@fleishmo6 I think @kidzncatz decided on West Chester. We will be deciding by the end of this month, but WC is currently running at no. 2 on our list. We still have a lot of disagreement in our house-hold 
Stress!
Does the summer program thing indicate that almost anyone is admitted? How do they determine who is “not ready” and who shouldn’t be admitted? Thanks.
@Gatormama I wouldn’t count on much if any merit from PASSHE schools, but you could still find some at private schools. In order to make them competitive (cost-wise) with PASSHE, with mediocre test scores, it would probably need to be a combination of merit with need aid.
No, it does not mean that anyone is admitted.Some of the schools that use this option notice in an applicants resume that extra attention in a specific subject could be helpful in their success.It is helpful for most students as it gets them used to college classes and college life in a slower paced less hectic and sometimes overwhelming environment. Maybe they did not do well in the math portion of the SAT as well as getting lower grades in their math classes. Otherwise their resume is fine. They bring them in during the summer give them a math class or an english class to help get up to the College level.Obviously every school has their own way of determining who gets in or not but these type of programs are beneficial to the student but in no way are they negative indicators of the university itself.
You can monitor the progress and news of the PASSHE study here:
http://www.nchemsproject.com/system-review-timeline
I can tell you that this particular student has not been in college prep classes in all of high school (in the lower track), so I am skeptical that a summer of classes can bring him/her up to speed. Hence, I question the admissions standards and/or rigor of freshman year in this case, but maybe that is a bigger problem worthy of a bigger discussion. I just finished ‘College Unbound’. Very good book, I recommend highly, and discusses this issue in detail.
Anyway, I also know that the parent talked to admissions and they said that just about everyone who takes summer is admitted in the fall.
No, they are definitely admitted in the fall. This type of program is designed to help get the kids ready for the academic rigors of college. Helps get them up to the level or close to it with regards to writing college essays and solid math skills
All over the news here in western PA…Courses, majors, faculty and staff to be cut at Edinboro, Clarion, CalU, Cheney and Mansfield. No discussion of the study or any history of lack of funding and crazy increases in tuition. Only announcing percentage of students down from 2010(this was the all time high). On the drive home they had a conservative legislator on the radio and he said PASSHE is in for big changes. Been bleeding money for years…no discussion of PSU two year colleges, PSU/Pitt or Penn State. This appears to be a planned blitz of negative news setting the table for the onslaught. This has all been prearranged. These schools have been set up to fail.
@bester1 if you have any more radio or tv news links from western pa, that would be helpful too, thanks.
Taking my daughter to Lock Havens open house this saturday. Anything special we should make sure we see both on campus and in the town?
I will say, looking at the pictures and news stories, California U. of PA seems to have a beautiful campus. Am I right?
Yes… Beautiful campus. Truly beautiful.
Thanks. So it makes me wonder, with the lack of affordable options in PA and the great campuses that the PASSHE schools can offer (many better than many private schools, really - I saw those Muhlenberg dorms), why can’t these schools gain any respect or traction?
It is just the perception of lack of quality? Low admissions standards? Sports and school “spirit”? Bad outcomes, job opportunities and grad rates? If this the case, Edinboro may be on to something by trying to raise admissions standards.
Longtime lurker but newer poster here on CC. My dd is in the class of 2017 and we are from PA so I have followed this thread since the beginning. Thought I would jump in with my 2 cents.
We live in West Chester and drive through the campus every day. I don’t know how much I have to offer but many of our hs kids - smart, high stat, focused kids, go to WCU. We have been amazed at the quality of students who attend our church and also volunteer at organizations around town. The town is vibrant and growing. We are close to Wilmington DE, King of Prussia, Great Valley, and not too far from Philadelphia - providing great opportunities for internships and job prospects. There are always things happening around campus. My dd did not look at WCU because she had a strong desire to get away from home. She is headed to Alabama on scholarship, but with the understanding if things don’t work she can come home and attend WCU. She knows many friends through ECs who graduated and went away to school, only to return sophomore or Junior years to attend WC - some for financial reasons, others for personal reasons.
Thanks bamamom2021. Personal thought here, I wish I could get my D to enroll at WCU but all of the arguing and pushing probably won’t make it happen. Some of the days arguing about this the past couple of months haven’t been worth it, so we have put the conversation to the side for a few weeks for the sake of peace in the house. Side thought - is 2 years of misery over the college selection process worth 4 years in college? Who knows, but this process has been very stressful. I don’t understand all of the bliss and excitement expressed by others. Maybe if my kid had a free ride or something I could see it, like I see on other threads.
My D even said, if it would just make everyone in the house not so angry, fine, I will go to WC. I want her to want to go there (not forced to go there), but she also wants to go away and get away, start a different life. All this being said, I could see her coming back in a couple of years to WCU or another more affordable school.
@portercat…Check out this aerial tour of CalU. It is absolutely beautiful. In PA, we have attached an unfounded stigma to students that attend state schools that are not Pitt/PSU or Temple(the irony is that when I graduated HS in 1982, Pitt was the place you went if you could not get in any other place). This thinking is encouraged by peers in school as well as HS Counselors. Remember, they look better if they send kids to more “prestigious” schools.
BTW, many of the PASSHE schools are quite beautiful.
Enjoy the video…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_0Q35maD8w
@bamamom2021 and @Portercat …I work with upwards of 200 youth during the summer months. I can not tell you how many kids start out as some OOS school and end up back at a PASSHE school to be closer to home or because of expenses. It happens all of the time!
@bester1 Quite beautiful! Prettier than many PSU branch campuses and many private colleges actually.
In some ways this is my D’s point. Believe me, we have gone around in circles for months on this. She would rather risk borrowing and take the chance on the school she wants to go to (and could come back to PA if necessary), than never to have tried at all going OOS.
@portercat…prettier than all of those branch campuses. Not even close. I spent a weekend this past fall at PSU Erie. Nice, but not even close.
@Portercat - We spent most of jr. year trying to convince dd about the great school in our backyard but she really wanted to go away. We told her she could if she could find a way to make it work with our finances. She has friends that lived as close as us and stayed in dorms - before realizing that their own homes were closer to their classes than the dorms. They all moved home as soon as they were able. The upside to our sales pitch is our youngest (still in middle school) has been listening and can’t wait to go to WCU. I wish it were less expensive, we have seen the costs increase each year and if it continues we will not be able to afford it by the time she graduates (2023) even with commuting from home. As it turns out, in our case Alabama was cheaper than WCU so we could say yes to the adventure. If she finds herself without the scholarship, she is coming home. She was accepted to Pitt, really liked the city vibe and it felt like she was going away, but with no $ at all. It is a great school but in the end she decided to take the chance on UA and the price was right.
We also liked Bloomsburg and Ship and dd has friends attending both. I have coworkers who loved their time at Bloom and also Millersville. DD loved IU and the honors college and if Alabama and some of the other merit offers had not worked out would have likely headed there. Interestingly, some friends with average/slightly above avg. stats were awarded significant merit at Susquehanna, York, and Lycoming and they are all headed to those PA privates for the same cost or less as the PASSHE schools. Other neighbors are commuting to Penn State Brandywine for 2 and then trying to transfer to main campus. As a PA taxpayer it is frustrating that they are letting the state system fail.