<p>ReadyToRoll, Even if your son has not visited some small schools, there’s no reason he can’t apply to a couple that just seem appealing and if he’s accepted, go visit. My son didn’t even see the college he is now attending until he was accepted and we had the financial aid package. I know one family that doesn’t visit ANY schools until the kids are accepted.</p>
<p>Maryann, I think his list sounds pretty reasonable. I’d put Stonehill & Marist near the higher end (slightly more reach-ish) than the others, although I don’t know anything about Iona or Elmire, so take that for what it’s worth). Anyway, I think you’re in the right ballpark.</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll, Wheaton is one of the last schools we’ll be visiting, but definitely a likely candidate to be added to the list. I’ve heard people describe it as similar in some ways to Skidmore, and since our son liked Skidmore so much, I wouldn’t be surprised if he likes Wheaton as well.</p>
<p>As for the Ivy League angle–I wouldn’t say we’ve been “looking at Ivies,” and I don’t think anybody, including our son, really expects him to end up at one. We visited Cornell because Ithaca College seemed like a possible fit and we thought we might as well check out Cornell while we were in town. Since he loved it so much, we’re going to apply as a kind of Hail Mary pass and see what happens. Also, as I said, there was that one kid from his school with GPA lower than his who got into Cornell this year–most likely a URM/athlete/legacy, or something like that, but still, it makes the place seem a bit less out of reach than the other Ivies.</p>
<p>In answer to your question, his current weighted GPA is just over 3.2. Given that he’s taking 3 APs next year and seems to have really turned a corner in his organization and attitude, we’re hoping that by midyear he’ll have that up somewhere in the 3.3’s. But that’s as good as it’s going to get by application time.</p>
<p>Maryann,</p>
<p>I think Marist is a reach; I am not that familiar with the others. You might consider SUNYs and Manhattanville. Ithaca, St Joes of Philly or Quinnipiac in CT have some similarities to Marist but easier admission standards</p>
<p>I do not think that Ithaca is easier to get into than Marist. Additionally, my older son got into Quinnipiac and Marist. He was offered merit aid at Marist, but no merit aid was offered at Quinnipiac (btw, Quinn’s FA was awful).</p>
<p>I dunno, Marist is showing up as slightly more selective than Ithaca on our school’s scattergrams, although there’s a considerably bigger sample for Ithaca.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Of course, he loves Marist but I thought it would be a reach for him. I will take him to Quinnipiac.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with Endicott? He loved that school also.</p>
<p>Anyone familiar with -
Lynchburg,
Elizabethtown,
Susquehanna or
Juniata (might be a stretch)? </p>
<p>We are trying to decide if a visit is worth the trip during this busy fall.</p>
<p>D (3.2uw gpa 1800 sat) likes McDaniel, St. Joe’s, La Salle, Salisbury, and Delaware (will be the reach). </p>
<p>She did not like York, CUA, or Temple. </p>
<p>Comments on any of these possible schools is welcome.</p>
<p>Nightchef, that could be because some students who apply to Ithaca apply to some performance type of program that requires an audition. I might be wrong on my theory, but I just do not think that they are less competitive for admission overall.</p>
<p>seenitall, there have been a few posters on cc with children who attend/ed Susquehanna. I have heard very good things about the school with happy students. </p>
<p>I know someone who went to Etown and loved it!</p>
<p>MaryAnn, unless things have changed, Quinnipiac has rolling admissions, so I’d have him get that application in ASAP, so he is not too late for acceptance.</p>
<p>seenitall - I have visited all of the schools on your list with my son. If your daughter liked McDaniel then there is a good chance she will like some of the other schools. If you visit Lynchburg, I would also visit Roanoke. </p>
<p>As far as Ithaca, our GC said that it would be a slight reach for my son with the 3.1 GPA. She thought that good tests scores might offset the grades.</p>
<p>We were not planning on visiting so many schools, but since my son didn’t like a significant number of schools that we thought he would, I realized that we should visit as many as possible. If we had applied without visiting then he would have had few schools to choose from that he actually liked… I was surprised that he seemed to really like the visits, especially eating out and staying in the various hotels.</p>
<p>As far as large schools go, are they all publics? Any larger privates?</p>
<p>Where can I find out if a school has rolling admissions?</p>
<p>^^^ On the admissions page of each college’s website they should give you their deadlines and what type of admission plans they have.</p>
<p>warriorboy, based on my Naviance, I don’t think Ithaca is a reach at all for your son. It looks like pretty matchy. (Your son’s test scores are high, right?) Remind me…does your school not have Naviance? If not, is there a college info center who can give you the stats of kid that have been accepted over the past couple of years?</p>
<p>
My son adapted very well to the college-tour life. The ‘cuisine’ at the kinds of restaurants that are convenient on these trips is tailor-made for teenagers. And instead of being at home where we nag him to clean his room, he gets to hang out in an air-conditioned space where somebody else is cleaning up after him. What’s not to like? :-)</p>
<p>Warriorboy, Maryann, Seenitall and Nightchef</p>
<p>Among large privates, I think of Syracuse in the NE. I frankly do not know if George Mason in Va is public, but it is large, and I am not familiar with James Madison. St Joes and Loyola MD have at least 4000 undergrads.</p>
<p>I am envious your son is willing to spend so much visiting time with you and away from his friends. It should be a great bonding experience.</p>
<p>Maryann, sorry I know nothing about Endicott. PA has many good schools which would welcome your son, as discussed below.</p>
<p>Seenitall, I do not know Lynchburg, but the others receive generally good reviews–but are far more rural and much smaller than Lasalle or St Joe, although in line with McDaniel.
