Parents of the HS Class of 2017 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

Parents Forum
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All this talk about alarm clocks…I suppose I should start working on my kids. D17 gets up on her own using an alarm on her phone. In fact, several years ago when I was trying to establish the rule that mobile phones needed to be out of bedrooms being charged downstairs by 10pm, her argument was “How am I going to wake myself up in the morning?” Uh, there’s this thing called an alarm clock? And she actually HAS one right next to her bed tho she never used the alarm - it was apparently just a mechanism for charging her old iTouch!

I do wake up my other three mainly b/c I have to walk by their bedrooms as I head downstairs myself. My boys share a room and the younger one gets in the shower first, so I guess I originally woke him up myself so the alarm wouldn’t wake up my other son at the same time so he could sleep an extra 15 mins. Younger son wakes him up when he returns from shower. they do have an alarm clock, so I guess I need to start training them now. Same with younger D. I wake her up when I wake up younger S, but she too has an alarm clock next to her bed. Thankfully though, they all get up when they are woken up the first time so fingers crossed when they are on their own and using alarms, they won’t roll over and fall back asleep!

Next couple of weeks are crazy here. D17 turns 18 on May 4th and her prom is the next day, Friday. She has a beautiful dress that looks great on her hard to fit figure but she insisted on ordering another dress that arrives today in case she likes it better. I found the other dress so I’m guessing since I like it, she can’t simply agree and wants to find one of her choosing. Of course we are going to be pinched for time trying to find someone who can hemming just over a week.

@cameo43 what a FUN grad gift! D17 is getting a new laptop for college. We had offered to instead pay for her senior/grad trip (see below) and gave her the choice for a gift, but she chose the laptop (b/c of course, the trip is cheaper and since she is paying for that…LOL).

Not sure if this is just a local thing, but do kids go on graduation trips? Here the big thing, even since I was in h.s. is “beach week.” When I graduated we just went 2 hrs down to the beach. However, my kids’ small h.s… instead of going local, they head to NC and the boys rent a house and the girls rent a house. It is a big drunk fest despite a few parents going as chaperones. Thankfully, D17 and her group of friends decided to opt out of this tradition as they are not into that scene so they are going on a cruise. So glad I dodged the bullet on that one!

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@endesmom

No clue on the ACT vs ‘new’ SAT. Had my D take the ACT as it had been recommended as a better fir for her. Maybe do the ACT first as you already have a baseline PSAT and it could be better. Honestly, I really don’t know.

As for schools…CS, Urban and can see water. UPS? I would imagine that’s already on your radar.

Long Beach State? IDK how good their CS program is and honestly it’s becoming more competitive as well.

I suppose Northeastern is too much of a reach both for stats and price. F

For beach… look at Endicott in Beverley, MA. No idea how good it’s CS program. DD & I looked at it back in the day and it’s one of the few schools that really sits right on the beach. It’s a lovely campus, 30 minutes north of Boston. I have no idea what it’s merit aid would look like. But it’s not city.

Honestly good CS is a lot easier to find that Engineering, and good programs are available at almost all LAC’s these days. A good CS program does NOT need to be ABET certified.

One more idea… Although I have no idea how competitive it is. What about University of Victoria? I think I have that right… The one on Vancouver Island. I guess that isn’t big city…

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@eandesmom maybe look at DePaul in Chicago. I know DH has interviewed CS kids from there and has been impressed and there is Lake Michigan and definitely urban.

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@eandesmom why don’t you send son19 to UVM too? lol. You can kind of see the weather when you walk down the street a bit, lol. His stats are OK for there. I have no idea how good cs is there, but the new stem building will be opening when your son graduates. Champlain College is also right there, very computer focused.

RIT might be a good choice too. Good school, getting better, Don’t know how hard it is for CS though.

Northeastern is not going to happen unless he gets his act to a 32 and above. They are real sticklers about test scores and their CS dept is very competitive. Also, no water views really.

Umass Dartmouth is near the water. Roger Williams, Salve Regina, Endicott near water. URI, you can take a drive over to the beach.

There are some schools in NY/CT that are located near the ocean, but I have not done much research on them.

How about schools in Oregon and Seattle? There must be some near the beach.

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@eandesmom Like RightCoaster, Champlain was what popped into my head. Dunno if they want to be in the same place, though, but it ticks a lot of his boxes. He would def get in, I’m sure would get $$, they have good computer stuff, definitely on the hiking etc, Lake Champlain very close by…think about it! :slight_smile:

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@eandesmom has he looked at Stevens institute of Technology? It’s in Hoboken with easy access to NYC. It sits on a bluff with a million dollar view of Manhattan. Toured the school with D a few years ago and there was a lot to like.

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@eandesmom Yes, as I was reading that, I thought RIT–urban/suburban setting, near Lake Ontario & Finger Lakes, good hiking nearby, great STEM programs & co-op opportunities.

