My son (junior) is starting to get more serious about putting together a list of colleges. We live in California. His current UC GPA is 3.89W and 3.61UW. His first and only ACT was a 27, the same as the score he received as a sophomore on the preACT. No prep yet but he plans to study hard this summer for the early fall date. Obviously hoping to improve.
Extracurriculars are mostly sports. He’s been team captain in two sports and has won Coach’s awards. Won an academic award this year from a teacher. Has taken many honors courses, accelerated math and is currently taking 3 APs. Will take 2 or 3 next year. Our school provides no extra weighting for honors courses, though UC gives an extra bump for Honors Spanish IV, which he took as a sophomore. He has maybe 60 hours of community service. Lots of Spanish language with high grades. That’s about it.
I anticipate he’ll have fantastic letters of recommendation as he’s well-respected by peers and teachers.
He’s starting to think about majoring in a business-related field, with hopes of pursuing a position in the sports industry somehow. That’s his major passion.
Given that we will most likely be shut out of most California publics, I’m encouraging him to consider applying to a number of out-of-state options. He is open to that idea, but would also be happy to stay in our home state.
From what I’ve learned, undergrad business degrees from larger schools in more urban areas provide better opportunities for internships and post-grad jobs. I personally like the idea of a smaller school for him—where he could form relationships with professors and have stronger academic advising etc… He is pretty open to both at the moment because he has no idea where he’ll end up and all we hear is bleak news about California.
He also has a college fund, created by a relative, allowing him to consider privates as well.
We would really appreciate recommendations or ideas about schools fitting his interests and stats, even though I’ve cast a wide net.
Only incoming freshman who matriculate at The Ohio State University-Columbus campus in the autumn semester are eligible for direct admission. Students will automatically be offered direct admission if they have:
Composite ACT score of 30 or SAT total score of 1360 or higher is required.
-OR-
Composite ACT score of 26 or SAT total score of 1230 or higher, AND rank in the top 20% of high school class."
Most California publics are not so selective that he is likely to get shut out. However, if he only applies to the six most selective UCs and CPSLO, that is the application pattern that tends to lead to the “UC disappointment” threads each April.
CSUs just calculate an eligibility index from GPA (same as UC weighted capped) and ACT or SAT score, ranking students applying to campuses and majors. With an ACT-based eligibility index of 3.89 * 200 + 27 * 10 = 1048 (probably equivalent to an SAT-based eligibility index of 3.89 * 800 + 1230 = 4342, assuming 27 ACT is like 1230 SAT for CSU purposes), many CSUs should admit him. However, only a few CSUs (SJSU and CSUN) publish past thresholds. http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html https://www.csun.edu/admissions-records/freshman-impaction
Looks like there are California state publics where he is likely to be admitted. My son with similar profile was accepted to a number of state flagship schools , Catholic schools and LACs. He applied to some Fairtest schools and was accepted at all of them. Males have it a bit easier at the smaller schools.
I’ve seen some happy kids come out of UDenver, UTampa and other such schools as well.
Thank you all. He needs to find out his rank from his counselor. It’s a competitive school.
ASU option is on our radar. Not sure that he knows about the sports business route. Will look into it. All suggestions appreciated!
I’ve heard stories about kids getting rejection letters from CSUs that say “Impacted”. They meet the GPA requirements but don’t get in. There are also some CSUs that have a high percentage of commuters, which isn’t what he’s looking for. He’ll be strongly encouraged to stay home and go to community college and transfer, if there aren’t options he’s excited about.
The base CSU requirements are enough to get into a non-impacted major at a non-impacted campus. Impacted just means that the major and/or campus is filled to capacity, so the major and/or campus will rank applicants by CSU eligibility index and admit from the top down until admitting enough so that (based on expected yield) the desired number of students will matriculate to that major and campus.
CPSLO uses its own formula, called the MCA score. If you look in the CPSLO forum, there is a sticky thread describing it.
CSUs that are less commuter heavy include CPSLO, CSUC, CSUCI, CSUMB, HSU, SDSU, SSU. Some that are more split between commuter and resident students include CPP and SJSU. Of these, CPSLO is the most selective CSU; SDSU, CPP, and SJSU are somewhat more selective than most CSUs.
In terms of sports, is he more interested in it as a participant / athlete, as a coach, as a spectator / commentator / analyst, or in the business of sports?
I agree that Cal Poly is a long shot given his interest in business. They admit by major and Business Administration is very competitive. That said, the diamond in the rough is Industrial Technology and Packaging. It’s far less competitive than Business Administration for whatever reason. Selectivity though is really just a popularity contest. Why this is not popular is probably more about lack of research into what it’s all about than anything else. It certainly isn’t due to the mean starting salary. That was $64,000 for 2016-2017. One of my son’s friends is an IT grad and got a great first job. I’ll link it below and he can see if it resonates. Good luck!
We have also looked into the WUE option at ASU for our D20. You may want to note that the majors and campuses for WUE at ASU are limited. Here is the list of WUE approved majors/campuses from ASU’s website: https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/programs/Keyword/wue/undergrad/false
It does not appear that Sports Business is offered through WUE.
Interesting, someone else recommended Miami
Ohio as well.
Industrial technology and packaging is not something I’m at all familiar with—I’ll share the link with him. Thanks
Ucbalumnus—any of the sports related areas you mentioned would be the stuff of dreams for him. He would take any and all of them. When not playing a sport or studying for school, he’s reading extensively about it, analyzing it, watching it, constantly talking about it. It’s what excites him. His knowledge is encyclopedic. So whether it’s in broadcasting or behind the scenes at a sports organization doing marketing, sales or PR, even accounting if he were to get interested in that. He’ll have to get some exposure to different areas and learn about what’s out there. But being in that area of business would be a great fit.
ASU, The University of Arizona, The University of Oregon, Purdue, Florida State, Indiana, The University of Kentucky, The University of South Carolina, and the University of Nebraska. All have solid sports management programs, excellent D1 sports (for fun), and have more relaxed admission standards than the most popular CA schools. Any of them would provide a motivated student with a top-notch education, particularly in their Honors programs. And many of them — like Arizona and USC — have generous merit aid for our-of-staters. Realize this posting doesn’t help with the small schools — I recommended larger schools to my kids (so that’s what I know) since they were undecided about major, would enjoy D1 sports, and hoped to have a large cohort of students and activities upon which to draw. Good luck!!
For ASU, have you plugged his stats into their scholarship estimator? If his major isn’t covered under WUE, they are generous with other scholarships. https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator
@AwayHeGoes Love your screen name! With his rigorous schedule, athletic props, and good GPA, I’d suggest you check out Lehigh and Wake Forest. Both have very spirited student bodies, would likely welcome an applicant from CA, give preference to athletes and are incredibly rigorous schools with top business placements. Wake has the added advantage of being test optional. If your college fund and other means are able to support about $70k all-in, they could be great fits and will certainly provide a top tier education. I also agree with the U of R recommendation upstream. He may have a shot at playing sports at all three schools, whereas this is unlikely at the bigger schools mentioned.
