<p>My son is very bright. However, he is disorganized and not motivated by grades. He has a 2100 SAT, will complete 13 AP classes (mostly 5s). Strong extracuriculars and recommendations. All good except for a 3.2 GPA UW. He loves debate so any school he considers needs a team. We live in Texas. Likely majors are poly sci, economics. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>What is his weighted GPA? With all those APs, it would seem like his weighted GPA would be higher.</p>
<p>does he want to stay instate? I’m guessing that his GPA might keep him out of UTexas and maybe TAMU???</p>
<p>What is his Math + CR SAT?</p>
<p>What is your budget…how much will you spend each year?</p>
<p>Unfortunately the school does not really weight GPAs. They report the raw scores to colleges. They add quality points only when computing class rank. So he is probably in the top 25% but not top 10%.</p>
<p>My son would consider out of state. He is worried about being too close to home actually. We would consider a private LAC college although they are very expensive. I dont expect any merit aid with his GPA.</p>
<p>I agree UTAustin is out (they take top 7% pretty much). Perhaps TAMU might consider him but state schools are pretty numbers driven.</p>
<p>Oops forgot SATs. He got 720 eng/700 Writ/690 Math (I rounded for the 2100).</p>
<p>Admissions people often stress the importance of counselor recs in explaining grades. So talk to your son’s guidance counselor about your son’s passions, his learning style, etc. Look for schools that stress holistic admissions philosophies. Are you thinking in-state only, or OOS as well? Look into Bard College, for example, in Upstate NY. A lot of smaller schools take more time per app bc there are less coming in and focus less on grades and more on essays, recs, etc. Plus they usually have great humanities programs.</p>
<p>U Iowa…will be 30-35,000 per year.
Kansas…offer OOS scholarships.
Nebraska…should qualify for a nice scolarships bringing total to about $17,000 per year.
U Montana
Montana State…$7500 scholarship brining total to $21000
University of New Mexico</p>
<p>For LACs…
Centre College (KY)
Loyola (New Orleans)
Truman State (MO)…excellent public LAC with strong debate reputation and very inexpensive. Probably around $18,000.</p>
<p>Run the net price calculators/scholarship estimators at each to get a sense of cost.</p>
<p>If he is disorganized now, what are his plans for fixing that before he gets to college? That is what you two should be worried about now. If you suspect an undiagnosed case of ADD, talk with his guidance counselor about arranging screening so he can get help with his organization skill while he is still in HS.</p>
<p>Has he shown an upward trend in terms of GPA? Many schools don’t look at, or weigh less heavily, the 9th grade, especially for boys who are slower to mature. If, on the other hand, the 3.2 is pretty consistent or downward, it would be interpreted differently.</p>
<p>Following up on KU (Kansas), it has an excellent debate team. They have as many or more debate championships as basketball championships. Great college town. Pretty campus. It’s not flat.</p>
<p>[CTCL</a> Members | Colleges That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list]CTCL”>http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list)</p>
<p>Can’t speak to their financial aid offerings but your son’s profile fits the approach at these schools.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the suggestions. Does anyone have any additional LAC or smaller universities that they would recommend in Texas or surrounding states?</p>
<p>Hendrix College in Arkansas. Should get merit aid there. They accept lots of students with high test score but lowish grades.</p>
<p>I mentioned Loyola (NOLA) in other post. </p>
<p>Might look at Southwestern and Austin College in TX.</p>
<p>Some great schools like Bowdoin don’t require standardized testing scores. You might want to look into test-optional schools.</p>
<p>He has strong scores but low grades. He needs to report test scores. He really needs a grade optional school.</p>
<p>hendrix college</p>
<p>Hendrix looks great except it does not seem to have any kind of debate team. </p>
<p>My son really likes CX policy debate (not Lincoln Douglas or parlimentary) but he may have to be more flexible. </p>
<p>Does anyone have an opinion on UTD?</p>
<p>Trinity University in San Antonio has a policy debate team. It is small, similar to a LAC.</p>
<p>Trinity U. is a great suggestion. They give policy debaters merit scholarships, other than Rice it is the strongest LAC-like school in the state, and your son seems like a likely admit there because of the rigor of his courses.</p>
<p>Check out Oxford college of emory university. It’s easy to get into, and you get the same Emory degree as everyone else in the end. It’s the route I took, as I was weight listed to Emory’s main campus. Emory gives great financial aid, and I only have 40,000 debt at graduation. Check out the Econ/math program. I had a lot of friends choose this major.</p>
<p>You said that your son would like to go OOS, away from Texas. Yet you keep requesting Texas schools or nearby states. Do you not want him far away or has he changed his mind? I could suggest dozens of very good midwest and southern LACs for your son.</p>
<p>Also, what is your budget? Can you pay your EFC or do you need merit to reduce the total price below your EFC?</p>