Help Find a College - Daughter #2

College Search & Selection
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Been in hiding waiting for the ACT score. She wound up having a great day and got a 30 composite. Very happy! She’s scheduled to take it again in February, but with the way the scores break out, I think it would be fairly unlikely that she’d be able to superscore more than a 31.

The 30 should certainly allow us to carry on with the plan and start to look closer at many of the schools mentioned here.

If anyone has additional suggestions in the meantime, please share. I know this thread grew very quickly, but we are still pretty early in the process, so we don’t have too much feedback just yet.

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Congratulations to your daughter!

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Great news, congrats! New new insights into college options, but following with interest.

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IUP has Cook Honors College.

https://www.iup.edu/admissions/honors/typical-student/

Susquehanna can be very generous, as well as Muhlenberg, maybe Allegheny or U Scranton. Would have to run some NPC to see if in range.

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I’m seconding TCNJ and Ohio University!

How about Hofstra? Crazy price tag but they give away tons of merit, have greek life, etc…too close to home?

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I wouldn’t recommend IUP with their specific problems and the PASSHE budget issues.
Hofstra is often too expensive for what’s on offer in my opinion but YMMV.

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Back. 30 again on ACT #2, but she’s superscored to a 31 now. Would be very hard to superscore to a 32 and it probably doesn’t matter much at this point, so she’s done with the standardized testing. She’s very happy.

Hofstra way too close, not considered. @mommdc will look at some of those PA schools. Muhlenberg too small and won’t get enough aid there.

At this point, we are looking to plan a short trip in early April. We’d like to hit as many potential high possibility school as possible. We are thinking of doing the New England schools first. Perhaps UCONN, URI, Vermont, UNH (not sure we would make it up there in the time we had), U of Maine (almost surely too far to get to on this trip). We probably could do a 4 day trip, with 2 of the days weekend days (no official tour most likely), so we probably need to plan the route with the higher possibility ones on the weekdays.

Based on my OP and the comments in the rest of this thread, does anyone have any suggestions on a good set of schools/route?

I think we’ll save SUNY for last, we can always head upstate to a couple of those, plus we may need to see Ithica at some point. Same with the OH schools. If she were to apply to Miami (OH) or Ohio U, those are probably wait and see if she gets in/how much money and then visit if it makes sense. She can try to track down reps from those schools to show interest that way.

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Congrats, glad the ACT went well. I just scrolled back through the thread. I don’t see U Mass Amherst mentioned. Yes, a long-time party school reputation (Zoo Mass), but I think transforming somewhat. We’ve been there a few times and know a current student who loves it and could hardly be more anti-Greek in attitude. The campus used to be pretty ugly. A few huge concrete buildings remain, but there’s been a lot of construction in recent years, and it is more attractive now. Also it is part of the Five College Consortium, so students have access to classes and other resources also at Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire, which can be a plus, including for a psych major, I’d think.

https://www.fivecolleges.edu

It’s in Amherst–at the opposite end of the town from the school Amherst and close to Northampton (home to Smith), which is a funky little college town with some things to do. In general, it is a beautiful area.

You will love UVM. I’d allow some time there. Church Street in downtown Burlington (just a short walk from the campus) is basically a pedestrian mall with lots of neat restaurants, bars, etc. with Lake Champlain just blocks away. Sunset over the lake can be stunning on a clear evening.

https://www.churchstmarketplace.com

Have fun!

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UMass Amherst is on the list. That might be a good one to add to this trip. UVM will probably be out of the budget. The out of state starting price is too high and she most likely won’t get nearly enough merit aid there. Not sure if it’ll be worth the visit or not. It would probably need to be pretty close to “on the way” to somewhere else.

We’ll probably need another trip south to schools like Towson and Delaware at some point in the late Spring/early Summer.

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@gearmom actually she has drifted over to speech pathology now. Not sure if that makes a difference with the set of schools we have.

GPA still a 91. Was hoping it went up a bit. Not sure if the latest quarter is in there or not, that might help slightly.

We do have a couple of trips we are working on. We are going to do URI (official campus tour, but no info session) as a day trip on a Saturday in a couple of weeks.

Also working on planning a trip south. I have JMU scheduled for a Saturday early afternoon, Towson for Monday afternoon and Delaware for Tuesday afternoon. Not sure what to do between JMU Saturday visit and Towson on Monday afternoon or if there’s anything to do between Towson Monday afternoon and Delaware Tuesday afternoon. Any suggestions?

UMBC has a Monday 11:30am tour that would work great, but is full. Maybe I’ll call and see what they can do, otherwise, it’s close enough to Towson that it’s worth going to just to walk around, so that covers Monday morning.

Delaware Tuesday morning tour also is full, so stuck with the later tour which will eliminate seeing a school on the way back up (like TCNJ or West Chester) and will make the drive back to Long Island at peak traffic time.

I may also call JMU as I’m still not clear on merit aid there. If there’s not a reasonable shot of something to get it into budget, we could cut that out yet and just do a Monday/Tuesday trip.

Would be happy to hear any suggestions on how to improve our route/plan.

Just did the Elon NPC again with a 31 ACT (not clear if they actually do superscore, but looks like they may) and now it’s got no merit. I still think it’s highly unlikely she’d enough merit there.

West Virginia University came just came up as well. Anyone know anything about WVU? It looks like she’d qualify for $9K merit there and it starts at less than $40K of OOS.

Also, please keep the suggestions coming if something hasn’t been mentioned here.

