinely appear on "Best Value" lists (Rollins, Elon).</p>
<p>You have to look beyond the "marketing" on usnews. What exactly does "Best Value" really mean. Elon is a relatively cheap school (although not nearly the deal it was 5 years ago) about $26,000 a year. They give a limited number of scholarships of say $3 or 4 thousand, but very little need based aid. The ratio of grants to loans is about 60/40 that's high which suggests that aid is heavily loans. They also meet full need in 75% or less of the students. It's a good deal for rich people - probably around $22,000 a year but not too good for lower incomes and middle class. They get "gapped". Most of the schools on the B list don't have the funds to give great aid (Earlham, Pitzer and Wooster are exceptions). That's one reason why they're on the b list.</p>
<p>Best Value is subjective...if you believe you're getting good value it's a best value whether on USNews list, Barron's list, the Fiske Guide or the recent Kiplinger list:</p>
<p>speedo - Not sure what you mean by Level 1 or Level 2 classes?</p>
<p>Speedo, had the same question on Level 1/Level 2. Not familiar with that terminology. </p>
<p>Kiplinger used to have a similar on-line list for private colleges as well, but I don't know what happened to it.</p>
<p>Carolyn.</p>
<p>I was pleased to see my alma mater, Sewanee, The University of the South listed first on the LAC list. I agree that Sewanee is a great school. They do give 100% of need to students who qualify!</p>
<p>There are some relatively inexpensive, public LAC's as well that are quite good schools who take B students, The Evergreen State College, for example. Findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement show the college to be "one of the most academically challenging colleges in America." (<a href="http://www.evergreen.edu/news/releases/nov05/nssetop10percent.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.evergreen.edu/news/releases/nov05/nssetop10percent.htm</a>) The out-of-state tuition is just under $10,000 per year, and they do give need based aid.</p>
<p>dstark - CalPoly's CDS numbers are on-line -- only 3% of '05-'06 admittees had HS GPA's below 3.0; 75% were over 3.5; 52% over 3.75. eh, maybe more of an A+ school for A- students?</p>
<p>Evergreen was for many years my older daughters top choice school
We are in state- and where we vacation, we regularly see the same group of people who are very successful and happy graduates of Evergreen.
now I must add though that I think Evergreen would be a great school for someone who is "older" or even who has just taken a year off.
I dont know how great it would be for someone right out of high school.
My daughter decided she wanted a little more structure-
but there are some fantastic profs, and lots of opportunity to get further into your studies than you could in high school- especially with the intergrated curriculm.
I think it would be a good place for my younger D- they have good at least it looked good- learning support and the administration is fairly responsive.- but so far- she isnt considering any schools in wa- the peer group is too strong and for them- to consider anything less than Stanford means you arent' trying.
Lewis and Clark gives aid- and takes B students in Portland Or
and also University of Redlands and the parents of students there say they just love it ( don't know how much aid though)
and RE Pitzer- they don't give as much aid as others in the Claremont group- don't know why</p>
<p>Kluge, do you have SDSU's numbers....percentage below 3.0? 3.5?</p>
<p>SDSU: 21% over 3.75; 50% over 3.5; 79% over 3.25; 94% over 3.0. Overall average 3.49. They've changed the CDS this year to give this kind of breakdown. I like it. I believe that SDSU is using the "UC" partially weighted academic GPA for admissions purposes now. I don't know if that's the average they used for the CDS or not.</p>
<p>kluge, thanks for the information.</p>
<p>Here in Southeastern Pa, high school students are usually tracked into 3 or 4 levels. Level 1 will develop into AP classes, calculus etc. Level 2 is the average track with the majority of students. A "B" in level 2 is more easily obtained. I guess that's why colleges use the sats, it levels the playing field - somewhat. Perhaps another way to determine a "B" student would be to say students with an sat between say 1075 to 1250 the problem as I see it for most "B" students is that they're not going to get much aid from the privates. They'll do better financially at the lower instate publics. Here in Pa, a kid with an 1100 SAT and an income of $75,000 or so is going to pay $20,000 to $25,000 at places like Allegheny or Juniata, won't get into PSU and can go to West Chester for $12,000. For most families the economic realities intrude into the selection process.</p>