<p>I love this thread–my daughter is in this range of gpa–had an excellent jr year, just struggled during grades 9 & 10, planning to retake ACT after a dismal performance on the math portion (composite ended up at 21). First choice is SUNY New Paltz…just wondering if anyone has opinion on chances of getting in. She would be a music/theater major, has a substantial performance resume and plays softball. Speaking to the dept head at NP, we get the impression they are looking for this type of student. Any impressions?</p>
<p>mschth…don’t most admissions to music theatre require auditions, which are more important than the stats? Your daughter’s stats seem fine for getting into New Paltz (at least according to our Naviance, which is OOS) but I thought musical theatre was a whole other animal…</p>
<p>msclthtrmom, have you asked this question on the musical theater forum? They can answer it much better than we can. Here’s the link: [Musical</a> Theater Major - College Discussion](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Today’s NY Times recommends a comedy about a mom with Ivy ambitions and a B student child at 9 PM on Lifetime (perhaps reshown later) called “Acceptance” with Joan Cusack (a wonderful actress) playing the mom</p>
<p>Erlemeier my D really likes Elon. We toured this summer. I think it’s a little bit of a reach for her and for most kids on this thread. It’s a school that is suddenly on everyone’s radar so I think their selectivity, which has climbed rapidly, is going to continue to go up. It’s a beautiful school in a nice area with a generally moderate climate and a reasonable price tag. An easy school to love.</p>
<p>Lafalum is right–I had neve rheard of Elon until a few years ago and it has become a hot school in our part of NJ despite not having a prominent football or basketball team</p>
<p>Northeastmom - we did not visit any other NC schools, just the ones DD applied to. We did drive past Appalachian though. Beautiful area!
I wonder why UNC-A has a low grad rate? The academic support seems to be there. According to the tour guide, if you went to any tutoring sessions, it would be reported to the professor who in turn could give you extra credit for it (or something like that).
Fiske Guide thinks highly of this school.</p>
<p>UNCA is a good school, but the low grad rate is probably because kids drop out to uh…smoke? Or maybe it’s to join a band or something.</p>
<p>About UNC-A, I also just do not understand their graduation rate. UNC-A is in a lovely area.</p>
<p>mom0809, is Appalachian isolated? We never looked at it because I read that it was quite isolated.</p>
<p>We drove past Elon a couple of times. My son was not thrilled with their location, but he liked the area around some other rural campuses. Elon has a nicer campus than some other schools that my son liked. We never toured.</p>
<p>mom0890, sorry I’ve been out of town doing the last of our summer college tours. Just wanted to add one more point about 3/2 programs. </p>
<p>My son is going to start out as a Physics major, since there is almost a total overlap between the way you start that and the way you start a 3/2 program. Then, if he gets cold feet on the 3/2 for whatever reason, he can simply finish his Physics major, and if appropriate, move on to engineering in graduate school. Likewise, if Physics doesn’t work out, he can totally shift gears and do something completely different (e.g., he’s mentioned both History and Geology). </p>
<p>I do think some of the concerns expressed here are valid (e.g., the possibility of a jarring transition from the LAC to the engineering school—Goucher 3/2 feeds into Johns Hopkins, and I can’t imagine two more different places). For us, however, having a 3/2 available just makes him feel like he’s got choices. </p>
<p>By the way, we just saw Elizabethtown in PA. One of the nice things was that they offered both degrees in engineering and a 3/2 program, in addition to a fairly well-rounded liberal arts curriculum. Very friendly place too, and appropriate for students in this thread. And a nice bonus is that it’s on the Amtrak line (not a huge thing, but our son wants to be able to get home easily).</p>
<p>northeastmom. I wouldn’t call Appalachian isolated unless you’re looking for a city atmosphere. Boone (App’s town) is a good sized small town with a downtown area adjacent to ASU. Boone has lots of restaurants, a mall, movies, ski areas close by etc. Not as big as Asheville and no airport close by. ASU’s student pop. is way larger than UNC-A. Boone is less than two hours from Charlotte with good (4 lane) roads to get there. Every kid I know who goes to ASU seems to love it. Many kids fr. our h.s apply every year.</p>
<p>Packmom, thanks. I think that OOS students probably see it as isolated bc there isn’t an airport close by, but I don’t know if that is the reason.</p>
<p>Packmom, Northeastmom - We did feel that Appalachian was a bit isolated. We didn’t go there to visit, we were actually vacationing near Boone, and noticed that we were driving through/near the univeristy. That being said about the ‘isolation’, I don’t think it’s sufficient reason to not consider the school if it has programs that a student is interested in. It was on DD original list, but since she didn’t have any specific interest in it (other than it being in NC), and it would’ve been quite a long drive from home, she took it off her list.</p>
