<p>After lots of help from folks here, S thinks he is honing in on a final list of places to apply.
He is a full IB diploma guy, 3.8 uw gpa, 31ACT (has retaken, but hasn't gotten scores yet) and 2100 SAT - will retake in Oct. No hooks. Good EC's, and vol, some leadership in clubs and 4 year varsity sport (but not a captain). Interested in econ or business or maybe med school after undergrad - in other words - who knows! Looking for small school and either merit aid, or meets need and generous type environment. In descending order of selectivity:</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna
Rice
Whitman
U Puget Sound
U of Portland
Seattle Pacific U
Trinity U (Texas)
Southwestern U (Texas)
Westminster (Utah)
U of Oregon (ultimate safety - guaranteed admission plus soph. standing)
Maybes = Cal Lutheran and U of Redlands</p>
<p>So how does it look? Suggestions? Would like to lop off a couple, plus make sure we aren't overlooking anywhere that would be a great idea. You can see the culture of place he's after I think, by the congruence in the list.</p>
<p>Gonzaga felt too big to him - even though I realize it isn’t all that large…</p>
<p>More input?</p>
<p>Are we on the right level of possibility for admission? </p>
<p>He has one national level business EC and is leader in an international business venture club at his school. His school is very large, public, title 1 and does not supply help for college things - for example we are not able to order a transcript yet, as they are not ready to print accurate records reflecting the end of last year…</p>
<p>If the list is too long, which schools feel “extra”?</p>
<p>I think this is a great list–Knowing most of these schools fairly well, I’d say he has a great shot at most of them. If you wanted to lop, unless its a favorite of his, I’d say Westminster, though I would think this would be a safety–if he would choose it over UO. You could try asking him–about Westminster, Southwestern and really any on the list–would you choose UO over any of these? Then you could remove them. Is he trying for the Honors College at UO? Good luck–I think this is a terrific, well-rounded list. There are certainly some I would say to look at if I didn’t think you’d done your homework (Willamette, Lewis & Clark) but I assume he’s already seen them. Good luck!</p>
<p>My son is interested in some of these (doesn’t have your boys GPA though). I thought Seattle Pacific was much more religious than the others on the list (perhaps even mandatory chapel attendance). I could be way off base here and I would love to hear your thoughts. As of now Trinity is at the top of son’s list.</p>
<p>How about Pitzer, Occidental, Loyola Marymount, Lewis and Clark and Willamette? Westminster seems “extra” to me because I think the Clark Honors College at U of O would be a stronger academic environment at a good price. Willamette has merit aid, but I’m not sure about the others.</p>
<p>The honors program at Gonzaga is very small and those students get lots of opportunities and faculty attention. A friend’s son is the program and received substantial merit aid as well.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna might be a bit of a reach. It’s a Profile school that is committed to meeting full need. Have you run the financial aid calculations to estimate your EFC, and are you comfortable paying that amount as a minimum? It offers a few merit awards but most of its aid is need-based.</p>
<p>Redlands was extremely generous with merit aid for my son who had slightly less stellar stats than your son’s. Univ of Puget Sound offered nothing. He’s now at Redlands and loves it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the posts! Rhumbob - yes, Seattle Pacific is a religious environment, but there is no mandatory chapel or other type of attendance thing - there are three classes required, but they seemed broad enough for S to be happy with it.
Vballmom - yes CMC and Rice are the “reach” schools, and honestly I wish we had a couple more reach type places on the list. Because of the need for merit, there are more academic matches and safeties.
Anyone have “reach” type suggestions?</p>
<p>Westminster has a strong rep locally and gives fairly good automatic merit aid plus some opportunities to compete for full tuition. Location in the city couldn’t be better, and the surrounding area is great for hiking, skiing, etc., and very beautiful. Locally, it is considered strong in business and biology specifically. I’ve visited the campus, and it’s very nice–lots of trees and a nice creek running by one of the dorms. Only downsides I heard is that the dorm food isn’t the greatest and that there can be a good number of wealthy kids (like at many LACs), though many students also attend for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard rather good things about Trinity (TX) and their merit aid. I have a friend who graduated from the school in May and would be happy to pass along any questions.</p>
<p>vballmom- son is actually visiting Redlands right now - since your son loves it, I’m guessing you and he are happy with the academic rigor? What is he interested in studying?
