Help with preliminary list for an "average" kid

College Search & Selection
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Son is currently a junior and we are just starting his college search. Just went through this with my D20 but she was looking mostly at smaller LAC’s so this is like starting all over again. Could use some help with school suggestions as I got so many great ideas on our last go-around.

GPA- UW 3.85 (small, top 20 rated public HS in MA. Kids get into lots of T50’s and 99% of kids go to 4 year colleges). He has taken several honors courses each year but not sure of his weighted GPA.

Campus- city (only if it has a defined campus), otherwise suburban or rural (with a good social scene)

Size- probably around 4-10k

Greek life- indifferent, could see him joining a frat if they had them

His personality- sporty, somewhat quiet, but social kid. Somewhat conservative. Raised Catholic but religious affiliation is a non-issue.

Geographic preference- pretty open but would prefer somewhere that we can drive to or only requires one flight (from MA). Loves to ski but not necessarily a must have.

Cost- ideally under 50K with merit. Will receive no FA

Major- undecided but leaning towards business

EC’s- pretty basic. 3 sports, couple of clubs, has a job, started a business during Covid.

Our very preliminary list so far:

University of Dayton
Miami Ohio
University of Denver
Providence College
Elon

He would like to add some schools that are similar but maybe have a bit more “prestige” (his words, not mine). I realize cost and fit are the most important factors but for right now we are just trying to make a preliminary list that we can start exploring.

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Are in-state public universities under consideration?

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The three that popped into my head were Case Western, Fordham and URichmond. But they are all likely mid to high reach to get to your price point. If he is willing to move up into size of school you could look at Indiana University or some other B1G schools. Fairfield University might also be worth a look.

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University of Rochester, though not sure you could get it to the right price.

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Maybe Santa Clara University? Has a business school and also great opportunities in the Silicon Valley for internships. 5.5k students, really fun greek life scene! Pretty close to San Francisco, too! I know it’s not super close to MA but such a great school. Somewhat generous with merit scholarships

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Rochester’s COA is into the $80s now, so I don’t think that’s likely. I’ve heard Providence is stingy with merit too.

Babson and Bentley came to mind; not sure how they are with merit. My son’s at Quinnipiac. They have a 3+1 accelerated BS/MBA program, and they are pretty good with merit.

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If interested in University of Rochester, check out the Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award.

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Bentley University, Babson College and Boston College are great for business in the Boston area.

I second Fordham. It punches above it’s weight in NYC.

Santa Clara is a great school. It’s been off the radar of many because it wasn’t on USNews’ national university list. It was just added last year and started at about #51.

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Another vote for Fordham, well regarded for business and can be generous with merit. (My daughter got offered merit with a GPA noticeably below your son’s, so based on that I’d think you could get it to your price point.)

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Thanks for the suggestions. He visited Fordham with his sister and didn’t love it but we may give it another look. His sister visited Santa Clara and decided not to apply as she didn’t like the vibe but they are very different kids so I will have him take a look at it. He will apply to Umass Amherst but he really didn’t like the campus and I’m not sure if he’ll get into the business school. His dad went to Bentley so we’re very familiar with that one and he’s done lots of camps at Babson. He thinks both are too close to home. He would probably make an exception for BC but it would be a reach and they don’t give any merit $$. U Richmond would be a good reach for him but it might be a financial reach for us.

Thanks for the suggestions and definitely open to any other ideas!

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I want to second Santa Clara. D20 is there and loves it. She said it’s the perfect balance between a studious and fun atmosphere. She joined a sorority and is having a blast. The school is well regarded on the west coast and I suspect its shift from a regional to a national university in the USNWR ranking (low 50s) will raise its national profile.

P.S. since when is a 3.85 GPA “average”?? I think cc or rampant grade inflation has us all convinced that anything less than a 4.5 is just mediocre. Not so!

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@purpler Yes, I guess he’s “average” in the CC world. He hasn’t yet cured cancer or gotten a 1550 on his first attempt at the SAT so I figured people on this board would consider him “average”. I personally think he’s pretty awesome.

Thanks for the info on SC.

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@1Lotus Bausch + Lomb is 18K, which is a decent amount but still above 50K. URochester doesn’t stack scholarships, but you can get 23K (at least this year) if NMF. IIRC there is an form that your counselor has to fill out in-order to receive the application fee waiver and consideration for the scholarship (it is not automatic.)

@MAmom111 Tulane is generous with partial tuition scholarships and is a HUGE fan of demonstrated interest—make sure to apply EA + interview, if possible.

Will your son be taking the PSAT? There are many, many universities offering major scholarships (full-tuition and full-ride) for National Merit Finalists.

I know a current student at Lehigh’s Business program, though I do not know if/how much merit scholarships they offer.

The Arizona schools offer automatic merit scholarships based on test scores + GPA, though the heat may be difficult to handle for someone from the Northeast.

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@MAmom111 Suggest you add St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia to your list. As a Jesuit school, there are many similarities in feel to BC, but your son will likely get merit at SJU which hopefully would meet your sub $50k target. My son is there now and enjoys it. I don’t envy you the college search! I have a rest for a few years before starting again with his brother.

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Adding on to Jesuit ideas, my son with lower stats got merit at Loyola of Chicago, Fordham and Loyola MD (and Elon*, not Jesuit but since it’s on your list and you are thinking about merit). Jesuit schools seem to fit that mid size range that he is looking for, for the most part. Sometimes I think it’s hard for the middle sized schools to get that ‘prestige’ factor that small LACs and big schools can have…if we are talking a possible high schooler’s definition of prestige which might mean ‘a school I have heard of, or my friends have heard of.’

*From what I have read on this board, merit and possibly admissions at Elon have raised the bar since my son’s cycle in 2019.

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It’s nice to hear other’s thoughts on Santa Clara. My D was just accepted EA with some merit. We live in/around Silicon Valley so we’re not far away.

My D18’s best friend from HS currently attends Gonzaga. D18 has visited and thinks Spokane and the campus are fantastic. And very sporty with the #1 basketball team in the US. I don’t believe Gonzaga has a Greek life.

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@PikachuRocks15 He did take the PSAT. Got a 1320 with zero prep but clearly nowhere near a NMF. Think Tulane would be a huge reach. I think AZ would be too hot for him. I’ve looked at Lehigh which I think would be a good reach but I need to run the NPC as I don’t think they offer much merit.

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@1stTimeThruMom St Joseph’s is a good idea. I’ll add it to his list to explore.

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@TS0104 My D applied to Fordham with about the same stats and got very little FA. My D and I looked at Loyola MD, she didn’t love it but it might be a better fit for him. We’ll hav to take a look at Loyola Chicago. We just toured Elon and my D is actually a freshman there and loves it. He’s just not sure he wants to go to school with his sister.

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Our schools seem to overlap a lot! St. Joseph’s was on my son’s list, but too far down just because he found it later in the search. Loyola Chicago was his #2 to Elon, they are not similar, but they both made sense for him. Elon does have a really high number of siblings attend as you probably know but I totally understand that feeling, pretty sure my youngest feels the same way! youngest was interested in Denver until he found out there is no football team. And I’ll second Indiana U, if he wants prestige in a business school, for a decent price! I’m a grad. It is a beautiful, great campus. BTW I think Miami of Ohio does have a bit of prestige nationwide, it’s a popular choice here (Ohio) and well loved, good business school, I’ve heard they give good merit to OOS.