<p>Ds1 is happily enrolled at an amazing LAC that I first learned about on cc. I'm now wondering what great ideas you have for ds2, a HS sophomore. He's been getting tons of mail, so he's primed for the discussion, even doing independent research some evenings.</p>
<p>Pros: Should have great test scores (hopefully NMSF, already Commended and Natl Hisp Scholar range based on sophomore PSAT), class president and other leadership, hundreds of volunteer hours, URM, has held a job since seventh grade, athlete. </p>
<p>Cons: Lackluster GPA when compared to his test scores, rank likely in the third decile at highly competitive HS. I'm not sure he'll get the "most rigorous" courseload designation because he's not taking BC Cal next year, and that's what most of the top students do (but it's not too late to change that!). He works really hard in classes he loves (Model UN, Latin, English sometimes, depending on the project) and/or for teachers he loves and not so much in others, though he pulls more As than Bs. Will need FA. He's kind of "brand conscious."</p>
<p>He used to think he wanted to go into politics but fell in love with Model UN this year and is now thinking intl relations, something in public policy.</p>
<p>He thinks he'd be happiest at a midsize school with a compact campus in/near an urban area (think SMU in Dallas), but I think he's pretty flexible on that. The obvious ideas to us are G'town and American. He's looked at Northwestern and is intrigued by Pomona. Macalester sounds like a match. </p>
<p>His brother suggested George Mason. Does that sound like a good idea? UVa? Just looking for other ideas so that we can plan college visits for this summer, the only time we can do them.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t do George Mason because anyone I’ve known to go there transfers. It doesn’t have the best rep. </p>
<p>But my friend goes to American and studies International Affairs and is loving it. Her Poli Sci class got visits from Pelosi’s administration regarding the budget craziness right now. She has gotten involved heavily in many different political type things. Surrounded by students from all across the world. Currently taking Spanish right now to finish off what learned in high school and will be moving onto Arabic next semester.</p>
<p>If his gpa is as spotty as it sounds, GT, NW, and Tufts would be challenging. Ditto UVA and Pomona. Int’l Rels. not MAOE, but you might want to research BU and NYU. American does sound reasonable, as does GW. </p>
<p>He sounds like a good, promising kid, but speaking from experience you want them to dream big, but realistically.</p>
<p>Good luck - it’s definitely easier the second time around!</p>
<p>Since finances are a consideration, you will need to be a bit more prudent in your search. George Washington U is a great school but it is usually listed as either the most expensive or almost most expensive school in the country.</p>
<p>It sounds like your son is already casting a broad net…and that will be needed. His “unbalanced” GPA vs SAT scores make some schools that might otherwise look like matches more unpredictable. UVA and Georgetown are terrific schools but they are very tough admits. If you are instate for VA, it’s worth the application.</p>
<p>It sounds like your son wants to be in or near a city. What about some of the schools in the greater Philly area or Boston? I don’t know whether Northeastern has the programs he is interested in, but that might be worth checking. They have a coop program which provides good experience as well as some income!</p>
<p>I do agree that American University is a good option too. However, American I don’t think they meet full need. They do, however, offer merit aid that could factor into this equation (assuming his grades meet their criteria).</p>
<p>S2 had a 3.49 UW, 4.24 W, 2290, full IB program housed within a regular HS, 11 APs, debate captain, Model UN, football and a few other interesting things. School does not rank, but by the chart he’d be in the third decile, which includes all seniors. The IB program is county-wide competitive admit (very large school system) with 1 in 7 applicants admitted, avg. SAT 2130. He would have been at the very top of his class at our local HS.</p>
<p>Your S won’t need an actual IR major to get what he wants.</p>
<p>For IR, S2 applied to…
Tufts (has many possible combinations of interests/foci)
UChicago (he could go Int’l Studies or polisci and focus on IR)
Georgetown (we considered this a high reach because we are local and SFS is the toughest school to get into)
Carleton (S was waitlisted)
Swarthmore (polisci, we considered it a mega reach)
Bowdoin (gov’t – S was waitlisted)
*URochester
*UMD-CP (gov’t w/College Scholars program in International Studies)</p>
<p>Others he seriously considered/researched/and-or visited:
*American (merit $$, too)
W&M (really good IR, can be tough OOS but not pie-in-the-sky difficult)
*Macalester
*Brandeis
*GWU
*Boston University (big IR dept.)
