Bright Underachiever needs College List

Parents Forum
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<p>Rising senior at above average California public school. White, middle class, educated parents. Weighted GPA aprox 3.0. Sat: 530CR/460M/560W. No SATIIs. 1 AP, 2 years of Spanish honors (mostly Cs in these). Water Polo team but not recruitable. Some part time jobs, no other meaningful ECs.</p>

<p>A party child with issues who shows signs of getting more serious. Wants to major in business. California state schools are the most probable choices as money is a consideration, but family wants to consider CA privates too. She also wants to consider colleges in Arizona and Colorado. Any advice on a college anywhere that might help keep her on the right track appreciated. </p>

<p>Is she qualified for any of the colleges that change lives?</p>

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<p>Just a note (altho I don't know the Ca privates to suggest for her): I am guessing that her unweighted GPA is pretty close to her weighted, since she has only 1AP and 2 honors courses? If this is the case, I believe she may very well NOT be seen by admissions committees as an underachiever. To me, the underachiever profile is the 1200+ M/V SAT and the 2.8 or lower GPA - ie, unfulfilled potential. That is a much tougher profile for admissions success than the one you describe.</p>

<p>A 990SAT with a B average at an above-average hs is a winning profile for well-selected schools. I think she can consider schools whose SAT 25%ile is around 1000, even though she is just a bit lower than that.</p>

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<p>It seems to me that almost any college has the potential to change lives or not - it depends on the person attending. I wouldn't rely on a college to get her on the right track - I think she needs to do that herself. Some people maximize their experiences in college and others waste it. It can be an enlightening time though and many kids just focus on education later than others and can do very well in college even if they didn't focus as much in HS.</p>

<p>She could attend a CalState possibly. Take a look at the schools' websites for admissions stats to see how good a fit she is. You need to look at actual admissions numbers rather than the stated minimum since different state colleges can be more selective and not accept the minimum. If she doesn't get into the ones she desires, she could always attend a CC with a stated pathway to either a UC or a CalState. This assumes she's ready to improve her grades.</p>

<p>Others will have better ideas on the privates than me but you might be able to glean more data from their websites as well.</p>

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<p>jmmom, good point. I don't know the child well but her parent see her as smarter than stats imply and hope she's ready to work harder.</p>

<p>I've read through the Cal State info and have a hard time understanding just how hard they are to get into. So many are totally impacted campuses which suggest her stats just won't do it.</p>

<p>I'm wondering how hard state Universities in Arizona and Colorado are to get into, and what their cost for OOS students are.</p>

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<p>z:</p>

<p>There are a LOT of CalState schools and the selectivity is different at all of the campuses. For example, here in San Diego, SDSU is more impacted than the newer CalState San Marcos so I'd guess that CSUSM would be less selective than SDSU. The same is prbably true for many other CalStates. She should try (assuming this interests her) for her most desirable couple and then apply at a few that are no so selective to be safe. Note that less selective doesn't necessarily mean not as good. It may be a newer school (like CSUSM), be in a less desirable area, or be in a more rural area.</p>

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<p>Oh, one more thing, a friend's D (lives in San Diego area) went to NAU (Northern Arizona University) in Flagstaff. I don't know what the cost was but Az schools (including ASU in Phoenix and UofA in Tucson) traditionally have been cheaper for OOS than for example, OOS for California state schools. I don't know why, but she ended up quiting NAU and moving back to Ca so I'm not convinced she was enthralled but this may have nothing to do with the school.</p>

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<p>I don't know if this will fit with what she wants, but she could do a year or two in a "feeder" community college (Santa Monica for UCLA for example) and then transer to one of the UCs. A friend of mine has a bright underachiever, now 19, who spent the last two years surfing, working in a surf shop, surfing, taking community college courses, surfing....it took those two years for the dime to drop. He got his AA and has transferred to UCSB to pursue a marketing degree with the goal of working for a surf equipment or clothing company. He found his motivation and now it's working for him.</p>

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<p>Those are pretty low SATs, especially the Math. I'd be careful about waving away the stats or adding a label like underachiever. She could well be working to her potential. In my opinion, that's a student who should go to a college where the average SAT score is 1000, where she will not be overwhelmed by the competition. </p>

<p>My first suggestion would be one of the Catholic colleges.</p>

<p>Here is the list of Catholic colleges in the West:</p>

<p>West Catholic Colleges and Universities </p>

<ol>
<li> Chaminade University of Honolulu Honolulu,HI

<ol>
<li> Dominican University of CA San Rafael,CA </li>
<li> Gonzaga University Spokane,WA </li>
<li> Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles,CA </li>
<li> Marymount College Rancho Palos Verdes,CA </li>
<li> Mount St. Mary's College Los Angeles,CA </li>
<li> Notre Dame de Namur University Belmont,CA </li>
<li> Saint Martin's University Olympia,WA </li>
<li> Saint Mary's College of California Moraga,CA </li>
<li> Santa Clara University Santa Clara,CA </li>
<li> Seattle University Seattle,WA </li>
<li> Thomas Aquinas College Santa Paula,CA </li>
<li> University of Portland Portland,OR </li>
<li> University of San Diego San Diego,CA </li>
<li> University of San Francisco San Francisco,CA </li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

<p>Here is the website for the complete listings.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/regions.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/regions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>community college to any UC or private.</p>

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<p>A possibility for a school in CO with a strong business department--Western State College of Colorado. <a href="http://www.western.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.western.edu&lt;/a> Her stats would fit well there.</p>

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<p>I would <em>highly</em> recommend ASU for her; being an arizona resident and having done considerable research into it, I think it would fit her needs perfectly. </p>

