<p>Pkdof13</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the schools your son was accepted to - very encouraging - My son is also interested in Wheaton - I am curious to learn why your son chose Wheaton - what was it about the school ?</p>
<p>5boys, would you mind sharing which schools your son got into? And what do you know about the benefits of indicating full pay on the app?</p>
<p>Lisa( that is my name too;)), I have no real proof, but have seem time and time again, that full pay is definitely a hook. So my S wanted a small LAC, with a close knit, active, inclusive student body, small discussion based classes where he could form relationships with his professors, an active outdoor club, that was near the mountains. He is also doing pre-med with his goal of being a wilderness ER doc. </p>
<p>St Lawrence University ( he will attend in August after finishing up his gap year…youngest person ever to complete the entire Pacific Crest Trail in 4 months).
$20,000 a year merit and meet the rest of our need.
Hobart and William Smith…$20,000 merit
University of Puget Sound…$20,000 merit( FANTASTIC school)
University of the South-Sewanee…$12,000 merit
University of Denver…$10,000 merit
Western Washington University… almost full ride( OOS in WA)</p>
<p>I forgot to mention above that the $600,000 was merit + need awards.</p>
<p>Popping by to say hi. Nice to see many from the 2012 thread and from other boards. 
Love to hear about your ds and the Pacific Crest Trail, 5 boys!</p>
<p>I have a sophomore, so we shouldn’t technically be part of this thread yet. His scores will be a lot lower than many of yours. He is average, average, average (academically, that is!). If you can find me a better thread, let me know!</p>
<p>DS has a 3.0, with only 2 honors classes. He plans on taking 2 APs next year, but I fear he will be WAY over his head due to his dyslexia. His GPA looks like it will stay the same at the end of this year. He hasn’t taken PSATs yet, but a practice test scored 135. And that was with the subtests taken at different times. Not sure what the score would look like after a couple hours of taking that test!</p>
<p>He has no interesting ECs, but does play on his high school baseball team and another very competitive baseball team. Unfortunately, he doesn’t even seem to be interested in much, other than baseball and his friends. He definitely wants to go to college. He thinks he’d like to be a gym teacher or go into business. Sigh. Two majors that make me worry.</p>
<p>We will start visiting some schools soon. What a different ride than with my oldest! </p>
<p>If you don’t mind, I’ll be lurking a lot, posting some and cheering you all on!</p>
<p>ETA: I totally agree withe posters who say full-pay students get some nice acceptances. We experienced that. But - it didn’t translate into merit from many of those schools.</p>
<p>onlyonemom - my middle son (already in college) wanted to chase perfection for the ACT one last time after taking it twice. He didn’t make it in all sections, but he still wanted to. There’s no harm when it’s something they want vs something you are making them do.</p>
<p>My youngest would rather not take it at all. I find myself often wishing I could combine the two motivations and settle for a happy medium. ;)</p>
<p>Youngest will be taking the SAT for a second time in June. That will be it - good, bad, or ugly.</p>
<p>More merit aid does tend to go with higher scores - as long as the school offers merit aid. Not all do. Kids at our high school who score higher get far more offers and higher offers. It doesn’t work that way with just GPA. Geographical distance often helps too (again, not always).</p>
<p>Agreed about geographical distance… I am pretty sure that also helped my S with the merit aid at the eastern schools, as we live in CA. </p>
<p>lisabess… great to run into you again:) How does your son like Oberlin? Remember me telling you awhile back that it seemed like a great for for my 2014 S…well he is applying this fall…Wish him luck:) He wants to major in theater, and most likely will be doing auditions at numerous BFA schools as well. He hasn’t made up his mind if he wants a BA or BFA yet.</p>
<p>5boys/Lisa…lol, lots of Lisas here!</p>
<p>Funny you should mention U of Puget Sound…was just looking at it today. DD is very interested. We’re in New England and DD wants to go to the West Coast. I would love to keep her a bit closer – I’m a teacher so it would be hard to see her at all except for breaks – but she seems to really want this. Of course, we need to visit first. What part of CA are you in if you don’t mind my asking?</p>
<p>Also, DD has a good friend who is applying to theater programs as well – NYU, Pace and SUNY Purchase are all in or close to NYC.</p>
