<p>Thanks for the advice. We’ll tour some potential “likelys” once school is out.</p>
<p>*. She LOVES NYU, Fordham, UCLA, USC… and is thinking of University of San Diego. *</p>
<p>You’re OOS for UCLA so that would be very expensive. </p>
<p>NYU also doesn’t give great aid, so that would also be expensive.</p>
<p>First figure out how much you’re willing to pay. Students with good, but not strong stats, have a much harder time getting into the schools that give great aid.</p>
<p>If you can afford to pay for wherever she goes, then that’s great. But, if cost is a concern, then that will probably be a very limiting factor.</p>
<p>Have her look at Chapman - they are in LA area, known for good, fairly predictable merit aid, and I hear have a solid business program. I know 3 people who go there and love it.</p>
<p>^^
It doesn’t sound like this girl has the stats for merit at Chapman. It sounds like she’s scoring 500s in each section (based on PSAT results). Chapman might even be a reach for her. I know a student with better stats that was rejected by Chapman, until the rich parents offered to make a donation…lol.</p>
<p>frankly, unless the parents are willing to pay all or nearly all costs, many schools won’t work. </p>
<p>Students with modest stats have the fewest options if money is an issue.</p>
<p>However, if the parents will pay, then there are many less-selective schools (public and private) that will accept her.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If she’s good enough to get recruited to play softball, that could be a huge boost for her chances. Now, at any of the California schools, that would mean being very good indeed, but NYU is Division III (so no athletic scholarships) and the standards may not be as high. Not sure about Fordham. She should probably be contacting the coaches now with her relevant information.</p></li>
<li><p>If you can afford it (and if you’re thinking about these schools, I hope you can afford it), a visit to NYC is probably a must. Seattle will not have prepared her for the vastness and crowdedness (and vast, crowded messiness) of New York. Fordham is in a really vibrant, interesting neighborhood, but I’m sure there are lots of kids from the suburbs who have dreamed of going there and then freaked out when they saw what it was actually like.</p></li>
<li><p>Some other quality “other” school possibilities in other major cities: As mentioned in Chicago, DePaul or Loyola. Drexel here in Philadelphia. Northeastern in Boston. Or Boston University, which could also work for her. A friend of my daughter’s studied entertainment business there, and has done really well as a reality show producer in LA post-graduation. George Washington University or American University in DC, and George Mason University right across the river in Virginia. All of these have some glitz going around law and/or business, and would help her feel like she was in the big time.</p></li>
<li><p>There are also some smaller colleges worth checking out: In Los Angeles, Pitzer or Occidental. Sarah Lawrence just outside of New York (it’s only a couple train stops from Fordham, but a very different neighborhood). Emerson in Boston.</p></li>
<li><p>Then there are my perennial suggestions for big-city experience: University of Toronto, or McGill University (in Montreal). Both world-class universities in major cities. If her SATs get up higher, she would be a candidate for either.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Since our school didn’t use Naviance I depended greatly on Collegeboard. My problem was the opposite. My daughter didn’t want to be too far from home. Our search was concentrated on mostly Southern California. </p>
<p>I agree that Chapman may be a bit out of her reach with her current stats but she should look at Redlands. Also Concordia U in Irvine is a beautiful little campus. Whittier college is also another small campus which isn’t quite at selective as some of the others.</p>
<p>If you are Christian there are a lot of good Christian colleges in So Cal - Biola, Cal Luthern, Azusa Pacific. You might also look at Univ of the Pacific in Northern California.</p>
<p>But here is what I would recommend to your D. As she is only a junior, she has time to bring her GPA up. She also has time to improve her SAT scores. My D forego the SAT expensive tutoring class and instead would just take a SAT practice test on her own every week. This is basically what they do in the tutoring classes. D brought her original score up 260 points with this method. I won’t pretend she loved it because she didn’t. But I worked out what turned out to be a very effective bribe I mean “incentive”. After every practice test I would take her shopping and let her pick out a new piece of clothing. She loves shopping and clothes. I still came out ahead and she, believe it or not, raised her SAT a full 260 points from the original test by just doing the practice tests. Tutoring classes in our area start at about $500.00 so I came out way ahead with my ‘incentive’ method. </p>
