Parents of the HS Class of 2019 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

Parents Forum
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Hello all–I think I might have recovered enough from S17’s college application/admission process to rejoin this group for S19. S19 fits this thread, and like S17 will be lopsided with a low GPA and high-ish test scores. Current 3.1 GPA (largely due to not turning in homework like many others on this thread). No APs yet, but slated for 2 next year. He’s taken the SAT once (top 10%), likely National Merit Commended (with an outside chance for NMSF), with ACT scheduled for April. ECs–4 years band, 3 years debate (minimal participation), and 3 years of a service/leadership group.

For S19 I need to learn about good places for him for physics (theoretical or quantum mechanics–I think (!), not my world, but definitely where S19 lives). Any others pursuing physics here? For S17’s I learned all about engineering admissions, which I learned was a world unto itself (along with CS). He too was lopsided, so he applied to a lot of schools, at all levels.

If any of your children are planning to study physics in college, I’d love to hear what you’ve learned. What I’ve learned so far is that LACs are good options (unlike engineering), so am trying to learn about those, and reading your comments and those from prior year’s threads. I think my son will do best at a smallish school (not a big public, maybe <6000) where he can get to know his professors, where there is not a core curriculum requirement. He doesn’t want hot weather, but at this point I think it’s too early to rule schools out based on weather.

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Took our first college tour at Colorado State yesterday with S19; he was feeling a little under the weather so not sure how much he really absorbed. Didn’t get to see a lot of the campus since it was only 15 degrees, but luckily we live about 1.5 hours away so we can do another tour when it’s warmer (and S19 feeling better). Impressed with the student embassadors and S19 thought the cafeteria food was pretty good (positive since he and my husband are major foodies). Traveling to Dallas in a couple weeks to tour SMU and TCU - good to compare big public in-state university with a mid-size private out-of-state college. Want to make sure he gets exposed to a variety of options.

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@eandesmom How would you describe the kids at Allegheny? We haven’t been there, but I’m curious about them since Allegheny is a potential match for S.

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@megan12 The Allegheny vibe, to us, was academic and athletic. A decent amount of Greek but not overwhelming. Super super nice kids, not very diverse at all but for my tree hugging hipster S17 it just wasn’t the right tribe.

Aka…no PHF (Purple Hair Factor) or Man Buns to be seen. Not that those were a requirement but it is a bit indicative of the student body. We were incredibly impressed with the program and the food and bummed, as we both wanted to love it as it was by far his best package. It’s a really lovely school.

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Thanks for that assessment, @eandesmom!! Actually, it sounds perfect for my not-tree-hugging, PHF kid!! :)) He freaks out every time he sees students with dyed hair. It’s the reason he took Dickinson off his list (there were a few on the tour), but I made him put it back on because it’s a good fit for him otherwise. We just toured another school recently, and he pointed out every kid with dyed hair. When they showed a picture of a girl with blue hair during the information session, I just looked at him, and we laughed. It came off the list. :))

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@megan12 LOL! It might be perfect for him then. What does he want to study again?

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@nukesmom interested to hear your take on TCU. We live in FW but I’m not a graduate. I have an overall bad impression of the school but I’m sure they have some good programs. Greek is HUGE there.

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We visited Stockton University in NJ today. It’s a mid-tier state school - roughly equivalent to the better PA directionals in PA. But it has a really nice variety of env. sci.-type majors, including a robust marine biology/science/oceanography program and a semester at sea.

It’s got some huge growth, too, including a new satellite campus 20 minutes away on the beach in Atlantic City. There are a few majors that’ll be concentrated there - the marine stuff, hotel/tourism management, etc. The whole concept of beachfront dorms – literally beachfront – is amazing. And even if you go to the main inland campus, you will have a frequent free shuttle to the beach because of the satellite campus. How awesome is that?!

D19 is into theater these days, though. There isn’t a BFA program, but they do have a BA in theater tech. Nice facilities - not as big or as spiffy as some we’ve seen, but not bad.

There was a food court that looked pretty meh at first, but we were impressed after eating. A salad bar that was essentially a Chipotle for salads, completely fresh and hand-made for you - huge salads, great mixtures or design your own. A sub/vegan station, a Chick-fil-A, a pasta station. Other eateries scattered about the campus. They have a free bike rental program (like Citibike in NYC or Zipcar).

This was a modern campus in terms of architectural style, not all red-brick or older like most of the ones we’ve seen. It’s a LEED-certified campus, with geothermal heat, and most of the buildings are brand-new and huge atrium/natural light/designed to capture the sun etc.

We saw freshmen dorms, which are definitely not modern and are probably the last buildings on campus not updated - smallish rooms, communal bathrooms. Upperclassmen, however, get much nicer new apartments. Guaranteed housing, too. Fridges and microwaves supplied in every room.

