<p>I was very impressed with Marist, but DS did not like it.
Info session was great one big tip the admin coun. gave us was that @ schools where level of interest is important: email admissions, the emails are kept and put in the applicants file at most small schools, this is a very good way to show that your child is interested in the school. Marist does not give interviews so this is very important to their application process.
Marist had very strong computer science, criminal justice, graphic design,fashion, nursing, business and teaching programs. They have an apartment in Manhattan where the fashion design students live when they are doing internships.
Strong connection with IBM which is why their computer science/ programming department is so strong-they even have new degree program in video gaming. 90% of their computer science majors have job offers by first semester senior year, it is 1 of only10 college campuses in the US where Morgan Stanley comes to recruit specifically for software engineers.
The top business students assist in investing the school’s endowment.
Econ majors have the opportunity to study at the London School of econ and are encouraged to intern abroad.
Poli Sci majors must study at London School of Econ and intern with a member of the British Parliment
Education majors intern in Hawaii, Marist has a collaboration with Hawaiin dept of ed
Housing: they have a system that gives a student point for a good GPA, participating in sports, joining clubs, the more points you have, the better your housing is as a sophomore, junior & senior, I don’t know if I like that system.
Campus was ok from what I saw, it was right on the Hudson, looked a little spread out with a major road running through the middle of it. I didn’t get a real look at it because DS & DH did not want to go on the tour 
Merit Aid: HudsonValley was right in an earlier post-only about 12-14k available and it seemed hard to get
Overall impression: very hands on learning, lots of opportunities to work in the field before graduating.
I don’t know why DS did not like it, it was something about the campus, a bit childish on his part but I can’t make him apply there.</p>
<p>A little late, but thank you on responses!</p>
<p>@HeavyLidded; The paaain, yes. I also find it crazy that (public) state colleges cost as much as the UMass system. It sounds silly to say, but the impression is conveyed that the other publics that aren’t in the UMass system are one tier below that of UMass, yet cost the same! I didn’t know Framingham had a Nursing program, but I know all of the UMasses are well-regarded as far as nursing goes. I’ll have to look it up!</p>
<p>@Rubytuesday2; I’ve never heard of Castleton (makes sense since i’m not from VT), but thank you for the find! Interesting that they’ve only just begun offering the BSN, I think that’s cool. They also appear to have a lot of merit aid! I looked at Quinnipiac and showed it to my mom (they have a large chunk of guaranteed merit aid for me from the thread, maybe $10k/yr but that’s nothing to sneeze at!), but judging by the course progression it’s not direct-entry. I think i’m going to apply there anyways because of both the aid, the good things i’ve heard about it, and its location (halfway between NYC and Boston? Yes please!) I’ve also heard of UMass Boston’s program, however it has no dorms…commuting would be an option because I CAN get the bus to Alewife but it’ll be a long ride…</p>
<p>@kinderny; I am considering CC, yes, but unfortunately I have no car and the closest CC is about 20 minutes away, I think. It’s an idea that’s on the back-burner.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the responses! I’ll still be cruising this thread to get any other good ideas. :)</p>
<p>Elleya
Fairfield U also has a nursing program.</p>
<p>First time posting in this thread. So glad I found it! Happy to read that some of the people in this forum actually have kids with the same GPA as my son. Thought I was a terrible parent there for awhile because he doesn’t have a 4.0 and a huge list of ec’s.</p>
<p>My son will be graduating in 2013 and has just below a 3.3, and is probably in the top 25%-30% of his class, has taken the SATs once and got a 1760 (R600, M620 Wr 540). In a couple of weeks he will be taking a Princeton Review SAT prep course and is registered to take the SATs again in Oct. Am hoping if he can get his scores up by about 150 that that will put him in a good place for the schools he is looking at.</p>
<p>He is interested in Mechanical engineering (but also has expressed interest in biomedical). Earlier this summer he attended a 5 day residential program at UConn for high schoolers called “Explore Engineering”. They attended sessions on 10-12 different areas within engineering, stayed in the dorms and ate in the dining halls. UConn is now his top choice.</p>
<p>We have also looked at RIT (Mom and Dad’s top choice). A bit of a drive for us (took us 7 hrs including 2 stops to get there) but last weekend we attended their “Colleges and Careers” weekend. (Highly recommend it for anyone looking at RIT. It will be given again on Aug 3-4th) Not a traditionally pretty college campus, but Dad (an engineer) was very impressed by how well the labs are equipped and we both were impressed by the co-op program and everyone was so friendly and happy to help with directions and questions. </p>
<p>In addition we have looked at UMass Amherst and UMass Lowell, Clarkson, UNH, Roger Williams and WPI. We are thinking that RIT and WPI might be reaches for him. Hoping that UMass Amherst and Lowell, and UConn are matches. UNH and Roger Williams are more safety schools.</p>
<p>He has never done any sports in high school, although he has started running on his own the last year or so, he has worked part time for the last 2 yrs and was awarded his Eagle Scout rank in April. Through Boy Scouts and his Rel. Ed. class he has done a lot of community service projects and hours, including his Eagle project. </p>
