<p>My friend is looking for colleges, but doesn't really know where to start.
We attend a highly competitive magnet school, so keep in mind, it is much harder to make good grades at our school.</p>
<p>His GPA is a 2.7 (weighted)
SAT: around 1660, but he will (hopefully) raise it to 1800.
ACT: 24
APs: Computer Science, English, Economics, Government, Anatomy and Physiology Also duel credit course in Bio Technology.
Extracurriculars: Part of our school's fire academy, will have his fire fighter and EMT certification after this year. That is pretty much all there is to his extra curriculars. Also, speaks Spanish, has had 3 years of Japanese, and one year of Chinese</p>
<p>He doesn't know exactly what he wants to study, but knows it should be something in the medical field. He's been looking at Boston University and University of Maryland, but we're not really sure what his chances are there...But he wants to go somewhere on the East Coast.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any suggestions for schools that would be a good match for him? He's so motivated and really passionate, he just made some mistakes in his first two years of school so his grades don't reflect how smart he really is...Please help us find somewhere for him to go!!</p>
<p>“We attend a highly competitive magnet school, so keep in mind, it is much harder to make good grades at our school.”</p>
<p>my question: “Where does a 2.7 GPA place him in his class? Top 10%, top 25%, top 50%?”</p>
<p>your answer: “Definitely in the bottom 50%.”</p>
<p>OK–Here’s the reality of it. You have a 2.7 GPA. You’re in the bottom 50% of your class.
Motivation and passion are great, but it’s not going to change the fact that your GPA and rank are low. When you make your college list, be realistic and look for less selective schools.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter if you go to a competitive school, when you are within the bottom 50% of the class and has a 24 ACT (which translate to 1680 according to conversion charts).</p>
<p>Your local in-state flashship is your friend’s best option. 2.7 will hurt a lot.</p>
<p>Edit: looks like UT is out of the question. I doubt that any state school on the east coast will accept an OOS student with a 2.7. Look at less competitive private schools, but be prepared to pay a fortune.</p>
<p>Two years of community college. If the grades ar good, then transfering to a college should be easier for him. And you are a nice friend to be doing HIS homework.</p>
<p>This site (one of my faves) has a good engine where you can put in your criteria and it will spew out a bunch of colleges. In the meantime (i.e. until people give you actual suggestions…) I suggest messing around with it! Collegeboard and princeton review also have similar engines.</p>
<p>There are plenty of colleges that gladly would admit your friend. However, one big question your friend needs answered before applying to colleges: How much are your friend’s parents prepared to pay for college each year?</p>
<p>Your friend’s stats aren’t likely to earn merit aid at colleges, so the sticker price or close to the sticker price is what your friend’s parents likely would have to pay. The sticker price is far more for out of state students at public universities than in state students.</p>
<p>Northstarmom:
We don’t want to make finance a factor yet-- right now, we’re just trying to find places he can get into and be happy at.
As for financial aid, I think he’d probably get a significant amount. His family has 4 children, and his mother is unemployed.</p>
<p>Exactly, to go to college on the E. Coast he would have to be able to pay all but what he might qualify for from the Federal Government which at max would be $5500 in grants. After that he could get some loans and work study, but in the end, that doesn’t add up to much of what he’d need for a private or out of state public.</p>
<p>You have to consider fiances first. Good aid, need based or merit, requires relatively high stats.</p>
<p>Kbolt, I’m no expert, but I’ve read threads here for years, and the local wisdom is, finances HAVE to be at least considered. Most schools don’t match need, so being poor only helps in some situations… like Harvard.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ll post a link to the 3.0 thread. A lot of motivated kids (or parents!) with lower GPA’s find answers there.</p>
<p>“As for financial aid, I think he’d probably get a significant amount. His family has 4 children, and his mother is unemployed.”</p>
<p>With perhaps a couple of exceptions – Berea College, which only admits low income students is one – the only colleges that meet the full demonstrated financial need of all of their students are the top colleges – places like Harvard, which accept fewer than 10% of applicants, and those applicants have sky high stats and strong ECs.</p>
<p>The only public schools that promise to meet the full need of all students are UNC and UVA, both of which are very difficult to gain admission to.</p>
<p>Your friend’s stats do not qualify your friend for such schools. Probably your friend will have to start by living at home and going to community college, and then transferring to an in-state public university.</p>
<p>He has no chance of getting into BU. Even if he somehow got admitted, he wouldn’t be able to afford it. It doesn’t meet the full financial need of most students.</p>
<p>Your friend isn’t likely to get into UMD. if he managed to get accepted, it wouldn’t meet his financial need. UMD can’t even meet the financial need of most of its needy in -state students.</p>
<p>Okay Okay, I get that, thank you everyone for telling me where he can NOT get in and where he can not pay for, that’s really not helping at all
What I want to know is where he CAN get in, or at least has a chance. And I don’t want to hear community college.</p>
<p>Once we have looked at some schools, if they can’t meet his need, we will take them off the list. But we just want to start looking to see what his options are.</p>
<p>If you’re going to set finances aside for the moment, maybe look into:</p>
<p>Niagara University (a Catholic college)
Manhattan College (another Catholic college)
Marymount Manhattan
Pace
Manhattanville College</p>
<p>Other geographic locations:
Maybe:
University of Tampa
Arizona State
Roanoke College </p>
<p>You don’t want to hear about Community College. However, financially and academically, this may be the best option for him in the long run. He’ll save big money the first 2 years and if he can earn a strong GPA, he’ll have many other options for more selective colleges as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Please discuss finances with this kid. The worst thing you can do is to get his hopes up for these schools, have him get accepted, and then tell him that he can’t go because of finances.</p>