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I know I’m jumping into this thread a little late, but I live in VA and have lots of insight to share! Congrats on the 30 ACT score, that’s impressive!

I would highly recommend JMU. As someone who has lived in VA for my entire life, I have never heard anything negative about JMU. Everyone who goes there loves it and is extremely successful and well rounded after college. It’s a beautiful campus, too. Some family friends’ kids were upset about not getting into UVA but ended up loving JMU more than they could imagine, even after going into it with bad attitudes. Student life/school spirit is great. Additionally, tuition at JMU is fairly cheap, which is why it attracts so many out of state students. From what I’ve heard, a lot of northerners attend. I think this year the total OOS tuition was around 38,000, which isn’t too bad considering other schools.

While you’re in VA, I would recommend looking at Virginia Tech, too. Again, everyone who goes there loves it and the school spirit is wonderful. Another family friends’ daughter was conflicted because she wanted to go North for school, but VT ended up being the perfect atmosphere - not too southern but great sports and school spirit. Not sure about tuition there but it would probably be a bit higher than JMU.

I know several people who wound up at West Virginia University, including a close family friend’s son, and loved it! It’s definitely considered a party school, but still has a great reputation for producing hard working, intelligent grads. It’s also easier to get into, so merit money would be more likely. Great football and student life. Never visited, but from what I’ve heard it’s very pleasant and beautiful.

Another good VA school is George Mason University in northern VA. It’s a pretty big school with about 30,000 students. I don’t personally know anyone there, but apparently it’s very popular with out of state northerners. With an acceptance rate around 70%, it seems like a good option for merit aid, too. Again, I can’t really speak on behalf of it since I really don’t know much, but it’s worth looking into.

Side note, I really love Elon! Visited last year and it’s worth looking into even if you don’t think you’ll get merit.

Let me know if you have any questions about VA schools. Good luck!

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@lexluthor5 Well, give URI a try. I have had both family and friends who have done well in speech pathology which is a tough field and I think requires grad school. If she is still a weighted 91 GPA that might be a sticking point at several schools not made up by a 30/31 ACT. Cast a wide net. You might want to drive by Narragansett beach which is where the kids go to hang out while in RI. Good luck.

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IUP has a good reputation for speech pathology. With her high stats she should get merit and reduced OOS rate, can apply for honors too.

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@mmb333 appreciate the insights. Still need to do some work to figure out if there’s really any shot at merit at JMU. Virginia Tech probably not a good fit. George Mason is heavily a commuter school, I think.

@mommdc if IUP is Indiana University of PA, I think their stats are a bit low there for her.

Any other suggestions for our trip south itinerary or other schools to add to the list at all?

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I wouldn’t count out IUP…
https://www.iup.edu/admissions/undergraduate/who-we-are/facts-and-accolades/

It is a very beautiful campus as well.

ACCOLADES
IUP is one of the best national universities. U.S. News and World Report, 2017
IUP: One of “America’s top colleges,” by Forbes magazine, 2017
IUP is of the “Best Colleges for Your Money,” by Money magazine, 2017-18
Four IUP professors are among the 300 highest rated by students in the U.S.
Princeton Review, 2012
IUP is one of the top public four-year schools in PA for ROI. Affordable Colleges Online, 2013
Seven IUP students in the sciences and math have been named Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. The most recent was Kara McClain, in 2016.
Eberly College of Business and Information Technology holds a perfect four-star rating for academic support of veterans. Military Times, 2015
IUP professors have earned more than 59 Fulbright scholarships; students have earned 10 Fulbright awards.
Our community service earns national recognition. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, 2013
IUP is nationally ranked among socially responsible schools. Washington Monthly, 2012-2015
IUP students have won 14 elite Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships.
IUP students have won eight prestigious Freeman-Asia study abroad awards.
IUP is ranked as a “Best Bang for the Buck” university in Washington Monthly’sThe Other College Guide: A Roadmap for the Right School for You

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George Mason has been trending away from being a commuter school and now requires all freshman to live on campus. Although you can complete a form and get a waiver. They have invested a tremendous amount of money in the school and its facilities over the past 10 years.

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@dcnatfan not sure what “trending away” means exactly. How long as they been going in that direction? I guess it comes down to what percentage of the students aren’t around on nights/weekends? I’d guess if they are/were a commuter school, it’s probably a very high percentage of in state students still too. Would like to hear from more people on this and I’ll try to do some additional research.

IUP: Average of 3.2 GPA and 21 ACT is very low.

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Since you said you were looking for merit, then your D would want to be way above average in stats.

I was talking about IUP because they have a good speech pathology program (BS and MS) and an honors college.

The master’s program at IUP requires a 3.6 college GPA, and I believe acceptance to the Bachelor’s program might be competitive as well.

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Here is data on out of state student %.

George Mason Out of State Students by Year (Entering Freshman)

2017: 20%
2016 - 19%
2015 - 21%
2014 - 20%
2013 - 20%

2001 - 11% (this is the oldest one posted on website)

Enrollment has also increased from approx. 25,000 in 2001 to almost 36,000 last year.

In contrast, IUP has 5% from OOS and JMU is at 26%.

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@mommdc good points specifically relating to speech. Think the 5% OOS stat that @dcnatfan hurts though. That’s far from ideal.

That’s a big jump for GMU. Not sure we could make it to WVU and then GM, but if we didn’t do WVU, GM is certainly on the path back from JMU to Towson.