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

@oldbrookie it really was lovely.

@twoinanddone we spent almost an hour in the new performing arts building. Mostly on the music side but a tiny bit on the theater side. The fact that it is such a strong program was huge for S, from an entertainment standpoint that is as critical to him as the activities in town. We were told there is some kind of performance almost daily that kids can see for free. Last night it was an improv group that several of the students mentioned. S got the feel of more to do on campus than he has maybe thought and that helped.

We knew the ESE and SER programs were unique and a big draw, just weren’t sure if the rest would live up to that promise.

Fort Collins being so close helps, not all that different from what he would have at Western WA and being able to get to Seattle.

Add all that up and S could actually see himself there.

@brindlegreyhound and anyone else thinking about Western Washington U. I just got a summer program email from them (ok S got it, I get copies lol). Not sure why I’ve never seen these before but there are some really nice week long options and I think we may seriously consider it for S17. Yes, it is a paid summer camp, with one college credit that will be basically unusable almost anywhere. I get that but it seems a great way to help S see if these are the fields he really wants to pursue. The fact that they offer 3 classes out of the 13 that would actually be of interest to him is exciting on its own. Sadly I think the top choice is out as it conflicts with another summer camp but I still think this may be worth doing and I have historically NOT been a fan of the paid summer program options.

http://www.wwu.edu/ee/youth/collegequest/bellingham.shtml

@eandesmom Thanks! We will definitely look into it

@eandesmom
Wow, great trip reports!

I just have to mention, regarding the Alferd Packer Grille: Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of “South Park” and “Book of Mormon” fame) met at CU Boulder and one of their first efforts was a movie called “Cannibal! The Musical” about Packer’s story. I’ve heard that the Packer Grill was named in their honor.

I think your S’s feelings about WashU are the same as my D’s about CU. She’s been around it forever, done kids’ camps there, and it’s just not part of “going away.” I’m glad your S liked it so much. I have to agree about all those high points. And on the topic of rah rah sports, I see a good number of dance performances there and D11 and her BF see a lot of theater as well and those performance are always well-attended and often sold out. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same for music performances. You mentioned your S was in marching band. D11’s freshman year they practiced right outside her dorm window every Saturday morning – they were excellent but can’t say she was a fan!

It sounds like the visit was very useful even though it’s not a likely school.

I can also see CSU being too casual; it doesn’t have that old-school collegiate feeling. D17 and I noticed this difference between some of the schools on our NY/MA tour.

I am really wishing UWyo was still on our list after reading your review. But D17 has deemed “near-by Brazilian Jiu-jitsu studio” a deal-breaker issue.

I’m glad this trip was so successful and UWyo sounds especially exciting.

Alferd Packer grill has been there since the 70’s (maybe even the 60’s), long before the South Park boys. CU students have had Alferd Packer festivals with eating contests and t-shirts and all other things a respected cannibal deserves for decades.

@snoozn The South Park boys, among others, were featured on the alumni brag wall. S did know they went there before we arrived (I didn’t so that was kind of funny, the kid pays attention to some things). It did get a little old hearing about Woz donating all the computers but I get that it’s a good story. S just finds it funny that 2 of his schools are the Apple drop out schools. Not that I am entirely sure he will end up applying to Reed. I agree on the rah rah aspect. Sure, game day will be big. It will be big at any state school. But other than that, you won’t notice it. I didn’t at the UW and can’t imagine it has really changed. If you want it, it’s there, if not, easy to avoid. I can see where band practice outside your window would not be a good thing at all. When S took the September ACT, the school he was taking at had 1) a local parade on the street outside and 2) the MB practicing for part of the morning after that right outside the room they were in. Not good. CSU is a little bit sad for all of us. It went from an definitely apply to not at all.

I can’t decide if I should make him tour UW or not. He’s seen it plenty with school so it really would be more of a dorm tour and sitting in on classes. Ultimately I get his point. He just thinks if he went there, he’d come home all the time to hang with kids that maybe aren’t going there (CC or what have you) or ones that are and as a result, wouldn’t immerse himself and meet new people. Given that his older friends there do come home a lot and hang with him…I can see that as being a valid impression. He is however extremely excited to visit Western. Far enough away that it will force him to meet people but enough friends already there that it is in the comfort zone. I spent a lot of time looking at his options there yesterday and while they may not have the engineering program fit, there are some great Energy minors and he really could make a nice non engineering option there. More general ed req’s than Wyo for sure though which is a bit of a bummer. I think when the time comes it will mean a lot of curricula comparison which I don’t seem to hear about kids (or parents) doing here on CC. I also need to decide if I want to squish in a visit to OSU this year or leave it alone till fall and if the “counselor” comes up with any cool ideas. I have started to look at curricula to see what AP scores really “get you” as it pertains to the specific program and it is amazing how much it varies. CTCL will be here in August so we will go to that “fair” and I think that will be good.

