<p>Many thanks for the education I've received from CC while lurking over the last few months. </p>
<p>Much of what I've learned here will be useful for my second son, who is an overachiever like so many of the kids on this board.</p>
<p>But what I need help with first is my oldest son. Here are his statistics:</p>
<p>SAT 540/500/540
GPA has improved from 2.0 in freshman year to now 3.2 in junior year
All "college prep" courses, no advanced math or science, only honors english.</p>
<p>Eagle Scout
4 years Marching Band, but not important to do in college</p>
<p>He wants to go to a small liberal arts college close to our Baltimore home. (less than a couple of hours drive) This is NOT a kid that should go to a "reach" school. He is bright, but not a terribly hard worker. He grows up significantly each year, but is certainly not yet a finished product. </p>
<p>Well, probably the best one out by you, a little bit of a reach, but possible, is Goucher. A good interview might put him over the top. And they want MEN - don't be scared off by the average SAT - figure a 100 points lower for males, and his SAT scores are likely to improve senior year. Virtually the same story at Washington College, on the eastern shore.</p>
<p>He would fit the profile at Guilford well, provided he has some community service interests. It's a bit south of you. Terrific place.</p>
<p>He is a guaranteed admission candidate at Frostburg State - my brother-in-law went there for two years while "growing up" some more, transferred to GW (where his mother worked) and ended up as a major tranportation planning mucky-muck in DC.</p>
<p>I'm from the area too and suggest that he also look at McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland) and perhaps Villa Julie. I've heard great things about both schools. Kids from around this area with similar stats are looking at West Chester College in Pennsylvania and York College.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Goucher would actually be well within reach. Their average stats for males is below their reported overall medians. If he applied EA, he'd have a good shot.</p>
<p>I'd also recommend: McDaniel College, Mount St. Mary's (both in Maryland), Susquehanna, York, St. Vincent's and Albright (PA), Randolph Macon College in Virigina, and if it isn't too far, Catawba, Guilford, and Lenoir Rhyne in NC. All great schools, all very supportive, all would happily look at someone with his stats. I second Northstarmom's suggestion of Loren Pope's book, several of the above schools are actually described in it (McDaniel used to be Western Maryland).</p>
<p>Everything I have to say has already been said, but I will say it again anyway!! :)</p>
<ol>
<li> Read, "Colleges That Change Lives" (Loren Pope)</li>
<li> McDaniel College is close to Baltimore and is very nice. We visited twice and gave it serious consideration. (They have a football team, so maybe a marching band too? I don't know.)</li>
<li> We also loved Washington College.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Both Washington College and McDaniel should be within one hour drive from you (Wash college is 1.5 hrs) and your son should be in the ballpark of admitted students, although Washington I believe has gotten a bit more attention lately, ie more applications so it might be getting a little more competitive.</p>
<p>I'm so concerned with this "we want men" thing at the LAC's that my son will get in over his head and not be able to cut it even though he got in. He needs to be at the middle to top of the pack to feel comfortable with his abilities.</p>
<p>McDaniel. . . .I WENT to McDaniel.. . ths is a tough one for me. I had thought that he couldn't get in anyway. I wish I had their advertising budget that they are spreading over the Baltimore airways. I was shocked to see that not one kid in my son's big upper-middle-class public high school was going there. In my time, 8-10 would have been heading there. I'm not sure what's going on.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of places I've heard of that haven't been mentioned yet, but that I'm interested in your opinions:</p>
<p>Lebanon Valley (too hard?)
Elizabethtown (too hard again?)
