Looking for mid-size, mid-Atlantic, mid-selectivity schools

Parents Forum
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<p>I want to pick the CC parents' brains for suggestions of any schools we might have missed or feedback on schools under consideration for my junior D. We need to expand the pool a bit because of lower than expected SAT scores.</p>

<p>Looking for schools not too far away from home state of NJ. D would prefer not too small (larger than high school of ~2200), and not too big. Must have an equestrian team (probably IHSA club team). Weather not significantly colder than NJ (because will be out in the weather a lot for horseback riding). No women's colleges - prefers even male/female ratio. Strongly prefers no religious affiliation, certainly no dominant single religion. Wants a "real" college campus, not a city campus, not a suitcase school. Major uncertain, psychology is a likely possibility, with a possible interest in grad school in Occupational or Physical Therapy, or something else in the health sciences.</p>

<p>I would like to see high 4-yr graduation rates and freshman retention rates. We are fortunate enough, and have saved for many years, to be full pay, even for private schools.</p>

<p>She has a 3.4 UW and 3.9W GPA with a rigorous schedule, honors or APs in all subjects but math, with a Top 15% rank (our district seems to grade harder than many, uses weighted GPA in rank). Has taken the SAT twice, both with lower than expected scores, will try ACT in April. PSAT scores were CR 62, M 58, W 63, Tot 183. First SAT in Dec: CR 590, M 570, W 620, Tot 1780. Second SAT in Mar: CR 590, M 550, W 690, Tot 1830. Her writing score is the highest, but unfortunately a lot of colleges don't consider it.</p>

<p>We visited Bucknell, Lafayette, and Gettysburg, back when we were estimating higher SAT scores. We plan spring break visits to: Delaware, Elon, Marist, Richmond, Susquehanna. Will also visit TCNJ and Rutgers sometime, although TCNJ lacks an equestrian team, and she thinks Rutgers is too big and unwieldy.</p>

<p>Any other suggestions? Any feedback on the above schools?</p>

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<p>I don’t know a lot about equestrian, but Delaware is a very good school might be a good fit if your Daughter gets the SATs up a smidge. Is Pitt too big for her? It’s in a city, but it has a real campus. Temple or Towson would be extreme safeties for your daughter, but they are good options as well if they have equestrian teams. Is UConn too north/big? Good luck!</p>

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<p>Look at the below 2000 thread on this page (currently) and see if any of the schools I have listed have an equestrian team. They are all schools kids in our school got into this year with merit aid (even though you don’t need merit aid). Our school’s SAT average is < 1500 and the test is only taken by 4 year college bound students. We’re in PA, so not that far from you. I should know equestrian team schools since we raise ponies and I was on my college’s team as a student (eons ago), but I haven’t kept up with it at all. Sorry.</p>

<p>Being full pay I would still try the reaches you like. It will be a plus at many of those schools.</p>

<p>Here’s the thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1311576-there-any-parents-below-2000-sats-threads.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1311576-there-any-parents-below-2000-sats-threads.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>How about Juniata, Allegheny, and Washington and Jefferson? Juniata is also test optional if you decide to go that route. So is W&J.</p>

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<p>What about Franklin and Marshall? They are SAT optional and seem to attract some high-performing students whose SAT’s turn out to be lower than expected, along with students with similar class performance but higher SAT’s.</p>

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<p>Sacchi: weren’t we just doing this? Time flies…hope your son is well…</p>

<p>A couple more to consider: depending on size:</p>

<p>Furman
Roanoke
Rollins</p>

<p>Ditto on UDel especially since you can literally stop on the way down 95…</p>

<p>If you need any help with Elon, let me know…D is a very happy freshman</p>

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<p>I think you dd might be a very good fit for Saint Mary’s College of Maryland. It does not have equal male/female, but you may not find that much at an LAC. This college has about 2000 students. It has everything else she wants. St Mary’s is not religious at all. It is just named after St Mary’s city/county. It does have IHSA club team.</p>

<p>Towson can be good for her major.</p>

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<p>MD - Washington College, Salisbury State on the eastern shore of MD
Towson University, St Mary’s College, Goucher</p>

<p>Va - Mary Washington, Roanoke, Radford, Christopher Newport, </p>

<p>NC - High Point, NC State (a little bigger but has equestrian), UNC’s - maybe Wilmington, Guilford (I think it’s NC, it may be VA)</p>

<p>SC - Clemson, College of Charleston</p>

<p>Not sure of the equestrian piece - but those might be worth a look</p>

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<p>I agree that full pay is a hook. Try Dickinson. Goucher (small though). If you’re willing to go west a bit, try Wooster and Denison.</p>

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<p>rodney, yes, doing this again, for kid #2 (of 2). S is a happy sophomore at WashU in St. Louis. I’m more knowledgeable this time around, but have to learn about a completely different set of schools, as S had high test scores. D asks a lot of questions about what schools her brother visited, and if we should visit them, and it is really tough to have to say that they are out of reach for her. </p>

