Parents of HS Class of 2024 3.0-3.4 GPA

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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We haven’t signed D24 up yet for any standardized tests, other than the PSAT in mid-October.

After our mid-Oct visit to UofA, we’re planning on going on more college tours during spring break. Going to do a road trip from AZ to TX, hitting up UNM, NMSU, Austin College, & Southwestern Univ. Was originally going to make it a “fly and drive” trip starting in KY (to visit Centre College) and ending in TX (also hitting up UAH & Ole Miss), but airfare costs are too high and we need to keep the trip costs down.

We’ll be chasing merit money and how much she’ll be eligible for will be dependent on if she gets her GPA up to a 3.5 unweighted or not. We will see!

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D24 got an 89 on her math test! Yahoo!

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I have just completed a fairly extensive college search with a heavy emphasis on the Colleges That Change Lives list in part to find an academic institution which was available for a student who was not T20 bound. After visiting quite a few of the schools on the list, it did seem that these schools did have some commonality on providing and more importantly supporting students in a way that allowed students to grow and mature. My daughters academic journey has just started, but after seeing from the academic orientation for students and parents and the ways that the college she landed at supports students, I think we found the right place. Several of the other schools on the CTCL list would likely be good fits for the non-T20 bound.

Our search was in the Midwest and included Cornell College, Denison. Beloit, Centre, Earlham, Hillsdale, Hope, Kalamazoo, Lawrence, St Olaf and Wooster from the CTCL list. Ultimately, ending up at Hope College. Hope has automatic scholarship down to a 3.2 gpa and has a full sticker comprehensive fee under $50k. Their new anchored pledge fixes that initial cost for 4 years which is a big bonus. The school is known for its undergrad research and has a very impressive track record of funding research and training students in the sciences for grad school and premed so it allows a very high level of opportunity for those with science and pre-preprofessional aspirations. Hope ended up a good fit for my daughter during her search, but I would guess several of the CTCL schools would be great fits for 3.0-3.4 gpa students.

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There are also some nice recreation areas within an hour or less of Hope College, so you could have some fun after you drop her off. Grand Haven is pleasant – I liked the kayaking there – and Muskegon State Park with its sand dunes + trees is like a little piece of Cape Cod.

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@sbinaz I feel your pain. My D just passed on applying to the regional and state choir. She said maybe next year. :neutral_face:

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D24’s NHS application was approved! Very proud of her. She was all smiles in the car on the way home today.

In other news, she’s teaching our fat orange tabby cat how to use those “Fluent Pet” buttons. So far, she’s got him consistently pressing the button that says “TREAT!” Then she’s going to add a 2nd button later on. I suppose that could make a good college app essay…”How I taught my cat to talk.” :rofl:

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Two days of school under her belt and D24 is breathing a sigh of relief. She likes all of her teachers and the class combo she was really worried about Physics + AP Chem seems like it going to be ok.

Phew! Here’s a a great junior year for everyone!

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That would be my son! It’s been hard for me to adjust because my daughter is a serious Type A overachiever!

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We had a similar plan for school visits to @DeeCee36, as S24 also had no idea what type of school he wanted, or where. So far, we have visited the following (put in very general, relative categories):

Small, rural: Gettysburg
Medium, urban: American University
Medium, suburban: Roger Williams

S24’s take after those visits is that he’s more drawn to a larger student body in a location with lots to do on and off campus. Also, he’d rather not go far away if he can find what he wants closer to home (metro-NYC). As far as the bigger student body, the dilemma is that he needs small classes (no big lecture classes), but also wants a critical mass of students so that activities like intramural sports are strong and plentiful.

As far as location with lots to do, he says the off campus activities could be outdoor adventures (hiking, water sports), or city-based experiences (museums, theater)—either is fine, as long as it’s easy to access.

We’re also looking for schools with a program and/or good reputation for supporting kids with learning disabilities. I’m finding it difficult to judge what this is really like on campuses…

Future plans to visit:

Small, suburban: Connecticut College
Small, rural (but with waterfront): St. Mary’s of Maryland
Medium, rural: Elon

Suggestions welcome! There are a lot of Catholic schools that might fit the bill, but he would rather see if we can find the right thing in a non-religiously affiliated school first. We also don’t want to visit anywhere that’s too reachy for a likely 3.5-3.7 student with low rigor.

We’ve only had six days of school, but S24 likes his teachers and classes. Actually, his Chem teacher hasn’t been in yet, nor have they found a sub, so that’s not great!

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This may or may not apply in terms of what your son wants, but keep in mind that depending on the school and department, larger introductory classes will sometimes also incorporate much smaller groups (sometimes called “sections”) to allow more personal interaction and learning. Those are typically led by grad students attached to the course. Any particular one could be discussion-oriented and required in the case of a liberal arts offering, or optional homework help for a science offering.

