^ oops!!!
Pretty funny. Haven’t heard from Oregon Tech in months and got a “we’ve got Pokestops” email tonight.
My son fits within this gpa range without a particularly high ACT score to offset it. He is interested in computer science, particularly programming, in a small school setting. He needs to expand his list of matches/low reaches. Can anyone suggest a school similar to Champlain College in Vermont? He doesn’t necessarily need to stay in the northeast, but wants a cold climate where he could ski.
@Tyberius - I would suggest University of Scranton. They have CS and other appealing majors as well. Small colleges in this range will generally have limited CS faculty and courses, but U. Scranton seems to have a good size department, from their web site. And Poconos are nearby for skiing 
@AHS2017Mom Not sure if you were asking all of us. S17’s “list” so far… We are in CA so California Schools are actually easier for him to get into than those from OOS. And his UC GPA is higher. Plus location is key for him & he only want to be in the “rural” west. I’m guessing safety/match/reach by looking at Naviance.
Will definitely apply
Cal Poly SLO (CA) - reach
UC Santa Cruz (CA) - match, low reach
Humboldt State (CA) - safety
Oregon State - match
University of Oregon - match
Will probably apply
University of Colorado Boulder - match
I’m trying to get added
Colorado State at Fort Collins - match, high safety
UC Santa Barbara (may take a visit) - reach
Chico State (CA) - safety
Places still under consideration
UC Riverside (CA) - safety
University of Wyoming - safety
Colorado College - reach
My son doesn’t know what he wants to study. Probably something in STEM. He is considering some sort of Engineering unfortunately many of these schools DS would be a reach to get into their Engineering program.
Has anyone researched Colorado School of Mines? @curiositycat333 ?
Talking with some RL friends about schools like University of Wyoming and Montana Sate and I got comments asking if DS would really be happy at these schools because of the political climate of the area. And the fact that those are rural but “farming/ranching” rural vs. wilderness camping rural. One of the issues I keep in mind is the one of social ‘fit’ to a school and the ability for my son to find his ‘tribe’. I feel that in order for my son to be successful at university he is going to need to be able to find his social niche. I know this isn’t as easy to figure out as GPA, Test Scores and Departments.
How much does personality “fit” take into account of selection of schools for you & your teen?
@theshadow Yes. We looked at School of Mines. It is a high reach for S17. I don’t think he’d likely get in with his stats.
@thshadow Mines would be honestly, a very very high (likely impossible) reach for most kids on this thread. 10% admitted in this GPA range. Unless the kid has a super high test score (and maybe some other hook) they won’t even be considered and with an admission rate of 36%…I wouldn’t bother applying.
As an aside, SD14, a recruited athlete by Mines, not looking at Engineering as her major, with a 3.93 UW GPA, medium rigor and solid but not spectacular test scores…didn’t get in.
My company hires a lot of folks from Mines. It is a golden ticket employment wise and an amazing (but scary intense) school. Granted, had she gotten in she would have had to decline as she went ED to Cal Poly SLO but I was very glad when it came off the table as I just didn’t see it being right for her.
@curiositycat333 Fit is important but I do think it works both ways. I can tell you that my uber liberal brother absolutely loved Montana State, for what it is worth. These are colleges and while the town may be one way, you will generally find a more balanced perspective on campus. We actually discussed this quite a bit with the director of Mechanical Engineering at Wyoming as it is a concern/con for the school in our book. Between our very frank discussion with him, and knowing some kids that go/are going to both, we do feel that S could find his “tribe”. Will it be as large of a tribe as it might be at say…Reed or Western Wa? No. Could he make it work? Yes. However, these are the things that put Wyoming much further down on the list, but, it’s still on. I actually do think there is something to be said for going out of the box a little bit. I’d like him to be exposed to a broader range of opinions than he is in real life. Politically it is a bubble around here. A nice one but it leaves my kids pretty sheltered from some of the current intolerance and inflexibility elsewhere and hard to understand how real and pervasive that can be. He is more willing to consider something like Wyoming, than say Gonzaga. Which I think is ridiculous but I guess it’s good that he knows his own breakpoint.
That said…I’d still rather see him there than Humboldt lol. It is about balance. In our case, between budget and stats, S is going to have to compromise somewhere, geographically, program area, how great or not the college town is, aesthetics of the campus, or the overall political climate at the school.
As far as the rural comment…I can’t speak to Bozeman but I can tell you Wyoming is pretty huge for hiking, XC skiing, Nordic skiing, fishing and kayaking. Kids are very outdoorsy there, and at the Colorado schools as well. The downhill stuff is more of a drive for sure.
But, certainly, both CSU and Boulder are going to be much more liberal and Boulder closest to the better skiing. It also costs a LOT more lol.
@Tyberius I am not at all well versed on CS schools in the NE at our stat range here…
Clarkson, UVM, U of Maine?
If price is no object and they don’t need to stay in the NE, close to skiing would include U of Colorado Boulder, Oregon State, U of Oregon (not sure if they have CS) but I am sure others will have far better ideas.
I think you’d find Laramie and Ft Collins much more liberal college communities than the states they are in, whereas the area around Colorado College (Colo Springs ) is very conservative. The students at all three are ‘college librral’ which I think is much more liberal than population at large.
