Parents of the HS Class of 2013 - 3.0 to 3.3 GPA

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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<p>familyof3boys,
We visited St. Mike’s, along with UVM and Champlain in a two day visit. My son had a long meeting with the department chair for CS/IST at Champlain and St. Mike’s. Both men were very accommodating and helpful. My son liked what he heard about the small classes and how one could start out in CS and easily change to Information systems. We also found out that those two colleges have a very good relationship and one could take a class or two at the other school if the logistics could be worked out. The bottom line for my son, was the more techy atmosphere of Champlain and the very charismatic Department Chair who immediately befriended my son, and has since kept in touch with him. </p>

<p>Location-wise, St. Mike’s is not in Burlington proper while Champlain is in a residential section of Burlington and just a few blocks from downtown. I think St. Mike’s also accepts more students. Both Champlain and St. Mike’s have their own forum here on CC with actively participating admissions people.</p>

<p>One more college that is often overlooked is Arcadia College in Glenside PA. They are a small LAC with good merit aid for B students and a fantastic study abroad program. Beautiful little campus just outside of Philadelphia.</p>

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<p>Heavylidded, we looked at some of the same schools that you are planning to visit. What we did was go to OH for one trip to see those schools. We visited Juniata at a different time (much closer to our home), although we did see Allegheny on our way to OH (I consider it an OH school even though it is in PA). We also visited Susquehanna with our other son, so we had already seen that school.</p>

<p>On our trip to OH, we visited: Allegheny ¶, Marietta, OWU, Witt, Earlham (IN), Wooster, Denison, Otterbein</p>

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<p>Thought I’d jump on in since my youngest fits the thread title exactly and I can comment on a few of the schools that have been mentioned recently. OWU is a nice school with very friendly, down-to-earth kids. For DS#1, it ended up a very close second to Denison (where he is currently attending). COW is my personal favorite–I liked the kids, the fourth year IS project, the sense that they deliver on what they promise. Have heard some amazing things about that particular school of all the CTCLs. DS#1 visited both McDaniel and Goucher as well. The town McDaniel is in looked a little depressed–not exactly thriving, although he liked the school more than Goucher. The kids at Goucher seemed fairly liberal and politically active–great for some but not exactly his cup of tea. And DS#2 is a freshman at Miami and really liking it. I really wanted a small school for him too–in fact visited Centre College (which I also <em>loved</em>) the day before a second visit to Miami (1,200 students vs. 15,000). Oh well. . .</p>

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<p>We also visited McDaniel with S2 and we did not care for the town either. Regarding town, we also found Susquehanna to be way to isolated if one does not have a car. None of the schools listed in post #129 is in major city. We just wanted to know that our son would have access by car, train, on foot, or cab to get to a few stores, pharmacy, and cafes/restaurants.</p>

<p>I did forget to list that we also visited Hiram College in OH. This school is about 30 minutes from Cleveland if I am not mistaken. It was also too rural for our comfort level, but another small LAC.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the OH/PA/MD school visit info.</p>

<p>Northeastmom, I’d love to hear more about Hiram. I know it is pretty rural, but how was the campus? What were your/son’s impressions of the students and faculty?</p>

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<p>D1 is a sophomore at St. Mike’s. She had a 3.6, but we were hoping for merit scholarships, and were successful. St. Mike’s was her first choice, above other schools ranked higher. She has been very happy there. Feel free to ask any specific questions.</p>

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<p>familyof3boys, I will be away from a computer for a few hours, but I will check back a bit later today.</p>

<p>My son said that he felt he could make Hiram work, but honestly it was not on top of his list. He liked it well enough to apply . I don’t think that it had anything to do with how rural it was, but the fact that some small classes are held in rooms that look like something straight out of a “grandms’s generation” living room. He did not care for this at all. When we visited their dining hall was closed (I believe that they were renovating, so we could not sample a dining hall meal). They had a fairly new student rec facility. My son was offered a long meeting (family was included) with a professor. This was very nice, and made the experience of the visit much more personal. It was an opportunity to get any questions answered. There was a seperate interview through admissions that my son took on his own. After the tour, the adcom met with all of us, so more Q$A opportunities.</p>

