<p>Something to keep in mind when you are looking at schools is finding not only an academic safety but a financial safety as well. Of course, the best outcome is a favorite college that is both of those things!</p>
<p>One of my older kids best friends graduated from Juniata a couple of years ago. He attended because he thought he was going to major in a Science field and Juniata is known for its good science programs. He had done well in HS and was given substantial aid. He did a study abroad for one semester and his aid traveled with him. Ironically, he changed his major to Philosophy and is now in law school in the Northwest headed towards a degree in Environmental Law.</p>
<p>My point is that when you are visiting colleges you don’t have to pick a favorite, in fact if money is an object, you really want to find several colleges that would suit. It’s pretty amazing how different the amounts can be. </p>
<p>Also, I found that my kids themselves changed over time and a college that seemed really interesting when they visited Junior year fell completely off the list by senior year. And for what it’s worth, I think Dickinson is much more competitive then Juniata and Susquehanna.</p>
<p>I agree with Kathiep about Dickinson’s reputation. My D’s GC in HS felt that, for her, it was a reach rather than a target! My D ended up at a relatively selective NESCAC school (ED) so by comparison, I was thinking of Dickinson as a target/safety. And, as I mentioned earlier, our tour guide said she turned down Amherst to attend. Needless to say, my S is not applying!</p>
<p>He is working on the early EA ap, but neither teacher came through with letters of rec!
Happily, his essay is almost done. :).</p>
<p>Dickinson is a reach for my D but a reasonable one from the looks of Naviance. Others wtih similar stats have been admitted from her h.s. in the last couple of years. I think she’d have a pretty good shot ED but she is not in love, so it will be EA. Only one way to know - and that is to apply!</p>
<p>Oh! Thanks, GolfFather. I’ve always wondered… I also wonder about the copied text boxes, like you just did for my text. I’ve never been able to quote text in a reply. My screen name should be Winnie the Pooh.</p>
<p>My daughter has her heart set on a highly selective school even though her GPA is lower. She has ok sat scores (she broke 2000 on the actual test, but her practice tests were higher). I want her to apply to these schools, but I don’t want to see her heart broken if she gets rejected. Her favorites so far are Lehigh, Holy Cross, Bates and Bucknell.
Do I try to encourage her to apply to schools that are more realistic, or do I encourage her to apply to these high reach schools and expect to get in somewhere?</p>
<p>By all means apply to those schools, however, she MUST understand that acceptance rates are very low and if those are the only schools she applies to, what will she do if she doesn’t get in? I would add at least 2 or 3 more realistic schools to her list.</p>
<p>Actc111, We were fine with our kids applying wherever they wanted to but we were clear on how much we could afford. A reach school usually means not only a higher chance of denial but also less merit aid. As long as they understand it’s a reach and possibly unaffordable, we were okay. I might have drawn the line if they had wanted more then three of them. The cost of applications is nothing to sneeze at. Lehigh and Bucknell are definitely not a B student schools.</p>
<p>Actc-- I had the same feeling as you…<br>
At the beginning of this process, my daughter had her heart set on one school in NYC and she really does not have the grades to get into the school, much less earn any aid. I really didnt know how to bring that up without hurting her self-esteem/confidence… I have always told my children to reach for it all!!<br>
Now, since she has been more involved in the search process–she realized that (a)she really does not want to be a small fish in a big pond… and (b) that she would like to go to a school that wants her as much as she wants to be there… She has also come to the conclusion that she does not want us to pay $50k+ for an undergraduate degree- she doesnt see the value any longer, as she would like to (hopefully) start working on her Masters fairly quickly.<br>
She now has 2 in-state academic/financial safeties… Well, in this grade range I dont know if there are really an academic safeties— they’re not her first choices, but she will be very happy at either of those schools if any of the others dont work out… I wish you the best and hopefully yours will also start to figure that out too!!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your advice. I wholeheartedly agree with letting her apply to a few high reaches and reaches. I want her to be happy where she goes and I honestly don’t know if she’d be happy staying in our one state. A few days ago she stated that she’d rather take a gap year and get a job to earn money towards college than go to a state school. I don’t know why she doesn’t like any</p>
