And my S1 graduated from Tufts yesterday on a spectacular perfect weather day! Apparently Slitheytove’s D and CountingDown’s S were there too! BU also had graduation day yesterday where Momjr must have been! Mazel Tov to College4three’s S and Shawbridge’s D! RVM: Wow, your S2 just finished junior year!?! That went by fast!!!
@chocchipcookie - I hope you enjoyed one of our perfect days. 
We specialize in having multiple feet of snow and total misery for months and months, and then just enough perfection to make us NOT put the house on the market LOL And mazel tov to all grads!
Thanks Choc! Yes, my D graduated yesterday on that beautiful day also. Those 4 years went very fast! Congrats to Choc’s S, College4three’s S, Shawbridge’s D and any other members of the class of 2015 whose parents have shared our ups and downs on this thread. Some of us have been around since our kids were in HS and RVM started this thread.
Congratulations to all the grads and their Moms/Dads! Time does fly, and that helps put all the crazy anxiety around the college app process into some perspective. After that whole, agonizing process, S1 just came home today, happy and safe, after his freshman year at Elon. Thanks to RVM and everyone else for all the input, never even heard of Elon until I found this thread. It is a good fit for him, and he had a great year.
Am going to try to not get caught up in so much anxiety for S2!
That Tufts graduation day was absolutely lovely. And yes, if Boston was like that all of the time we’d all be living there in a heartbeat!
On a different note: given all of the discussion on this thread about schools where Jewish students will feel comfortable, this is an article from last January’s Moment magazine which argues in favor of less comfort. http://www.momentmag.com/opinion-the-sacrifice-of-free-speech-marshall-breger/
@SlitheyTove I agree with the sentiments in the article but wanted to point out that Breger only highlights the most egregious examples of refusing to engage in intellectually discomforting things. Far more prevalent IMO is what’s happening at the UCs, some Cal States (especially San Diego and San Francisco State), as well as other universities. In these cases many public Hillel events, not only pro-Israel ones, are being met with pro-Palestinian slurs and often protests. That goes well beyond basic intellectual discomfort, and frankly might be a solid reason that a Jewish student would avoid a place like UC Irvine, despite having a large and active Jewish population.
I will note that the snow posts to mark the location of fire hydrants were still out on Professors Row the day of graduation! They were seven feet tall (we compared them to S2’s height) – and the scary part is that not long ago, those posts were completely covered!
I have been following this thread on and off for 3 years and I love all the support everyone gives each other- Congratulations to the graduates and good luck with college entries in the fall. Since things change through the years ( some of the “B” schools would be impossible for my son ( a rising junior) to get into now, I was wondering if we could start a list of the CURRENT schools ( medium sized in particular) for a TRUE “B” student to look at ( 3.0 GPA probably a good ACT or SAT score based on other tests but hasn’t taken yet) There may be a current list somewhere on here, I went back a couple of pages and couldn’t find it. If there is, I apologize-please just let me know the the page number. Thanks so much!
Hello and welcome. You are absolutely right - there is no updated list. It’s hard to create one as GPAs vary from hs to hs and also depend on the level of courses taken - is it a 3.0 with a standard curriculum or a 3.0 with some honors level classes and maybe 1or 2 AP classes included. Test scores and ECs matter too. Defining a true “B” student is a challenge in and of itself.
I don’t think it is possible to create a one size fits all list. Use the colleges discussed on this thread as a starting point. Look up the accepted student profile for that college or use Naviance if your hs has it to compare your son’s stats to that college and see how he matches up. The college Common Date Set is also a good tool.
Sorry if that’s not the answer you were hoping for!
What you can also do is give us a few more thoughts on what you are looking for - geographic location, city vs rural, your definition of medium sized, any deal breakers - and ask for suggestions. And we can try and create a customized list just for you!
Is there a way to search within a thread to see what posters’ contributed? Last year I made a list of schools mentioned on this thread and noted which ones were solid options for B students.
I think you would have to search the site for your own posts. I don’t believe there is a search option within a thread.
@whenhen and @rockvillemom - If you click the magnifying glass icon next to a thread’s page numbers, you can search just posts in that thread. Hope this helps.
I posted on this thread way back when S was crafting his list in 2010. Next Sunday he graduates. I’m hoping the weather is as nice as everyone had in Boston last weekend but it looks to be rainy all weekend in Maine. Sigh.
Right after graduation he is moving to Boston to start his job - but something tells me when we go to visit him there the weather will be crappy, too. 
Congrats to all the other 2015 graduates!
Thanks for mentioning the magnifying glass - it works well to locate posts on a particular school - but I was not able to locate the post in question.
@oliver17 We’ve always found it difficult to pin down an exact definition of “B” student…so if you give us some details about YOUR “B” student in particular, we can give you some direction. Is the “B” a result of “A’s” and “C’s” spread across a rigorous curriculum? Is the “B” a consistent grade across a general curriculum, etc…
And congrats to all of us with graduates! To those who are now embarking on this ride, we are proof that it all ends well!!
It is pretty cool to think that those who were around for the beginning of this thread in May 2010 now have college graduates! Mazel tov to the Class of 2015 and their families!
Awesome - this list is a great starting point. Thanks for locating and posting.
Thanks for the list! I just read thru it and it’s amazing! There are a couple of schools he’s mentioned that are on that list that I thought were out of the question, like Tulane and Boston University. Also, I thought Northeastern was a “B” school. Has this changed? I am going to get more specifics on his needs then I’ll try again. He gets A’s in Math, an occasional C, but mostly B’s. He is probably aprox a 3.0 GPA He got a 5 on the computer Science AP test as a freshman and will be taking advanced Calc. A/B as a Junior. His school does not offer AP’s ( He switched schools in the middle of sophomore year) or honors. ( They don’t even give GPA’s) It’s a college preparatory school that is very innovative and has a great relationship with a lot of colleges. He would be considered either most challenging for the curriculum offered or very challenging.He is in Chinese 3 but will not continue after this year. My son is the typical bright kid that doesn’t like doing homework ( especially writing papers!)He also stresses easily so I don’t want him to be in a stressful environment. As mentioned, I’m not certain but I think he should get a 30 or above on the ACT. He has very good extra curricular activities, medium leadership and medium community service. I think he should have pretty good recommendations. He will probably major in business and/or computer science. I will repost in a couple of months when I find out his ACT score and see if he wants big/small, city/urban etc…thanks again for all your help.