Help With PA Schools

Parents Forum
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<p>^^^ Warriorboy I know that 'berg offers “Presidential Scholarship” 10.000 award to students who will “contribute to campus”, and they may consider a URM, in that category. So ask about this when you visit! </p>

<p>***Do you have the Princeton Review Guide Book of 368 schools ? Get this and spend some time in the bookstore reading any and all guide books, to help you refine your list so you don’t spin your wheels. There are many schools to consider. </p>

<p>***Realize that a summer visit will not expose you to the student “vibe”.</p>

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<p>I’m glad the whole athlete topic was brought up. My son is not into sports and would not want to be at a school with a large percentage of athletes</p>

<p>With this info, I know think you should take a good look at:
Dickinson, and Muhlenberg
Haverford, reachy, but maybe ED applicant there would help. </p>

<p>And, Vassar ED, is something to strongly consider!</p>

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<p>Warrior, I’m not sure if your son is a urm, but this news from Muhlenberg should be of interest:</p>

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<p>No, my son is not a URM and doesn’t have any hooks ( except being a great kid )</p>

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<p>^^^ ok, got that detail mixed up along the way.
WB- Princeton Review information at their web site for free-just log in, and read about colleges and “what the students say” to get a sense of the student body.</p>

<p>MarathonMan- nice find</p>

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<p>Hope Benel does’t mind that I am bringing her post over here, perhaps it will be helpful to others.
This is from the " the B+ student thread" …</p>

<p>Another college success story about the “B - B+” student </p>

<hr>

<p>Our S is a diamond in the rough (3.2 GPA at small private parochial HS, 1160 SAT) and he also applied to 16 schools, not knowing what to expect.</p>

<p>So far he has been accepted to 6 (1 public, 5 private), rejected at 1 (private), waiting on the others.</p>

<p>Here are my “lessons learned”:</p>

<p>1) There are some FANTASTIC options for the B - B+ students!</p>

<p>2) Take the attitude that your S or D is a treasure that any school would be delighted to have, and venture into interviews that way.</p>

<p>3) My S (and your S or D too, probably) is lagging in his development, and his upward curve really just started Junior year.</p>

<p>4) I would rather be challenged with helping him finding the “right fit” than scraping him off the floor because he didn’t get in to a brand-name reach college. Just read 80% of CC posts and breath a sigh of relief! Finding the right fit is an absolutely doable challenge!</p>

<p>5) Let your S or D follow their intuition when you visit colleges - have them talk with students. They will get a feel for “nurturing” and collaborative environment vs. competitive/grade-grubbing.</p>

<p>6) Make sure your S or D’s unique personality and character comes through. One great piece of advice we got from a U Penn counselor (my S did not apply there, the guy was just visiting our school) was this: your EC’s should demonstrate you are WELL-ANGLED, not well-rounded. i.e. what’s your overarching passion.</p>

<p>7) Read the first couple chapters of Colleges That Change Lives, it is eye-opening!</p>

<p>8) Look at the US News “A+ Options for B Students” - huge list to start with!</p>

<p>9) Don’t be discouraged by being in the lower end of a college’s “range” when it comes to scores, GPA and especially class rank. Look at the US News and notice that for many colleges less than 50% of applicants submit class rank, and many colleges have SAT optional.</p>

<p>One more thing: My S’s friends look up to him as the opinion leader in their group.
And they are all the A students! He is definitely an independent thinker, creative and trailblazer. Bet yours is too!</p>

<p>Good luck and have fun!</p>

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<p>Yes there are some fantastic options, as Benel has experienced. What is not mentioned though is paying for them. Someone with a 3.0+ and 1100 SAT scores can get into lots of schools, and even get some merit aid. Still, when a school that costs 48k is discounting and offers 8-10k off that sticker price there is still 38k that needs to be paid. There in might lie the rub. Just want everyone to be aware. If finances are not of concern, many doors are open.</p>

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<p>Just a quickie about the Allentown area… The Billy Joel song about Allentown, is really not so much about Allentown, it’s about Bethlehem - but Bethlehem didn’t rhyme quite as well. <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allentown_(song[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allentown_(song)&lt;/a&gt; "The song’s theme is of the resolve of those coping with the demise of the American manufacturing industry in the latter part of the 20th century. More specifically, it depicts the depressed, blue-collar livelihood of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s residents in the wake of Bethlehem Steel’s decline and eventual closure.[1] Joel witnessed this first-hand while performing at the Lehigh Valley’s numerous music venues at the start of his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s.</p>

<p>The introductory rhythm of the song is reminiscent of the sound of a rolling mill converting steel ingots into I-beams or other shapes. Such a sound was commonly heard throughout South Bethlehem when the Bethlehem Steel plant was in operation from 1857 through 2003." Ironically, Allentown is now a city that most people avoid and Bethlehem is the cool place.</p>

<p>I live very close to Allentown and do go downtown to visit the Symphony or a Museums but generally stick to the outskirts for shopping needs.</p>

<p>Muhlenberg and Lehigh get a lot of talk on this forum but Moravian and DeSales are also very good colleges and have great locations. Moravian is right in downtown Bethlehem and that is a town that anyone would feel comfortable walking in. It has festivals through the year and anyone interested in history will find plenty of it all around. More importantly, they are match schools for the OP’s son. </p>

