<p>My son and I will be in Allentown, Pa for 5 days in July and would like to visit some schools within a 2 hour radius. He presently has a 3.0 GPA. He's taking 3 AP's now and will take 3 more next year. His ACT score is a 30. He hasn't taken the SAT yet.He's looking for a small to medium size school and wants to major in biology. He does well with small, interactive classes and really loves to learn.</p>
<p>We will probably visit Bucknell, although I assume that's a stretch. Any suggestions would be greatly aprreciated???</p>
<p>There’s a lot he could look at within a quick drive of Allentown. I’d also suggest DeSales Univ. right in Allentown. It is a catholic college, don’t know if that’s a plus/minus for you.
Delaware Valley College is nice, & Ursinus is a good liberal arts school not too far away in Collegeville, PA. He has a nice ACT score, though the gpa could be low depending on the schools visited.
If you look near suburban Phila. there are a boatload of schools you could visit! Immaculata, Villanova, Cabrini, Arcadia, West Chester U., to name a few.</p>
<p>If he can get his GPA up a bit you might consider Lafayette College in nearby Easton. My daughter is a first-year biology major there and is having a great time academically and socially. The largest class she has had was an introductory bio class with 45-50 students and she has found the professors to be extremely accessible.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about it, but you may also want to check out University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (the former Philadelphia College of Pharmaceutical Science). It’s a lot more urban than the other colleges mentioned – in University City, a few blocks southwest of Penn – but I think it matches your criteria.</p>
<p>Another place I know fairly little about, but which produced a very close friend who is extremely impressive, is Albright College in Reading.</p>
<p>Arcadia could be a good option, and I hear lots of good things about Ursinus and Franklin & Marshall. You could take a look at Chestnut Hill College, too.</p>
<p>Then, of course, there are the myriad state colleges – not just West Chester, but Bloomsburg, Kutztown, Millersville, Mansfield, Lock Haven, East Stroudsberg (and more, but those are all w/in 2 hours of Allentown, I think). They’re not exactly intimate, but some of them may fit your bill, too. Mansfield, for example, is a lovely school of about 3,000 students not far from Bucknell. It offers a number of Biology and related programs, and claims to have small classes.</p>
<p>If you would consider a Catholic school (Jesuit), check out the University of Scranton. Their science programs (and medical school admissions rates, if that’s a concern) are pretty good.</p>
<p>The six four year colleges in the Lehigh Valley are Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Moravian, Cedar Crest, De Sales and Lafayette. [LVAIC</a> | Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges](<a href=“http://www.lvaic.org/]LVAIC”>http://www.lvaic.org/) Of these your son would be a contender for all except Lehigh and Lafayette. You can cross Cedar Crest off too - it’s a womens college. Moravian is a nice LAC in downtown Bethlehem. It has a good local reputation. DeSales is in Center Valley (I work at a library that adjoins it), and it has a growing reputation for it’s Physicians Assistant program. Muhlenberg is just barely in the safe area of Allentown but although we often hear of crime in Allentown, I’ve never heard of anything on the Muhlenberg campus. </p>
<p>Bucknell would be a reach but perhaps if you decide to visit Susquehanna, you could do both places. There are a few state colleges within a couple of hours of here, the closest being Kutztown.</p>
<p>Moravian is very competitive. Dickenson would be a stretch.
He has a 3.0 but that isn’t saying much - what are his AP’s in and is his course schedule through high school strong? What does he want to do with Biology?
Bloomsberg has a great health professions school.</p>
<p>Other schools to look at - King’s College is a Catholic college in Wilkes Barre, he would probably qualify for a nice merit scholarship there.
Bucknell is definitely a stretch but Susquehanna is a very nice school.</p>
<p>IMO - Dickenson, Lehigh, Lafayette and Moravian are all stretchs.</p>
<p>Definitely check out the state U’s as well as Penn State. PSU - Berks has a nice campus and Wilkes Barre has a campus if he doesn’t want UP right away. </p>
<p>I see a great merit scholarship at Albright. One of my d’s hs classmates went there pre-med and is at Tufts med school.
Ditto - Ursisus, Arcadia, Muhlenberg - all good. How about adding Widener?</p>
<p>Any interest in Philly schools? Philadelphia U has a Physcian asst program and he would qualify for a nice merit scholarship there - it’s beautiful, in Manayunk.</p>
<p>“Moravian is very competitive.” I disagree. I live in the area and Moravian is seen as a safety for many students from our non competitive public high school. The students that I know that go there are all students with similar or lower stats than the OP.</p>
<p>Yeah, my vicarious experience is that 3.0/30 may be low for Lehigh or Bucknell, but is well within range for most of the colleges we’ve been discussing. There are lots of options.</p>