Another “critical mass” consideration when it comes to student body size is how that can affect the variety of course offerings: Both because there are fewer courses offered, and because even if a course is offered there may not be enought interested students for it to be held (which can happen anywhere, of course, though perhaps less likely). Whether that matters or not will depend on a student’s intentions: Very specific interests within a particular dicipline, vs “just want a quality liberal arts education.”

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My nephew (Background here - Match me: HS Senior, w gap year, strong ECs but weak IB acads) suffers from ADHD and Dysgraphia (diagnosed). Should they be disclosed on the app? If so where? In the personal essay or additional essay? Thanks!

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Here are a couple of suggestions. I don’t know much about these particular schools, but they seem promising. Most of the info here is coming from here though I used College Board’s website for the classification of suburban/rural/urban and residential/commuter campus.

Eastern Connecticut State: No classes with more than 50 students, 14:1 student/faculty ratio (a ratio which can be gamed, but when combined with the class size info, it’s promising, especially for a public school), it’s a residential campus, and has an undergrad enrollment of about 4500 students. It’s classified as a suburban campus. And the OOS tuition price seems very reasonable.

Endicott (MA): No classes with more than 50 students and 68% have less than 20. There’s a 13:1 student/faculty ratio and it’s a suburban residential campus just off the water, seems likely to have other nature exploration possibilities, and is 45m from Boston. There are about 3200 undergrads here.

Fitchburg State (MA): No classes with more than 50 students and 55% have less than 20, along with a 14:1 student/faculty ratio. Seems as though there are nature explorations possible, and it’s about 1h15m from Boston for day trips. 3800 undergrads.

Manhattan College (NY): 3300 undergrads, no classes with more than 50 students, and 55% have less than 20. There’s a 12:1 student/faculty ratio and it’s a residential campus. It’s in Riverdale rather than in Manhattan, but it’s considered an urban campus and there are obvious TONS of off-campus activities available. Just realized this one was Roman Catholic, though.

Marist (NY): 5600 undergrads with no classes with more than 50 students. There’s a 16:1 student/faculty ratio and this suburban residential campus is one of the closest ones (on this list) to the NYC metro area.

Norwich (VT): This is classified as a rural campus, but it’s less than 20m to Montpelier and a weekend trip (or LONG day trip) is very doable to Montreal. But there are lots of opportunities for nature exploration here. 3200 undergrads at this residential school with only 1% of classes having 50+ students. There’s a 13:1 student/faculty ratio.

Quinnipiac (CT): 6800 undergrads here, and 2% of classes have 50+ students. There’s a 15:1 student/faculty ratio at this residential campus that’s classified as suburban. Doesn’t seem like a nature or urban mecca, but I definitely think there are off-campus opportunities available.

Ramapo (NJ): 5400 undergrads here and no classes with 50+ students. There’s a 16:1 student/faculty ratio at this residential, suburban campus that is about 1h15m from NYC and also seems as though there might be some nature opportunities as well.

Rowan (NJ): There are about 16k undergrads at this residential campus and no classes with 50+ students. There’s a 17:1 student/faculty ratio, and it’s about 40m from Philadelphia or 2h from NYC.

Salisbury (MD): There are about 7100 undergrads at this residential campuses with 2% of classes with 50+ students. It’s classified as urban, but we’re talking the urban part of Maryland’s eastern shore. If you’re visiting St. Mary’s of Maryland, I’d definitely make a stop here, too.

SUNY New Paltz: There are about 6600 undergrads at this suburban, residential campus. 3% of classes have 50+ students. If you’re a NY resident, it’s always good to have some in-state options, and I’ve heard good things about this campus.

Suffolk (MA): It’s classified as a commuter campus, but 75% of first-year students live on campus. And this school’s in Boston, so tons of off-campus opportunities. There’s a 14:1 student/faculty ratio and 1% of classes have more than 50 students. There are about 4400 undergrads here.

The College of New Jersey: No classes with more than 50 students, a 13:1 student/faculty ratio, and about 7100 undergrads here. This suburban residential campus is about 1h30m to NYC and less than 15m from New Jersey’s state capital of Trenton.

Towson (MD): This is classified as a residential school, and it has one of the lowest percentages of classes with 50+ students that I’ve seen at a big school (3% of classes with 50+ students, and there are about 18k undergrads here). But that still probably means that most of the intro classes are going to be big, because 3% of a lot of course offerings might still be most of your intro classes. I’m not sure what the honors college requirements are here, but it might be worth investigating.

Wagner: This is a much smaller school (1600 undergrads), but it should be a pretty easy visit based on where you live. This residential, suburban college is in easy distance of NYC with 2% of its classes with 50+ students but 67% of its classes with fewer than 20 students. Thought it was at least worth mentioning.

Washington College (MD): Again, if St. Mary’s is in the mix, I’m throwing out another small school in a rural area. But Chestertown is also near the water but closer to major metropolitan areas (1h to Wilmington, DE, 1h30m to Baltimore, 1h40m to Philadelphia, and 1h45m to Washington, D.C. There are no classes with 50+ students, 79% of classes have fewer than 20 students, and there’s a 9:1 student/faculty ratio.

