@natty1988
Welcome! Very familiar with many of the schools on your list and happy to offer input where I can, WWU was my S17’s 2nd choice school and Seattle U is #2 for my current S19. I would say Santa Clara will be a great and Willamette maybe not as generous financially as you might like. How are his test scores? That will make a difference at some. Washington State is probably within reach if that is of interest though it is not WUE they do give “some” OOS $, as does Oregon State. Colorado State is also a good one for WUE, it’s on my S19’s list and I see is mentioned by others. Humboldt, in my opinion is pretty limited in majors that they are known for and has a pretty liberal/hippy rep that not all are comfortable with. Very strong in environmental but if the kid decides to change, could be weaker options. We looked at it for my S17 and financially, it’s attractive but I’d say you have better state school options. San Diego is likely a reach, possibly more so than Santa Cruz.
@eb2382 I know a very successful recent grad from Salisbury (business) and both he and his parents were quite happy with his experience.
@daisychayn not sure why but kids from our area all seem to pick Montana State over U Montana. WWU is really a fabulous option. @natty1988 WUE varies by each school, they can determine how to offer/implement and the rules/stats requirements.
Regarding WUE - actually Washington State is a WUE school.
$10,000 per year
With the Western Undergraduate Exchange or WUE (here we call it the Cougar Award), an out-of-state student may receive a $10,000 award, renewable for an additional three years. Qualified students receive the award automatically, and are notified upon their offer of admission to WSU. No additional action or forms are required for consideration.
Eligibility
Awarded to admitted freshmen with a minimum 3.0 unweighted high school grade point average (GPA).
To receive the award, you must also:
Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.
Be a resident outside the state of Washington and charged non-resident tuition
Enroll at the Pullman campus as a freshman for fall
So about another week before D19 hits the send button on applications. Everything is complete but she would like her AP English teacher to look over essay one more time. One of her teachers gave her a copy of their letter of recommendation. Oh…my…goodness, it made us all cry. It was so beutifully written and spot on. Thought this gesture was so nice.
@natty1988 We are from CA and considering many of the same schools. My daughter was just ok with Chico (we are from Sacramento so it’s not very far away) and was not thrilled with UNR. Her first choice is SDSU but it will be a stretch with her grades (3.4ish and a 1260SAT). She also applied to University of New Mexico. They have great merit for “average” kids. She just got a letter from them awarding her the Amigo scholarship plus a $200 stipend renewable all four years. This dropped the tuition and fees costs to $6700/year. Cheaper than a CSU. She isn’t thrilled with the idea of Albuerque but likes the low cost.
Is there anywhere in the Common App after an application has been submitted for a particular school to see if the school has received SAT scores? D19 has submitted a couple applications and I’m nervous the scores have not been matched even though I sent a few weeks ago.
@DCNatFan Once the applications are submitted, each school will give the student access to a portal where they are supposed to be able to check their application status. Out of 4 schools my D submitted to, I think only one shows a checklist of all required items and another sent an email notifying her that a LoR was missing (this all happened within a few days of submitting). We might have to call the others to verify that test scores were received, but the ACT website does show that they were sent.
@GusGus5 We’re from Southern California so Chico is pretty far for us. My kid is somewhat interested in SDSU but he does feel that it’s a little too close and he’s been to San Diego a lot…He also feels the same about Cal State Fullerton since it’s 30 mins from us. SDSU has gotten a lot more selective these days. We are also planning on looking at University of LaVerne soon which may be a good fit. Redlands and Whittier are two private schools in Socal that are good for kids in this range…but they are private and I don’t know about fin aid.
I have heard that Concordia University (Irvine, CA, Orange County), Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, CA, Orange County), and Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego) and Cal Lutheran (Thousand Oaks, CA area) are all good schools for kids in this GPA range, they are religious (not a bad thing, but for some students it does matter), so that may deter some, but if you’re looking for a bit of a religious environment these colleges may be up your alley. I know a kid who went to Cal Lutheran and enjoyed it…
@eandesmom Yes Montana State is far more popular among our local students as well. I think U of Montana has struggled a bit with their image, but I am curious what the student experience is like. It seems like a great town.
@GusGus5 Have you looked at NAU? It’s WUE and even without WUE it’s still pretty affordable for out of state kids…
I do that at NAU some majors are not part of WUE, so that is something to keep in mind, especially if you kid is interested in something that is not covered by WUE.
My kid did like UNR…we have had more and more kids from our area apply and attend there. It is especially popular with kids who like to ski…but I can see how it would not appeal to everyone…
@natty1988, my S15 (3.2 GPA, 1130 SAT) received $24K annual merit offer from Whittier (with potential to receive more) and $12K from Cal Lutheran. Was rejected from Redlands. You just never know.