<p>While many look down upon ASU because its policy is to include more students rather than exclude anyone who didn't fulfill their potential during high school, thus making its average statistics fairly unimpressive, it actually is a great place to grow. Assuming the student in question does have a desire to improve, she can do her best in the first 2 years, then apply for admission into the WP Carey school of business, which is actually fairly high rated (top 30 in US news iirc, and 51 in business week) considering ASU as a whole, and definately better than anything you can find in California excluding USC and Berkeley (for business). Furthermore it's cheap which is always good.</p>

<p>The only downside is that there is definately a party scene here, but with a student body of around 45,000 on the main campus (60,000 including the other campuses in phoenix) you can basically find whatever you want, and if a more academic environment is preferred, the students in the honors college would be great peers (honors at ASU is much, much better than the rest of the school, students are generally in the top 5% of their class, 1340 SAT average, and high GPAs), even though she doesn't really have a chance to get in there as a freshman, she could try applying after sophomore year (or freshman I guess), or if nothing else just hang out with them.</p>

<p>On the other hand, the parents could just have high expectations for their child, and she may not actually be that intelligent (a 990 SAT doesn't really prove the case of bright but unmotivated). Even so, she'll find plenty of peers that I'm sure she'll enjoy spending time with (ASU does have the best parties after all). </p>

<p>Beyond ASU, I'd go for SDSU since it also has a good business school, social life, and sports; although ASU basically beats it on all levels, so I'd definately look into it. Let me know if you have any questions!</p>

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<p>" Weighted GPA aprox 3.0. Sat: 530CR/460M/560W. "</p>

<p>She doesn't seem like an underachiever. She seems to have about the average intelligence of college-bound students. Her SATs seem commensurate with her grades and coursework.</p>

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<p>ooh that must sting.</p>

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<p>I also think the cc to 4-year college route could be a good one, not necessarily aiming for the highest selectivity she can achieve. But we don't know whether she is simply a late bloomer, late to mature into focusing on academic performance. Time at a cc would allow that to emerge (or not).</p>

<p>Having spent a lot of time on the Transfer Board here this year, I see some wonderful things from the students at ccc's. Some of the privates have clearly articulated transfer tracks from the ccc's and, I agree with cheers that the Catholic schools could fit a lot of needs here. Santa Clara U, I know, does. She might not be ready for their applicant pool now, but she might be after 2 years at ccc.</p>

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<p>From the Northern Arizona University website an out of state student with at least a 3.0 would need an SAT score of 1110 to have an auto admit.
Since the student is from Ca she could look into the Western Tuition Exchange program. Ca students are now eligible. A parent we know said the tuition will be about the same or less then if their child had gone to Cal Poly.
As far as the Cal States. SDSU is probably the most popular of the Cal States. I doubt she would get in with that SAT score.
She could try applying to Boulder. They do rolling admissions so she would know pretty early. My D also knows kids who heard pretty early from San Francisco State and also from Humboldt. Sonoma State also has a large number of students who live on campus and it isn't a large school.
Private schools that I have heard of kids getting into with similar grades but I am not sure about SAT. Concordia in Orange County and Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount I think are beyond those grades and scores.
Another option is to attend a city college that is away from home. Cuesta College outside of San Luis Obispo. The student could live in one of the private off campus dorms of Cal Poly. Also there are many Santa Barbara City college students who live in student apartments in IV. Though that would be a bad choice for someone who might be prone to partying.</p>

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<p>Mom60, how does WUE work for California students? Does every student from Calif. who goes to the Univ of Oregon get the WUE tuition? Or does the Univ of Oregon limit the amount of students who get the WUE tuition?</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the helpful info. I've done some reading on the CSUs and have seen that many campuses are considered totally "impacted" and are using different criteria from one another. Does anyone have an idea of just how hard schools like Cal Poly SLO are to get into? Which CSUs are realiastic in this case? Also, is ASU a real possibility?</p>

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<p>WUE really differs by state and school. Some schools limit which programs you can apply to and some don't take WUE at all.</p>

<p>For example, The University of Washington is not participating in WUE anymore but Washington State is. The award is very competitive to get at Washington State. The University of Oregon limits which programs you can enroll in and Oregon State no longer participates. The University of Utah limits which majors WUE students can enroll in and limits the awards each year. Check the WUE website for which schools do what.</p>

<p>WUE sounds great but in reallity there are some serious limitations to the program. For students looking at the smaller schools in the WUE states there are some great deals but the flagship schools really limit the program or do not participate at all.</p>

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<p>drizzit, thanks for the info.</p>

<p>Zagat, Cal Poly is very unlikely. SDSU, unless the student lives in San Diego, is very unlikely. (I would try if that is where the student wants to go). Don't know about Cal Poly Pomona. All the rest of the CSUs, probably into the schools.</p>

<p>Great chance for ASU and U of A.</p>

<p>Most schools aren't that hard to get into. :)</p>

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<p>dstark- My son is a junior so we haven't tried to use WUE yet. A friend who is going to be a freshman at Northern Arizona did. She did not know about WUE and NAU told her. On NAU freshman admissions website they have a direct link. You don't have to search for the info. The schools she was admitted in Montana and Colorado did not offer WUE to Ca residents.
Some of the states do not take Ca students. It looks like U of Oregon does not.
I think you first look what schools offer it and then go to the individual school website and do a search on WUE to get details on individual schools.
Zagat- I know of two students who were admitted to Cal Poly SLO with barely 1000 SAT scores.Both were shocked but both were to majors that Cal Poly is not known for. Business at Cal Poly is hard to get into. If you do some searching on their site they do a breakdown of scores based on schools.
From my kids school ASU and U of A are popular. Lots of parties. The kids who go ASU are usually kids who were smart but messed up in high school. I know more then a few who got into ASU and U of Arizona but did not get into SDSU.</p>