Shepherd University , WV
Shenandoah
Millersville University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>My son is conservative to libertarian, so the Guilfords of the world wouldn't be a good match. I know that all of the LAC's lean a little to the left, but we don't want to go overboard.</p>
<p>Shenandoah is a former music conservatory that grew into a college. For someone who's not all that much into music performance and the surrounding culture, it could be an odd fit.</p>
<p>Jaybee,
I would recommend Towson, Frostburg and Millersville. My son's close friend just finished his freshman year at Towson and loved it. He was also a bando and in Boy Scouts. If you do a search you can find my review. However, since you are from the Baltimore area, perhaps that's even a little too close for you. </p>
<p>Another friends daughter just finished up her sophomore year at Frostburg. She is majoring in ( I think) Outdoor Recreation. She really loves stuff like whitewater rafting/canoeing, camping etc. She's been able to secure summer internships starting with just after her freshman and then again this year. I don't know her as well but she's happy there.</p>
<p>Millersville - Lots of kids from our HS go there. My son and I looked at it this year. The campus is very pretty. I think the kids that are within an hour radius probably go home on weekends but there are many kids that stay. One of my daughters close friends just finished her freshman year and loves it. Great music program. The friend is double majoring in music and business. Also a former bando.</p>
<p>You might also look into West Chester University of PA. Similar stats to Millersville, known for it's music and ed programs. Great marching band.</p>
<p>I do think Elizabethtown and Lebanon Valley would be a bit of a reach. I don't know anything about Shenandoah or Shepherd. What are his potential majors?</p>
<p>He is an English-History-Creative Writing guy. He has an interest in songwriting and writing about movies/entertainment. He sometimes thinks about getting secondary education certification in one of his interest areas, but I know that narrows his search somewhat.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of more suggestions that would fit your S's profile: Bethany College in WV, Lynchburg College in VA, and Elon University in NC.</p>
<p>Jaybee- just to let you know your kid is also not alone on cc. I think there are a lot more "average" kids ( and parents) lurking out there. My d is interested in a larger school -maybe urban/suburban area. We're from Long Island and we too looked at West Chester-York- &Towson. I thought York was a lovely campus but it was too off the beaten path for my d. I believe she will apply to Towson and West Chester. Goucher seemed a litttle too small for my kid but it does sound promising. There was a link from the Goucher website to ALL the colleges in the Baltimore area-- so you may want to check it out. We're also considering Temple-- but that is a large urban school so it probably wouldn't meet your needs. Good luck. Just re-read your son's interests. Creative-songwriting-type of guy sounds like SUNY- Purchase. BUT the student atmosphere is mostly NY Metro area artsy-creative type. So though it might be something to think about, I don't know whether it would work for him.</p>
<p>Jaybee- thanks for posting. My gS is one of those "not usual" cc kids. 970SAT/3.0GPA from a not-so-great hs. He is in at Univ. of New Hampshire, I worried he wouldn't get in; now I'm worried he will struggle academically as he is going into Engineering, which is tough. But who's to know? Chiming in just to say there are others of us with your situation and concerns. I'll report next fall/winter after we see how it goes with him in case there are any share-able learning experiences for us parents/gparents of lower/average stats kids.</p>
<p>One part I especially worry about is them struggling academically and not "dealing" with it and us not knowing so not being able to help (we are gparents, not parents, and altho we are the ones who worked with him on the whole college app thing (and will be paying ;)), it may be even harder for us to find out how it's going once he's there. Oh well, one step at a time.</p>
<p>Just thought of another school. Rowan U. in New Jersey (near Phila.). They have creative writing/performing arts/ & education programs. I liked the campus and it seemed promising but my d doesn't want to go to school in NJ. My d is like the "Mikey kid from Life cereal" (I am now dating myself)- she doesn't like anything. His stats might be a tad low, but I think they are within range. I think it's a school to check out.</p>
<p>Hi Carolyn--Re: Rowan. Our college trip included U. of Delaware- West Chester & Rowan. It was one of those stormy-windy days in the NE. We had seen U of Del. the day before & toured it in the pouring rain. U of Del has got to be the longest tour-over 2 hours. So since my d had already informed us that SHE WAS NOT GOING TO SCHOOL IN JERSEY- I knew that she would not give the school serious consideration. We did go to the Info Session (she can't boss us around-right!) but I knew to tour the campus in the rain was just a waste of our time.<br>
But what I gleamed from the admission session- it's a fine school for consideration for the B student with decent SAT's. It was a nice campus (from what I could see between raindrops) in Glassboro NJ. The area surrounding the school seemed like a lot of farm land -just waiting for the Wal-Mart to come in- but very close to Phila. So it's semi-rural and yet near an urban center. It seems to be a well known public U in NJ, as the admission session was full. I would strongly suggest that anyone looking for a mid- size U. in the NE, check out Rowan. I believe they have an engineering program-business- and education. As I said, we never gave it serious consideration as my d is extremly stubborn and just would not go to school in NJ so I never really checked into it that closely. But you should give it a look.</p>