<p>I’m totally new in many ways. My son just started Grade 9 in a brand new high school, so he’s in their first batch ever. It’s a really small class. I’m posting on this thread because his middle school grades put him in the 3.0-3.3 range (optimistically even!). Does anyone know if there’s been a discussion on CC for parents of Grade 9 students? We live in Asia. The school is an IB candidate school, and the program really looks intimidating. Though my kid is very bright, he has ADHD, and I sometimes think that they accepted him because they wanted to build a freshman class. On the plus side, the school seems committed to helping everyone succeed, especially since the entire high school (for now) is just this batch of 24 freshmen!</p>
<p>So if anyone can point us to a site or discussion where we can get some advice on how to formulate a good plan for the next four years, that would be great!</p>
<p>Btw, older son is starting senior year at a US university which he enjoys thoroughly. Our college search for him was quite haphazard. We didn’t know then about all this “technology” for applying to college! So he’s very fortunate to have found a nice school. So with younger son, we’d like to avail of this know-how. Many thanks!</p>
<p>As my son starts his 3rd year of college and with another child in this same range I am thinking about if I would do it the same way all over again. I pulled my son’s Sat scores and HS transcript out of the file to post on the where did my student get into college thread. I was once again reminded of how all over the map my son’s grades were. His grades for various quarters ranged from a low of 2.67 to a high of 3.67. With ADD and LD my son always had a hard time with time management. He also had an issue with thinking he was doing well and being surprised when grades came out. He also was not good at asking for help that he was entitled to. His intentions are always good but he is not good on the followup. Going into his 3rd year of college I would say he has matured. He can now see how his own behavior and work habits have consequences on his grades. His grades are still all over the map, he still has no clue as to how he is actually doing in a course, he sometimes asks for help but not as much as he should. He still underestimates how long something will take. It is better but he still has a ways to go.
He had a merit scholarship that required a 3.0. He lost that after the first year. We have required him to take out a loan to cover the difference. He is trying to get the scholarship back. Unfortunately he failed one class and with that F it is very hard to raise that GPA back up. (they have not yet had that course available to retake)
After that long ramble what I am getting at is while your child may mature he or she is still the same person and the same study habits that got them into trouble in high school are very likely to follow. While I am amazed at how much my son has grown he had huge obstacles to overcome. If merit aid is a major consideration to attendance I would be very careful about committing to a school that has a requirement of a 3.0 for students in this range.</p>
<p>mom60, I have one of those too. Issues with time management? Check. Thinking he’s doing well, being surprised when grades come out? Check. Not asking for help he’s entitled to? Check. Underestimates how long something will take? Check. Because of his bad senior year grades, he’s already on probation even before setting foot on campus. We’re sending him off to college (day after tomorrow, yikes!) with trepidation.</p>
<p>Okay, I’m going to ask here on this thread where I feel all warm and comfy…what are your plans for your kid’s essay? My son wrote a few…they look okay to good, but are not spectacular. The topics are fine but he is not a really “deep” kid so we’re not talking about some kind of amazing realization in each essay…lol. He is not interested in showing them to a teacher. I wish that we had someone to just read them and sort of tell him if they give the impression he wants. (I actually write for a living but would not be able to do this for him as I’m too close, and he is unlikely to take any advice from me anyway.) I’m not sure who to ask if anyone…should I ask a friend? My sister who is an elementary school teacher? (Not sure that an elementary school teacher is really any more adept at this kind of thing than any other parent though…) We can edit here at home for grammar and spelling of course.</p>
<p>Or…does he just send them and I stop worrying about it?</p>
<p>^^S2 is a member of that club too. He was that way fr. the first day of school.<br>
He starts his soph. yr. tomorrow at big state u. His first sem last yr. was terrible(below 1.0…academic prob) but really improved in Spring and Summer sch. I’m hoping that he learned a big lesson last yr. and has put it behind him but past experience tells me not to bet on it.<br>
Good luck to your S (and you) Cardinal Fang.</p>
<p>RtoR - I’m also worried about the essay. I keep thinking that this is a chance for him to shine and to show his personality. His essay reads more like a hs assignment. He just can’t get passionate about it. It’s also hard because he hasn’t had any rol;e models or life changing experiences. His GC said that if he chooses to write about a topic of his chopice then it needs to be amazing…</p>
<p>Will your GC look over his essays and give her opinion??</p>
<p>RTR, my S’s counselor once told me that parents should be careful about critiquing their kids’ work. Things look different looking through the eyes of a 40-something adult. My S is fortunate to be in a college prep program (he hasn’t realized how lucky yet) that coaches him through essay writing. I know he’s benefitted from proof reading other students essays. Maybe there are workshops on campus that help with college apps/essay writing. One school district here is offering workshops for their students at their public library.<br>
I am hoping that S has taken advantage of the resources available to him and I’m not going to read his essays unless he asks (which he probably won’t.)</p>