College Suggestion for B+, social justice, big city loving kid?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi - I've been lurking a while, but this is my first post. My oldest son is a junior, so our new hobby is college searching...</p>

<p>I'll list some schools on our radar at the bottom of this post, but I'm looking for any more suggestions. I'll give as many details as I can about my son, his "stats," his academic interests, and the type of college that seems to appeal to him:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.3UW 3.6W
GPA for Core Classes only: 3.3UW 3.8W
Upward trend on GPA: (all classes, weighted = 2.9, 3.6, 4.1 - fresh, soph, jun)</p>

<p>SAT - (last Oct) - M680, R660, W610 (1950)
SAT - (will take in May) - practice tests are pretty consistent - M750 R660 W 660 (2070)</p>

<p>EC's - pretty atypical. He's not involved in clubs or sports at school, but has a couple pretty unique, adult-type activities outside of school that he has genuine passion for and spends a lot of time on, has earned one state wide award, write ups in local magazines, etc. Both of these are in the category of civil rights, environmental issues, etc. Although he isn't in clubs at school, he's not anti social - he's well liked at school by all groups, and teachers value his contribution in the classroom a lot. He just has no patience for "silly clubs". He dropped out of student government when he realized they weren't going to get past discussing decorations for the school dance, etc.</p>

<p>Work - he works as a handyman/groundskeeper on rental homes, works at our local sailing club in the summers, and one of his volunteer activities is an almost full time "job" in a legal office.</p>

<p>College preferences - He REALLY wants urban (he shines when he's in a place like NYC, DC, Chicago). We're from the midwest and he'd love to get out in the world (out of the midwest!) He doesn't want a small school, even though he's always thrived in small schools, and not done well at all in large "you-are-a-number-in-our-large-machine-and-will-conform-to-our-way-of-doing-things" schools. I suspect he may feel like he wants to prove to himself that he can cut it in a large school. (I'd rather see him in a small school or a small program within a large school). He's open to applying to small schools. </p>

<p>He's practical enough to want the best education we can afford, so he's not rigid about it being urban, far away, medium to large, etc.</p>

<p>MAJORS: Hm, pretty undecided and pretty varied. Long term, he wants to be a civil rights atty. Short term, he's pondering criminal justice, math (because he's good at it and likes it, and he read that math can be a good pre law degree due to logical thinking, etc), and he's interested in political science, psychology, philosophy, as minors.</p>

<p>He's pretty liberal (politically), but thrives on being around people with different views. He loves a good debate with well informed people. He doesn't want to be surrounded by all liberals, or by all conservatives. He's not religious, and probably wouldn't fit in well at a overwhelmingly religious school. That being said, he can appreciate a lot of teachings and ideas from various religions, and I think he would fit in at a service oriented, open minded jesuit-type school.</p>

<p>Also, money will be a factor. </p>

<p>So, here are our ideas so far - any suggestions?</p>

<p>REACH
American University
George Washington Univ
Northeastern
Boston Univ
Univ of Rochester
Tulane (do students care about politics/social justice there?)
Occidental
Lewis & Clark</p>

<p>POSSIBLE MATCH
Pitzer
Beloit
Kalamazoo
Clark Univ
Purdue (our state school)
Juniata
Wooster
Loyola Univ Chicago</p>

<p>SAFETY
Ball State (again, our state school - we need financial safeties)
Goucher
DePaul</p>

<p>I'd like to find some schools that are good, but that might find him attractive enough to offer a fair amount of aid (we should qualify for some need based, but definitely not 0 EFC)</p>

<p>Also - does anyone know of colleges that calculate their grades on core classes only, omitting freshman year? I heard CMU does that, but that's beyond reach for him I think. He's got a good GPA in core classes excluding freshman year (3.6/4.3)</p>

<p>ideas? Thanks!</p>

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<p>Look at this list:
[A+</a> Options for B Students: National Universities - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/a-plus-national-search]A+”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/a-plus-national-search)</p>

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<p>John Jay
Pitt
U Maryland
LaSalle
Temple</p>

