Help me with a game plan! (narrowing down our list of potential colleges, mostly SLAC) [CA resident, 3.7 GPA]

Parents Forum
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Hi folks,

New parent here, and a bit overwhelmed with options and decisions. Would love any insights you’d be willing to share!

Background: My son is a junior, graduating in 2025 from large public high school in Silicon Valley. UW GPA: 3.7. First quarter Jr year UW GPA: 4.0. His study skills have picked up so I’m hopeful that this will hold.
Sophomore APs: World History (got a B in the class and a 5 on the exam). Also honors English, honors Algebra II, French IV, chem (no honors option), and photography.
Jr. courses: AP Physics I, APUSH, AP Eng. Lang., AP French, Yearbook, Honors Pre-Calc
Sr. courses: TBD, but probably BC Calc, AP Bio or Physics II, AP Eng. Lit, AP Comp Sci, US Govt/Econ (no AP option available), and an elective TBD (maybe yearbook, journalism, jazz ensemble).
ECs: thin. He plays jazz in a very casual garage band, takes piano lessons, and plays varsity badminton (doubles).
Summers: He was scheduled to go to arts camp after 9th grade but it got canceled due to COVID so he basically loafed. After 10th grade he did an honors French language exchange program in France. This summer he and his friends are scheming to travel around the country on trains but I think he’s more likely to get a job, learn to drive, and take a summer calculus class (his idea!) so that he can take BC next year.

Academic interests: Generally incredibly smart but unfocused/uninspired by the academic opportunities that he’s encountered so far. He’s naturally good at math and science, verbally gifted but hates to write, interested in languages and history. He loved his summer program in France and will probably want to study abroad in college. I could see him studying architecture, econ, environmental science, international relations, or even physics.
SATs: no idea, but he’s been acing the practice tests so we imagine that he’ll get a balanced 1520+.

Other stuff to know: he’s smart, funny, quirky, ADHD, and has non-trivial social anxiety – loath to try stuff without his friends by his side but he tends to make friends fairly easily in new settings (I know – it’s a paradox). He works hard to blend in at school. Not into team sports but he enjoys games like badminton and ultimate and is good at mountain biking. He likes girls but goes beet-red when you ask him about them. He’s also interested in games like Magic and D&D (and would spend a lot more time on his PS5 if we let him.) We’re about to host an exchange student from Germany, which I think will broaden his perspective significantly.

Gaps that we’re aware of: ECs are generally thin and he has zero volunteer or leadership experience thus far (exploring tutoring and volunteering at local animal shelter).

He is considering doing a 13th high school year as an exchange student with AFS in Belgium or Germany.

We don’t need financial aid and have a good 529 so cost isn’t really an issue for us, fortunately.

We need a game plan. Right now I’m thinking that he’d be best served by a liberal arts college experience – flexible about suburban/urban/rural, but I do want to find schools that offer reasonably strong STEM programs and aren’t overly slanted towards humanities/arts.

Here’s my starter list (to be pared down as we learn more/visit places):
Likely: St. Olaf, Whitman? (wondering about academic diversity), Rhodes, maybe Lewis & Clark
Target: Lafayette, Dickinson, Union, Denison, Lehigh, Fordham, Reed?
Reach: Macalester, Kenyon, University of Richmond?
Extreme Reach: Tufts, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Carleton

State schools: he’ll probably apply to the UCs but I think it would be nice for him to get out of the state and live in a different part of the country and given his level of social anxiety my gut tells me a more curated experience would serve him better.

Questions:

  1. Does a gap year help us with admissions? I’m wondering if it would be good for him to just plan on it and apply after senior year, when his senior grades (assuming they are decent) could be a factor.
  2. Would he be a candidate for any state university honors colleges, or is he not quite strong enough?
  3. Are there any red flags about the schools we’re currently considering? Are all the targets really extreme reaches, for example?
  4. I don’t think we’re ready yet to start gaming out changes w/r/t EA vs ED vs RA (for starters, he hasn’t homed in on a favorite school (or set of top choices) yet. But if there are things we should be doing in the next six months to make that decision easier, please mention them.
  5. If you were trying to choose from visiting the Pennsylvania/Mid-Atlantic schools, the Ohio schools, or the Minnesota schools in February, which would you choose and why? (yeah, they’ll all be brutally cold…)

Thanks so much!