*Syracuse (more for public policy)
Grinnell
Haverford
CMC</p>
<ul>
<li>would be solid match/slight reach
I don’t think Tufts is a major reach if he is in the 3.5-3.7 range with NMSF-level scores.</li>
</ul>
<p>Have also heard good things about Dickinson’s international focus. Too close to home for S2. Chose not to apply to Ivies, which was probably a realistic decision, but he visited a few. Was not swept off his feet. </p>
<p>I’m sure mathmom will chime in – we live in parallel universes. :)</p>
<p>What are the financial strictures? That plays a big role in giving recommendations. Being male with high SATS might net him a $5-10K award at some LACs but their sticker prices are up there. </p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I would list Fordham, Fairfield, Gettysburg, Dickenson.,Macalester, Colorado College, Cornell College,.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely know that some of these are reaches. I’m just trying to figure out what colleges have strong programs in his area of interest that I haven’t thought of. We’ll have a balanced list.</p>
<p>We need and will qualify for a lot of FA.</p>
<p>He doesn’t want a large Greek presence and would prefer not the South/SE.</p>
<p>My younger son was a B+/A- student but with a higher rank (6%), 2150 scores (skyhigh verbal, M and W just under 700), 5s on the APs he’d taken. No URM advantage, his main ECs were Science Olympiad (where he had a medal from states in Ecology), a hobby of folding origami which he also sold for a small profit and a volunteer activity he was able to write engagingly about. Interested in history, international relations and global warming.</p>
<p>With good essays and great teacher recommendations he got into Tufts and U of Chicago (which I considered reaches) and Vassar (more of a match), and American (with money that halved the cost of attendence). </p>
<p>I think Tufts, U of Chicago and Hopkins are all worth applying to, but will be reaches. In DC he should look at Georgetown (probably too reachy), GW (which we considered a match for our son, but he wanted more of a campus) and American. (American loves high SAT scores.) Brandeis was another match school - unfortunately we visited on a holiday and it didn’t make the right impression. I really liked it. He had planned to apply to Syracuse and W&M, but didn’t after the Chicago acceptance.</p>
<p>As you can see - a lot of overlap with CountingDown, our sons are twins except my son really wasn’t interested in LACs. He wanted colleges that were bigger than his high school. Vassar (big for an LAC) stayed on the list, but on a second visit was definitely “too small”.</p>
<p>In terms of opportunities Tufts has been amazing. One of his best friends is at American and is loving it. I suspect my son would have better grades at AU and probably would have made a point of finding similar opportunities. Somewhere on CC there is a nice thread about “The other Johns Hopkins”. If you aren’t pre-med it is quite a different place from it’s reputation as a somewhat stressful experience.</p>
<p>“vintl relations, something in public policy…midsize school with a compact campus in/near an urban area”</p>
<p>You’ve just described American. And many students (including my d’s roommate) s do double majors in international relations and public affairs (they are separate schools at American.)</p>
<p>If you’re instate for VA, W&M offers a strong IR major and would be a great opportunity for him to continue with MUN. It’s a huge deal at W&M ( [The</a> International Relations Club | at the College of William & Mary](<a href=“http://www.wmirc.org%5DThe”>http://www.wmirc.org) ) and they always place very well in competitions (I think they were 2nd last year in the World MUN). W&M meets full need for in-state students (and the more need, the more grants vs. loans), though finaid is one of the school’s weaker aspects. So if you’re OOS, I wouldn’t put it on the list - it’s a tougher admit for OOS students, as well.</p>