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<p>Definitely check out Fordham University, excellent Jesuit univ in NYC. </p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.fordham.edu/]FORDHAM.EDU[/url”>http://www.fordham.edu/]FORDHAM.EDU[/url</a>]</p>

<p>His SATs put him at the high end of their 50th percentile, so a possible match for him. There’s a major called “peace and justice studies” he might like. </p>

<p>Theres Loyola Marymount in L.A. but it’s not as impressive as Fordham.</p>

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<p>I think as long as your son can get those SAT scores and maybe raise his GPA by the end of the year, American is a great school for him especially based on what he wants to do and his major.</p>

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<p>Temple really does sound like a fantastic choice for him in every respect.</p>

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<p>Thanks to all who answered! We will look into Fordham, Temple (although Temple’s 36% grad rate in four years kind of puts me off), and the others. We’ve looked at the US News list of A schools for B students before, but we will look into them in more depth. </p>

<p>Does anyone have an opinion on the reach schools I listed? Are they “reach,” or closer to “out of reach”? </p>

<p>Thanks again -</p>

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<p>Brandeis is really into social justice, but it may be a bit of a reach compared to the other schools mentioned.</p>

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<p>GPA and lack of EC’s - hook - will limit options. Without a clearer
picture of your financial situation it is very difficult to give advice.
Temple is a state school and very expensive out of state. I doubt
Fordham will give you much money. Probably best to get a clear idea
of your finaid picture. Run your numbers through fafsacaster. The larger
urban schools are pretty expensive and you probably need better stats
to get the big money. GWU gives good aid but he might have to apply
ED. American’s aid stinks. Is there a urban state u in your state?</p>

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<p>PinotNoir - My D had similar criteria for her college search - social justice, big city (i.e., get me the heck out of small town Midwest!). She looked into/applied to several of the schools on your list. Here is my 2 cents: </p>

<p>-she loved Clark which kind of surprised both of us, having never heard of it before she started searching;

<p>Good luck - this next year will fly by!</p>

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<p>American has ranked first in Princeton Review for politically active students. It will be a bit of a reach.</p>

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<p>Check out Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia - sju.edu. Strong Jesuit University with a Faith Justice Studies program and lots of emphasis on service. Also do pretty well in sending students onto law school.
Other good Jesuit schools - Loyola in Baltimore, Univ. of Scranton - not the big city, but still a strong Jesuit option.
Nearer to you in the midwest are John Carroll U and Xavier U.</p>

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<p><a href=“although%20Temple’s%2036%%20grad%20rate%20in%20four%20years%20kind%20of%20puts%20me%20off”>quote</a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I find it hard to believe it’s that bad here, but even so, 70+% of college kids graduate in 5 years anyway, and in this economy, who wants to be in the job market right away anyway?</p>

<p>I’m sure your son is quite smart, so I dont see why a four year graduation rate would matter to him. If his goal is to graduate in four years, I’m sure he will. (also, the likely reason it would be so low is that we’ve become increasingly selective over the last few years. We completely overhauled our philosophy on higher ed)</p>

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<p>I put my vote in for Temple. Philadelphia is not America’s best city, but I do think it might be the best city FOR COLLEGE, especially one looking for opportunities in social justice stuff.</p>

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<p>Philadelphia is indeed America’s best city ;)</p>

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<p>I think the graduation rates at some public/urban campuses can be a bit misleading- and I’ll include Temple as well as many of the CUNY’s (which john jay college is one).<br>
You often have a different student population at urban schools. You may have many students who are older, working and attending class at night- or who work and take a lesser courseload which enables them to work and also take classes at college.</p>

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<p>You might want to consider the University of San Francisco. It is very urban and has a strong social justice emphasis. My daughter was recently admitted there with similar statistics. She has not received financial aid information yet, so I can’t comment on that.</p>

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<p>bonanza - Brandeis is one we looked at early, but ruled out for reasons I can’t remember now (maybe too reachy?)</p>

