What is his list, if you wouldn’t mind sharing? And where did S17 end up again?
@fwtxmom that’s two questions! LOL.
S17 is a very happy freshman at UVM. Environmental Studies with a newly planned minor in Green Building and Community Development.
He also applied to (as Environmental Science) and was accepted with merit at all at Ithaca, Ursinus, University of Puget Sound, Goucher, Western Washington University and Allegheny.
On paper all were matches with Ithaca and UVM as low reaches. In reality we were pretty sure UPS, Ursinus, Goucher and WWU were actually safeties but you really never know. He was able to apply EA to all and I think that helped.
S19’s list, right now looks like this (he’s put it into an array, hence the “0”) this his ranking of preference, not mine.
- Drexel
- Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
- Macalester
- Northern Arizona (NAU)
- University of Washington-Bothell (UWB)
- Seattle University
- Santa Clara University (CSU)
- Colorado State
- University of Washington-Seattle (UW)
- Western Washington University (WWU)
Which I think means[ul]
[]Safety: WWU, UWB, NAU, Seattle U
[]Low Match: Drexel, CSU
[]Match: RIT
[]Reach/Uber Reach: Santa Clara, UW, Mac
[/ul]
We are currently looking at Allegheny, Wooster, Earlham, Knox, St. Olaf, Trinity U, Denison (?), WPI, Rose-Hulman, RIT (??) and Texas Tech and UT-Dallas for in state safeties. I’m not sure how to characterize the OOS schools-some are fits and a couple of low reaches? Or are all of them low reaches? Smaller schools are preferable to S and better for his multi-LD issues IMO.
I think I would describe S as having a STEM brain and a liberal arts heart so we are leaning more heavily toward LACs. As I type he is packing for our flight tomorrow while listening to “The Music Man,” dancing around and folding clothes singing “The Wells Fargo Wagon.”
S just moved from wait list to admission to a cybersecurity camp this summer at WPI so that will give him a real feel for that type of small STEM school. I have read that merit aid is more generous at the small LACs vs. the small STEMS, at least for our lower GPA kids and that is a serious consideration too.
Other factors for S include a low to no Greek/ no “bro”/serious party atmosphere. He is quirky, smart and very kind. I am hoping to find his tribe in our travels. A visit to Knox/St. Olaf is set for the end of April.
I agree on the merit aspect, WPI fell off our list for that reason. I wish St. Olaf was on, I don’t know much about their CS though.
Conceptually I like an LAC for him but I think the co op option would really be the best scenario. I have concerns about the larger schools on the list but as he’s a mix, they can stay.
@fwtxmom I can’t imagine your son not getting into Allegheny, and with close to their top merit scholarship. My daughter had a 3.0 uw and a 3.7 w with a 31 ACT and not only got in with a great scholarship but also an invitation into their honors program. If you’re looking for other ideas, she also received excellent merit at Siena, Washington & Jefferson, and Susquehanna. She didn’t apply to Ursinus, but I believe your son would be eligible for $30,000 there. Apologies if these schools have already been mentioned. My d had sports, volunteering, and a few other ECs–mock trial, junior executive board–nothing earth shattering by any means.
Good to know @taverngirl ! Thanks! I have been looking at Susquehanna and Ursinus as well. I have read Ursinus has a pretty big party scene but it’s hard to tell if that is just one angry person’s opinion or true in general.
Most schools have a party scene - your definition of big or normal or none is likely very different from the next person’s. And kids can stay away from that scene in most schools with little effort.
Well, I read that Ursinus allows alcohol in the dorms, even the freshmen dorms. I’m not saying that is true, just something I read on the internet. If it IS true however, that would be a party scene that would be hard to escape. By contrast, I have read that St. Olaf is extremely strict about drinking on campus and consequently the party scene is tame to dead and the kids spend their time doing other things. Those are the nuances I’m hoping to find out about.
It would be illegal for a college to implicitly, let alone explicitly, allow underage drinking.
And Ursinus doesn’t (see section V.a): https://www.ursinus.edu/student-life/handbook/student-code-of-conduct/community-expectations-college-policies/
I agree. The schools ALL ban drugs and alcohol from the dorms, but the question is how strictly they enforce the rules. My daughter lived in a suite style dorm. They banned all kinds of things and looked in the apts for them - hot plates, grills (or any appliance without an auto off switch like a coffee maker), alcohol, blenders, etc. I’m not saying those things didn’t appear in the apts, but the school would confiscate them, write the student up, etc.