PS: Although I’m not optimistic that it will be a fit, we’re visiting Sewanee in a couple of weeks. Also Rhodes, which I’m more excited about.

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What kind of STEM majors are likely to be of interest (or not)? Particularly with smaller colleges, there may be strength in some but not others (and LACs are less likely to have the E in STEM).

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If you are going to do an Ohio trip, I’d add College of Wooster to your list. Pretty close to the other Ohio schools and has a lot of that matches your son’s interests (it would be a likely).

I’d probably recommend doing the Minnesota schools in February because that kind of winter is categorically different from Ohio and/or Pennsylvania/Mid Atlantic winters. He should get a good look at what Minnesota winters are especially if he isn’t familiar with extreme winter weather. You’ll see engine block heating plugs hanging from the front of cars in Minnesota - not so much Ohio or the Mid Atlantic.

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I like your list! We also looked at many of those schools - I have toured 8 of the schools on your list, some before my kid decided he wanted engineering. He is now at Lafayette and he also loves D&D and Magic. As do his roommates. I’ve been pleased to see he’s found like-minded friends at Lafayette, because some think the vibe is just sporty/greek. I really think there are all kids of kids at most schools.

I might avoid MN in February, although if you like it then…you’d be ok. Lol! The three MN schools on your list are all strong and each has a slightly different vibe. I know happy kids at all 3.

It seems like your son could make his French travel and language sound like an EC. That’s something a bit different that makes him interesting. And probably a bit more mature.

I think you have a thoughtful and realistic list. Especially if he can get that test score. A 3.7 UW is not bad - that’s an A minus average!

For me, Wesleyan is one my son loved and then crossed off when he decided on engineering - it felt like one that got away. Whitman I would have loved to visit. People with kids there seem to be SUCH fans of the school. St. Olaf, I feel, doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Kids do great coming out of there and have lifelong friend groups, from what I have seen.

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How does your son’s GPA break down by year?

I have heard that that the UC’s do not care about freshman year grades. The same is true for universities in Canada. There are some very good small “primarily undergraduate” universities in Canada, but they are almost completely unknown in the US (and Canada is not close to Silicon Valley).

We live in the northeast of the US. One daughter toured McGill over February break, which was probably not a good idea. We happened to run into the coldest weather I have ever experienced in Montreal (and I had previously lived there for 15 years). Visiting Minnesota or even Ohio in February seems like an equally large risk.

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For UCs, grades in 9th grade courses are not included in recalculated GPAs, although they will be visible to admission readers. C or higher grades are needed to have the courses count toward the course requirements (a-g subjects).

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A student with currently undifferentiated interests in the sciences may want to consider the availability of a geosciences department in potential college selections.

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It does sound like a SLAC would be a good fit for your kid. If he’s considering engineering that changes things – it’s challenging for LACs to offer engineering due to the physical resources required and the accrediting. Lafayette, Lehigh, Union and Tufts are the only ones on your list that offer 4-year engineering programs. You don’t mention engineering, but I just wanted to be sure you know.

I believe that Dickinson is particularly good with study abroad. You might also consider Kalamazoo for the same reason.

Have you thought about Case Western at all? It’s not a LAC but it’s not huge and I think it has features your kid might like. It would offer just about any major your kid might want and they have total flexibility (except nursing).

If he’s serious about architecture that’s also another a bit of a can of worms… I believe that Lehigh is a school that covers all the bases, FYI.

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Although you didn’t ask for any additional suggestions of schools, I’d suggest looking into Gustavus Adolphus in Minnesota. It would be an extremely likely admit for your son, it has some robust science programming (including geology), a popular foreign language program, and it’d be a relatively easy add-on to St. Olaf & Carleton.

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Does your son want engineering to be a possibility? As @coldwombat mentioned, that can end up changing the list.

