<p>Earlham College president said a while back that other than a small number of very wealthy schools, need blind admissions is over for now. I believe that Earlham is taking some percentage of their class need blind, the rest not, though I’m not exactly sure how this works. But I don’t think there is any doubt that $$ is more of a factor in admission at all but a few schools than it was a year or two ago, at least at smaller private schools, even very high quality, reasonably well endowed ones like Earlham. I guess the state school equivalent is taking more kids from OOS, I know insiders at my state’s flagship university say that is what’s happening.</p>
<p>By the way, for what it’s worth, in that 5 minutes at the end of the admission interview where they ask the parent in, when they start talking to me about financial aid I interrupt and tell them we won’t be applying for it–every admission counselor has made a note in the file when I said that.</p>
<p>That’s funny, no one ever even mentioned financial aid to me…must be my zip code.</p>
<p>As far as SAT optional schools, Muhlenberg says right out that you must submit scores in order to be considered for merit money.</p>
<p>My S had disasterous grades his freshman and sophmore years - disasterous, didn’t even get to a 3 point. Admittedly this was in a very, very intense New York City prep school where 34 of his class of 100 ended up in the Ivys and all the classes are considered high level. His early SATs were mediocre, but later ones were 2000; his ACT was better - 32. He has no legacy, no hooks, medicre extra currilcular activities, but wrote an unbelievably good essay based on overcoming illness. He also had an up being a computer science guy applying mostly to liberal arts schools. His junior grades were finally a 3. and his senior grades closer to 3.4. So he was constantly improving which I think is a factor they really look at. We did apply for financial aid. He got into Bard, St. Olaf and Suny Binghamton for Comp Sci. He is at Bard, totally ecstatic and got a 15,000 dollar scholarship. Now here is the important part. Both Bard and St. Olaf do real interviews, and at Bard he did this special program called IDP, immediate decision process. They take the first 90 kids who apply, first come first serve; they give you two essays to read - one scientific, one literary; you come to Bard, attend a seminar, get interviewed and they tell you within a week. And IDP takes about 65% of those who apply. So he knew he got in by Thanksgiving. Talk about having a relaxed senior year. It’s early action, so you can apply elsewhere.</p>
<p>Morvoren - - congrats and thanks for answering my question re: EA/ED.</p>
<p>My husband and I had an interesting conversation today about $$$. One of our debates is whether it is worth paying full price to attend a “higher” tiered school or if it makes more sense to spend less and go to a lower tier school. I have no idea where any of the people I work with went to college. So in the real world outside of CC, do you think it really matters???</p>
<p>Also, I was reading the article about applying to an “out of the box” school. My son is interested in going to school in Oregon or Washington (seems very inconvenient to me) but maybe this could be a choice. Any realistic suggestions for a B student for schools that would be medium liberal arts schools with really pretty campuses?</p>
<p>Lastly, any one have any information about Rhodes. GC thinks DS would really like it… Any Naviance data especially from people that live in New England. Thanks</p>
<p>^^^ PM Curmudgeon. His D is at Rhodes.</p>
<p>Warriorboy, University of Oregon would be well worth a look by your son. Beautiful campus, spirited student body, great liberal arts programs, not too big. They like OOS students and guarantee admission with a 3.4 GPA (and definitely not impossible to get in without that). As OOS schools go, it’s not terribly expensive.</p>
<p>Warriorboy-I think he stands a good chance in Oregon and Washington of getting in but not sure about any merit money. Look for schools that are low on males. Also if his math score is good I think that helps.
Schools that I know of in Washington and Oregon that have admitted B students. Willamette (hit or miss) I think with them a visit helps.
Univ of Puget Sound
Western Washington (public) From what I have heard from Ca families Cost of attendance less then a Univ of Ca. I have heard that the cost of off campus living is very low.
Seattle Pacific
Seattle Univ
Linfield
I am sure there are others.</p>
<p>Long shots would be Lewis and Clark but it might be worth an application with his ACT score. 3 yrs ago I knew quite a few B students who got in. 2 yrs ago the 4 B students I knew who applied did not get in. One of those was female with close to a 4.0.