<p>I hadn’t really been thinking about test optional schools, since her test scores aren’t that bad (the 690 in Writing is quite good, 95th percentile), and her absolute UW GPA (3.4) is not great, although pretty good within the context of her high performing suburban NJ public school (top 15% rank). I think of test optional schools as being more for the 3.9 GPA/1500 SAT student. Am I wrong?</p>

<p>Thanks to all for the suggestions so far - will look them all up. I’ve considered a number of them before, but have discarded many for some reason or other - too small, too mismatched male/female, too far away, etc. But I’m sure most of them are worth another look. After all, the school my S now happily attends wasn’t in the first list since it was “too far away”.</p>

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<p>I don’t think test optional is appropriate at this point; it could always be a consideration at application time…</p>

<p>You have a good prelim list; I don’t think you are leaving any stone unturned at this point, based on the equestrian list I pulled up online…</p>

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<p>Keep in mind NC public (state) schools have an OOS cap of no more than 18%. So with a preference given to in-state residents it is more difficult for OOS.</p>

<p>For UNC Chapel Hill OOS students need ivy caliber stats. Also for the very popular majors at NC State, UNC Wilmington, Asheville…</p>

<p>So when looking at the stats for NC students just keep in mind the cap and the raised stats.</p>

<p>Guilford is in NC,and is private, as is Elon and High Point.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>sacci, if your daughter can stand it, don’t give up on the SAT. Certainly she might try the ACT, but…a decent prep course can help, and repetition can be very useful for some. My son took the SAT 5 times (sounds psychotic, but the schools didn’t hold it against him). Almost all of them superscore. If I remember it right…the difference between the first time taking the SAT and the superscore by the end was about 400 points. Every time he took it, he raised his superscore 50-100 points, so he just kept taking it till he couldn’t stand it anymore. Some SAT prep courses are better than others, and though writing may not be considered as highly, a good score helps.</p>

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<p>My S also had an issue with standardized testing and decided to apply to Holy Cross, with standardized testing optional being a strong consideration. He was admitted and is now weighing his options. Of course, HC is a very small school, so maybe not a consideration, but I think the schools that are more student centric are a good fit for those standardized test challenged. :)</p>

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<p>sacchi - I don’t know about other schools, but students who go test optional at Franklin and Marshall might be those whose profiles are more like your D’s, whose scores would put her below their 25% mark but who are otherwise strong students at competitive high schools. We were in fact told by parents of students with profiles similar to our D’s- SAT’s in mid to upper 700’s and good GPA from competitive high school - that her “test optional” peers would be very competitive in the classroom. </p>

<p>We would have considered any school where our D’s SAT’s put her below the 25% as a “reach” and might have considered going test optional, had Frazzled D not done very well on the SAT’s.</p>

<p>But, I agree with others - if your daughter is game, it can’t hurt to try the ACT and give the SAT another shot or two.</p>

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<p>Would you consider Alfred, in NY. </p>

<p>Minus – colder than NJ</p>

<p>Plus: with engineering school, even M/F ratio, grad programs in some psych fields, equestrian team AND club (I think), and you can bring your own horse (I think). Pretty campus, dorms guaranteed for 4 years.</p>

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<p>How about University of Mary Washington?[University</a> of Mary Washington Athletics](<a href=“http://umweagles.com/index.aspx?tab=equestrian&path=equest&tab=riding]University”>http://umweagles.com/index.aspx?tab=equestrian&path=equest&tab=riding)</p>

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<p>Here’s a link to a list of colleges with equestrian teams:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usef.org/documents/youth/EquestrianTeams.pdf[/url]”>Page Not Found | US Equestrian;

<p>If equestrian team is a must, it might be worthwhile to go through this list and check off schools that would be of interest.</p>

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<p>Don’t count out Rutgers! The equestrian team was the High Point team for the Zone this year. They won all but one show this year (fall & spring) and that show was hosted by Lafayette, who won. </p>

<p>For a kid who has some idea of what they want, it is a very good school with excellent resources. There is something for everyone there and enough space to keep your distance from people you prefer to. I would recommend she consider Douglas Residential College - the all-girls freshman dorms are much nicer than the co-ed ones, cleaner bathrooms & fresher smells.</p>

<p>I’m not sure about their OT/PT programs. The zone they ride in includes: Lehigh, Lafayette, Scranton, and Kutztown. (i’m sure there are a few more). They ride at Briarwood in Flemington. Intercollegiate shows take foreever…</p>

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<p>If having an IHSA team is high on her list of requirements, you can go to [Intercollegiate</a> Horse Show Association: Home](<a href=“http://www.ihsainc.com%5DIntercollegiate”>http://www.ihsainc.com), click on the “About” tab and select “Current teams” from the drop down menu. That will give you the list alphabetically by state. To zero in on your preferred location, click on the link that says “Click here to list schools by zones and regions”. That will narrow it down for you. </p>

<p>We did it that way when D was looking about 10 years ago and that helped a lot.</p>