<p>Thank you everyone for your suggestions so far! I did a quick review of the first list of suggested schools, and these two came out as most promising:</p>
<p>• University of Rochester – It comes up as a safety/match in our Naviance. I will have to investigate merit possibilities. Coincidentally, DS just received an invitation today to a local presentation about their research opportunities. I must say that the school location, way upstate NY, is not its best feature.
• Rollins College – Strong possibility even though it’s a little smaller than my cut-off of 2,000 students, I’ll check if DS wants to submit the priority app.</p>
<p>I have basically ruled these out; I was looking for 2-10K size student body:
• Boston University — TOO BIG
• Claremont Mckenna – TOO SMALL
• Dickinson College — MAYBE?
• Ohio Wesleyan University – TOO MANY IN-STATE STUDENTS
• Syracuse University – TOO BIG
• University of Delaware – TOO BIG
• University of Maryland – NOT SURE WHICH ONE???
• University of Pittsburgh – TOO BIG, keeping in mind Northstarmom’s words of warning
• University of San Diego – GENDER IMBALANCE, “University of Spoiled Daughters”, more preppy than Santa Clara</p>
<p>I’ll take a look at more of the suggested colleges later.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna is not too small if you take into account the 5 colleges. According to the website for the Claremont Colleges the combined enrollment is over 6000 students. The campuses are all in one area. You can walk to any of them from another. You can eat in any of the dining halls. Some of them even share sports teams.</p>
<p>Villanova? 12 miles out from Philadelphia, #1 non-liberal arts college in the Northeast, 1300 median SAT (old scale), close enough to New York. 6400 student body size</p>
<p>Where is student body size on your son’s wish list? I ask because while that is an important factor to me, and S went along with it, as he did his research that moved way down on his list. I have adapted!</p>
<p>My son wanted medium size too, but has made some exceptions. I agree that you shouldn’t eliminate the Claremont colleges - individually they are small, but they are contiguous and you can take courses at the different colleges.</p>
<p>I would take a look at Northeastern. A friend of my S’s who has a very similar profile–excellent SATs, very bright, GPA lower than his brains warrant–is there and reportedly loves it. Also Boston is a great place to go to college, and has a lively music scene.</p>
<p>I would encourage your S to submit a priority app to Tulane. My D did so last year and received a very generous merit award. She had similar stats - GPA a little higher and test scores a little lower, but a similar imbalance. It was great to have the acceptance and award in hand so early in the process.</p>
<p>Agree with other posters about Claremont McKenna. Don’t eliminate it just based on size. D was interested in Pitzer and we visited - the 5 college campuses are contiguous and it really did feel more like a 6000-student school than something smaller.</p>
<p>PRJ–I completely agree about Tulane–they give a LOT of money. The priority apps are probably out now, and we found earlier was definitely better for qualified kids getting the merit aid. I agree about the Claremont colleges, but also think Pitzer would be a better fit than Claremont-McKenna, in terms of temperament. Good luck Rose!</p>
<p>UMD-College Park is big; UMBC is ~9k and is literally three miles from BWI airport. S1 has friends at both and everyone seems happy. UMBC may offer some very nice merit $$, but he should see if they have the programs he wants. They tend to be fairly science-oriented. They have made real efforts there to be less of a suitcase school – and I have to say, the kids we know who are there don’t come home on weekends!</p>
<p>Thank you all for setting me straight about Claremont McKenna and the other Claremont colleges I had no clue about their association so I did rule them out based on incorrect information. Now I need to look into this further. Looking back on my previous research, I see that Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Pomona were all recommended by Ss GC. I will definitely take another look.</p>
<p>I would never have known this except for the CC posters here. Thank you!</p>
<p>Great point! It was never on Ss list, only on mine. He doesnt have a problem with it, but DH and I agreed (in our infinite parental wisdom ;)) that a smaller campus would likely be better for S because of all the stereotypical reasons. We realize, of course, that big does not always equal bad for our S.</p>
<p>However, given that we had so few other criteria I just continued to use size to screen out schools as a way to help manage this unwieldy process. I am trying to be flexible, but I also need to get the list down to a reasonable size. If he declares he loves a school that doesn’t fit our size parameters, I will not object just because of size. So far, he hasn’t done that.</p>
<p>Update: DS says he wont go to Rochester but would consider Rollins in Florida. He didnt say it in so many words, but I think Rochester is just too out of the way by his standards.</p>
<p>I may try to get more out of him, just to feel more confident hes not ruling it out without careful consideration. However, there are two things Ive learned about my S. One, he likes to rely on his intuition, usually backed up by lots of information tucked away in his brain. Two, he does not like to talk it out. Or, maybe more accurately, he doesnt like to hear his parents go on and on about something that is of no interest to him. OTOH, my DD can talk my ear off. Ahh, the joys of parenting . . . . :)</p>
<p>I looked at the next group of suggested schools, and Providence might be a possibility if Im able to find out more about the prospects for merit (not needs-based) aid.</p>
<p> DePaul ----- T00 BIG, 24,352 students
Providence ----- MAYBE, my previous research had suggested most merit FA was also needs-based. Does anyone know otherwise?