I am super annoyed. I had gotten the strong (strong!) impression that our school required the kids to take the AP tests. Apparently they do not. I could have saved 82 bucks on Physics as he’d need a 4 for any kind of credit anywhere anywhere and it will be a miracle if he gets a 3. Oh well, chalking that one up as lost for now (yes he is studying but…) and focusing on that 4 for AP Lang. If he can pull that off we can skip the AP Lit test.

@twoinanddone Celebrating a cannibal is hysterical, S got a kick out of it. Of course, he was also totally amused that when he went to order his lunch (tacos) he asked the server what protein was the best since he couldn’t decide.

She was vegan.

Not that any of this matters but I do find it interesting.

CSU. Thank you and follow up email from our tour guide (with a spelling error in the title, ouch…“fallow” up) within an hour of the tour.

U of Wyo. Thank you and follow up email with some specific links and docs based on meeting, from admissions rep before we’d even left campus, literally minutes after S turned in his survey.

CU. Generic email with survey 5 days after visit.

My nephew went to high school in Denver but lives at CU. He knows hundreds of fellow student who attend, from high school, from years of youth sports, from his neighborhood. Hasn’t prevented him from meeting new fri3nd’s and his girlfriend is from Chicago (she also already knew many students because there are a lot of students at CU from Chicago). Nephew came home a few times his freshman year, but rarely comes home now, and if he does he usually goes back on the same day. He sometimes arranges to meet with friends who go to other colleges at his home if they are in town to visit their parents. Same with me when I went to CU - I never went home and it was less than an hour away.

I don’t think if your son went to a close college (UW) he’d just be reliving his high school days. Kids get into their college lives and don’t have time to go home. My friend’s son attended Wisconsin and he grew up in Madison. He usually came home (all of 15 minutes away) on Sundays to do laundry and eat, and usually brought his cousin with him. It was more likely he’d run into his parents if they were on campus (or near) to eat or go sailing or attend a sporting event.

I think it is different to go on a tour as a high school senior than to remember what it was like at band camp or when you attended a concert there. Take the tour, see the dorms, talk to the financial aid people. It’s one day out of your life. I’m sure there will be something he’ll learn and say ‘I didn’t know that.’

@twoinanddone I agree. I went to the UW and am fairly sure I didn’t come home until Thanksgiving my freshman year and back then when traffic was livable, it was a 15 minute drive and I had a car. However, S sees his UW friends often enough that he feels they are “home” all the time and that concerns him, he thinks he would be tempted to do the same. He doesn’t want to come home every Sunday (for example). That said, his HS does do the info tour, both in MS and then again either Freshman or Sophomore year so he has actually seen a fair amount. If we do tour it would be res hall and then sit in on a class or two, probably skip the general one.

If he does want engineering though it is not an option. It’s a reach as it is and would definitely put him in the policy side of things. The reality is, for his area of interests it is not as strong as some other options.

@eandesmom I’m not sure of the exact major your s is looking for or what he is looking for in a campus, but I thought I would let you know that OSU is opening its new campus in Bend - OSU Cascades. Looks like they offer energy systems engineering. I’m not sure about the band situation, but Bend is a super cool place.

@Reckless I have seen that! It is on our list to check out. I had been suggesting it for a while but it wasn’t until he liked CU that it became an “ok, I can look at it”. Right now the ESE program would be 2 years in Corvallis (ME Pre Engineering coursework I believe) and then 2 in Bend for the ESE. I need to do more homework on what his options would be if he changed his mind and wanted to go a different route but believe there is enough there. My brain hurt yesterday after trying to dig into Western’s varying curriculum’s by major and the different minors that would be of interest.

It may make more sense to tour in the fall as then at least Bend would be open so he could see both campuses. I doubt they would have band but by year 3 he might not have time for it anyway. It’s a stretch financially as it isn’t WUE. There is some automatic merit that appears stackable but it is hard to tell for sure and even if it is, it is still a bit on the high side. Definitely worth a visit and if he likes it, worth applying to see what the numbers would look like. He is far more open to OSU than U of O. I think we know too many Ducks…that are rightfully obsessed with their team. It gives him that “too” rah rah impression. LOL!

My D11’s experience at CU has been that she’s kept her “core” group of friends from hs (about 10 people), about half of whom have stayed here. But she’s also made a lot of new friends at CU. I guess it’s personality dependent. She doesn’t have a problem not “going away” even though she’d always thought she would.