<p>The website tools I used extensively to research colleges and find where my D might fit in were CollegeBoard, Capex and of course all the college websites. I used this website to find out whatever I could about different schools using the search feature extensively.</p>
<p>From summer of JR year forward we visited about 10-12 campuses with D. She fell in love with Occidental College - which believe it or not, even though we’ve lived about an hour away from the campus our entire lives, we knew almost nothing about. She was accepted and will attend in Fall. </p>
<p>Good luck…</p>
<p>CluelessinSea, check into the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE). Your daughter might be able to attend a large number of out of state schools in the West at 150% of in-state tuition rates - which is significantly better than paying out-of-state rates. </p>
<p>The states included in the program are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. </p>
<p>Here’s a link to their website. Good luck!</p>
<p>[Western</a> Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) | Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.wiche.edu/wue]Western”>Save On College Tuition | Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE))</p>
<p>Might she (and you) consider undergraduate IN London? or somewhere else outside the US? Canadian city? All might be considerably cheaper than the schools she loves already.</p>
<p>You’re getting great advice (especially-- get the safeties on the list and then let her apply as she likes.) I just want to underscore having a couple of good choices NEAR home, as part of the safety plan. The eyes are often bigger than the stomach for distance from home. A pal of D’s applied to universities across the country, and was accepted…she’s going to the state flagship, (not a great match for her) because she’s realized that what she wants most of all is to be close to home.</p>
<p>I actually did have her look there- maybe I will have her take a 2nd look. I think the only “small” school she is interested in is U of San Diego…
California is actually my compromise for her… I am so much more comfortable having her closer to home— I cant even imagine how difficult it would be to get her home (or me there) if some type of emergency happened… Not to mention, coming back home (during holidays) is going to be come a pain … Although, I am thinking… that might be her point :)</p>
<p>She has looked a few schools in LA/SD area, but we’re going to go take the actual tours in August… Here is hoping she changes her mind about NYC. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your help!!!</p>
<p>3-4 hours away assures my kids we won’t be in their business, won’t pop in. But, it’s close enough to get to them, when needed, pick them up during breaks- and far closer than their friends live, so they get to bring many of them home. Works for them.</p>
<p>I firmly believe NYU filters for kids who are more attracted to the City than the school- and kids who can’t survive the biggest-anywhere urban reality. Take a look at the Common App and then the supplements for colleges she’s interested in. See if she can really match herself to these schools or just likes the look and feel.</p>
<p>ps. if she’s a rising senior and you aren’t sure where her stats will end up, August is a bit late for general exploring. Mine “discovered” her perfect school in late October, but she had considerable looking behind her, knew what would suit her and where she’d suit them- and knew, by that point, how she’d present herself in her apps. Good luck.</p>
<p>Getting great advice!!
I think she does have her safties in place. Western Washington U and Washington State- but they really are not tops on her list… Her guidence counselor at her school is not the best and really just seems to be “sleeping” on the job for the most part. No discussion of any software, and not much in the way of recommendations of where to apply. I think my daughter has her a bit confused… “you want to move to NYC? Why would you do that”… HAHA.
She is no where near recruit level softball… She really just enjoys playing, and helping out the younger kids at the recreation level. So, no chance on the scholorship (we’ve never pushed it either) but I wouldnt doubt if she joins a league of some kind once she finds her school.
