Can a B and C student get accepted to Penn State? Transfer student. Well as of now I have a 2.88 GPA
@NASA2014 No idea to be honest, for undergrad I only looked in state. That was my parents condition for them to pay for my college. Also grading scales may be different! My high school had this scale. A (100-94), B (93-86), C (85-78), D (77-70), and E aka F (69-Below). We also didn’t have a plus/minus grading scale.
Just curious… why not start with an AS in criminal justice?
@bjkmom From my experiences a lot of people from my high school started at community college but never finished. So maybe that’s why people say don’t start? Then again a lot of the people I hung out with in high school never really thought about going to college except for a couple of friends. They were either foreign so they moved back after high school, dropped out to help pay bills, unmotivated, or join the military. I think only two of my friends from high school have gone on to college.
@NASA2014, I’m guessing Penn State University Park is taking a lot of students like that from their branch campuses. Are you in-state for Penn State? My impression is that schools in the PASSHE system are more amenable to CC grads.
If you’re OOS, Penn State will cost you $45,000+ a year even if you are admitted, and they may not accept all your credits, so you could be looking at more than two years to complete your degree. Can your parents afford that?
@LucieTheLakie they would actually accept all my credits! Which is awesome! I’m not sure if they would accept the the one from Utica College tho. All my credits I’ve gotten from are from MVCC. I am OOS, and my parents are willing to pay. I’m a meteorology major and when I visited their meteorology department. They told that they accept as many students as they can. They don’t control the acceptance to the college. Admissions do. I’m worry about the admissions decision.
@NASA2014 Millersville University is one of the PASSHE schools and has an extremely string meteorology program. Nice school, I toured it with my D and it might be a strong option for my son a few years down the road. I have seen more than a few shoutouts to Millersville on weather related TV channels and shows, take a look if you haven’t already. Good luck!
@NASA2014, according to this (see p. 7), you need a minimum 2.5 GPA and four semesters completed to apply to Penn State University Park: http://admissions.psu.edu/pdf/transfer_fact_sheet.pdf
Note that they may recalculate your GPA, so strive for the best grades you can get!
Have you seen these?
http://www.met.psu.edu/browse-by-audience/future-students/future-undergraduate-students-bs/transfer-student-information
http://admissions.psu.edu/info/future/transfer/credit/
Sounds like they welcome questions from potential applicants. Maybe they can offer you more specific guidance about GPA requirements for meteorology. Good luck!
Yes I’ve seen this! Thank you. I started college at 2014 and ending 2017. At my community college, an average student who majors in stem takes three years to complete.
@FluentInCarbs I realize what you’re saying, and that’s one of my reservations about his newest plan.
Then again, I graduated from the same CC with my AS 2 years after graduating from high school, and had my Bachelors and a job offer 2 years after that, so I’m not sure it’s my strongest argument.
For now we’ll let the dust settle. Nichols offered him $13,000 yesterday, and that piqued his interest. I’m not sure whether this latest idea is a reaction to the post-Christmas bills, or to the fact that he’s nervous about going away, or that he really does enjoy his part time job and having money in his pocket.
He has 4 acceptances as of now, so there’s no rush. We’ll sit back and let him think this through.
@bjkmom I think that sounds like a great plan! I’m sure he will figure it out. It sounds like you guys have a wonderful relationship. My family and I have a good one now since I live 6 hours away ha. If you have any questions about anything just pm me!
@bjkmom Thanks for starting this thread. As a parent, it’s been very encouraging to read.
Does anyone use Naviance @ their high school? Do you find it to be a helpful tool? I’m very discouraged by the 5 year GPA averages from our high school for acceptance into VA colleges.
Has anyone taken the “new” PSAT? Is it a good indicator of how a student may score on the “new” SAT? S’17 hasn’t taken the SAT or ACT yet. Some VA colleges we’ve visited indicate they are test optional, but only with a 3.0, 3.3, or 3.5 GPA.
