<p>Can anyone suggest a college for students with low/mediocre grades that attracts smart kids who were just slackers in high school?</p>
<p>I'm starting to worry about my son, who will have freshman year a 2.7 GPA. I don't know if it is relevant, but his high school is known by a lot of admissions officers as having an extremely tough grading system; with a 2.7, he is still in the top 40% of his class, and kids with 3.5's routinely (say 15/400) get into HYPSM and 3.3's get into other Ivies. </p>
<p>I'm realizing that my son, who is just a happy-go-lucky nice kid, with pleasant but uninspiring EC's (intramural sports, lots of community service) will probably not raise his GPA all that much, although I would expect a slight upward trend. </p>
<p>Can anybody suggest colleges I might start to look into? I have done two college searches, but all the schools my other kids investigated are way out of this kid's reach.</p>
<p>Pepperdine
Penn State
Michigan State
Florida State
Syracuse
Virginia Tech</p>
<p>Also, look in what your son is going to major in? For example, the top ranked advertising school in the nation is Virginia Commonwealth University, where apparently they'll get $70+K after they graduate for top agencies, but yet the school in itself doesn't rank in like the top 150 colleges in america. Definately look into department.</p>
<p>I woudl look more at privates than at publics if u can afford it. I know at penn state, for example, they just put ur gpa (2/3) and scores (1/3) into a computer and it spits out decisions. The cpu wont be forgiving for a difficult hihg school. Smaller schools that are familiar with ur HS, however, will view his application more holistically.</p>
<p>I was thrilled to get your responses because those are all really nice places to go to school. I guess I felt as though I was almost losing heart because I worried that those sorts of schools were way out of his league.</p>
<p>Son is rising sophomore at McDaniel. Don't be fooled; it's really not for students with "low/mediocre grades." Admissions policies are still demanding as is the course load. College is very supportive, but by no means is it an easy school. Student population is often quite competitive...many very bright kids. As I recall, this past graduation at least one quarter of graduating seniors were at the cum laude level or above...and no grade inflation. College is heavy on writing and oral presentations. Rugg's Recommendations cites many majors as top-notch. Please don't equate supportive environment with low achievement.</p>
<p>An acquaintance told me her son really likes Regis in Denver. She described it as a high quality education and a wonderful environment. He will go on to Wash U for masters degree through a special program.</p>
<p>Penn State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech might be abit too tough. specifically penn state's main campus at university park is VERY VERY VERY Competitive.. literally similiar to those of UMich</p>
<p>Yeah, Penn State University Park's emphasis is 2/3 on grades. I am a senior at Penn State UP. The average gpa from high school to get in is around a 3.6. I definitely don't see him getting in without a huge change. Unfortunately, high school reputation does not play too large of a factor in larger school’s admissions. It is more of a numbers game. I also agree with jimgotkp on fsu and VT. Admittedly I don't know these two as well, but I doubt he will not get into those either with his current grades as I know they are good schools. Do what my parents did after my freshman year and make a list of the current colleges in the area that he could and couldn't get into with his current gpa. It helps you remember that high school won’t last forever and you will want to go to a good college like your friends. It is getting harder and harder to get into the top schools. He really needs to get those grades up. I am not sure what the hell radronomega was talking about. He is just another College Confidential person lacking any real information or background and giving a uniformed opinion.</p>
<p>Thanks all, expecially Ricegal who gave us a good lead. I guess what I am looking for for my child is a place that attracts kids like him -- kids who are smart enough to do well in school, but were too social or hobby-oriented to work hard enough to get great grades in high school. In other words, I am looking for a school that is not too hard to get into but both offers a good education and an environment that encourages students to see their schoolwork as important and interesting. </p>
<p>Part of my reasoning behind the question stems from my sense that my son is just too laid back to earn a great GPA, (or even the best GPA he could) and that attitude towards life will probably allow him to be content when others (perhaps like my more perfectionist daughters) will be stressed but achieve more academically.</p>
<p>I think the first step is to identify the type of college that your son is interested in. Is he interested in a large university? Is he interested in a small liberal arts college, in which he would get more attention? Is he interested in being in or near a city or in a rural area? Is there an area of the country that he would favor? There are lots of options for all kinds of kids. If he is interested in liberal arts colleges, I would urge you to start with Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope, which describes first rate colleges that take students with a wide range of grades and have a history of inspiring kids who were uninspired academically in high school. The book clued my S and me into several colleges that we knew nothing about, but that we visited and were very impressed with, especially Allegheny, Beloit, Earlham, Lawrence and Wooster. Do not be discouraged, and above all, remember that participants on this website tend to be Ivy-league centric. Your son will have many good options at first rate schools.</p>
<p>Wait until he takes the SATs or ACTs once before thinking about the schools he should apply to. I believe U.S. News posted a list called "A options for B students" which was a good list of schools for students with a lower GPA.</p>
<p>Also, about Penn State, I got in to the main campus (summer session) with a 3.0 unweighted GPA and somewhat average SAT score (90th percentile in math however). I am only one person in their large population though so take this with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>You should use this program, doiop.com/universities , to get the right universities for you.With this program, you don't have to search for the right colleges....The right colleges will find you.It's easy and FREE.</p>