I just find it so difficult to know how to talk to her about where to apply… but, i do love the idea of making a chart and figuring out SAT and GPA’s at her given school choices. And we will not receive any need based money, and we’re realistic that she wont receive much merit money either. Cost is not an issue.</p>
<p>3-4 hours away assures my kids we won’t be in their business, won’t pop in. But, it’s close enough to get to them, when needed, pick them up during breaks- and far closer than their friends live, so they get to bring many of them home. Works for them.</p>
<p>EXACTALLY… ITS NOT LIKE I AM GOING TO GO LOOKING FOR HER :)</p>
<p>I firmly believe NYU filters for kids who are more attracted to the City than the school- and kids who can’t survive the biggest-anywhere urban reality. Take a look at the Common App and then the supplements for colleges she’s interested in. See if she can really match herself to these schools or just likes the look and feel.</p>
<p>WE’VE ONLY VISITED NY A COUPLE OF TIMES, AND I REALLY THINK ITS THE GLAMOUR OF THE CITY. AS I HAVE SAID, SHE HAS A BIG PERSONALITY AND ITS ALMOST AS IF SEATTLE IS A SMALL TOWN TO HER… SHE HAS BEEN JUST BUSTIN’ TO GET OUT SINCE SHE WAS PRETTY YOUNG. </p>
<p>ps. if she’s a rising senior and you aren’t sure where her stats will end up, August is a bit late for general exploring. Mine “discovered” her perfect school in late October, but she had considerable looking behind her, knew what would suit her and where she’d suit them- and knew, by that point, how she’d present herself in her apps. Good luck.
AUGUST IS TOO LATE REALLY? YIKES! SO FAR SHE HAS BROUGHT HER QUARTER GPA UP A SMALL AMOUNT, BUT WHO KNOWS WHAT IT WILL BE BY THE SEMESTER-- SHE IS STILL IS SOFTBALL SEASON, SHE HAS HER AP TESTS COMING UP NEXT MONTH, PLUS HER SAT IS IN JUNE… IT JUST SEEMS LIKE WE CANT GET AWAY PRIOR TO THAT AND I DONT REALLY WANT TO TAKE HER ON A WEEKEND- WOULD RATHER SHE GET A FEEL MIDWEEK… MAYBE WE WILL TRY AND GET SOME VISITS IN SOONER THAN AUGUST… </p>
<p>Thank you “lookingforward” for the great advice!!!</p>
<p>Cost is not an issue.</p>
<p>Oh good, then she should cast a wide net to many schools privates and publics of reach, matches, and safeties.</p>
<p>Wash publics don’t have to be her only safeties. many other privates and publics would accept her, but they won’t be big name schools like NYU…they may be schools like Seton Hall or similar.</p>
<p>You mentioned her PSAT was 150–is that out of 240 or was that only out of 160? IF it’s out if 240, unless she shows SIGNIFICANT improvement when she tests for her SATs to perhaps 2000-2100, many of the more competitive Us that require the SAT may be out of the running, including USC. Oh yea, maybe she might do better on the ACT? Some kids really find it a test that works better for them. She also might want to consider schools that don’t require any testing scores–<a href=“ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest”>http://fairtest.org/university/optional</a></p>
<p>NY has CUNY and SUNY schools that are somewhat less competitive & expensive than NYU. I guess much will depend on how much she improves after her SAT prep. What about San Francisco? Does that city hold any attraction for her? How large/small a U is she considering, other than LA or NY as the city?</p>
<p>The reality is that in an emergency she needs a hospital - not quick access to you to get her and take her to the hospital. I understand the instinct and the difficulty in imagining this after her lifetime of you handling situations like this but that’s the practical perspective on this. I’ve gone through it a few times with my kids in college and believe it or not they manage just fine. Even if you were an hour away, if they have an emergency then they need to get to an ER or urgent care right away without waiting for you and in fact she’ll be able to do this fine. Given that, wherever she ends up, make sure she knows where the closest ER and urgent care are. In some cases it’ll be right on campus if the U has a hospital. </p>
<p>For the timing - airplanes have made the world smaller. LA or SD to Seattle is just under a 3 hour flight. It has a cost associated with it of course, but she could easily come home on a 3 day weekend if she wanted to and you could get to her reasonably quickly if you want. You also now would have an excuse for some nice trips to a sunny area.</p>
<p>I think she may entertain the idea of San Francisco… I really dont know (and she hasnt mentioned) any schools in that area… The only one I know of is Cal-Berkley-- and even though that campus is beautiful and is large enough- I think its even more difficult than NYU.