<p>Lisa… I LOVED U of Puget Sound, and was actually stunned when my S didn’t pick it. We are in San Diego, but my parents live in Seattle, and we visit the PNW a lot. The school is gorgeous and has amazing facilities and faculty. They also have impressive results as far as their graduates. The students are very happy, friendly, accepting, and raved about the school when we were there. I would highly recommend it. In fact, one of my really good friends has a daughter there as a freshman who turned down, UCLA, Berkeley, Whitman, Colgate… and a few others to attend, and is over the moon happy there. My S picked the school that is as far away as could possibly be… but he fell for St LAwrence hard. I know it is hard to have them so far away, but if the school is a fit, and your D is the independent type, I think it is a good thing. </p>
<p>Oh… and if she decided on UPS at the end, I have a sweatshirt you can have…LOL!! </p>
<p>My theater S has NYU on his list for sure… still deciding about Purchase. I think he is a kid who was born to be in NYC…not like my 2012 S who was born to be in the woods.</p>
<p>What other schools in the west is your D looking at? I know a lot about the schools in the PNW, as my S loved that area.</p>
<p>St. Lawrence has a good reputation here in the East. Perfect spot for your outdoorsy son. </p>
<p>We were also considering Purchase (SUNYs are a bargain) but I’ve heard that they don’t have enough housing on campus, even for freshmen. It’s an expensive community so rents are probably outrageous.</p>
<p>Here’s her West Coast list:</p>
<p>Puget Sound
Willamette
Univ. of Redlands
Mills (although she is cooling on the idea of a women’s college)
Whittier
Pacific (Oregon – I know nothing about this school)</p>
<p>She was interested in Whitman, but as I remember it was a reach. Really, the location ruled it out. Getting there from CT would be a pain. LOL about the sweatshirt!!</p>
<p>LisaK–I don’t know anything about housing at SUNY Purchase but can confirm that rental housing would be expensive as the town seems to consist of high-end housing and commercial office parks. (I worked in one of those office parks many years ago.)</p>
<p>Ha… Whitman was my DS’s #2… they rejected him as well as his#1 Colorado College… It is definitely a reach for a kid with a lower GPA… if they didn’t take my 3.4. 2200 kid that was a perfect fit, then heck. </p>
<p>I have heard great things about Redlands and Willamette, don’t know a lot about Mills for obvious reasons, and the others I have heard a bit about, but can’t really remember. I have also heard great things about Seattle University( but pretty urban), and University of Portland. Portland is a GREAT city!! Lewis and Clark maybe?? But again, they denied my DS as well. </p>
<p>Don’t know if she cares if a school is catholic, but if not, check out Loyola Marymount and St Mary’s in the LA area, and Gonzaga in Spokane, WA. Loyola Marymount has one of the most beautiful campuses around.</p>
<p>Thanks 5boys, for confirming what I perceived about Whitman…not likely for DD either then. Just as well.</p>
<p>We are also looking only at schools with a D3 swim team, so that leaves out some of the bigger schools as well as Lewis and Clark. And my daughter would not be comfortable at a Catholic or Christian-oriented school…she’s Jewish and proud 
She would like a diverse environment. Thanks for all your ideas!</p>
<p>CT1417…yes, mansions and office parks near Purchase. My sister went to Manhattanville right up the street. I read somewhere that Purchase is short of housing and actually had to house some freshman at a hotel in White Plains, 20 mins. away. I’m not sure DD would like the school anyway, but that would be a deal breaker for us if it’s true.</p>
<p>LisaK216, I have some experience with your PNW schools… D11 started at Willamette, which we all really liked, before she realized she wasn’t ready to live away from home. I agree that Puget Sound and Whitman are great schools; they were 2nd/3rd choices for her. We know several current students and alumni at both schools. All of the alumni are very happy with their experiences. D11’s now headed to Seattle U in the fall after picking up her AA while living at home. My niece is a junior in OT at Pacific. </p>
<p>If you have any specific questions I’ll try to answer them.</p>
<p>5boys - I do remember chatting about your younger ds! What an exciting ride theater will be! Please, please let me know if you want ds to show you and your son around! He absolutely loves his school; it is the perfect fit!</p>
<p>So excited about St. Lawrence! I would have loved to visit. I’ll just have to “visit” through your stories. So, so happy for your ds. I’m glad he found another place that is perfect!</p>
<p>Morning All</p>
<p>K2 has study sessions this week for an AP next week. Thankful the teacher is doing that as I know that nothing has been prepped since the class finishes last semester.