Clarkson has the programs, and is outdoorsy, but not at all urban or near much water…

I’m not sure it would beat out your flagship, but MSU has a great physics department and is reasonable for CS, has a river running through campus, and is urban-ish with outdoorsy stuff nearby. Plus, his stats would already get him some merit ($8k per year plus probably a 1-time $3-5k Study Abroad award. If he gets his stats up enough to make honors college, the merit is automatically $15k per year and maybe instate MI tuition, depending on how high his scores get–S17 is on the very low end of honors college kids, and doesn’t meet any of the published requirements–he had to write a supplemental essay and provide his 7th semester grades, but was probably helped by being a legacy to an honors college alum (he’s top 7% of class, 28 ACT and 1340 new SAT…). I’m pretty up on OOS merit there, Can you tell?

As for ACT vs. SAT, it does depend on the kid, but I’ve heard a lot of STEM kids prefer and do better on the SAT…

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“As for ACT vs. SAT, it does depend on the kid, but I’ve heard a lot of STEM kids prefer and do better on the SAT…”
—My STEM son (and nephew) were told the opposite. I’m not sure it matters so much anymore since the new SAT. I do think I read somewhere along that way that the questions are posed differently on the 2 exams, so some students are stronger on one or the other. That is true for my S17 for sure.

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FYI water can be a river, does not have to be a lake or a beach but outdoorsy and some kind of water. Doesn’t have to be on campus, 30 min would be ideal but an hour might be livable. And I don’t think water is the primary driver at all, just a nice to have. Same thing with urban. Suburban is ok if he can get to a city. And that’s today of course with a 16 year old, could definitely change. So I am including a few that fall more into the “good college town” category. Not sure he wants to be at the same school as S17. But I can’t look at many reach schools due to $$.

Even if he got into Northeastern, I am not paying full freight so he will not be allowed to apply. He would LOVE Boston though. LOL! DePaul could be a good option, not sure about cost though.

The thing with S19, is he has a STRONG case of intellectual arrogance. Very very different than his brother in that respect. He is smart, knows he is smart, but is fundamentally lazy and phones it in most of the time and does ok. He needs to be at a school full of peers or ones that will challenge him. He will not do well if he is the smartest kid in the group. He’s spent all of his life either in gifted programs or advanced classes for his grade where he is one of 2-3 kids from his grade in that class. I do think honors college programs at mid tier schools may be a solid option but need to figure out what those schools are.

Champlain seems way below his stats. I looked at it for S17 and discarded it for that reason as well, he needs to be pushed a bit too but not at the same level as S19. But I agree, he would be likely to get $$…

A few I’ve noodled around, that might come ok on merit, but would need to do research on (including $$) are:

Cal Poly - reach
San Diego State reach (based on competitiveness more than avg stats)
UW - match/reach depending on where he ends up
Virginia Tech - match, maybe low reach
Colorado State - match
RIT - match
Temple - match
Drexel - match
U of Minnesota, Twin Cities - match
Gonzaga - match
U of Portland - match
Santa Clara - match
UPS - safety/match
Seattle U - safety

CSLB and SJSU are options as well but I think they are too commuter and H (who went to both) don’t think they are the right fit. H would prefer to see him at a UC, knowing how his brain is wired and where he sees him fitting in (UCSC would be a good fit) but I don’t see the cost justification at all and it’s irrelevant as we don’t have it.

Issue here is that the only real financial safety is UW. CSU is in budget assuming he gets to the WUE level, which he should and frankly i think both H and I are going to lean hard on him considering CSU as I think it’s a great fit. For this one I really would like family nearby and we have lots in the Denver area. Cal Poly is also livable but I need to dig into the rest and really want at least 1 or even 2 true financial safeties.

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Thank you for your kind thoughts regarding DD’14. It’s official; she’ll be taking the medical leave which means this semester is wiped out and next semester she’ll be home too. It’s sad but it’s a relief that she will have some breathing room to get the help she needs. And Cornell says that her FA will be renewed for that last semester, AND they’ll replace the lost TAP and Pell with their own grants. I could weep. And now I want to put Cornell in my will, pittance that it will be.

If she goes back in January and finishes up smoothly, she and DS '15 will graduate together. There’s some fun in that.

We did sneak into Binghamton’s admitted student day, much to DS’17’s embarrassment. It was somewhat helpful. The biggest thing we’ve learned is that Bing expects that many of the spring admits will go to another 4 year school for the fall semester, and some of them will stay there (“Not many though!!” Rah Rah Binghamton!"). So their tuition deposit is refundable until Nov. 1. Not sure what the other schools think of dual deposits, though.

Things may be a little clearer for DS in any case. In a dual meet (which the team treats as just a different way to practice for invitationals) he ran the 400, which is not his usual distance (he’s never run it in an invite). Made the team’s 3rd best all-time and .4 sec from the state qualifying time, which gave him the courage to finally talk to the Buffalo coach and ask him straight out if there’s a place on the team for him. The response was very very encouraging, a sharp contrast to the silence from Binghamton.

The decision is closer!!!

Alarm clocks: I never had to wake the kids up for school once they were in high school, until DD’14 at college this semester. She asked me to call her every morning at 7:00 am and she would text back photo proof that she was out of bed and had showered. That’s done for now, anyway, though we’ll have to come up for a standard for when she should be out of bed now that she’s out of school.

