<p>I just got back from talking with S2's GC and he tells me S needs to add at least 2 safety's to his list as he only has matches and reaches.
Aaagh, it has taken forever just to get this list together as S is the world's biggest procrastinator and isn't really clear on what he wants. My older S and D were much more focused and knew what they wanted which made the process much smoother...</p>
<p>S has a 3.7W GPA and MV 1400 and he's interested in enviro bio, he's a guitar playing xc runner and he likes a mix of people. He doesn't want too big or too small, but unlike Goldilocks, we can't find "just right".</p>
<p>The list:
Skidmore
Lafayette
Franklin & Marshall
University of Rochester</p>
<p>He has NOT liked:
Gettysburg
Dickinson</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any help as I have run out of ideas and I think my friends are going to stop picking up the phone when they see my name on caller ID :-)</p>
<p>Look at Juniata - nice Environmental Field Station right on Raystown Lake, good science facilities on campus…if he wants to run the school moved to a league where they are more competitive</p>
<p>Has he looked into Ursinus College? I think that would be a safety for him. Last year my daughter liked and applied to Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, and Ursinus (among others)…since your S likes Lafayette and Franklin & Marshall, maybe he’ll also like Ursinus?</p>
<p>SUNY Plattsburgh is a terrific safety for environmental science. It also offers a wide variety of Majors and Minors should he change his mind about environmental science.</p>
<p>Also, look into the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and
Forestry. Highly ranked and it’s located on the campus of Syracuse (pay SUNY price but get to be a part of Syracuse University).</p>
<p>take a look at my alma mater Furman…or Wake Forest. Both are very rigorous schools with good prep for med/law/business schools. Furman seems eager for boys with your son’s stats and you might be pleased to see the magnificent Townes Center for Sciences about to be opened..state of the art. Running is very supported there, the weather is to die for, and Greenville is a very fun new money/diverse/lively downtown for a Southern city…more fun than Winston Salem in my opinion and economically thriving. If your son is from above the MasonDixon..so were my husband and me. They are eager for geographic diversity as well. Wake has more northern/Middle Atlantic state residents but Furman draws from Florida, Atlanta, and Charlotte and other big southern cities.
Furman has a great prep program for graduate schools. My classmates went to Harvard, Vandy, Chicago, Stanford and Yale as well as the “usuals” in neighboring states. Furman has a strong southern feel, no denying that. But they love to get kids from other regions.</p>
<p>I second Furman. I would normally cheerlead for Elon, where my S is – I’m not sure it’s a pure Safety (nor is Furman), but I like his chances. </p>
<p>But I’m afraid that Elon might be a little too homogenous for him. Heavy Greek atmosphere, could be much better with minority representation as well. But my S is NOT a Greek, nor a preppie and he’s still found a niche.</p>
<p>Your child’s in-state financial safety is probably Rutgers. Have him read the Rutgers website, make sure that his stats are good enough to get him in there, and hunt down one or two programs that are acceptable to him there.</p>
<p>Bingo, safety problem resolved. He doesn’t have to like the place all that much, he just has to have somewhere to go in the fall that you can afford and that he can get into in case everything else in the college search process goes bad.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, GCs (at least in my experience) tend to be very conservative with their estimates. I applied to seven schools of varying difficulty and my guidance counselor told me I’d probably only get into the bottom two or three (with a combined SAT of 1460, Math IIc of 790 and 800 on Chemistry, top 5% of 700+ student class, and lots of ECs I loved to do). Now, I wasn’t applying to only top-tier schools, I was applying mostly to mid-level engineering colleges. I still managed to get into all of the schools except for Caltech (where I currently attend for grad school), and got great financial aid offers from all of them.</p>
<p>^^ I strongly disagree with this advice (happymom’s). (with all due respect) I am a believer in LOVE THY SAFETY. There are many stories on this forum of kids who, come April, are extremely disappointed with the admissions results and do NOT like their options and don’t even want to go. I think the absolute foundation of a successful college search is to find one or two safeties that the student would truly enjoy attending. Do NOT apply to a school that you aren’t excited about just because it is a financial safety. There are too many good choices out there that can also be safeties, including excellent state univesities. Rutgers might be one of these, but make sure your son would really want to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great suggestions. MOWC is right, my S doesn’t want to attend Rutgers, though we are having him apply, so it really is not a safety he would be happy with.
We had thought of Ursinus but S thinks it will be too small and Juniata is “in the middle of nowhere” and hence unacceptable to S.
I’ll have him look at Furman, though he wants to stay around the NE and I think UDel and the SUNY’s are good ideas.
Does anyone have in fo on American? I see it has an enviro program though it might not be considered a safety.</p>
<p>How about Drew? A friend’s daughter is quite happy there. A safety in Madison, NJ. I like the location, too. A reasonable train ride to the City if one wants to go there. Maybe the major is close enough to what he is looking for to make this a reasonable safety.</p>
<p>Post #8 is a great opportunity. I agree with Post #13. We fired my son’s counselor after he recommended safeties of Wash. & Lee and Goucher. Son was admitted to his first two choices, among others.
With a 3.7W GPA and a 1400/1600 SAT I, all of your son’s schools are very close to being safeties.
One way to address the issue of safeties is to apply early to one or two rolling admissions schools. For example, apply now to the Univ. of Alabama’s
Honors College and your son should receive an eight (8) semester out-of-state tuition scholarship, enjoy some of the nicest dorms in the country, beautiful girls, great athletics, incredible study abroad & the best upscale athletic facility that I have ever seen (and as a highly competitive athlete in more than one sport, I have seen a lot).
The difficulty of recommending schools for your son is that his choices so far are quite different from each other.</p>
<p>You’ve already received some good suggestions, but let me add another: Bucknell.
They have a great Environmental Studies Program; their XC program/coach are also highly respected. Neighbor’s S recently graduated from Bucknell, ran there and had a great time.</p>