Although this is my 3rd and final college search I still can’t figure out what schools S3 should be looking at.
Currently his default major is some sort of engineering. The only preference that he has expressed is that he would like big time Football/Basketball-other than that any questions get answered with a shoulder shrug.
Stats:
Average public school w/ a 2 year unweighted gpa of 91. His grades are on the rise so he might squeak into the top 10%?? Even relative ranking is undisclosed until senior year.
1st time ACT 33
PSAT 221 in NY so probably SF, but iffy for Finalist due to gpa?
ECs/Leadership/Awards-nothing really. He is a year round 3 sport athlete and that is about it. He has no plans to pursue sports in college.
And because I know it will be asked…finances:
Need FA so OOS publics without aid are out of the question.
Have him run the SuperMatch tool to the left – and force him to have some skin in the game. Any shortcomings will be squarely laid at your feet.
If he’s a senior andnot coming and asking you expressly for help, then tell him you’ll assist him w/the affordable nearby public school. Anything else needs to be on him. It’s Dec 26 and if he’s not interested in looking at colleges, you might need to ask if he’s serious about being enrolled come Sept 2017
@T26E4 Oops, I missed an important detail in my post-he’s a Junior! He just got back his PSAT score and his December ACT score so I am starting to think about his options. I don’t know anything about engineering but from what I have read the admissions process is even more rigorous for engineering majors. I can’t get a feel of what group of schools he should start to look at with his stats.
Many of the big football schools (assuming you mean NCAA D1 FBS, particularly the power 5 conferences) are state flagships, so they may be unaffordable in the absence of big merit (e.g. AL or MS).
@ucbalumnus I wish I had a concrete answer to your gpa question but our school does not grade on that scale. Doing my own made up system rough conversion (93+/4.0, 90-92/3.7, 87-89/ 3.3, ect.) maybe a 3.75? I really don’t know how the transcript would viewed that’s why I mentioned that he might sneak in at the bottom of top 10% to give some context, but again that is really just an educated guess.
I don’t think he’ll have trouble getting into engineering at a big school, but he needs to do the work and let you know where he wants to go. If he does make NMF, he’ll have many more choices if he wants to go west (Oklahoma, USC, KY).
Assuming his GPA translate to a 3.5 or above ( and it seems like it must) I’m pretty sure he’d be entitled to a big scholarship at U Alabama. And that would be a great " big sports" choice.
@ucbalumnus Thank you. I tried both of the GPA conversions and got a 3.67 on one and a 3.74 on the other so looks like a 3.7 is a reasonable assumption.
NY is not a great state for a kid looking for a big spectator sports scene unfortunately. Since his stats don’t put him in striking range for the schools that offer great FA that might fit his preferences like UNC, UVA, Duke, Vanderbilt, etc. it looks like he will probably need a Plan B.
I am trying to explore what the options are before he gets too involved so that I can set parameters. I don’t plan to pay a premium for him to attend a fly away OOS school just so he can attend football games.
Look at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Engineering school, well regarded in mineral sciences (know quite a few petroleum engineers from there) and have other engineering. Looks like he’s eligible for some good OOS scholarships on his ACT alone. Big time football.
He will likely make SF and finalist, as long as he fills out the application, does the essay, does OK on the SAT and does not completely tank his grades. A 3.7 will not keep him from finalist (unless things have really changed). Will his weighted average be higher and is he taking challenging classes? If so, he should have some good acceptances.
With that and an A- unweighted average, he should have a nice range of schools for acceptance. The biggest issue is financial. Some of the big Southern state schools are less expensive than in the NE and may offer merit scholarships.
My advice would be to figure out what you can and will pay and cast a wide net. It is tough to find a school that provides the atmosphere he wants, a good education, and merit money.
I’d have him look at Villanova and as a reach, Notre Dame. ND is very generous with aid. Of course there is Alabama, as already suggested. I’ve got a nephew there in engineering and he’s enjoying his time there.
Does he have a C on his transcript? If not, he should make finalist.
@Momto2girls Buffalo will definitely be on his safety list
@mom2and His UW GPA will increase by the end of Jr. year because he will probably have a 4.0 this year. He is taking the most rigorous course load offered. Yes, weighted will be higher but individual weighted grades do not appear on the transcript. Weighting is only computed for ranking purposes.
@suzy100 Yes, he had a 79 in Spanish last year (otherwise all A’s as a sophomore), so that is why I doubt he will be a finalist. He also had the equivalent of 4 B+s freshman year so I don’t see those grades as stacking up with the typical SF if cuts are being made. I will look at Villanova and ND. I don’t know anything about Villanova, but figure ND is too reachy. Thanks for the suggestions.
@JustGraduate Never heard of WVU but I will take a look. Thanks.
Look at Clemson. His ACT may qualify him for automatic scholarships. Ohio State also gives decent merit for OOS but he will have to be willing to do the supplemental apps. Oh, and they will be playing each other this weekend.
SUNY at Buffalo
U of Alabama
West Virginia U
UVA (no Engineering)
UNC-CH (only Biomedical Eng)
U of Mississippi
U of Oklahoma
U of Kentucky
Villanova
Notre Dame
USC
Duke
Vanderbilt
Removing UVA and UNC due to the lack of Engineering, that actually is a pretty decent list. There are reaches, matches and multiple merit safeties.
You might also think about the University of Michigan. There would not be much merit aid but they do offer some need-based aid even to OOS students, and Michigan’s Engineering is among the very best. It would be a low reach probably as an OOS applicant and you’ll want to run the NCP to see if it would be feasible, but it has huge sports (football, basketball, hockey namely) and outstanding academics.
Another school with good merit aid (and some need-based), engineering and D1 sports is Temple. Probably low match or match for your son.
And the U of Miami (FL) would be a match and they have need-based aid I believe. Worth a look.