I have no idea about the PSAT and what the score was… I know that her math was what brought the score down-- the other two were higher. I like the idea of taking practice tests, so maybe she can bring that score up by a few 100 points if she tries really hard. I am just hoping maybe the other things she has to offer will help her out. I think she is worried (as, am I) that she wont get accepted anywhere and forced to community college. She says that would be her nightmare! 
I will talk to her about the ACT… That may be an option…
Thank you for mentioning that…</p>
<p>My D wanted to move as far away from us as possible. Then we started the college search. (visiting the campus, etc) She realized that she didnt want to be too far away in case she got sick, or lonely or whatever (laundry, you know) She ended up 88 miles away. Just far enough. My point is that when they are juniors, they think they know everything that will be perfect for them and it just isnt true. Visit the schools, but honestly, fin aid played the biggest part in our decision. Unless finances are not even a problem for you. When you start adding up all the additional expenses of OOS it might start really making you mad. In this day and age of the economy and the fact that an BA or BS doesnt really mean anything which means you really have to go to grad school if you really want to go far in your field, then play it safe with the undergrad and save your money for law school (I have one in law school too so I know) An d her SAT has to come up along with the GPA. This has been a very hard year for us to realize just the caliber of kids trying to get into good schools. Make sure she has good EC’s, not a 100 clubs but things like ASB office positions, Editor-in-chiefs of Yearbooks, serious leadership roles. I hope this helps. But you have time and she will change her mind a 100 times :)</p>
<p>There are a lot of less competitive Us if she isn’t focused on big name, extremely copetitive Us. The ones you’ve mentioned so far are pretty competitive to get into. I know that this year, USC turned down several kids who were NMFs, including kids who had close to 4.0 GPAs and very high SAT scores (>2000).</p>
<p>The ACT can be a great test for kids who may like it’s design better than the SAT. If her math was what brought her down, perhaps some tutoring to help her with that area would be helpful, especially since her grades were good.</p>
<p>Our D did go to CC for 3 semesters, though she was not happy about it initially. She got over it & was able to transfer to USC, where she will be a very happy graduate in a few weeks. It worked extremely well for her & saved us a lot of $$$ (though that wasn’t why she started there). She would never have been accepted to USC right out of HS but was a very happy transfer.</p>
<p>University of San Francisco is a private U in the heart of downtown SF. We toured there with S & I know several folks who graduated from their. University of San Diego is another private U; I know several kids who graduated from there. San Diego is a lovely city as well, but not sure whether it’s what she is looking for, since you haven’t really specified other than “not Seattle & BIG.”</p>
<p>Since she’s a WA resident, she would also qualify for WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange program, where she could pay lower tuition at quite a few Us that may be attractive). It’s correct that full-pay, especially at private & OOS Us really does add up. At USC, it can be $65K/year for tuition, room & board + travel & other expenses. The tuition & expenses has gone up every year for the past 6 years our kids have been attending there. There are a lot of other ways to spend that $260-270K+!</p>
<p>Both my kids talked big about going “to NYC or London” for college when they were juniors. In senior year, when reality set in, both decided to stay in CA (1 hour drive for S; 3 hour drive for D) and transition to bigger OOS adventures in grad school/jobs after graduation. So I agree with the posters above who suggest that you have closer-to-home options in the cooker, as well. She might change her mind when push comes to shove–it’s very common! </p>
<p>You might want to look at USF (University of San Francisco–private). It’s gorgeous, cosmopolitan (in the heart of a dynamic, pulsing city and with breathtaking views) but also nurturing and intimate in feel. </p>
<p>Best of luck. I am enjoying your thread (vicariously): it represents the very best of CC and you are getting great advice. I will add that seeking guidance here during D’s junior year makes you a good and smart mom–not clueless at all. :)</p>
<p>EDIT: just saw that HiMom posted while I was busy typing away about USF. Great minds think alike. :)</p>