Moravian, Lycoming and Albright are small schools in small Eastern PA cities to consider and Arcadia is very close to Philly. At least one poster likes Scranton a lot.</p>
<p>Nightchef, I find your Visit reports very interesting.</p>
<p>Good luck, everyone</p>
<p>James Madison is a Virginia Public. Pretty big - 17,000 plus students. We looked at it briefly on our way to Florida but son was not interested in a real tour. It’s a good B student college. Here are some stats. [College</a> Navigator - James Madison University](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - James Madison University) I know some kids from our HS that went there and liked it.</p>
<p>Syracuse, urban environment, big on sports, not great FA, I am an Orangewoman. You have to like lots of snow! </p>
<p>URI, UNH, UVM, all have housing shortages, off campus living usually comes into play.
URI & UNH are famous for forced triples! </p>
<p>Elmira, big on merit aid & needs males, but Northeastmom & I concluded to keep the merit aid the GPA seems quite high! Check out Elmira’s financial aid page, they are very upfront about their merit aid. I thought it was a beautiful campus. Lots of old buildings, slate roofs, leaded glass windows. Seniors compete for rooms with actual wood burning fireplaces & the fire wood was stacked outside the dormitory. It didn’t “Click” with D. </p>
<p>MaryAnn, Marist & Stonehill’s FA’s statistics are not terribly impressive, if financial aid is a big factor for your family. </p>
<p>Wheaton (MA) does need males, but lately the reputation has been that of a suitcase school. Our graduating senior class always includes a Wheaton enrollee or several.</p>
<p>seenitall,</p>
<p>We toured Susquehanna this summer. The only thing I did not like about the school was that it seemed like an impossible place to get to if you were without a car.</p>
<p>Kajon, 100% agree with you about Susquehanna and that is why my older son did not matriculate. He applied and got in. Financially, after merit aid they were a real stretch, but not the worst package. If we had to add a car and auto insurance we really would have been impossibly choked with bills. </p>
<p>About Elmira, yes, I toured this school with our younger child. We liked it. Then I decided that the 3.0 to keep the merit award was just not worth it. Many schools require a 3.0, but with my guys I wanted to sleep well at night. I’d rather my kids go schools with a lower bar to keep merit aid. Elmira lets you still “earn back” merit aid if you lose it (retroactively they give back lost merit money that the student/parents lay out after losing it, if the appropriate gpa needed is reached). I am not interested in going into additional debt whether my son earned a 2.9 and lost his aid, or he earned a 2.0 and lost his aid. Who knows whether he’d earn it back? I don’t want to bite my nails about my kid earning back lost merit aid. I have read that there are two prisons within a few miles of the school. I don’t know if this of concern to any families considering Elmira, but I thought that I’d let you know about it. BTW, we really did love the campus.</p>
<p>Marist, last I checked was lower priced than other schools that my older son was interested in. Frankly, between merit aid (2.7 or 2.8 required to keep it) and a small FA grant in addition, made this a very good package for our family. He did not go there, but the package was decent for us. Their endowment is quite small, so if you have a lot of financial need this school might not work out well. At the time the sticker price was lower than other schools, but the merit aid award offered to my son was also less than at more expensive schools.</p>
<p>Kajon, the remoteness of Susquehanna took it off our list even though it seemed otherwise interesting. Likewise Bucknell. I wonder if the next decade or so is going to be a hard time for some of these way-off-the-beaten-track colleges. It’s not like when I was in college, when gas was cheap and nobody thought of a 300-mile drive as a big deal.</p>