<p>Frankly, my husband was very uncomfortable with how rural the school was. I was not quite as uncomfortable because I knew that my son would find some rides into Cleveland when he needed or wanted to get there (our son was going to college without a car). I thought that my son could get a very good college education there, and we looked at this school thinking that it would be a a very good education for a relative “bargain” price. Actually, at the end of the day they came in toward the middle of the pack in terms of cost to us. We were making too many compromises for what we were looking for, and when the package came in that sealed the deal in terms of taking it off the table. If I recall, they may freeze the cost for 4 years, but I no longer remember if that is in fact the case. It is something to check into.</p>

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<p>I’m not a parent, but I thought I’d share some information about the schools I’m looking at/visited. I have a fairly low GPA, did OK on the SAT’s and I take a combination of College prep, Honors and AP classes at a fairly large and competitive high school in NJ. I’d like to consider myself pre-med and I’m most likely going to go for a degree in Biology.
Here’s the list: (It’s pretty long)
-Franklin & Marshall
-Gettysburg
-Dickinson
-Muhlenberg
-Penn State
-Union College
-Susquehanna
-Eastern University
-Illinois Wesleyan University
-Allegheny
-High Point
-Fairleigh Dickinson
-Michigan State
-Rutgers
-U Richmond
-Occidental
-Northeastern
-Boston University
-Elon
-Denison
-Drexel
-Temple
-Grinnell
-Lehigh</p>

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<p>Having spent many many hours perusing the CTCL book, I just got a sense that there were a few that were Mr. Pope’s personal favorites–COW, Whitman, Wabash. (BTW–visited Wabash with DS#1 and also was really really impressed.) We ended up looking at all these Ohio schools (Denison, OWU, COW, Kenyon) so I asked an old friend who had grown up in Columbus and is now Dean of Students at a prep school there for information (we are on the East Coast). He checked in with his college counselor (past President of NACAC) and he gave us his $0.02 on each. When he came to COW (last), he said if you put 100 college admissions counselors in a room and asked them which school in the country adds the most value to its students, 90 of them would say COW. (Anecdotally, the only two adults I know who went there both ended up at Harvard medical school.)</p>

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<p>HeavyLidded- I definitely have some frontrunners. My list is so long because although my GPA isn’t high, there are still a lot of options for good schools!
My top picks are: Union, Gettysburg, Northeastern, Denison, Lehigh and Elon
Soon I’ll narrow it down even more to my top three, but I have yet to spend a full day at lehigh, elon and denison.
While I am seriously considering EA for Gettysburg, it is the school I have some reservations about. I loved the fact that they have a strong DIII sports program and people actually go to some sports’ games, I also got the feeling of cliques, jock prevalence and a high party rate. I really did love the campus and facilities, so I kind of overlooked it while I was there, but I did do some more research and found that the jocks seem to have a dominance on the school campus and that parties are a commonplace on the weekend. I know this is very common for colleges now a days, but it’s something to keep in mind. I’d like to go to a school where there is a good nightlife, but I don’t want partying to get in the way of academics.</p>

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<p>Choosing a college seems like a much more difficult task when I did it xx years ago! I applied to one school, got accepted, went to it, loved it and developed lasting friendships and relationships. It was very difficult for me to not push my ideas and preconceptions on DS1. In my mind I wanted him to attend a Catholic college (because I did) around 4-6K students. His HS was over 1000 total students so I wanted college to be big enough that he didn’t feel like he was still in HS - seeing the same 250-500 kids for 4 years again. However I also wanted the school to be small enough that he would not be overlooked in huge classes because he’s a quiet kid. So, imagine my dismay when he picked a school with almost 15K undergrad - despite how beautiful it was. Add in the fact that it was the farthest college from our hometown (over 500 miles away). It was hard but I bit my tongue and let him make the final decision. It’s only been one semester but his grades are good and he really seems to love it. So, the moral of the story is don’t limit your choices at the beginning. Check out schools of different sizes and locations. As Retro said, there really are a lot of great choices out there.</p>

