He’s actually taking AP and honors classes this year and doing fairly well. It’s just not going to be possible to recover, gpa wise, from the “covid crash” his grades took.
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This is amazing! Thank you
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For sailing - New England colleges are closer to travel to for the weekends. Other parts of the country spend a lot of time on the road to compete.
UNH’s sailing team is very active and in a great location for New England’s circuit. Close enough to Boston to go to those college regattas in Fall and Spring and they compete against the Maine schools as well.
While it is a club level at many colleges they are all competing against each other -varsity/club does not matter - same races.
Stats would be within range with a strong junior year finish. They have great supports in place and a process for accommodations.
Mass Maritime is also as option to consider - limited majors, but great sailing opportunities. Facilities on a lake nearby with wind from Buzzards Bay.
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We really liked Christopher Newport. It came in a close second for my oldest. It lost out only to a big public university in a different state.
I’m thinking we may be in the same boat, although decisions are in process. D likes the bigger schools because of the majors are more specialized to her area! Is your oldest happy at a big school?
She has since graduated, but did like the bigger school once she figured out the correct major.
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Great pun for this thread!
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You make excellent points.
I’ll lean the other way. Yield at Hobart is only around 10-12%. Demonstrated interest is important to them, so he should visit and schedule an interview. Extracurriculars are also important to them, so his Eagle Scout accomplishment should set off a lot of bells in a good way. Add sailing and that strengthens his app even further. Character is also important to them, so he needs strong recs, which I’m betting he can get. Did I mention he’s an Eagle Scout?
Can he do the work? About 1/3 of the incoming freshman have a gpa below 3.25. He’s right in the middle of that group, so he’s not an isolate. Add in the fact that his SATs are already mid range for Hobart and I think that he has the potential to do the work. Did I mention he’s an Eagle Scout? He’s shown that he can accomplish goals that he’s committed himself to working toward.
Would this be a good environment for him to do well academically? Student: Faculty ratio is 9:1. Two-thirds of the classes have fewer than 20 students. I think that this kind of school is exactly what he needs, a place where he can be known to his professors and build relationships. What I don’t know is what he wants to study, what stirs his passions in the classroom, and whether the Hobart offerings match his interests.
Finally is the fact that he’s male. What’s often overlooked in breaking down the numbers is that girls get higher grades in high school than boys do. There are also a lot more girls applying to colleges. Currently the male:female ratio in colleges is pushing 60:40. Pardon the pun, but I’ll bet that there are a lot more boys in the same boat as he is than is reflected by the overall numbers for gpa. Colleges have to dip down a little further in the applicant pool for boys. Hobart is currently 47:53, so thy’e striving to get to 50:50 but it’s hard.
I like Hobart for this student. Since sailing is a “must” and he does better academically when he’s involved with sailing, this is the perfect setting. Campus is right on the lake. Sailing is literally at his door step.
A lot of other great options have been suggested here, I just happen to like Hobart. I’m familiar with it and saw good things happen there for a cousin’s son there. I wish him all the best.
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Eckerd is amazing for kids who want to be on the water. My oldest applied there and to Christopher Newport, but eventually decided on a big state school. I really liked both schools, but Eckerd is right on the water. At that time (not sure about now, 5 years later), they also allowed students to have pets in the dorms.
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You probably mean 40:60 instead of 60:40. Fast Facts: Enrollment (98) says that the male:female ratio was 43:57 for undergraduate enrollment in fall 2019. Other pages suggest that male undergraduate enrollment has fallen since then.
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This is a very good school, whether or not you want to go into the military. Might be a good option for your kid. SAT range is 1000-1100 for the middle 50 percentile. Their grads get jobs quite easily. I personally know someone who went there and had a fantastic time. Went on to get a PhD and is now doing really well.
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Yes, 40:60. My bad.
I read an article last summer, reporting that the most recent enrollment numbers have females at 59+%.
I’m also going to put in a plug for Eckerd. Not only can one sail rolling out of your bunk in the dorm, folks can (and do) sail all year long without needing to put skates on the boat. If a student does better with sailing in their life, not having it easy to do for a large part of the school year would be a caution flag.
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Our friend sails at Vermont. I think it’s a Club team, and they sail on Lake Champlain vs ocean. We live in Maine, so he was always an ocean sailor. But he really loves UVM, and loves the sailing team. As someone else mentioned, the travel doesn’t seem too bad. He was back at home in Maine for two regattas in the fall (I think one at UNH and one at Bowdoin). He was thinking about Roger Williams but decided that UVM would be a better educational experience.
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My cousins went to St. Mary’s and loved it. We toured it last year and will go back again. It is small and somewhat isolated but a beautiful campus.
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In truth, sailing on Chesapeake Bay has a legendary history and St. Mary’s is one of the prime centers for sailing there.
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I’m feeling Hobart here. I know numerous students who have been in their sailing program and liked it. I suspect admission is at least quite likely. For a larger school, how about the University of Rhode Island? How about Baldwin Wallace? Club sailing, but I think less intense than the other two. Best of luck.
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Looking at sailing programs was how we started the college search for our daughter as we knew this would be one of the deciding factors. This spreadsheet on the ICSA website is a great place to start: ICSA SAILING PROGRAMS Team Database - Google Sheets.
It lists all the schools with sailing programs by region and includes whether they are club, coached or coached club. There is also contact info if you want to start reaching out to coaches. She’s had some great conversations with coaches about their schools, programs and where she would fit in their roster.
Once we knew which schools had good sailing programs, we then researched which ones were a good match with her stats. She had some highly competitive schools on her list, but some of the others included UVM, URI, Roger Williams, Washington College, St. Mary’s of Maryland, College of Charleston, Rollins and Eckerd. Trying to make her final decision now. Good luck!
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Hi! I have a son who is similar to yours. Ripping ADHD, executive function issues, a “c” average in high school, Eagle Scout. His SAT score was pretty high but so out of sync with his grades that I think it was a red light. My son applied to colleges in 2019 and 2020. His first round he was accepted to one school, the second round 5.
What made a difference for our kid was a PG year at a prep school that offered an executive function program. He was able to continue his sport and work on his EF. I don’t know if a year of boarding school is something you’re comfortable with, but it served us well. He was accepted at UConn, Hobart, St Lawrence, U of South Carolina with assorted Honors and awards and got into his reach, Lehigh, where he is a successful sophomore.
That year made a real difference in his abilities and maturity. Please reach out if you have any questions.
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I have actually considered this! Can I ask which school he went to for PG? Here are so many choices and some seem questionable.