It was a phenomenally gorgeous day for February - 70 and sunny - and several classes were being taught by the professors outside. A dance troupe was practicing between buildings; we saw pickup basketball games, volleyball nets already up, tons of students out and about, the library was packed… all in all, we liked it a lot, and it was way above my expectations. D will definitely apply, and the COA/merit possibilities are very encouraging.

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@eandesmom He’s not really sure. He thought he liked poli sci until he took AP Gov. Now he’s not so sure. He’s going to try a business class next year so we’ll see if he likes that any better. My other S is more like your D. He went to a very liberal school.

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@Gatormama As a local to South Jersey, just letting you know that Stockton is 70% commuters. We are in state DD had a 1310 SAT, 4.0 unweighted GPA and only received $6K per year in merit money. It was the least amount of scholarship money she received from any of the schools she applied. She actually received more from U of D and they are typically stingy with Out of State students.

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Thanks @MrsSouthJersey18 - the listed tuition is only about $8600 in-state ($4k more is listed as fees; same for in and out of state) — so a $6k discount is pretty good, no?

I see USNWR listed 63% off campus and agree that it’s higher than we would like, but since the school is something like 99% NJ residents, it makes sense.

Money is our No. 1 priority. We just don’t have a lot of it.

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Agreed, @Gatormama, the important thing isn’t the amount of merit aid—even though everyone likes to trumpet the whole “This kid got a total $X million in offers!!1!”—but rather the net cost. In that sense, colleges with a low sticker price are actually at a bit of a marketing disadvantage, because where a school that costs $60k can give an impressive-sounding $40k offer to a student, that’s still twice the price of a $30k school giving a $20k offer.

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@dfbdfb where is there a 30k school who gives 20K offers!

@Gatormama I agree with the above. It’s all about the net cost, not the actual offer. I would encourage looking at total costs and not just tuition. R&B can really vary by school, as can any kind of travel costs.

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@eandesmom, I just pulled numbers out of the air so that everything would add/subtract to simple, round amounts. But to give specific examples, my D17 was chasing maximum merit money, and the second-largest award she got was $30k from a $60k school (thus, a net of $30k), but she also got smaller awards but lower nets of $27k from a $53k school (net $26k) and $11k from a $39k school (net $28k).

That $39k school was the lowest sticker-price school she applied to aside from our in-state public (which doesn’t offer any majors she’s interested in, and so wasn’t actually a serious application), so I don’t have a $30k school to offer as a datapoint. I’d suspect there are some out there with highly-competitive full-tuition scholarships, though.

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@Gatormama When we received the package with all of the costs with my DD living there, because we want her to have the college experience the cost was listed at $27K approximately, with fees and such for Nursing. Her first choice is not Stockton, but Widener out of state. Once you take out the “Stafford Loan” out of the calculations (I love how everyone puts that in as an award), it will only cost us $5K a year more to send her to Widener. So no I don’t think that’s a great offer to an in state kid.

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Haha PSU is $37k for us in-state, I hate where we live. Glad you found a better option!

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@Gatormama - UMass Amherst is about $35K all in for in state…and last year they didn’t even offer us a loan. UVM’s offer brought it down to close to the same price. McGill (where my son needed up) is less than that this year…and when the kids move off campus second year you save a few thousand per year in room and board.

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@Gatormama That’s so crazy. I think $30,000 covered my tuition and all living expenses for four years at University Park in the early 90s.

In VA, I think W&M costs that much, but VA Tech is about $22K for tuition, fees and room and board.

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37k instate - and neither grant/need based aid nor merit aid for instate residents (except for a handful of 4k scholarships you can’t apply for and don’t know the criteria for OR 5k if admitted to the honors college.) :frowning:
I’d it were 37k but need based aid AND merit based full tuition scholarships were available, it’d be a bit less outrageous.
Virginia has high costs but it’s a (relatively) good system where the flagship universities meet 100% need and are a bargain for upper middle class kids compared to equivalent privates, combine with excellent second tier colleges that offer generous merit scholarships. It’s a pretty good model. California and Florida have other models that work.
@eh1234

In 2000, I think PSU was 7k a year in state. So 28k 4 years tuition. Considering the exponential increase in costs in the 80s and 90s then in the past 10 years (I recall a report from a while back and I think they said 9% increase per year several times and 5-6% very often) I’m not surprised it would have been 28k total 4 years COA in the 90s.
I don’t know how we can bring instate public college costs back to something affordable in the states where it’s just become so outrageous.
What good is a public flagship if your admitted, hardworking B+ kid can’t go?

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@MYOS1634 – I so agree with your closing comment (“I don’t know how we can bring instate public college costs back to something affordable in the states where it’s just become so outrageous. What good is a public flagship if your admitted, hardworking B+ kid can’t go?”) but I would add just GETTING IN to a VA public university is difficult for a B+ student.