<p>And HeavyLidded - at Miami I’d say that the students are more fiscally conservative and socially liberal if that makes a difference to your daughter. My son was quite proud of the turnout his dorm and others on campus made to protest a campus visit of the Westboro Baptist Church. They made signs and he took videos of the totally peaceful protest supporting gay rights. I also feel your pain about her wanting a mother/daughter visit instead of the entire family. I think I’d tell your daughter/husband that is is a first round visit. Once you narrow down the choices, bring brother and Dad along and hopefully she won’t be cranky. I’m not looking forward to seeing 2/3’s of the same colleges a second time, 2 years after I did it the first time!</p>

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<p>Hi HeavyLidded! I have been trying to plan a college trip to the same area for Feb vacation. I don’t know if I am biting of more than we can chew.</p>

<p>Retro - I have a friend whose D is a sophomore at Gettysburg. If you have any specific questions, I’d be glad to pass them on to her. I know she loves it there. She’s an RA and is planning to study abroad. Let me know…</p>

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<p>My S is actually college class of 2012. Here’s his statistics and acceptances which I think could help some of class of 2013
Asian male. US dual citizen
Financial Aid very important
3.12 GPA unweighted
26 1st ACT
29 2nd ACT</p>

<p>Major undecided</p>

<p>He scored better on ACT than SAT, so no SAT scores were submitted
His HS is one of the high schools that don’t offer AP’s but designates certain classes as either honors or AP level. So technically he has no AP’s. The classes he’s done at ‘AP level’ are English, Physics and Calculus.
EC’s are typical of Asian kid: violin, orchestra, honor council.
Community service include volunteer teaching.
Two varsity sports, captain of 1</p>

<p>Acceptances in sort of the order that he heard:</p>

<p>Lynchburg College-Merit Aid offered
Bellarmine University-Merit Aid offered
Ohio Wesleyan University-Merit Aid offered
Drexel
Catholic Univ.
Loyola University Maryland
Lake Forest College-Merit Aid offered
Oglethorpe University-Merit Aid offered
Centre College </p>

<p>Still waiting to hear from Sewanee, Univ. of the South and Drew Univ.</p>

<p>He applied to all schools Early Action or Rolling</p>

<p>So far no rejection/deferral</p>

<p>Two schools that were initially on his list but got chopped:
Ursinus and Allgheny</p>

<p>Two schools on ‘my’ list that never made it to ‘his’ list:
Gettysburg College
Ithaca College</p>

<p>Maybe this list will be helpful. Good luck to you all! And I think a B average student application process is MUCH LESS stressful than an A student’s. ;-)</p>

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<p>Mom0809 - congrats on a nice list of acceptances. Your experience puts my mind at ease. Thanks for sharing!</p>

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<p>My 3.2 GPA son (28 ACT / 1870 SAT) has done pretty well so far on acceptances and merit aid, something I would not have predicted before college application season. He is interested in environmental science or undecided science, depending on the school. He’s also an Eagle Scout, and some schools seem to look at that, others seem to look at his GPA/SAT/ACT. His first quarter grades were very good for him (3.55 GPA) and those grades were sent in for early action schools, but did not impact his cumulative GPA yet.</p>

<p>Here’s info for next year’s 3.0 - 3.3 GPA students and parents to know:</p>

<p>Stats: 3.2 GPA, mostly non-honors track other than 2 AP classes
SAT: 1870
ACT: 28
ECs: Eagle Scout, leadership and community service associated with scouts, part time job, musician, JV level athlete of several sports, 4-year XC runner</p>

<p>Colleges and results so far:
U. of New Hampshire: Applied EA deferred to regular decision
Ithaca: Accepted; waiting on results of add’l scholarship decision
U. of Maine: Accepted, good merit awarded as OOS applicant
Roger Williams: Accepted, good merit awarded.
U. of Montana: Accepted, excellent merit awarded as OOS applicant
U. of New England: Accepted, excellent merit awarded
U. of Southern Maine: Accepted to honors program.</p>

<p>So, there are good places for B students, and on top of that, there is merit scholarship money going to them as well. He’s waiting on his reach schools … won’t find out until April 1st on those.</p>

