My son got 1450/1600 on SATs, but has a weighted GPA of 3.45. How will colleges view that?
He has some extra curricular activites but nothing consistent for all four years.
Intelligent but not hard working. It all depends if he has an upward trend in his school. Then he will have a shot at some mid-tier schools like purdue or northeastern or syracuse.
His chances will be best at your state flagship, honors college at mid tier state universities, regional universities, private/oos universities and LACs ranked 75-125; universities/LACs ranked 50-75 would be his reaches.
He can look at universities such as Creighton, unc Wilmington, CSI Chico…
If he can bring his weighted GPA to 3.5 he’s get a full tuiotn scholarship and honors college admission at UAlabam, probably his best deal.
State, budget and field of study?
We live in MD and are looking at schools in PA (<3hrs, please), MD, DC, and (<3hrs, please) VA. Not too concerned about cost, hoping to get some scholarships / grants(?). He is interested in Psychology, but what HS kid isn’t? He is NOT a STEM kid. Has the smarts for STEM, but not the passion. He’s a very good writer and I hope he kicks butt on his admissions essays. He is lazy and I hope he wakes up in college and applies himself. So we need him to be in a school which will help him blossom. Not too keen on him going to a safety school (like Towson) and just get by. Was interested in St. John’s of Annapolis, but he is too hesitant to do a program that is so unconventional.
So we want schools which will challenge him and help him reach his full potential. Looking at Swarthmore, Duquesne, Muhlenberg, Loyola, American, Gettysburg… not sure if he’ll get in. what does everyone think/know about Hood in Frederick MD? What about Hofstra in NY?
How much weight should we put on the acceptance rates indicated on US News&WR pages? We are somewhat discounting the information on Naviance (from our County). He does have an upward trend on his grades but his sophomore year was the killer.
I am not sure why you are discounting Naviance but it can be a useful tool. I suggest you run his stats through the schools on his list and see how doable they appear. How about McDaniel? Loyola had a great honors program a few years ago, not sure the status these days. If truly interested in Muhlenberg go do the official visit and get to know them. They prefer ED candidates that have shown interest. Best of luck to you!
Here are well-regarded LACs that are more forgiving of stats:
http://ctcl.org/
Why the geographical restriction ? (although I see Duquesne, which is 8-9 jours from Maryland so I’m guessing you’re flexible on this?)
Run the net price calculator on each of these.
Many scholarships require a 3.5 (sometimes weighted… Sometimes unweighted).
Swarthmore is totally out of reach.
Muhlenberg is a nice match.
Look at Ursinus (strong in writing).
St Mary’s College of Maryland (public honors college) is a possibility.
Duquesne is a safety but doesn’t have good financial aid. Same thing for Loyola.
American is a reach but if he chooses a less-requested major it’ll help, as is the fact he’s a boy.
Gettysburg is a reach. Denison would be a good 'similar’school, although a low reach too.
Look into TCNJ.
Udel?
Temple?
TCNJ depending on major is more of a reach than American, that’s for sure.