<p>One of my sons refused to take the SAT and he did fine with the ACT. The other son did just fine with the SAT and never considered the ACT.</p>
<p>My B+/A- student never could get the hang of the SAT math section. She is a decent math student, currently earning a B+ in pre-calc, but the SAT was a pure puzzler for her. She took the ACT and had no trouble earning the equivalent of a 600 on the math section.</p>
<p>Heavy-Lidded, </p>
<p>I would definately suggest looking into the Colleges That Change Lives. There is a book and a website that describes 40 small LAC’s at which B students have done wonderful.</p>
<p>Btw, we’re also in MA and my S did much better on the ACT, especially since he loves science.</p>
<p>CTL is definitely a useful resource, but a number of Pope’s recommendations are dated so far as “B” students go. Reed, Whitman, Denison, Lawrence and Kalamazoo, among others, are anything but match schools for “B” students.</p>
<p>hudsonvalley…</p>
<p>That is definately true for some schools, as you mentioned. However, I also used this book as a jumping off point. For example, if a particular college sounded great, I researched which schools are considered to be overlaps with that school. (ie: What other schools did their applicants look at?) By doing that, I was able to find a few gems that I believe I would never have discovered.</p>
<p>familyof3boys – I almost added what you have just written to my post.</p>
<p>But it’s a holiday week and I’m feeling lazy.</p>
<p>I agree that your approach is an advisable one.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it has been mentioned already on this thread – the book that was most useful to me in researching small colleges for my B- student was “Finding the College That’s Right for You,” by John Palladino. The focus of the book is colleges for “midrange students” and he has a helpful section at the beginning about factors to consider, like retention rate and percentage of full-time faculty.</p>
<p>My S will take the ACT. He took the ACT in 7th grade to qualify for CTY at Johns Hopkins. He needed a 26 or something in Math and got that. He did not care about Science for example, did not read the questions, and went something like tic tac toe and randomly guesses. He did not do well but he achieved his goal of getting in (and the only reason he took the test was that a friend took it and was bragging about it).</p>
<p>He took the PSAT and without studying missed the commended cut off by a few points. If he has practiced a little bit he could have even made it to a SF in NMSC. My problem is that my son does not think the standardized tests and GPA’s are important. </p>
<p>Do any of the CTCL colleges have program in Guitar/Music? If yes, any recommendations.</p>
<p>^^ so why isn’t he taking the SAT? If he missed the NMS cutoff by a few points on PSAT, he is likely to do very, very well on the SAT.</p>
<p>He thinks that that ACT is easier and will require less work. Also, based on a 10 multiplier, his SAT scores should be in the 2000 range (10 times the PSAT score). I am sure if he studied he could get between 2100 to 2300 or more in his SAT. AT this stage, I just want him to take any standardized test and score as high as he can. His argument is a composite score of say 30 in the ACT is the 95%tile. So if he can get a 30 without much work, he is still at the 95%tile level. Why work hard to move it to say 33 or 34? </p>
<p>I am not sure when he is going to get it. In his case it is just the lack of motivation. To be fair, ADHD may have something to do with it.</p>
<p>He’ll probably do well on either-- but D, with very little study, shot up between PSAT and SAT…which is what GC told me to expect. I think 6 months of maturity makes a lot of difference…so that PSAT score looks very promising to me.</p>
<p>Hey HeavyLidded!</p>
<p>We are hoping to visit Oh, Pa, and Md colleges soon, maybe during Feb vacation We’re trying to figure out how best to work it out without disrupting school too much. Are you planning on air travel. We have been checking out Southwest; their flights to Baltimore are very cheap. You are very smart to do this while your child is a Junior. We were not so prepared. :)</p>
<p>For now, we have the following schools on our to-see list: OWU (Ohio Wesleyan), Hiram, Wooster, McDaniel, Goucher, Allegheny, Elizabethtown, and Susquehanna. This is a VERY preliminary list… doubt that we will be able to visit all of them. But they are all interesting in their own right, and I’d hate to miss the right school for DS. But, of course, our budget will determine our schedule.</p>
<p>So many commenters on this forum have expressed the importance of the in-person visit, particularly an overnight one, so we will try our best. I will be sure to report back with our observations.</p>
<p>Anyone with any suggestions for our visits? I’d be glad for any information.</p>
<p>Heavylidded, you can do Juniata and Susquehanna in one day and Ursinus and Muhlenberg in another, but not all four in one. ;). I’ve seen all four between my three kids.</p>
<p>HeavyLidded, I hear you on the mid year exams. It was an awful week. Daughter finished yesterday. For the semester, she ended up with a 3.42w, 2.9uw (4 weighted classes, 3 As and 1 B in those). Her GPA going into this year was 3.12uw. She got a D in math - first report card D ever, and Cs in Chemistry and Latin II. How much do you think this will hurt her? Her top two schools are DePaul and Flagler (yes, I know they’re very different schools!).</p>
<p>If you’re going to look at schools in Ohio, don’t forget Miami University, Oxford. It’s in the middle of nowhere but is an incredibly beautiful, safe campus. Large so it offers a lot of programs but it has a smaller feel to it. Their professors are consistently ranked very high and really get to know their students well. My “B” student older son is a Freshman there and it has exceeded all our expectations. Would love for my “B” student younger son ('13) to go there but doubt he’ll even consider it due to his brother being there. For younger son Union College in Schnectady, NY and Bentley University in Waltham, MA are high on his list. He also likes Allegheny (many students from high school attend there) and Gettysburg - both in PA.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Denison does, and a nice one for jazz guitar. </p>
<p>I think all of the CTCL schools have various ensembles available, finding a major/minor in (not classical) guitar is a little trickier but it’s around. If you meant classical guitar, that shouldn’t be hard to find.</p>
<p>I’ve got to say, that as neat as the CTCL colleges are, there are dozens of other LAC’s out there that are just as unique. While you Junior parents are making your first visits, I encourage you to see what other colleges are near the ones you plan to visit and see if maybe they aren’t worth looking at too.</p>
<p>When we visited Champlain college in VT (where my son is a freshman) we also visited St. Michaels and the University of Vermont. All three colleges compete for some of the same students and have some of the same majors. It was a great way for my son to see more clearly what he liked and didn’t like in a college in a short period of time. St. Mike’s, btw, has a very nice admissions department and is generous with merit aid.</p>
<p>kathiep,</p>
<p>I agree that there are schools that are not on the CTCL list that are just as wonderful. Funny that you brought up St. Mike’s. My S applied there as well. It sounds like a great school. I’d love to hear more about your visit there, if possible.</p>
<p>HeavyLidded - When describing Miami as “conservative” I would guess they are referring to the political stance of the student body. There is no doubt that the majority of students are Republican leaning but that is not to say other parties are not represented. The way students determine “conservative” is often different than how their parents describe “conservative”. Also, another stereotype is that most students are upper middle class. As with all stereotypes, you need to take them with a big grain of salt. Miami is, after all, a public university and students from all academic and socioeconomic backgrounds within the state and out of state (as we are) attend. If you have any other specific questions, please feel free to PM me. I’m not an expert but I’m learning!</p>