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<p>Yes, it is much less stressful to go through this process with a B student than with an A student. I love rolling admissions! My kid has something like a 2.8 GPA, SATs in low 1900 range, no significant ECs. Accepted to SUNY Plattsburgh, RWU, McDaniel, Lycoming, Albright, Hartwick (last three with merit $). Deferred by UVM and Hofstra. Waiting on Ithaca, Drexel, Pace. In retrospect, this was too many applications, but most were free and did not require supplemental essays.</p>

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<p>Mamaduck: Thanks. There are a LOT of good schools to choose from for B students. I only wanted to post my S’s results because I really worried about it in the beginning. Kind of at the stage where you all are now. It’s not as worrisome as we think.
The only thing I would have done differently is to have established residency for tuition purposes, in my ‘home’ state so that S could have applied to a couple of state schools. We live outside of the USA and can’t claim residency to any State. This might be good advice for certain C’2014 parents and beyond. :-)</p>

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<p>Snowflake–thanks for posting. We’re in the mid-Atlantic but I think DS is at least considering heading west or north. DH is somewhat familiar with University of Montana but I recently poked around the UNH web site. Can you tell me something about the kids/atmosphere at UNH, Maine, New England, and Southern Maine?</p>

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<p>I lost a fair amount of sleep too as my son worked his way through high school, but as others have said it all tends to turn out okay. Mine finished junior year with a 3.21 GPA (consistent upward trend, although a subtle one) and around 1660 SAT score. He has been accepted at Michigan State, University of Missouri, University of Kansas, and University of Arizona. Deferred for 7th semester grades at University of Oregon and University of Colorado. He got a 3.6 for 7th semester so I’ll update you once we hear back from the last two schools.</p>

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<p>Hi MyLB, I’ll give you my impressions from a parent’s point of view on the schools you listed. </p>

<p>First, University of Montana is not the same as Montana State. My sister and her husband live in Bozeman and he is a professor there at Montana State. Montana State does have a lot of Montana (and Bozeman) residents, but many Vermonters we know have gone there and love it. It is a solid school with great opportunities for outdoor recreation as well. If my son went there, it would be a good place for solid undergrad for his focus areas, ecology and/or environmental science. Bozeman is a great town … it seems like a bigger version of Burlington, VT, and may also feel similar to Boulder, CO. The airport is right in the same town so you just drive a short distance from the airport to the campus area. There are many educated families in the Bozeman area because of the University and large hospital nearby, where some of them are employed.</p>

<p>UNH is a bit more selective than Montana State. It’s a strong state flagship school with many colleges. The campus is very tidy and well maintained; they have the best food in the country, and I sampled it and agree a college male would love it. There is a large contingent from Massachusetts, so it is not as small town as you would think for being in New Hampshire. Big frat and sorority life, so much so that if you’re not in one you may feel a bit left out like my D’s friend did and eventually transferred out. Many kids really like UNH, so you have to check it out for yourself. </p>

<p>Maine is the closest fit to my son’s academic and outdoors interest without being in Montana or Vermont. We’re going to do a close-up visit in a few weeks for accepted students day. They do a great job with just the right amount of communication and brochures, and there seems to be some great help on campus for tutoring, writing help, etc. If I had to vote today, I think my son will choose Maine.</p>

<p>U. of New England we haven’t checked out too closely. It is right on the coast and has been growing a lot over the last 6-8 years, which is why many people may not have heard about it until now. It seems to be a great school for medical related fields and science like marine biology. I need to inspect it more to see if it’s too much of a safety for my son, but many kids seem to go from there to med school or other medical like Masters programs, so it must be doing something right. There’s also a larger % of females there versus males (60/40 or 65/35) if that matters.</p>

<p>U. of Southern Maine seems to cater to B students with potential. When my S toured there, he loved it. He talked to a professor after the tour by just stopping by his office, and the professor talked to him for 1 hour and 15 minutes and gave him a pep talk for finishing his junior year strong. The campus is split, and the other part is in Portland. From feedback online, USM has a reputation for having a lot of commuters, but I think those students tend to be older and taking more classes on the Portland campus. My neighbors son goes there and has been thriving, so I give it many bonus points for that.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>