<p>When we were at Clarkson last weekend an admissions counselor suggested taking the ACTs due to the science component. I have no personal experience with the ACTs. Any words of wisdom anyone can offer would be great. I saw that the dates were either Sept 8th or Oct 27th. Sept seems so early in the school year but if he does the Oct date how quickly can the scores be gotten to colleges? If we do EA a couple of the schools deadline is Nov 1st (Roger Williams and UMass Amherst), although UMass does say something about paperwork due by Nov 20th. Does that mean that the app is due by Nov 1st but supporting docs like transcripts, recommendations, etc are due by Nov 20th?</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all wisdom and insight!</p>
<p>Welcome ConfusedMominMA! We are headed to RIT’s College and Careers program August 3-4. Daughter is excited to find out which workshops she’ll get to attend. Do they let you know in advance, or when you check in? Any advice on “don’t miss” activities? Did you see anything of particular interest in Rochester? It’s a long drive for us as well (10 hours). I think we’ll catch Niagara Falls on the way up.</p>
<p>I really like RIT as well - DD is interested in artsier programs, so even though her SAT scores are lower than your son’s, she’s pretty well situated for admission (have you seen the document that lists scores for each program?). Scholarships may be more of a reach for us. </p>
<p>She has taken the SAT and the ACT, both twice. Her SAT score went up 140 and ACT up one (superscored). She really didn’t do any better on the ACT, but science and math are very weak for her.</p>
<p>Mamaduck, </p>
<p>They let you know which 4 sessions you will attend when you check in. On Fri we did the college tour and saw the dorm rooms with our son on Fri and then at 3:45p the kids go off and start their stuff. At that point there are a couple of presentations by specific colleges but neither of them were of interest to us so we went exploring instead.</p>
<p>We drove up to the Charlotte area right on Lake Ontario and went to Ontario Beach park. Well, being a snobby East coaster I have never been to a beach on a great lake before and I was blown away. It was beautiful! white sand, lots of boats out sailing, a boardwalk to stroll, a carousel in the park. Could even make this east coaster not mind being land locked if I had something like this near by to make me feel more at home! There were ice cream places and restaurants (although with load music) to eat while looking over the harbor. Loved it! </p>
<p>On Saturday morning we went to the presentation on the college of engineering (Loved the Dean!)and then sessions on Admissions, Fin Aid, a student panel and Careers in the 21st century. The kids had their sessions all on Saturday. We ate in the dining hall (good variety) and you meet up with your kid again between 3-4p. We stayed overnight again and then on Sunday went to Pittsford (about 15 min drive)and took a boat ride on the Erie Canal. Pittsford was a cute little town with shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>I have seen the scores for the different schools. Engineering is 1780-2030 so he is almost in the middle 50% just needs to get his score up a little more.<br>
Love the co-op program: spread 4 yrs of tuition over 5 yrs., 2 career fairs a year with over 200 employers, well vetted employers and positions (so your kid doesn’t end up getting coffee instead of learning what they are supposed to learn), a lot of help finding co-op positions either in Rochester (kids can live in the dorm or school apts and still be on the meal plan) or near home (no tuition or room and board payments!) or in other parts of the country (they will help with living arrangements, etc), money to help pay for college and real world experience, a huge percentage of kids get jobs with their co-op employers when they graduate. </p>
<p>Would love to hear your thoughts after you have been there.</p>
<p>Just kidding about the “snobby East coaster” thing but I do like our beaches and ocean.</p>
<p>kelijake1987</p>
<p>If you want really rural, look at Tuman State in MO. An outstanding public liberal arts college of about 5500 students. Midrange ACT scores of 25-31 with avr of 27. They send about 50% of their students to grad school. It has a great reputation in academic circles.</p>
<p>They have automatic scholarships based upon grades, scores, and location. They have a scholarship calculator on their website.</p>
<p>[Truman</a> Net Price Calculator](<a href=“http://netprice.truman.edu/calculator.asp?estOption=1]Truman”>http://netprice.truman.edu/calculator.asp?estOption=1)</p>
<p>It is inexpensive to begin with, about $21,500 per year OOS.</p>
<p>Confused, I’m a bit of a beach snob too - our “home” beaches are NC and SC - hard to beat!</p>
<p>Hi All! I am a mom from the 2012 parent thread and I also have a 2014 S. My DS12 was a strong B student…3.4-3.5 WGPA… but he came from a VERY rigorous private prep and had high, high test scores. He was an Eagle Scout with 1500 volunteer hrs, and some other pretty heavy and atypical EC’s. Anyway, thought you all would l like to know that B students CAN get merit aid. My DS received over $500,000 in merit for 4 years. He applied to A LOT of schools. Here are the schools that accepted him with merit, as this was very helpful to me when I was helping my S research schools for B students. I thought you should also know that he was rejected at all of his reaches. I am pretty sure he would have been successful at some of the need aware schools that rejected him if he had been a full pay, because kids in his class with lower stats than his, but full pay, were accepted to some of the same schools. Also, we live in CA, but DS wanted nothing to do with it for college, this ensued a VERY stressful month in April!!!</p>
<p>St Lawrence University… attending, 30,000 a year merit
Western Washington University…accepted with full ride
Hobart and William Smith… accepted with 30,000 merit… ( this was his 2nd choice… FANTASTIC school for B students… absolutely stunning campus)
University of Puget Sound…accepted with 20,000 merit
Sewanee University of the South… accepted with 10,000 but got fantastic need based package.