@oneofthosemoms Interesting! We aren’t really religious so my son isn’t interested in Cal Lutheran. Although, is Cal Lutheran super religious? The one kid I know who went there was from a religious family, but other than that I don’t know much about the school…For religious kids there is also Azuza Pacific in the LA area that might be good for kids in this GPA range…
He was pretty interested in Whittier and it’s good to know that you can get financial aid! That’s odd about Redlands, but again you never know! Maybe Redlands has gotten more selective? Who knows?
My son also got an email from St. Martin’s University in Washington State last night? Anyone know anything about it? Never heard of it until now.
About all I know of St. Martins is from one TaeKwon Do tournament for my S17 many many years ago. Not a popular choice around here.
WA privates I’d recommend for this stats range are:
Pacific Lutheran University
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle University
University of Puget Sound
All very well respected in the area, all offer merit to varying degrees. We know many happy kids there, lots of sucessful graduates. Not safeties for the stats range in general but matches or low reaches. None of these are super religious though all have some relationship I think (UPS may not anymore, not sure on that one).
@eandesmom thanks for the info! I had never heard of St. Martin’s at all! I’m sorry if I’ve asked before or if you’ve mentioned before, but are you from Washington State? Wonder why St. Martin’s isn’t as popular? Anywho, it might just go in the no pile, my kid can’t apply everywhere and we can only visit so many places…my son might be applying to Seattle U, Western Washington…
I thought University of Puget Sound is on par with Whitman these days in terms of stats needed to get in and selectivity? But maybe I’m wrong?
Also, if anyone else knows if St. Martin might be good for kids in this stat range, let me know?!
@eandesmom I remember tournaments back in the day where you would go to random colleges and high schools!
Even though we haven’t visited them all, my son will be applying this weekend to:
CSU Chico
Sonoma State
San Diego State (might be a reach, but oh well)
San Francisco State
Humboldt
@natty1988 it may simply be because it is in Olympia and so Seattle area kids don’t know it as well as the others. Whitworth in Spokane is probably in the same boat. It’s a pretty campus and does have a religious relationship but I can’t recall what.
Whitman is MUCH (MUCH) more difficult to get into than UPS. UPS could be a high match/low reach for kids in this stat range, it depends. My S17 was admitted with merit, but on the low side of their merit offerings and then was offered a small theater tech scholarship. He had an UW 3.47, medium rigor and a 25 superscored ACT. He didn’t have a shot at Whitman, nor was it within budget. Same thing with Lewis & Clarke (in OR).
WWU is a great option.
If you are looking in Oregon, Willamette and Linfield are options. Neither (imho) give enough merit to make them worth the price as our kids fall into their lower range. Willamette is highly regarded locally.
My D19 really, really wanted to apply to WWU—but (a) she decided she was more interested in industrial engineering than manufacturing, and (2) admission to their manufacturing engineering program is—like the other engineering programs there—competitive, and she wanted to be able to be guaranteed entry upon acceptance.
And that’s an important thing to keep in mind for all of this—if your kid is interested in the sorts of programs that often have competitive entry (engineering, fine arts, design, architecture…), check the rules for that.
@natty1988, my son didn’t seriously consider Cal Lutheran but my impression is that while it’s more religious than some religious-affiliated schools, it’s no where near as religious as, say Biola or Azusa. The one person I know who went there attended many years ago, and she said that while there were students who were somewhat observant, it definitely didn’t have a vibe of piety! I think it’s one of those places you probably have to tour/do an overnight to find out if it’s a fit or not.
I have the impression Whittier would like to increase their enrollment of male students, that never hurts with merit aid. My S was offered much more than what the website indicated he could expect.
@oneofthosemoms Cal Lutheran isn’t terribly far from us, so I’ll talk to my son about it and see if he wants to head up there and check it out! He is going to apply to Whittier since it seems like a place he would get in and he is interested in it. Sounds like the fin aid would be good too!
@eandesmom Ah, ok! Makes sense! We hadn’t thought of Puget Sound, but my S was interested in it…
S is definitely applying to WWU. What do you know about Whitworth? Don’t know if S would be interested in Spokane, he got a brochure last year from Gonzaga and wasn’t that interested and Gonzaga was a bit of a reach and kind of expensive. We’ll have to look up Whitworth and see.
Daughter applied and got into Linfield and Willamette and was close to attending Willamette, S is kind of interested, so we’ll see…