Seattle University ---- NO, we actually visited and S disliked the campus, didnt feel right, also 61% women, I believe nursing is a big major there
University Maryland MBC — NO, unranked school?
Vanderbilt — NO, we had looked at this before and found only 2% of students receive merit aid so I thought it was too much of a long shot. I think we compared it to Emory, and Emory came out looking more attractive to us.
Villanova — NO, we visited and S disliked it, Vanillanova seemed an appropriate label, he said it seemed too much like his suburban public school, only blander</p>
<p>BTW, I hope no one is offended by our frank assessments of these schools. For example, I understand Villanova is a wonderful school with strong academics. Its just not right for my son.</p>
<p>About a gap year – when I asked S about this he said he would really prefer to get on with his life. I think hes in a hurry to experience the world after graduation from college, the opportunities that he believes will come up when he has a degree in hand. Heaven help us, lets all hope that these opportunities will exist in 5 years.</p>
<p>Rose - did you ever say what type of major your son is interested in? My son who is similar to yours is very intrigued by schools that offer the 3/2 programs. This is where you spend 3 years at one school and 2 at another and you end up with 2 degrees (one BA and one BS)from different schools. He is looking at an economics/engineering combo.</p>
<p>Although it is true that a school like Vanderbilt only gives merit aid to a very small percentage of students, your student-- a mexican heritage hispanic-- may fall into a urm group that Vanderbilt is actively pursueing. My understanding is that highly qualified urms are still in very short supply at schools like Vanderbilt. It may pay to take a closer look at merit aid directed to hispanics at those very selective schools.</p>
<p>Check the College Board site because in, I think, the research or counselor area there probably is a breakdown of SAT scores by race/ethnicity. I’m guessing that your son is among only a few hundred Mexican-Americans with SAT scores as high as his. That doesn’t mean that he’s guaranteed to get into his reach schools, but it does mean that there’s a good chance he’ll get substantial merit aid from the many schools that want to increase their numbers of Mexican-Americans.</p>
<p>Also use Google to find data on the percentage of Mexican-Americans who graduate from high school and go to college. You’ll see more evidence of how rare your son is.</p>
<p>Just make sure that when it comes time for him to choose his options, he chooses a college that will appreciate his talents and potential, not think he’s doing fine if he’s just passing. </p>
<p>Both of my sons were affected in secondary school in particular by the fact that teachers were perfectly satisfied with their performance because they were black males who showed up in class, didn’t cut up, and were passing. My kids got picked for opportunities like going to an out of school rally against drugs, but my kids weren’t selected for academic opportunities. For instance, younger S who got a 780 M SAT and easily was getting As in the high school’s top math class that sophs could take, was overlooked when the school started a more difficult math class that would be open to a small group of selected juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>The next year, when S sailed through the next highest math class, the teacher who hadn’t recommended him for the more difficult class told S that he had underestimated S, and son should take the more difficult class as a senior. However, that was too late for S to explore his math interest/and talents because he had decided to transfer schools, and that class wasn’t offered.</p>
<p>When your S picks a college, talk to other URMs there to see how they are treated. I remember, for instance, that when one of my college classmates became dean of admission at Tulane’s law school, he would tell URMs, “Come here because other law schools will tell you that you can graduate from their law school. I am telling you that you can make Law Review at my law school.” That’s the kind of message you want your talented, brilliant son to be getting from the schools that accept him.</p>
<p>OP, does your son care if the college has a football team? This is on my son’s list - going to football games in the fall.</p>
<p>(My own list includes the criterion “not too Greek,” something that my son wouldn’t have thought of. Maybe he’ll pledge and maybe he won’t; I don’t want him at a college where he will be an odd man out if he doesn’t go Greek.)</p>