K2 has a HUGE econ project due tom. Lots going on.</p>
<p>Hope everyones kiddo who took the SAT this weekend gets good #s.</p>
<p>LisaK216 there is a athletic recruit board under admissions, specialty. You will find other parents with experience there that can help with questions. We found it helpful when K1 , as a scholar-athlete was looking at schools and navigating the process which can run stressfully early.</p>
<p>LisaK216:
D also applied to U of Redlands EA. Her experience with admissions there was very strange. She had trouble getting any attention from them (no mailings after she requested info, no answer to emails about visiting/interviewing, website saying “check back in Sept” well into December, etc.). So they had really disappeared from her radar when a one-page acceptance letter came in the mail. There was finally a post-admission phone call from her ad com (which I handled since D wasn’t home) and when I mentioned all the above, she thanked me for the info, saying “That’s just the kind of thing I love to hear.” I mean, I understood what she she was trying to say, but it was a pretty odd way to put it! I also took the opportunity to ask about whether no news about merit scholarships meant D wasn’t being offered any, and she replied that she didn’t see anything in D’s file. A few weeks later, D did receive notice of a small merit scholarship. As I said, all very strange. I read on CC that UofR was very slow in making decisions this year. My guess is that the admissions office was undergoing a lot of change (I noticed in the letter that they had an interim head). I’ll be curious to know if they pull themselves together for the next admissions cycle. Since we never visited, I can’t really tell you anything about the school. The do have a great creative writing program, which is why D was interested. My BIL, who is an academic and LA native, thinks quite highly of the place.</p>
<p>To LisaK :</p>
<p>My middle S is a swimmer at Puget Sound–he is finishing his junior year and loves the team and the school. </p>
<p>My oldest D graduated from Willamette-- not a swimmer but also loved that school</p>
<p>Youngest will be starting at U Redlands this fall-- also not a swimmer but he visited the school several times</p>
<p>I will send you a PM later-- let me know if you have specific questions</p>
<p>Idahomom do you know how far LA is to U or Redlands? Do you guys know if Freshman can have cars. I saw that parking is free. Anyone know about the theater program there? My son is interested in schools that he can get to auditions in LA. LMU and Occidential are right in LA but he needs a few more.</p>
<p>U Redlands is about 80 miles from LAX airport. When we visited for Admitted Student Day we went to a play that was directed by one of the theater students. We got there a little early and got into a conversation with a theater prof who happened to be sitting in the lobby. My S is not interested in majoring in theater, but enjoys watching plays. .The prof seemed very nice, interested in my S even though he will not be a theater major. From what we heard from this prof there are lots of opportunities, and there was a list in the program of what the seniors who were graduating would be doing Several were going to grad programs or doing internships/jobs in LA area. Sorry I don’t remember specifics. Both my S and I enjoyed the play-- it was an Albee play-- can’t recall the name right now but I thought the students did an excellent job with it</p>
<p>Yes freshmen can have cars. </p>
<p>We also visited LMU-- which is why we flew into LAX. Visiting both would probably be beneficial if you can manage it. Let me know if you have other questions</p>
<p>Question for parents going through this a second, third, fourth (yikes!) time:</p>
<p>As I’ve mentioned several times, I have a child that is very opposite many here on the CC website: higher GPA 3.6 UW (with moderately challenging classes–ex. one AP + one college level course), but low test scores (1660/23 first go round. 1750 PSAT). Will retake SAT 6/1 with a goal of 1800.</p>
<p>Here’s my question: Do you know which big state universities give more weight to GPA vs. test scores for merit aid or admittance? She’ll wants to be a business major so no easy road there.</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice.</p>