@twoinanddone It is an even better story that a college dining hall inspired a musical comedy about a cannibal!

I don’t know if they still have Alfred a packer Daze, but way back when, Program Council sponsored a week or so in the spring with all kinds of fod eating contests and other spring carnival activites. It was always a big deal to get a tshirt.

I am new to CC and have been learning ALOT!. I found the 2016 version of this thread, and read with much interest. It led me here. My S17 fits this thread but is one of those outliers–scattergrams don’t help much. Am having a hard time finding what is a match, reach, etc. He currently has a 3.2 GPA, 34 ACT, and 221 PSAT. A couple of honors courses. Due to GPA has not been able to do APs, now is now scheduled for 2-3 next year. Upward trend each year. I think his ECs are okay but nothing like on some of the other threads (He has 4 years of varsity water polo, JROTC , and band). He is strongly leaning towards engineering. The Pacific NW, Colorado, etc. all OOS are good locations for him (loves to ski/outdoors), but he hasn’t ruled out any area of the country.

@snoozn --read your CSU visit summary with much interest. At a local college fair the CSU representative said that engineering at CSU requires a 3.5 GPA for admission–is that the information you got as well?

@Hankster1361
Welcome! Yes, I know what you mean about not fitting the scattergrams. My D has a huge spread between math and reading (at least on the PSAT), so she never fits neatly into the SAT stats for any school. I’m so anxious to see her ACT and SAT scores that will be coming out next month.

At CSU they actually told us to look on the website for all the minimum reqs. I found it buried about 5 layers deep (http://admissions.colostate.edu/competitive-majors/). Sounds like the local rep was all around wrong and your S would just have to squinch his gpa up a tiny bit (assuming he’s not looking at ME):

Minimum HS GPA on a 4.0 scale:

Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering dual degree programs require a minimum 3.6 cumulative GPA.
All other Engineering majors require a minimum 3.30 cumulative GPA OR top 30% of graduating class.
Minimum ACT or SAT scores:

Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering dual degree programs require a minimum 27 ACT composite and minimum 28 math subscore OR 1200 SAT critical reading/math combined and 620 math subscore.
All other Engineering majors require a minimum 22 ACT composite and a minimum 23 math score OR 1000 SAT cr/m combined score and 520 math subscore.
Composite/combined scores must be from any single test sitting. The highest math subscore can come from a test sitting other than the highest composite/combined score test sitting.
Some flexibility may be allowed for international applicants for whom the English/critical reading sections of ACT/SAT may lower the composite/combined results.

Minimum high school course work:

One semester of trigonometry or pre-calculus
One year of chemistry or physics

I wanted to do a quick update over here with some fun findings.

As we narrow our list, in large part by having a decent list targeted towards S17’s stats and interests, I am finding auto merit at most/many locations. Now, granted many have high sticker prices so the value of the merit is still not necessarily competitive with in state or my budget but it is encouraging and it does not factor in anything “extra” that he would be applying for, these is all auto merit through the schools themselves with published information. Regardless of anything automatically granted, we will of course be applying for every penny we can to avoid any loans whatsoever, as a donut hole CP and NCP family we will not qualify for anything in the aid arena.

I know for me, initially coming into this process, it seemed his stats really wouldn’t get him much if anything and as a result, his opportunities would be more limited. I finding that to be less the case than expected.

So, just in case it helps anyone else…

All of these schools would offer my student something per their NPC which factors in stats. It doesn’t mean he’d get in of course but that the potential for some money OOS or at LAC’s is real. Amounts range from $6,000 annually to $20,000. Not all are actually on his list currently but are ones we looked at NPC’s and scholarships for. Ranked in order of competitiveness with my instate flagship costs, the first two are actually less $ once merit is added in. I have not included our instate (WA) options but the benchmark is about 28K annually for the University of Washington. Annual COA before merit (I include books, room and board, other) on this list ranges from 30K - 61K annually before merit and 23k - 51K after. It also helps me know how much additional for some of these, we would need to make it work and for some, that number does not seem insurmountable.

Humboldt State
University of Wyoming
University of Montana
Linfield
Oregon State
Colorado State
University of Puget Sound
University of Vermont
Gonzaga
Ithaca
Kalamazoo
Lewis & Clark
Muhlenberg

I realize many on this list may not be of interest to folks and it is clearly a west coast/cooler climate based list but the point really is that there is money out there for our B students if we look. While some is tied to the WUE, much of the WUE funds on this list are available to all OOS students or a larger region, and the LAC $ is for anyone.

