Northeastern college tours

Parents Forum
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<p>Hello, delurking here to post about our recent visit to multiple colleges in the east. Also would like to know what people think of these colleges that we have visited.</p>

<p>Info about son- DS is a junior at a public school, currently enrolled in the Virginia Commonwealth Governor's school (CGS) program- basically a school that teaches above the AP / IB level. He is taking DE Chemistry and has a B+- if he can maintain above a C this year, he will have college credit.</p>

<p>SAT scores: 710 CR, 600 CM, 630 WR and ACT 30 Comp. While attending CGS he has a 3.5 GPA- not great but not bad. He is a Team Captain of the JV Lacrosse team. He really likes playing lacrosse but not concerned about not being on Varsity. He is VERY laid back. Doesn't put a lot of effort into studying (SAT/ACT scores are just showing up- no prep)- could probably have all A's if he wanted to; but lacrosse, reading his books, and world of warcaft take a lot of his time. He is not going to be a DIV I (or Div III, depending on the school) lacrosse player- he's not willing to invest that much time into the sport. He loves to play and is good at it but at this time he isn't great. He's thinking Club or intramural lacrosse. We have talked about how schools like to see varsity on the transcript, but his response is- he'd rather get the field time than the "status". As I stated before - he is very laid back, very much his own person, doesn't worry too much about what other people think of him. (Which is nice, but when looking at colleges, makes it hard to find when your child is 'vanilla'.) We are very proud of him, he is the type kid that other kids come to when they need help- and usually it's the girls that are around him.... and him totally oblivious.</p>

<p>His criteria for a college- mechanical engineering, lacrosse, near home (within a days drive), and snow.</p>

<p>Needless to say it was like pulling teeth to get that much info. So, I created a spreadsheet and started looking- because heaven knows- he thinks he can wait until fall 2009!</p>

<p>So now the roadtrip- Based on his criteria and looking at schools that match his SAT/ACT scores... here is where we spent the last week (literally!) we left last Thursday night (4/9) and got home yesterday (4/16).</p>

<p>RIT
Clarkson
Drove around Northeastern (didn't visit)
Tufts
MIT
WPI
Univ of Rhode Island
Lafayette
Lehigh
Bucknell
York
Stevens Institute- on our list but we scratched it off- too tired to go there.</p>

<p>We have previously visited Virginia Tech and UVA (a few months ago)...</p>

<p>So the good news, he liked-
WPI
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
MIT
Virginia Tech
UVA</p>

<p>might like-
RIT
Tufts</p>

<p>Absolutely not-
Clarkson
Univ of RI
York</p>

<p>In looking over the stats on these colleges, I think almost all are matches. My question- how do you pick safety schools? Looking at York (a definite safety) was depressing- he won't even consider it (not that I blame him). This was a school where we "didn't feel the love" that he did at WPI or Lehigh.</p>

<p>So any ideas or suggestions?</p>

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<p>IMO - you should not consider Lehigh, Bucknell, MIT or UVA safeties with your stats. You should be ok at Lafayette - I don’t know anything about WPI. Have you considered UMASS amherst or RPI?-</p>

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<p>How did you arrive at what you are calling “matches”?</p>

<p>I agree with michone and would also add Tufts to Lehigh, Bucknell, MIT, and UVA because none of these would be good “matches” IMO. In fact, MIT and Tufts can hardly be called matches for anyone. Even in state, UVA isn’t going to be a match. </p>

<p>If I am reading your post correctly a 600 SAT math score is going to be very low at any of the schools I mentioned in the paragraph above and would make many of the schools a BIG reach especially for someone wanting to pursue ME. Math scores for MIT are going to need to be well above 700, approaching 800 unless he is a URM.</p>

<p>You can’t look at lower 25 percentile score ranges because those are usually taken up by URMs and recruited athletes at many schools. For an average white male kid you need to be looking at 50th to 75th percentile numbers and understand that in that range there really is no such thing as a match in a highly selective school.</p>

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<p>Ok. Forgive me for the incorrect verbiage for “match”. You are correct in that he is not a “match” for the schools you both have stated. I was thinking of a match as a school he could see himself attending.</p>

<p>He is very aware that a 600 math score is very low- especially for an engineer. He is planning on studying (this time) and taking the ACT in May/June timeframe (I can’t remember when the actual date is…) and he is expecting his math score to increase.</p>

<p>After this trip, he has figured out that he wants to attend a school that has less than 10K students near a city or in a suburb. Similar to the environs of WPI and Lehigh. Luckily he has a little time to “fix” his SAT/ACT scores.</p>