<p>speedo - he’s not completely without EC’s, just completely without the standard school EC’s. His nonstandard activities are actually pretty unique and cool, and more along the lines of something you’d expect from an adult. Our finances are in flux right now and hard to predict, and I know schools are going to be looking at kids with no need a lot more than kids (like mine) with need. I know his stats knock him out for merit aid from a lot of schools, so I’m especially interested in schools that may find him appealing enough to offer some incentives beyond need based aid. For him, that would mean schools where his numbers are good. I don’t think we can apply ED anywhere without knowing how much it will cost us - he’ll be stuck if he gets accepted without enough aid to afford to go. There is an urban state school in our state, although he would probably pick one of the two other state schools here if he goes instate.</p>

<p>PRJ - thanks for the comments! I like the look of Clark too - we are going to visit it in June (if he loves it or gets accepted, we’ll have to schedule another visit when school is in session). We’ve only just started looking into Tulane, but I’m happy for your encouragement. I’ve been getting the same vibes as you about Pitzer and how easy it is to get into (or not). We’ll probably keep it in the “reach” category until the time he’s actually applying, and really narrowing things down. </p>

<p>mini - yes, American appeals to him A LOT (probably top choice at this point), but with it’s admissions and lack of aid, we’ll keep it in the reach category.</p>

<p>irishbird - thanks for the ideas on Jesuit schools, although I might have given the wrong impression - we aren’t necessarily seeking Jesuit schools, I was just qualifying that, while he doesn’t want a very religious school, the Jesuit ones we’ve looked into seem like he’d like them - diverse (at least regarding religion) student body with an interest in social justice.</p>

<p>diontechristmas - my son is smart, but not necessarily gifted at navigating school (as evidenced by his grades!). Whatever reasons may contribute to grad rates in school (work too hard, work too easy, uninspiring profs, school used as stepping stone to transfer to other schools, unhappy student body, facilities or administration difficult to live with…), it’s a number we notice, and if he ends up interested in a school with a relatively low grad rate, he will ask them for their view on what factors effect grad rates for that particular school. As a student whose numbers don’t reflect how wonderful he is, he understands that he needs to look past the numbers on any school he likes, and dig into what the explanation might be. It sounds like you might go there (or work there?) Can you tell me more about how they’ve changed their philosophy on higher education? I’d love to hear more about schools from people who know them personally! I definitely don’t rule it out - the grad rate is just something we’ll need research. Actually, while typing this, I went at looked at Purdue (our state school), and it’s 4 yr grad rate is 40% - not much different. Maybe that’s typical for most state schools? Philly is definitely a cool city - we will look into it more…</p>

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<p>clark is a good bet, we visited last year. You can probably get
some merit there. While you’re in the neighborhood you may want
to check out Trinity in Hartford - a little bit of a stretch stats wise
but certainly an urban school with lots of internship opps. If you’re
open to non-urban schools Guilford College in NC has an active
student body and probably lots of merit. I think you’ll find the
Philly schools are pretty pricey.</p>

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<p>Yes, I’m a sophomore at Temple, and a transfer from Boston U, which is on your son’s list.</p>

<p>marny really nailed it, but Temple is one of the most diverse schools in the country (if not the most) in every way imaginable. We have people from all walks of life, from dirt poor inner city kids, to wealthy kids from NY/CT/NJ/PA/FL/etc. with everything in between. We have internationals from all over. We have non-traditional students (I’ve had men and women in their 50s/60s in some of my classes). We have students with every kind of interest/personality there is: jock, prep, goth, artsy, indie, hip hop, gay, straight, religious, republican, democrat, libertarian, etc, etc, etc.</p>

<p>The deal with changing our philosophy is that for most of the school’s history, we were essentially open entrance (within reason) for anyone who was interested in pursuing higher education. We believed that anyone who showed academic interest should be allowed to pursue a college degree. This generally meant inner city kids, who otherwise would not go to college. However, this didn’t exactly develop the school’s reputation for being a top notch institution, since many of these kids were not overall fantastic students, and did not necessarily graduate or do much after graduating. A few years before our previous president was replaced, he changed the philosophy, and gravitated towards creating a similar model to most schools, which is a selective institution that will graduate better students than before. At this time, we also transitioned from being a commuter school to a residential school. Everything from increased selectivity, to better sports, to better graduation rates is an ongoing process. </p>

<p>Let me know if that made sense and if you have any more questions.</p>