Hi all, new here, but I think I have found where I need to be. My D17 has a 3.4 GPA UW (3.8 W). Her course rigor is decent–by the time she graduates she will have taken 6 AP courses and most of the other core classes have been honors level. She’s showing up as in the top 10% of her class (23 out of 244) right now. She has taken the SAT once and the ACT once–SAT scores come next week, ACT scores were disappointing 25 C (26 E, 23 M, 29 R, 22 S), and we’re hoping the SAT is more her style. Despite not having scores back from the March SAT, we have registered for the June sitting, so we’ll be able to superscore (I’m pretty sure that every school we’re considering superscores). She hated the ACT, and I think would rather not retake it, but we will decide after we get the second SAT scores.

ECs are pretty weak. D is not much of a joiner and got snubbed by NHS, which would have at least been something to put on the application. She’s done some volunteer work/community service (~90 hours), peer counseling, and she’s been working 10-20 hours/wk since the summer before her junior year. She did a couple seasons of crew, one year of volleyball, and that’s pretty much it.

We live in MA and are looking primarily at schools in the Northeast. Her favorite so far by a long shot is UMass Amherst. It ticks most of her boxes with regard to size, social/cultural diversity, distance from home, amenities/resources, but with her stats I’d say it’s at best a high match/low reach. She’s leaning toward Political Science/Global Studies for a major. Other schools under consideration include UVM, URI, Allegheny, Temple, Marist. American is on the list, but as a reach. I would like to investigate further some other CTCLs like Juniata and Goucher, but am afraid that they will be too small for her (while she shows a definite preference for larger schools, she really liked Allegheny College a lot when we visited, so that gives me hope that some of the other smaller schools will be appealing). I would love her to consider Clark, but that’s too close (it’s not Worcester part that bothers her, it’s just too close). There are others under consideration (Susquehanna, Siena, Loyola University Maryland, U of Scranton, but we need to better understand what they offer. We visited Quinnipiac, but neither of us really liked it.

I feel like most of what we’ve identified falls into the match/low reach category, without enough in the safeties-she-will-be-happy-to-attend bucket. For the B/B+ student, schools that are even moderately selective are barely in reach, and moving to the next level of selectivity down on the ladder just leaves us feeling meh. In terms of cost, we are prepared to pay as much as $45,000/year, and we will not qualify for any need-based aid, some merit will need to be in the mix (unless by some miracle she gets into UMass). That actually seems like one of the bigger challenges, but if we had to dig deeper, I suppose we could cough up more. We’re REALLY trying to do this without loans (student or parent). So…

Reach
American
UMass-Amherst
UVM (?)
Allegheny
Ithaca

Match
Loyola U Maryland
Temple
Marist
Susquehanna
URI
U of Scranton

Safety
Siena
Goucher

Anyone want to weigh in and offer up any additional suggestions or provide feedback on what I’ve got here? All input gratefully accepted!

@klinska welcome!

You are definitely in the right place. I would also say that the main 2017 group is incredibly diverse and not all tippy top snobby at all and I’ve gotten amazing info from them as well.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/class-20xx-community/1479899-parents-of-the-hs-class-of-2017.html#latest

I would think that Ithaca and UVM are matches. Maybe low reach but solid chances. She will qualify for some merit at both of those so should be in your price range, based on their published NPC using my kids stats. Her stats are pretty identical to my S’s with the main differences being he does have more EC’s, and we do not weight or rank (though he would be well well below the top 10% I suspect). The one thing I would be worried about with your safeties is the admit rate. Siena is only 48%. I’d want a few on that safety list that are at least 70% admissions to feel that they were actually safe, stats aside. I’d add one safe in-state option and one very safe LAC. Our safeties are 80% + and I have several matches in the 70’s.

Unfortunately I don’t know enough about east coast options to offer much more, lots I’ve heard of, some I know kids at, but not enough to really recommend anything as being a particularly good fit. Does she have any idea on what she wants to study? That can help with finding fits.

@klinska Welcome! I’d look at all of the state schools of NE… URI, UVM, UMASS, UMaine, UNH. I think she would stand a good chance at all of those. Maine recently lowered their tuition cost for out of staters to their in state price, quite a bargain! She would learn a lot at any of them and they all have decent programs to choose from. Her course rigor looks good. Have her study some more or take a test prep class on act/sat.
We’re from MA and have looked at all of these schools.

She’ll be fine!

@morningside95 Not a jesuit school but also a catholic school that seems cool is St. Mary’s of CA. They offered everyone $17K last year–phone banks were calling people and telling them they were automatically getting that scholarship. It’s a CTCL and it’s on my list for my DD with higher grades but I’m pretty sure that they take lower grades too.