<p>American really does sound like the perfect fit for what he’s looking for. We know kids in the program there who could not be happier.</p>
<p>And to clarify a bit – his GPA is over 4.0 weighted. His last report card had one 86 and the rest As. He’s generally an excellent student but is scatter-brained, and that’s what hurts his grades. Example: He forgot about an online chemistry assignment due at midnight, jumps out of bed at 11:30 and gets one question done before the deadline and so got a 17. Doh! Not surprisingly, chemistry is the class where he got an 86.</p>
<p>So, even his GPA isn’t that bad, but because of the high fliers at his school, a good GPA still results in a bad class rank. His older brother had a 4.16 (out of a possible 4.8) and didn’t even finish in the top quarter at the same school, but at our neighborhood school would have been in the top 4% (we have a friend who is a counselor in our neighborhood HS, and she gave us that info, which we incorporated in the Add’l Info section of the Common App; we’ll do the same for ds).</p>
<p>Also, money is limited for visiting schools so we have to be smart about this. He is applying to a free program this summer in D.C. (we’d pay airfare), so if he gets that then I’ll fly out with him a couple of days early and we’ll visit G’town, American and GW.</p>
<p>Pomona is one of the hardest LACs to get into, but Claremont MacaKenna, which is located on the same lovely 5 college consortium campus in LA, is less reachy and more poly-Sci/ government studies focused college. Students can cross register at any of the 5 small colleges there for classes not offered by their own college. </p>
<p>I would also recommend you take a look at the list of college that offer full/ half tuition scholarships to NMF’s.</p>
<p>Relax; as a URM male with solid gpa and stellar scores S2 will do just fine (even ia school like Pomona is in play). Since $ is a factor, focus on schools needs-blind or needs-sensitive schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need (as calculated using the CSS institutional formula) - - many of which are “brand names” that will appeal to S2. </p>
<p>In what part of the country would S2 like to study? Does he want to be in or have easy access to a city? Is rural ok? Has S2 expressed interest in any schools? Would he prefer a large uni? Small uni? LAC? Is diversity (ie: other URM studehts) important? Will he fell uncomfortable at a sch w/ an affluent student body (or schs where there are ostentatious displays of wealth)? What are his academic (other than IR) and EC interests?</p>
<p>Also, if S2 has any form of NMS recognition and is AA, he’ll probably receive Nat Ach Scholarship money (I don’t believe there is a $ award for the Hispanic prgm).</p>
<hr>
<p>FYI: NYU is notorious for low finaid awards.</p>
<p>YDS…I would also encourage him to look at Tufts for what he’s wanting to study. You had asked about UVa but said he didn’t want a school with a large Greek presence – based upon this criteria alone, I would cross off UVa. 30% of the student body is Greek and although that doesn’t sound like a lot, it does tend to be very prominent. Georgetown and U of Chicago are also reputable for what he’s wanting. What about NYU or as a reach, Columbia?</p>
<p>UVa probably is too preppy for him. I only mentioned it because he loves Thomas Jefferson.</p>
<p>I know next to nothing about Tufts but for some reason always thought it was preppy. The ds of one of my best friends is going there in the fall. We’ll be able to pick their brains.</p>
<p>Gosh, I never thought of ds as the UChicago type (hyper-intellectual, though I concede that’s a stereotype). I’ll see what he says about that one.</p>
<p>I admit I don’t know a lot about Claremont McKenna, other than it’s in the consortium. Will look into that one.</p>
<p>I just don’t see him happy at NYU or Columbia. Aren’t they really integrated in the city? I think he wants access to a city, but would prefer that the campus itself be a bit of a retreat.</p>
<p>OK, let’s say we go to D.C. How many days would it take to do American, GW, G’town and Johns Hopkins?</p>
</p>