The Redlands info on these boards is pretty skimpy - glad you posted!</p>
<p>I will check out the honors college at Gonzaga and give the info to S.</p>
<p>S says he will attend UofO as a last resort only - he is really hoping to find a small environment. Too bad, as I think U of O has alot to offer ----- perhaps over the next few months, he might see that too…</p>
<p>puma - I hope your son has a good visit to Redlands. In our experience their Admissions Office was top-notch. </p>
<p>My son is happy with the academics there so far and likes all of his teachers. He doesn’t know what he wants to major in, which is part of the reason he looked mainly at liberal arts colleges during his search. He’s checking out psychology as a possible major, taking the intro course this semester. There are distribution requirements at Redlands, so these need to be considered when scheduling classes. He’s taking advantage of help sessions offered to his calculus II class, in which he started off feeling a little shaky but is now much more comfortable. I think it’s a good school for my son and I’m confident that he’ll get an excellent education there.</p>
<p>Another CC mom posts here whose daughter is at Redlands. She’s in the Johnston program, so if your son is interested in that then look at the College Class of 2014 thread for her comments so far (the daughter is very happy).</p>
<p>To the OP: Your son wants a small environment and has University of Oregon as a safety. I think he’d get some relatively good merit money at Willamette.</p>
<p>CalAlum - thanks for the thought. My understanding is that the top scholarship at Willamette (other than the Hatfield - which is one person and is for community service) is 15k, which leaves us short. But Willamette is a nice place!
Several on his list would make him happy if the finances fall into place, but options are needed in case the money turns out to be a determining factor. As of now, he is not really considering U of O an option - just applying because parents say it’s a must.
With his stats, do any other more rigorous places (west coast or not) come to mind with the type of ‘personality’ of these schools?</p>
<p>I am the mom vballmom was referring to (waves)…my daughter is a Redlands and is in the Johnston program. What being in the program does is it allows the students to waive all the distribution requirements and intergrate their education if they have multiple interests. It is a living-learning community. You are welcome to PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>I was favorably impressed by UPS as a College and they offered my daughter a decent amount of merit aid despite the fact we are full pay. Unfortunately my daughter decided to go east to another school.
Friends of mine who are very familiar with top LAC’s like Haverford, Bowdoin etc have been very impressed by Whitman as well as UPS. My impression is that Whitman offers some merit aid but not a lot.
Rice also seems to give some merit but not a lot. The Rice tuition however is low for a top university.
I get the impression that many schools often offer a decent, say 10K merit scholarship as an inducement to get their top applicants to come.
I am a graduate of Redlands and received fairly good merit but that was a long time ago.
Did make it into a top ten medical school so I guess the experience did me little harm.</p>
<p>No, this isn’t right. The link to this data is on the Willamette thread, but the school gives merit scholarships to around 87% of admitted students, and the average award in 2009 was just over $13,000 per student. My son’s test scores are higher than your son’s, but his unweighted gpa is only 3.44, and he ended up with a merit award that is higher than 15k per year, fyi.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that CMC gives merit money above 15k per year to any but the most exceptional students, and I think it would be a stretch to expect that from Whitman College. But don’t take my word for it; this information is on each school’s common data set, available on the website.</p>
<p>Thank you! I’ll do more research!
you’ve all made me very interested in hearing how the visit at Redlands went, as well as looking into some more alternatives. I love this CC community!</p>
<p>–and Carroll looks “too snowy” says son (but Westminster is OK? - sometimes these kiddos are unpredictable!)</p>
<p>What about Colorado College? Santa Clara? Occidental? There aren’t really more “reachy” schools in the west than the Claremonts, Whitman and Reed. Everything else–luckily for your son–are in a pretty good match range, given his stats. Lots of great choices!</p>