University of Denver… accepted with 10,000 merit
University of Vermont… accepted with 10,000 merit.</p>
<p>I was really pushing for UPS… as he would of been on the same coast, but NOOO, he picked the school that was as far away from home as possible.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing 5boys - very helpful. What were his reaches?</p>
<p>Thanks, 5boys…this was very helpful and insightful for my situation!</p>
<p>Hi…I have been reading this thread for a while now, hoping to find some guidance. My DS has an 87 average…I think thats about a 3.1? He took the SAT & ACT once, scoring 1600 and 24. He will retake both in the fall and possibly a third time. He would like to major in Sports Management. Any ideas on schools that aren’t too large - at least 3,000 in the Northeast? Financial and Merit (if possible) are a huge consideration</p>
<p>Confused - Some kids can score significantly better on one test over the other. My d’s PSAT scores were pretty low so she opted for the ACT - and had great results. Many kids who struggle with the ACT have an issue with getting through all the questions in the time limit. He’ll definitely want to take some timed practice tests to prepare. I was told by college counselor that October ACT scores would arrive in time even if she is applying ED. Good luck!</p>
<p>Joisymom-Thanks for your insight on the ACTs. Makes me feel better about having him take it in Oct.</p>
<p>thrower1–Bemidji State University in MN would fit, but not in the Northeast. He would easily get into the school, merit aid if he can get his ACT up to 26. About 6000 students I think.</p>
<p>mamaduck…his high reaches were Midd, Bowdoin, his middle reaches were Colgate, Colby & Bates… his matches were Whitman and Colorado College, where based on his HS’s Naviance he should have gotten into… as well as Colby. He was also deferred then denied from Lewis and Clark, which was, based on his stats and L&C’s 65% acceptance rate, a safety. He overall had a pretty good experience except for one bad apple… Colorado College. He originally applied EA, was then contacted in early November by admissions asking him if he wanted to convert his EA app to ED. He did after careful consideration, only because he REALLY wanted to go to this school. He was then DEFERRED, and then ultimately rejected… I will never understand why they did this, I mean why not just reject him in the EA round??? My DS is over it, but I will probably never be.</p>
<p>It goes to show that you can never really predict what admissions is going to do. I think if you have a B student and need aid, you need a VERY wide net.</p>
<p>I think in my S’s case his test scores helped A LOT… especially for merit. I would recommend getting a private tutor for SAT and ACT tests, as bringing those scores up will more than pay the added expense when admission results come in. I also think that geography probably helped him with the small LAC’s in NY.</p>
<p>blt…S also really liked University of Denver… it is a great school for B students…beautiful location, urban campus, but with the added bonus of the rockies as a backdrop. I like the medium size too. They also have EA, which I personally love.</p>
<p>Thanks 5boys, your posts are very helpful. I was sitting on the fence about an SAT tutor but your post has convinced me it’s worth it.</p>
<p>Thrower - Can you clarify? You said," Any ideas on schools that aren’t too large - at least 3,000 in the Northeast?"
I’m confused whether you are looking for a large school or a small one!</p>
<p>Joisymom, Sorry for the confusion. I believe he would do best in a relatively smaller school, probably around 3000 - 5000. He is openminded at this point to consider all schools with at least 2500-3000. I have been searching for sports mnagement minors also but it’s a daunting task. I should be better at this by now…he is the youngest of 3!</p>