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Thanks a lot @AustenNut

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Quinnipiac may not be a Mecca but it is basically in New Haven, 2 hours outside NYC. Lots of good outdoor stuff around and if you consider Yale to be well located, Quinnipiac is same. Their medical-related professional majors (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and similar) are extremely well respected. As far as I know outside of those majors, academically it is about what you would expect, fine not amazing.

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That’s a great list, @AustenNut!

Endicott is on our list of possibilities, but despite being on the water, they don’t seem to have a boathouse or any boats. However, it is close to Boston, and it’s a good size. 68% of classes with fewer than 20 students sounds great.

Manhattan and Marist will be easy to visit. We’ve been to New Paltz multiple times, but we haven’t toured the school yet. (I think would be a relatively safe school for S24 as a NY resident.) He loves the climbing/hiking/biking in the area.

Quinnipiac is much closer than I thought, and we hadn’t looked in NJ, so great additions to the list. S24 is sometimes drawn to a sunnier location further south than we are, so we’ll have to see what he decides.

I was unaware of all those other MD schools! I love the Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake area, so hopefully he’ll want to check some out. Thanks again!!

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Has he thought about Marist? DS23 attends a school for kids with learning differences and they tend to do well there. Skidmore is a bit smaller, but still not far from home.
They all seem to love Elon.

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Learning differences do not need to be disclosed on an app, even if the student has a 504 or IEP. There are some things to take into consideration if you CHOSE to disclose.
In general, disclosing is not advised unless it in some way explains a significant upward trend (i.e. it was a late diagnosis and once interventions were in place the student made a lot of progress). This is usually done either in a supplemental essay or when they ask about any additional information you’d like to share. A student also might want to mention it (although it’s tricky to do it well) in one of the additional essays if they are significantly involved in a group that promotes neurodiversity.

While looking at schools, he will definitely want to check out their academic support offerings. Websites usually give a lot of information and many of the tours we went on pointed out where the offices were located and what they offered. When we went to larger “get to know the school” events, they usually had someone from the Office of Disabilities (although many had much better names) present to answer questions. You will want to ask what documentation they require and how current it needs to be. Depending on the school we’ve heard varying responses from “within three years” to “anytime, ever”.

Once accepted, you will want to contact the department directly to see if they can/will support his accommodations and how they will do so. You can generally get a feel for the culture of the school once you do some digging. He should definitely do this step before making a final decision. Once he is enrolled, he needs to register with the office. This has to be done by the student (they will not talk to the parent) and usually once accommodations are accepted, it is up to the student to discuss it with each professor. This gets tricky as some professors aren’t great about it.

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Endicott is a beautiful campus, but pretty isolated. You can get into Boston, but most kids don’t unless it’s for an internship. Even though it’s in town, it’s really not walkable to where the stores are. Its beaches are beautiful but it’s pretty desolate in the winter and school is out most of the good weather.

DD22 attends here. She’s just started and she’s loving it (and she did NOT like high school). My concern would be that she has come home every weekend (we live 35-40 minutes away) because everyone from her dorm has cleared out to go home. She would stay if there were people around, but there hasn’t been. Maybe it will change as people settle in, but she says most of her friends go home to work. She also attended the club fair this week and there was little to choose from. It’s a great match for her, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to someone OOS unless it was for a very specific major like film or criminal justice.

Most kids we know that have attended Norwich are ROTC. (Not sure what the actually numbers are as it’s just an observation). Depending on his major, I’d check out Champlain College in Burlington as it’s a much better location.

I don’t think Suffolk is a commuter college anymore. That was true in the past, but it’s really stepped up its game in recent years. I just checked the website and it says 55% instate. The local kids we know that go there rarely come home on weekends. Unlike Fitchburg where there isn’t much to do on weekends, there is always something to do in Boston.

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I’ve purposely been avoiding all of the SAT test results discussion since D24 hasn’t taken the SAT yet AND she’s historically not that great at standardized tests.

But I AM happy to note that Univ of Arizona is still test optional, even for its honors college. Fingers crossed that remains the case for the HS class of 2024. I think that it will end up 1 of D24’s top picks.

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SO glad that we didn’t have D24 do the Honors Physics-AP Physics series. She got the latest test back…she got a 53%. Smartest kid in the class got a C and that’s even after the teacher curved all of the test grades by 20%. Teacher said you can turn in test corrections by end of the week in order to earn an extra 10% on the test. He also announced today that he’s going to drop the lowest test score during this grading period. The class is kicking everybody’s butt.

D24 said that EVERYBODY did terribly. She said that the teacher commented to the class that he didn’t expect everybody to do so horribly.

From my point of view, honestly, I think it’s a positive thing that D24 doesn’t want to major in engineering. The biggest reason why she doesn’t want to major in any flavor of engineering is because of physics. Reason #2 is all of the math required.

D24 has started to look at college major map info for a couple of different majors.

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