<p>I really like this site [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics) to figure out the match schools for grades and finances. I don’t see the point in even visiting colleges that my kids have a slim chance of getting admitted to or we can’t afford. Not only can you see the admit stats but you can see the average awarded financial aid.</p>

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<p>Is there a way to get GPA scores with the college navigator. Also, I noticed that Moravian has a school of theology. Is it an integral part of campus. My son didn’t like one campus we visited because he thought it was too religious…</p>

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<p>warriorboy, no the theology school isn’t pervasive. Daughter spent her freshman year at Moravian before withdrawing after a major health crisis. It’s a fairly typical, liberal school. My main concern would be safety. They had some publicized crimes last year, including a stabbing on campus. It’s also really, really small, which was an issue for D as there was only one primary professor in her chosen major and he didn’t like her at all. All in all it’s a perfectly nice school with a lot going for it. Might be right for some. Had she not gotten so sick, daughter would still be there.</p>

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<p>zoosermom, I was hoping you would post. Good point about the stabbing. There is crime in Bethlehem, but the stabbing was so unusual because it happened on campus. Usually the bad stuff is on the other side of the river, closer to Lehigh.</p>

<p>warriorboy (interesting screen name, btw), Missing gpa’s is a big negative to the navigator site. Sending you a PM.</p>

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<p>Kathiep, there’s crime everywhere, so I expected prudence to be necessary, I just didn’t expect it to be right in the middle of campus in the early evening. That was surprising, but I believe the school did take it seriously.</p>

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<p>just chiming in again real quickly on Muhlenberg. While the proximity may not be a make or break factor for some students, because the school has so many theater majors, it is an attractive draw. I think my D goes into NYC once, if not twice a semester, to see shows for her theater major. The school provides the transportation. </p>

<p>Also, my D has had a car since last summer (she did musical theater summer stock last summer), and has never, ever had a parking problem. Her boyfriend this year is a freshman, and she told me his parents just brought his car down for him (but he does play a sport that requires off-campus practices).</p>

<p>Also, I agree with the Ugg comment… you pretty much find them on all college campuses these days.</p>

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<p>Our Penn trip has been postponed to August. We decided to visit the following schools:
Allegheny
Juniata
Susquehanna
Elizabethtown
Ursinus
Muhlenberg</p>

<p>We were going to visit U of Scranton and Mercyhurst but needed to cut a day off the trip.
Are any of these schools a match for a student with a 3.13 w GPA? (His ACT is a 29, can’t use the 30 because he didn’t do the writing section) When I look at the websites it seems as if most of them are reaches.</p>

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<p>WB, if I were going to cut one of them it would be Allegheny. I said that not bc it is not a good match school, but because it is nearly in OH. Even though it sits in PA, you might want to think of it as being in OH. If you don’t mind the drive, well then pick one that he likes the least on paper. I think that they are good choices for admission with his stats. You might want to consider the competitiveness of your son’s hs, and the strength of his individual hs program. I assume that you think that they are reaches bc of his gpa. His ACT score is very good for these schools.</p>

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<p>I agree to skip Allegheny - it is far way from the others.
I “never” make predictions but - I think it’s very likely he will be admitted to Juniata, Susquehanna, Elizabethtown and even Ursinus. Muhlenberg could go either way.
While his GPA is “only” a 3.13 - I looked at your other posts and he has taken a very strong schedule of coursework. This will work in his favor, as well as being out of state.</p>

<p>Double check and see if any of these schools need the Writing portion of the ACT or the SAT (which includes writing).</p>

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<p>I think Elizabethtown would love your son, particularly as he is (I assume!) male!!! I think that’s a great list.</p>

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<p>Warrior, my son was admitted to Susquehanna and Muhlenberg this past Spring with about the same GPA and Lower ACT, but chose to attend Loyola Univ Maryland in the fall because they offered more money. Susquehanna seemd like great college experience and beautiful campus with great attention to students. Very personal place. My son thought Muhlenberg felt “stuffy” to him. I liked it though and my brother recieved a great education there back in the early 80’s. Good luck.</p>

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<p>May want to re-think skipping Scranton, it is a good fit for a 3.13 GPA, and it’s getting lots of buzz as being “up and coming”. DH knows a couple of alum and they loved it.</p>

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<p>I didn’t want to drop Scranton but my son was totally uninterested after he checked out the website. He was interested in Allegheny and we were told that Allegeheny cares a lot about whether or not you visit the school. If we dropped Allegheny, we could visit another school near Juniata… </p>

<p>My son only has 3 schools that he definitely is applying to and 2 of them are reaches. I’d really like to find some schools that he has a decent shot of getting into.</p>

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<p>Hey, you should look at Lycoming. We’re visiting tomorrow for their open house! Oh, not really close to Juniata, but more of a match perhaps then Allegheny. A good friends son is entering his Junior year at Lycoming and has really enjoyed his time there. [LYCOMING</a> COLLEGE](<a href=“http://www.lycoming.edu/Admissions/OpenHouse/index.html]LYCOMING”>http://www.lycoming.edu/Admissions/OpenHouse/index.html)</p>