<p>Thank you for your thoughts in this matter. It helps to have other eyes on things- sometimes when looking at something very closely, you lose sight of what’s real.</p>

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<p>CD, don’t forget to figure finances in your equations. Many students this time of year on these boards lamenting schools they got into but now can’t afford. Many schools consider substantial loans financial aid. Many wise adults, myself included, feel that big loans for undergraduate school should be avoided at all costs.</p>

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<p>Agree the 600 Math score is a bit low for engineering. His 30 ACT looks slightly better than the SAT scores, though it might depend on the ACT subscores. A 30 ACT translates to roughly a 1340 SAT CR + M, a little higher than his actual 1310 CR + M. Most colleges say they’ll use your top score, so taking 30 ACT/1340 SAT CR + M as his baseline, here’s how he stacks up against enrolled freshmen at the schools you list:</p>

<p>WPI: 2nd quartile
Lehigh: 2d quartile
Lafayette: 2d quartile
Bucknell: 2nd quartile
MIT: 4th quartile
Va Tech: 1st quartile
UVA: 2nd quartile
RIT: 1st quartile
Tufts: 4th quartile</p>

<p>Given the low acceptance rates at many of these schools, I’d say MIT and Tufts are super-high reaches, so high that I’d have to wonder if it’s worthwhile even to apply. Va Tech and RIT are good matches, the rest a little reachy given low admit rates, especially since his GPA is not high (though the colleges should take the rigor of his HS curriculum into account, but I wouldn’t completely count on them to get that part right). No real safeties here, though with a 67% acceptance rate and your S being in-state, Va Tech is very close to a safety, as is RIT with a 64% acceptance rate. What gives me pause is that 600 SAT Math score is down around the middle of the entering class at both those schools, making them more match than safety. Any chance you can get him to study for the SAT and pull up that math score 30 or 40 points on a re-take?</p>

<p>There are some very good schools on this list, and he’s got a decent shot at many of them. I’d say Va Tech is probably his best bet, combining strength in engineering with likelihood of admission. But I’d be more comfortable if there were a true safety on his list. I’m afraid I don’t have one in your region that comes readily to mind, but if you’re willing to look at the Midwest, Purdue and Michigan State are two schools with good-to-excellent engineering programs, high admit rates, and statistical profiles that should put your S well into the top quartile. Also consider the University of Minnesota, also with an excellent engineering program, a little harder to get into than Purdue or Michigan State but it has the advantage of offering a relatively affordable OOS tuition rate of about $14,600 per year.</p>

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<p>RPI is no easier than the other schools on your list, but I wonder why you didn’t look at it as well. Locationwise very similar to WPI, but a slightly larger school and an hour less driving.</p>

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<p>bclintonk thanks for the info. We both believe that he can bring his math score up at least 30 points, probably 50 points… It depends on his study habits.</p>

<p>mathmom we had a ton of schools to look at in such a short period of time. RPI is still on the list, but for this trip we were looking at getting a lot of different type of schools so he could figure out which he liked best. Based on this trip, we have figured out the the “feel” he likes best is small city/suburban and mid size school- no bigger than 10K students.</p>

<p>I was thinking that Stevens Institute, Old Dominion Univ, VA Commonwealth Univ may be safeties. </p>

<p>Basically it still falls to him to bring his grades up.</p>

<p>thanks again for all the insight.</p>

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<p>If your son has narrowed it down to the small city mid-size school, RPI should definitely be on his list. It also has an excellent mechanical engineering program,lots of snow, and lacrosse!</p>

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<p>If you don’t have to worry about Financial Aid, Early Decision would be to his advantage. Esp. for Lehigh and Bucknell, they love interest and he sounds like both of those schools would be a target for him. </p>

<p>Of those two schools, my D liked Lehigh better. It has a better reputation for engineering, it’s closer to New York and Philly. Bucknell is really nice but is truely in the middle of nowhere. Lehigh seemed bigger and had more to do. I know that they sponsor trips into New York and other places throughout the year. </p>

<p>P.S. we had the same problem last year. She was a reachy match at the schools she really liked and not so wild about her safety’s.</p>

<p>If he can go the ED route, I would make VT his safety and ED one of his favorites and try to figure out what to do if he’s denied.</p>

<p>Personally I wouldn’t bother with MIT, as a boy going into Mechanical Engineering but that is just me. Don’t forget that he should take his SAT II’s. I know that Lehigh, Bucknell and Lafayette like to see those and if he can prep a little bit and do well in Math II, it will help a lot with that 600 on his Math SAT.</p>