Hi there,
My daughter has finally narrowed down her list of colleges. Looking for opinions on the schools, i.e. culture, etc. She would be dorming there. She is a down to earth person so that is the type of school/environment she is looking for. She has a 3.3 GPA and 1290 on SAT which includes honor and AP classes. Below is her list. She is open to other suggestions also but is not interested in a school less than 3,000 or a big “greek” life or big party school. Thanks in advance.
Sacred Heart
Siena
SUNY New Paltz
Western New England
Providence College
Marist
Umass Amherst
University of Hartford
Eastern Connecticut State
Suny Albany
University of Delaware
I’m very familiar with Providence College and know lots of grads and current students because I live nearby. There is a very strong alumni network, lots to do on campus, and a strong sense of community. I know it pulls in a large cohort of nice kids from nearby. Providence is a real college town with several other schools nearby, so it’s a great place for students.
When my D was there, though this was quite a while ago, UDel had a huge party/greek culture. So maybe it’s changed, but if she doesn’t want that, I’d check this out.
We live in NY so that would be the only in state tuition. Our price range is 40K max…with merit scholarship maybe can stretch to 45K - personally college is so overinflated.
UMass is big enough for your daughter to explore different things. She does not need to belong to any sorority. Several of my friends’ daughters are studying there. They like it. We all love the food there. The quality of food is really top notch.
In fact, one of my friends’ daughter just graduated this past May with a psychology degree from UMass Amherst. She loves the school. She is now working.
I hope your daughter does not mind cold weather. It can be cold and windy. When we visited my daughter’s friends there in early April, it was still plenty cold and windy. It was like being in a wind tunnel.
I have a senior at Marist and she’s been very happy there. It’s a gorgeous campus. They have a lot of beautiful new upper classroom housing. DD got fairly good FA and merit from there and then worked as an RA (that’s been a huge boon for us.)
One of my nephews graduated from Marist and another is currently enrolled there. I think they and their parents (they’re brothers) are quite happy with the school.
I like your list. It seems to be well balanced between more likely admissions and ones that are a little less likely but possible. I am a little concerned about the costs, however.
The OOS cost for UMass is almost $49,000 for this academic year. I wouldn’t count on getting merit aid there.
Providence is $65,000…she would need $25,000 in merit aid to meet your price point. That could prove challenging to get.
Eastern Ct comes in at your price point. So would SUNY Albany.
Here is the link to College of St. Rose. Since you have the other Albany colleges on her list…why not this one too?
UMASS always had a reputation as party school when I was in HS in MA. SUNY Geneseo send like an obvious option for the in state tuition. St. Rose is in a city and it’s not at insulated campus… Others that come to mind are Fairfield, UVM, UNH, UCONN, URI, Union, Susquehanna
UDel is one of the biggest party schools in the country. #1 on Princeton Review’s top party schools. My S is not into the party scene at all and his top two schools were UDel and Syracuse (#4 on the Princeton Review list) lol. Go figure.
Our twin Ds just started their freshman years at small LACs, but we did look at Marist, SUNY New Paltz, and Delaware from your list. They really liked Marist - beautiful campus on the Hudson River. Unfortunately it was a bit further from home than ideal, but more importantly, they didn’t offer enough merit to justify it over better alternatives. Their GPAs were higher than your D’s, and their SATs sandwiched hers. Maybe your D will get a better offer, but we suspected being Division 1 limited what they can justify offering good, but not stellar, academic candidates.
I really liked Delaware, but they ultimately decided it was too big, and a bit more restrictive regarding the possibility of switching course of study if/when their interests evolve. For what it’s worth, it seemed to me to have a smaller feel for a larger school - which would have been a positive in our case. I attended U of Ms (Michigan and Maryland), which definitely did not have that same vibe.
When visiting Marist, we also checked out SUNY New Paltz across the river, and we unfortunately were thoroughly unimpressed. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, but the campus didn’t show well, the other candidates seemed a little “dull” (I apologize to anyone I just offended), and the whole place just seemed to lack energy. It didn’t help that our tour passed an asbestos removal operation.