I know at Laramie they benefit from being an ‘only child’ and politicians and other dignitaries are often seen on campus. Alan Simpson was often on camous, governors, the Dahli Lama. The international studies program is quite well supported. My very liberal daughter (in her mind) attends and doesn’t feel out of place, although she realizes that her democratic votes in Wyoming will not help the cause much so is likely to vote absentee from a purple state.
@twoinanddone agreed, the Springs is ultra conservative in my experience and we would actually not consider a school there, as gorgeous as it is.
S17 actually wore his free Wyoming tee shirt a couple of days ago, first time he’s put it on since they gave it to him. And made a point to show me he was wearing it. I think neighbor kid attending may have had a greater impact than I realized at first. Very interesting! I don’t think it moved up per se but seems solidly on at least. His bigger concern is how vocal could he be there, he’s fairly actively involved politically here and at school.
Colorado school of Mines probably has a more holistic admission than CU. My nephew, whose stats would have fit well into this discussion, was admitted but goes to CU. He is a state resident so I’m sure that helped, but he also attended a top high school known to both schools so the admission officers know that a 3.4 or 3.5 is hard earned. It is a much quieter campus than nearby CU. In my day, there were only about 10% women at CSM, so CU women were invited to party at CSM; not sure if that is still common.
Interesting - I really didn’t know anything about Mines. Though I keep seeing Cal Poly SLO mentioned - which I decided is completely out-of-reach for my daughter. Cal Poly is strictly based on a formula (which unlike other Cal schools, includes your freshman grades). That’s great in that it’s totally objective, which I respect. But it’s not great if you’re hoping for your kid to be thought of as more than their GPA. (Of course, DD wants CS. Maybe for non-CS (non-eng?) majors at Cal Poly, it’s not out-of-reach for people on this thread.)
@theshadow I made the mistake of taking S17 to Cal Poly as his first college visit. He liked it. It gave us lots of information but I realized how much of a reach it would be. Only found out about freshman grades when we visited. He still likes it and wants to apply. While I think it will be a good fit, except for the fact that he isn’t sure about major. How much of a reach will depend what department he applies in.
@curiositycat333 and @thshadow, we will likely be looking at Colorado School of Mines (and CU Boulder, CSU, Univ. of Denver) the second week of August. S17’s GC told him he has about a 40% chance of getting into Mines with his OOS 3.24 GPA (but with high test scores, and a top prep school). S17 has concern about Mines being too small, and about the male/female ratio, but still wants to go check it out. I have been told by a couple of parents that their sons go to Boulder on weekends (and have no problem meeting the girls there).
@curiositycat333, FWIW, a friend went to CU Boulder, and her daughter is at CU Boulder now. Her son, though, is now at Montana State. She actually prefers Bozeman and Montana State–says that Boulder has changed so much, and Bozeman reminds her of what Boulder was like 25 years ago. I read that Bozeman won Powder Magazine’s “Ski Town Throw Down” in 2012 for best ski town. I am hoping my S17 has MSU on his list as a safety.
@Hanskter1361 Really wish we had scheduled time to do a tour of the West this summer. I could imagine a fun long car trip… start in Reno, through Salt Lake, Colorado onto Wyoming & Montana. Would have been a lot of fun. I think he would be a lot more open to Colorado schools, Montana, Wyoming if he had every seen them. He’s extensively traveled in CA & Oregon, been to the east coast and even been to Europe. But he’s never seen that part of the west.
But you can’t do everything. The camp he is at is his top priority and if he really wanted to go another two weeks. Marching Band starts the 2nd week of August and there really will be very little time for either of us to travel till the end of Nov.
@Hankster1361, @curiositycat333, @thshadow
Regarding Mines, I’ve several colleagues who went there, including 2 female PhD engineers. The girls that do go, and survive, are pretty cool. However, both actually counseled my SD against it for undergrad based on the intensity level, instead recommending it for grad school. For her it was the right choice.
As for Cal Poly (I know I have mentioned it before so apologize if beating a dead horse) if you apply, make sure your child is 100% sure of their major. You apply to the college and is a upside down curriculum with much of the major classes first and gen ed later. It makes it very hard to change majors and graduate on time, in addition you are reapplying to the new major’s college and may or may not get in. Higher base requirements than the rest of the CSU system too. It does seem based on our naviance and published admission info that GPA is weighted more highly than the test scores, whereas the opposite is true at Mines but we don’t have nearly as much data.
CSU SEMESTERS REQUIRED/CAL POLY SEMESTERS DESIRED
English 8/10
Algebra 4/4
Geometry 2/2
Advanced Math 0/4
Language Other than English 4/8
Lab Science (Must include 1 year of a Biological Science and 1 year of a Physical Science) 4/8
Social Sciences (Must include 1 year of US History or US History and Government) 4/4
Visual Performing Arts 2/4
Electives 2/2
Really not sure how they expect kids to get in 5 years of English and unless you have Algebra in Middle school you can’t hit their math req. Generally kids going to Cal Poly would have it in 8th grade but still, the English thing could really catch people off guard and I know the visual performing arts aspect is a deal killer for some. I don’t think SD had the 5 years of English, nor did she take the “most” rigorous English options (or overall course load) each year and that obviously didn’t keep her from getting in.
For Cal poly I really do think that ED can make a difference for a kid on the bubble, no clue about Mines though.
@eandesmom, Cal Poly has ended ED as of the upcoming admissions cycle.