If so, some additional schools he may want to consider that have multiple ABET-accredited engineering majors and at least moderate strength/popularity in foreign languages include:

  • Case Western (OH): About 6k undergrads, seconding this one
  • Fairfield (CT): About 4800 undergrads
  • Gonzaga (WA): About 5100 undergrads
  • North Central (IL): About 2400 undergrads
  • Seattle (WA): About 4k undergrads
  • U. of Denver (CO): About 6200 undergrads
  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
  • U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 5900 undergrads
  • U. of Tulsa (OK): About 2600 undergrads

If your son is open to just having a general ABET-accredited engineering major, along with sufficient strength in his other areas of interest, then some other schools to consider might be:

  • Cornell College (IA): About 1100 undergrads and is unique insofar as students only take one class at a time for about a month. So they submerse themselves in one class and then move on to the next. Also has geology.
  • Hope (MI): About 3300 undergrads and also has geology
  • Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads, and part of a consortium with other schools like Johns Hopkins and Goucher where students can take classes at the other schools
  • Trinity College (CT): About 2200 undergrads
  • Trinity University (TX): About 2500 undergrads, and also has geology

This link shows what percentage of 2022 graduates participated in study abroad at these colleges: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-study-abroad. Some of the ones that have been mentioned include:

  • Macalester 59%
  • St. Olaf 51%
  • Gustavus Adolphus 41%
  • Hope 35%
  • Carleton 34%
  • Cornell College 21%
  • Dickinson 16%
  • Hendrix 14% (mentioned in your thread about Sewanee)
  • U. of Rochester 11%
  • U. of Tulsa 9%
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A word of caution about this list: Because of Covid restrictions during the college years of these 2022 grads, this list might be very skewed.

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Wesleyan is not brutally cold- fyi. Nothing like Minnesota or Vermont!

I’d do a deep dive on the Quaker and Catholic schools- Holy Cross particularly. But most of them will be strong in languages, history, etc. plus STEM strength and it’s likely the social environment he’s looking for.

He sounds like a terrific kid. I would not obsess about the EC’s. For a kid with social anxiety, making sure his overall, everyday HS experience is comfortable and affirming is a lot more important than stuffing his calendar with activities he doesn’t care about.

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You’re absolutely right, which is why I mentioned which class it was. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a list from a previous year that wouldn’t have been impacted by Covid.

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I am no expert, but I would hesitate to do a gap year. I think it would only help with admissions if he were to do something really impressive during that year.

Of course, if he is not “ready” for college, the year can help set him up for success. But be careful. I understand that if someone takes a community college class during a gap year to explore an interest or build up skills in an area, that post-high-school class can turn them into a transfer student instead of a freshman in the eyes of admissions offices, to the student’s detriment.

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Yeah, I think there are a couple of reasons to do an exchange year after senior year –

  1. social maturity (COVID was a setback and he was already a late-bloomer) – this worked well for my shy husband, who did an exchange student year in Sweden between graduation and college.
  2. language/cultural competency.

Totally agree about community college and less defined gap year projects – this would be very structured (attending 13th year high school while living with a host family for the academic year.)

I’m curious about whether it could enrich his applications if he were to apply during that year – so, he’d have a full suite of senior grades (would colleges factor those in?) and probably some cool things to write about in his essays (living with a host family/attending school in a foreign language is profoundly challenging and enriching). The alternative is to apply as a senior and then defer.

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I think engineering is less likely than, say, environmental science or physics. Hard to know with this kid, which is why I love the unicorn schools with tons of options.

I’m thinking of adding Case Western and Rochester to our explore list and removing Tufts because it sounds like it’s only viable as an ED option and even then the odds are so long that it feels like we’d be throwing away an application. (still trying to figure out how to plan for the ED/EA/RA stuff.)

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Thanks! He is a terrific kid.
I looked into Holy Cross but it seemed to be overwhelmingly Catholic (as compared to, say, BC or even Fordham) and that might be kind of a turn-off. Right now I’m feeling most bullish on Macalester and Lafayette for some reason. We really need to get out and visit.

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I think the only UC he’s likely to get into is Santa Cruz and since it’s right over the hill from us (and I hear that student housing is a huge issue) I’m feeling kind of lukewarm about it. But of course he’ll apply.

We have family in Northern Iowa and are likely to head there sooner rather than later so that’s probably when we’ll go to Minnesota. BRRR…

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Hard to know. Based on high school so far I think he’s going to be happier doing problem sets and lab work than writing papers even though he truly loves history and learning languages. He’s enjoying his physics class and is also interested in environmental science. He hasn’t yet taken any social science courses so that’s an x factor. I could see him landing in econ or linguistics or something.

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Re: GPA progression, all over the map. He did better second semester freshman year and first semester sophomore year than in the other two (e.g. his French IV grade last year dropped from an A+ to a B+ because apparently he failed to turn in a bunch of make-up work from when he was out sick.)

The kid’s executive function skills are a work in progress…