<p>Sorry that got cut off for some reason…
She doesn’t like any of the publics. She understands how incredibly sensitive paying for college can be and I told her we would scrounge up the money to pay for a more expensive liberal arts school if she made one. I’ve seen a change in her. She’s much more focused now. I just wish she was this focused all her years in school…</p>
<p>Which brings me to my next question because I don’t know much about college stuff-- How much does high school rank actually matter for admissions?</p>
<p>For the most selective schools- it matters a lot. For the less selective schools, it depends. If rank is lower than you’d otherwise think based on gpa, then looking at schools that are more holistic in their approach is a good idea. My D’s h.s. had incredible grade deflation so a 90 average was really good (top 20%) for her class. The Common Data set for a college, section C, shows what their admission criteria is and the stats for students they admit and they enrolled. You can google the stats for many schools like Bates, etc.</p>
<p>For parents of students in this thread, check out Alfred University (NY), established in 1836 in the small charming village of Alfred, NY. Division III Athletics, over 40 majors (some are through NYS public programs) merit aid (as high as $15,0000/year) need-based aid, small classes-know your professors. About 2,000 plus undergrads, housing available for all 4 years, bus service to NYC at peak break times, shuttles to Rochester airport at peak break times, no Greek Life. Many clubs, organizations, AU publishes a monthly guide for students as to what is happening on & around the campus. </p>
<p>Princeton Review’s Best (it was 376)
USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide Best Value
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Engineering
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Art & Design
Princeton Review’s Best 300 Business Schools
Washington Monthly - #8 For Master Degree Institutions
US News Ultimate College Guide-Best Value </p>
<p>Honors Program (must interview) Co-op for Engineering, rolling admissions (be nice to have an acceptance in hand before December holidays) </p>
<p>Still under $40,000/year, so it is really a great value for a private university.
A Regional University in the USNWR’s categories.</p>
<p>Have thought about checking out Alfred for my DS (interested in Mechanical Engineering). I think it is really out in the middle of no where. Maybe we can visit when we go out to RIT again.</p>
<p>NPRMom, if you want a “quote box” to appear: </p>
<ol>
<li>Copy the text you want to quote and paste it in the Message Box.</li>
<li>In front of the text, type a left bracket “[,” the word “quote” and then the right bracket “].”</li>
<li>Behind the quoted text, type: left bracket, forward slash “/” and then right bracket.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want the poster’s name to appear, you have to copy it yourslef and then paste it after typing “Quote=.”</p>
<p>It’s a lot less confusing than it sounds.
Most fora have a quote button which makes this a lot easier. But the owner(s) of CC believe having a quote button facilitates online arguments.</p>
<p>S had a second visit to Ursinus today and he’ll definitely be applying. One thing that was mentioned today was there are weekly meetings between freshmen and their advisors, at least for that 1st semester. They are a CTCL school about 30 minutes outside of Philly. The campus is beautiful, the dorms are spacious, and the food is tasty. They are particularly strong in their sciences with students being able to conduct research their 1st semester. At least one semester of study abroad, research, internship, or student teaching is required for graduation. Financial aid goes with you for study abroad.</p>
<p>My 2 cents on Ursinus… my BFF from HS went thereand it truly was transformative. She went from a quiet, uneasy student to a confident, academically successful person her first year and had a great study abroad experience as well.
It was many years ago, but from all I’ve seen, things have only improved since then.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>First acceptance - S is in at Iowa! Probably not where he is going to end up, but considering where we’ve been, it’s a big relief to have an acceptance in hand to a good school. Lots of kids in our HS have already been admitted, and I think many were enticed to apply by the promise of an admission decision within 48 hours of submitting an application - which only required self-reported grades and test scores.</p>