S’17 ended sophomore year with a 3.21 GPA. So far he has taken 2 honors courses & is currently taking 1 AP course. His EC’s include 3 years of marching band, 1 year jazz band, & 1 year DECA. He has about 50 community service hours thru our local library. I’m going to encourage him to find a summer job/internship.
We have toured GMU, UMW, VCU, ODU, CNU, & LW. But, S’17 ONLY wants to apply to colleges that have a marching band, so that criteria alone has narrowed the list of 3K+ colleges to 500+. We live in Northern VA & he wants to stay within state, but with his GPA & marching band criteria, the choices are limited. The visits have been helpful though because he is starting a mental list of likes/dislikes relating to campus size & location, dorm styles, etc.
Has anyone, other than @FluentInCarbs, applied/been admitted to VA colleges with a less than stellar GPA? What about WVA?
Thanks for reading (and replying).
Marshall University is a terrific choice for a B/C student who is interested in Marching Band. 
@MomStudent2017 GPA is on the lower
end of the scale but how about VMI?
Marching band gets invited to the Ros Bowl and President Inauguration ceremonies.
Thing is…he’d have to put up with a lot of crazy stuff the first year.
@MomStudent2017 Not sure if anyone on this website but some of my friends have gotten into Virginia schools with ok GPAs. I’m not sure about this Naviance system, I don’t think we had this when I graduated. I graduated in 2012. I also don’t know much about college marching bands. I’ve heard WVA is a fun school but I don’t really know much else. Tbh I think I did well in my search because I was extremely flexible and I had great letters from teachers who believed in me. The only school I caution against is Liberty University…
Hi everyone, I’m a new member to this thread, and wish I’d joined sooner to learn of the different colleges shared here for students with B averages! Our S16 only applied to 3 in-state public universities because his SAT/ACT scores were not very high, and he has a 3.3 UW average at the end of junior year. If we’d known of other options on the East Coast, we probably would have considered them but I feel like it’s a bit too late in the process now. But, he did get accepted to 2 schools that seem like a great fit for students with B averages and average SAT/ACT scores - Salisbury and Towson - and he likes both which is great. His EA application to UMBC was deferred to RD because it has higher GPA and test score requirements. I think Salisbury’s application process ends on 1/15, but I have heard it has a good nursing program, as does Towson. Towson is rolling admissions, and we heard back from them about 3 weeks after he applied. Figured I’d pass these schools along if others haven’t heard of them. Also, we are finding his SAT/ACT scores knock him out of contention for most merit aid, even in state :(…another reason why we stuck with in-state public options.
Good luck to everyone with the application process!
For what it’s worth, my straight A, top of the class niece LOVED Towson!!! It’s a gorgeous campus, close to Baltimore but most definitely a suburban atmosphere, simply gorgeous!
@MomStudent2017 – Naviance is used both at the school at which I teach and in my kid’s public school. It’s a great system as far as I’m concerned. It makes it easy for me to upload letters of recommendation to my students. And, as a parent, it’s a great resource. You can check your (or your child’s) SAT/ACT scores and GPA against others from your school who have gotten in/ gotten rejected from a particular school.
@MYOS1634 … I will look into Marshall University.
@ChicagoSportsFn … isn’t VMI for individuals looking to go into the Military?
@FluentInCarbs … at this point S’17 isn’t being flexible about applying to non marching band colleges. His mind may change once he receives his SAT/ACT scores & year-end GPA. We weren’t planning to tour Liberty U because of it’s religious affiliation.
@bjkmom … Naviance is good for those reasons you mentioned. The scattergrams section has been frustrating search.
What I’ve done as an alternative to Naviance is collegedata.com It lists the 25th-75th percentile scores of the present freshman class.
As long as my son fit between those 2 numbers, I’ve figured that he had a decent chance of acceptance. So far, it’s worked well.
@MomStudent2017 Going into the military is not a requirement for graduation. Only half of the graduates go into the military.
Many kids go there for the discipline and structured environment. Plus, being a VMI grad makes it easy to network within the state of VA.