Reed
Whitman</p>
<p>From their website-For the Univ of Oregon you must have passed each required high school course with a C- or better. A D is not considered a passing grade.</p>
<p>Good friend of mine’s daughter got into U of Oregon (and is attending) this year with a 3.23. OOS, no merit money, total cost is somewhere around $30K. They have rolling admissions so if he applies now and your student will know by winter break.</p>
<p>It feels as if things are finally coming together. My ds is almost done with one of his apps ( anon common app school)He recieved one letter of recommendation today and #2 should be ready for next week. His common app essay just needs to be finished and cleaned up. I think he can realistically get everything done for EA (which a bunch of schools have).</p>
<p>I can’t wait for him to be done so we can just sit back and wait.</p>
<p>When submitting the common app, can you specify which schools you are ready to submit to? Or does it automatically submit to every school you have chosen? And then, what if you want to add more schools later…do you still have access?</p>
<p>^^^ yes, no, yes. In that order. :)</p>
<p>OK, so Quinnipiac is definitely off the list. We’re going to visit Endicott, but it has almost all forced triples for freshman (at least girls). Only a few students have doubles and I guess they sent in their deposit earliest.</p>
<p>We’re not in yet, but what is the policy on depositing. One of the schools my son is applying to told us to send in the deposit asap if he might attend in order to get housing priority. They will refund if he changes his mind… Is this the policy of most schools?</p>
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<p>When my son was applying, one school said to send in the deposit as soon as possible, because those students would have priority in housing (better dorm, no forced triple). I was told if he changed his mind and notified them prior to May 1, they would refund the deposit. At the other school son applied to, I asked if he could submit the housing deposit and have it refunded if he changed his mind before May 1 and they said no. If he changed his mind, the deposit was lost. So I guess it depends on individual schools.</p>
<p>Warriorboy, re the value of higher tiered schools, consider whether you think your child’s GPA will suffer significantly at a higher tiered school and whether your child is interested in grad school. </p>
<p>Otherwise, will a 3.0 GPA from Penn help you much more than a 3.0 from Villanova in the job market–I think yes for the first job, but not as much after that, when experience and personality are crucial. With grad schools, the reputation of colleges matters a lot, but a 3.75 from Villanova with the same SATS probably fares better applying to Columbia law school than a 3.0 from Penn.</p>
<p>In the real world, you also find that what may matter most is the tier of school the hiring person attended–people who graduated from prestigious schools tend to hire people on that basis, in part because it validates their own status, using reasons such as “brains are crucial”. People who did not often enjoy the chance to reject someone from a school which rejected them, using reasons such as “they are not hungry enough”.</p>
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<p>I recall someone on CC with a spouse working in admissions at a large state school said that the school admits lots of students from undergraduate schools that he never heard of. I imagine someone is looking into the accreditation/profiles of such schools. I guess many of the schools are small schools from other parts of the country. For example, one would not expect someone from Arizona to know every small 2nd or 3rd tier school of 2000 undergrads that is located on the east coast and vice versa.</p>
<p>I guess one question is can a student with a 3.0 from a school like Bridgewater College in VA, or Champlain College in VT get into some good graduate schools?</p>
<p>We visited both this weekend, complete contrasts.</p>
<p>Lynchburg - folks on this thread might be interested in the significant scholarship scale for this school, we found out it is based on a WEIGHTED gpa + SAT score. $14K for 1250 SAT and 3.00 GPA. That is serious tuition discounting. Nice welcoming atmosphere, well maintained suburban campus. Only downside for DD was that there is nothing in walking distance and student must rely on random scheduled van trips to town for shopping, etc. The small campus might seem smaller over time. Everything else was all positive including a emphasis on helping students succeed, 4 year residential housing, ~2300 students, broad range of decent academic programs, but best for me was the $.</p>
<p>JMU - very spread out beautiful campus, lots of building going on, only freshman typically in housing, large general ed classes, great food, big sports (if that’s what you are into), nice options for getting off campus (free bus service around town), engaging academic programs, ~18,000 students. I’m afraid my DD would easily get lost in the cracks here. But overall, it is a great school for the right student, they are trying to target the A-/B+ student.</p>