@eandesmom How much water does he need to see? U Buffalo has a lake right in the middle of campus, big enough to boat on (and to hold cardboard boat races. :slight_smile: And, of course, it’s close to Lake Erie and Niagara Falls. DS '17’s stats are almost identical to your DS’19, but with much less rigor (no APs, for instance). He received a small merit scholarship ($2500/year) but maybe they would give your son more with all his AP credits. OOS cost this year including indirect costs is $42,800, direct cost (including room and board) is $39106.

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@MSU88CHEng I agree on Michigan State. He’s actually doing a 5 course online game design series with MSU right now, via Coursera. I like those numbers$ for OOS!

@jmek15 no, I wasn’t sure how Steven’s would pencil but it is worth looking at to be sure.

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@mdcmom oh what a relief for your D! And how wonderful wonderful wonderful Cornell is being. I could weep for you!

Buffalo is a great idea and seems a very solid fit. This is a kid (right now) I might like closer…west coast or near family in Denver but that’s worth putting on the list for sure.

And VERY encouraging about the coach and nice recent results to bolster things!

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@eandesmom , how about Pitt? Great urban campus, THREE rivers nearby, strong physics department (friend son who ultimately chose Rice was torn between the two), it’s a PA state school, tons of school spirit. TacoSon long had a preference toward smaller schools but he really, really liked Pitt. Downside is that merit aid requires both high GPA and high test scores – otherwise TacoSon could well have landed there. As a state school COA is lower than most privates, just higher than non-PA TacoFamily can handle.

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@tacocat333 I don’t see him hitting a 1490 or 33 ACT. It’s not impossible but it is unlikely unless the kid really really knuckled down and likely takes the test several sittings. Intellectually he is capable of getting there, I really believe. Honestly surprised that his initial scores are where they are.

Anyway, for Pitt merit is the most likely almost certain result. Which would put it definitely outside the upper end of our range, coming in around 50k, maybe more by then.

The rivers are SOOOOO cool. S17 didn’t like Pittsburgh, which surprised me, but I do. Not sure if it fits S19 or not. He’s so much harder to read though. Of course if he does knock the test scores out of the park, then it becomes a possibility. My gut though is he would be in the 30-31 range and around 1400 - 1420 but who really knows yet.

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@eandesmom I agree, it does look like your son is doing better on SAT.

FWIW my D had a sophomore PSAT score around 180 (old PSAT) and after some prep raised it a lot.

For CS I think you will have to do your research as far as finding schools where he has a good chance of acceptance and merit.

From what I read here on CC males can have a hard time to get into some schools for CS.

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@mommdc how much was she able to raise it? Sophomore PSAT was a 182. New PSAT.

Yes, CS is brutal for unhooked white males even at top stats. Which he doesn’t have. If he applies to Cal Poly it likely won’t be for CS but for Physic or Chem. In general he has to go a tier down. Maybe 2.

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Junior PSAT was about 195. At our school prep before PSAT was not emphasized.
She did a SAT prep class in fall of junior year and ended up with SATs of around 1400 CR&M and 1500 CR&M (after more practice on her own) in Jan and May of junior year.

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Your son is obviously advanced in math if he is taking Calc as a junior.

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@eandesmom re “what test?” the couple of things the test prep company told us were:

ACT has more questions and you have to move fast, so if having trouble finishing try the SAT
ACT science is a lot of kids’ downfall and is harder to study for than the other sections.

Since your S is already acing the science section, and could factor a high score there into a superscore some places, I’d probably give that one a shot.

Re schools have you thought about Chapman? Not sure how good the aid might be but it’s reasonably near the water, offers the subjects your S wants and has a really great film department.

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@mommdc yes, he is so the 25 was a bit surprising to me. Easy A in PreCalc this year, it’s a very small subset of kids that are on his track, one of the benefits of coming out of the gifted program even if his gpa doesn’t reflect it. His core grades, outside of French and his current grade in AP World, are very solid and all in honors, advanced track or AP. Which is all great…unless you are competing with all the rest of the high stats white boys who have 4.0’s and great test scores and far more aggressive EC’s in an impacted major at a lot of places. LOL! Plus he’s jut not that kind of kid at all. If it interests him, he does well. If not…not so much. And rarely “really” cares.

Very very nice improvement on your D’s side, impressive! Prep before PSAT isn’t emphasized at our school either, or frankly at his test prep place.

@93pilots well it was a 32 not a 35 but it’s capable of going up I’d think lol. That was my thought too on the ACT regarding superscore, but the test prep place didn’t seem to think it was that significant. Chapman is a possibility but it has a little bit of baggage associated with it. Merit is possible but might fall a bit short. He’s a very good friend who went there this year and really did NOT have the financial piece dialed in. Had to come home first semester as he couldn’t pay his bill. Super sad story. But it sticks with my kids and between the fact that he’d likely feel terrible if he were to go and could afford it and the fact that the friend did mention it being a bit heavy on the spoiled rich kid factor…it’s probably a non starter. Which is unfortunate as it was on his list prior to all of that but I suspect has fallen off.