<p>I am posting on behalf of a friend and her son. Friend's S is a junior, worried about his college chances and feeling discouraged as the application season approaches. He found junior year of high school to be very tough--after mostly A's and a couple of B's in Honors classes freshman and sophomore years of high school, is ending junior year with mostly B's and a C each semester in mostly AP and honors classes. He has around a 1950 SAT. He had originally hoped for an ivy, but these schools are not within his range, he realizes. He has a few "ordinary" EC's, and is interested in English, history--that sort of thing. He wants a small, private liberal arts school in the East, but feels that schools that might have been matches a few years ago are now out of reach. As I said, he's feeling very discouraged--almost hopeless in fact. He feels he has let himself and his parents down. I want to help them by telling them that there are still many fine schools for him. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.</p>
<p>My daughter is headed for College of Wooster in Ohio in the fall. It was not the highest ranked school that she was accepted to, but of the schools we visited, she liked it the best. </p>
<p>Your friend needs to visit a few schools that are less selective, and he will quickly realize that he can get an excellent education and have a wonderful college experience at a number of lesser known schools. It will take some initiative and some research, but there are many wonderful <em>hidden gems</em> out there. </p>
<p>He could look at colleges like Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. It comes to mind because I know a woman who went there, did very well there, got a master's degree in art history at the University of Washington, and then went on to Harvard Law School. </p>
<p>My daughter's search was focused on the midwest and the west coast. She took a close look at St. Olaf, Pacific Lutheran, University of Chicago and Kalamazoo along with Wooster. Any of those would have been an excellent choice. She happened to pick the easternmost one on her list. It's not quite East Coast, but your friend should take a look!</p>
<p>I'm sure someone else can guide you to some East Coast matches for your friend.</p>
<p>He might want to take a look at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison NJ. His grades, SATs, and interests would be a match or better, it's a lovely campus with about 2800 students (with another 8000 or so on the Teaneck campus), and their approach to "global education" sounds great. They seem generous with merit money and offer some great opportunities, near NYC and the UN and with two international campuses. My son's excited about attending in the fall.</p>
<p>One more vote for Wooster and perhaps Ohio Wesleyan.</p>
<p>I would recommend he check out the book "Colleges that Change Lives" by Loren Pope. 40 great "hidden gem" small liberal arts schools in there. Though some have become harder to get into as the book has skyrocketed in popularity, most are still attainable, and your friends S. would be a very attractive candidate for most of them with his grades and SATS. The college I am going to, McDaniel College, is in the book, and he should def. check it out as from what I have heard the English and History dept's are two of their stronger dept's.</p>
<p>Drew University in NJ; Goucher College near Baltimore; Stonehill College in Easton, MA; Mt. Ida College in Newton, MA; Lasell College in Newton, MA; Suffolk University in Boston; Cedar Crest College near Allentown, PA.</p>
<p>There are a lot of small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast that he should be able to get into. Go to College Board.com and put in his GPA, test scores (if he has them), size of school and location and he should get a number of schools that he can look at.</p>
<p>Cedar Crest is a womens college. But, speaking of Allentown, Moravian is right next door in Bethlehem, PA. In between the two is Muhlenberg. Both are nice colleges and well regarded around here.</p>
<p>Might take a look at Wells, newly coed... Very small school but right near Ithaca and Cornell.</p>
<p>Also: Hartwick, Washington & Jefferson, McDaniel, Washington College (MD), Clark University, Ohio Wesleyan, Hiram, St. Lawrence, Otterbein, Wittenberg, Lake Forest, Randolph Macon, Susquehanna, Wittenberg. Please tell him that I have seen many kids with his grades and test scores (even lower ones!) get into some great schools. He should NOT feel that he has let anyone down, but rather, focus on the success that lies ahead when he ends up at a college where he can thrive. If his Mom needs more suggestions, she can PM me.</p>
<p>I second McDaniel; a beautiful school with a nurturing environment. Good luck to you, DefyingGravity04; as a former New Yorker myself, I can't think of a nicer place to go to school.</p>
<p>Colgate? Furman? I'm sorry, guys, im really not a parent, but a student. I'm going to college in the fall. If you guys are intersted, i would love to talk about it from my perspective.</p>
<p>Sorry about the Cedar Crest thing - I searched their website, and you know, I couldn't find a statement anywhere that they're a women's school!</p>
<p>Colgate is a highly selective school, and would be a reach for this boy.</p>
<p>Like Chedva, I'd also suggest he look into Drew. It's a beautiful campus with some interesting programs; and it's an easy train or bus ride to NYC.</p>
<p>My son also visited Drew, which is right next door to Fairleigh Dickinson. Drew did not turn out to have the right program for my son, but FDU did. These two schools and the College of Saint Elizabeth (women) are all in close proximity, have interlibrary loan privileges, and (I'm told) often socialize on each other's campuses.</p>
<p>Goucher? If his gpa was strong freshman and sophmore year, maybe he could still look at Dickinson or Skidmore. Also have him look at St. Mary's in Maryland, Mary Washington in VA, George Mason and Catholic (bigger but have good opportunities in DC if he has an interest in govt).</p>
<p>His SAT scores could get him merit money at Susquehanna and Allegheny (my D's scores were a bit lower and she did get $$$ from both). I second Dickinson and would add both Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg...of course I'm always batting for Gettysburg!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the thoughtful replies. I have passed all of these suggestions on to my friend, and she is very grateful and feeling more hopeful.</p>
<p>Goucher was one my son applied to because of its artsy-ness and amazing International programs.</p>
<p>Filo,</p>
<p>Make sure he figures out why his grades dipped. Perhaps he could address it in a letter. He should also pick carefully next semester so he can apply with strong grades.</p>