I go to Niche for reviews of the party scene for colleges, down at the bottom of the display for a given college you can click on ‘categories’ in the starred review section and select ‘Party Scene’ and it will bring up a list of reviews for that particular area. It looks like Ursinus gets a relatively high review from college partiers, which may get a low review from parents. It also looks like there is one particular dorm that hosts most of the parties, and it’s not a freshman dorm so your kid can stay away if they choose.
“No one will ever be turned down from a party. Reimert residence hall is just one huge party with other parties going on within the individual suites occupied by varsity sports or frats/sororities. If you’re underage there is no worry that you’ll get caught unless you’re drinking in the freshman dorms (where alcohol is strictly prohibited). Ursinus is a wet campus which allows for easy access to alcohol at parties.”
I’ve watching this thread for a while since I have two boys with grades in this range. Both kids go to a school that doesn’t calculate GPA but we figured out that S17 had a 3.2 UW GPA after the end of junior year. S19 probably has about the same GPA.
S17 was accepted to some high ranking schools but he had a 1540 SAT and extremely rigorous classes. The multiple Cs, that pulled down his GPA, were from 9th grade year. (Accepted Purdue, Maryland, Emory, Colgate, Tulane, Bucknell).
S19 won’t have the same choices – he doesn’t take as rigorous as classes and he has a 1380 SAT (he will take it again, hoping to superscore above 1400). He is very social and wants a rural LAC / cold weather college with greek life and a strong science program. Looking at Union, DePauw, and possibly Rochester. Open for suggestions on this one.
The wet campus aspect was addressed on our tour at Ursinus. It might be a party line (lol) but it really sounded like the University keeps a close eye on it and it is “more” under control than underground activities might be. There will be partying anywhere and everywhere, but we found it well discussed and left comfortable.
I take those reviews with a grain of salt, go to campus, talk to actual students and decide for yourself. Even then, anywhere, you only see a snapshot. For my S17, Ursinus was the last LAC standing and I think he’d have been very happy there and if S19 was interested in applying I would absolutely support it as it is a good fit for him as well.
True, some of those reviews were from 2012, a lot changes in a few years.
Hello from another lurker who has decided to pop her head out. I’m so glad this thread exists. I’ve learned a lot just from following along, so thank you to everyone who has posted and shared your experiences.
My S19’s stats are a little above those in the title (3.6W, expecting strong SAT scores), but the atmosphere here is much more to my tastes compared to the larger CC community. My son is extremely bright, but his ADHD means it takes him much longer to do homework than other kids at his level. He loves learning but really struggles under a heavy workload. He’s the kid who often gets an A+ on tests, but still has a C in the class for most of the semester because he only turns in about half the homework. More often than not, he manages to bring his final grade up at the last minute to an B+ with a high final exam grade and last minute extra credit (and generous teachers who let him turn in work late), but it’s a stressful way to go through the school year (for him and for us!)
We’re looking mainly at merit-giving midwestern LACs in the CTCL mold (my husband actually teaches at one, so we have a lot of “inside baseball” experience with them), and it bums me out that many posters on CC seem to ignore these schools in favor of the “big names” on the east and west coast. On the other hand, having read so many CC threads about how stressful the application and admission process is for those families, I can’t deny I’m glad we’ve opted out of the “apply to 20+ reach schools in hopes of getting in somewhere” game. Hats off to those of you who have survived it.
@scove123 “He is very social and wants a rural LAC / cold weather college with greek life and a strong science program. Looking at Union, DePauw, and possibly Rochester. Open for suggestions on this one.”
I haven’t visited Union or Rochester, but you’ve literally just described DePauw. My D13 is a DePauw grad, and she had an extremely good experience there. She wasn’t a science major, but she had several friends who were, and they all went on to good grad schools/good jobs. DePauw also has a Science Research Fellows program which provides extra research experience. (They also have fellowship programs in Management, Media, and IT.)
For those looking for merit $$, my D was a high stats/high ambition kid who was accepted into the Honors Scholar program, which provided extra rigor. We found DePauw to be pretty generous financially. Not only did she get good merit upon acceptance, but her junior year alone she won three additional scholarships–a “top major in her department” award (+5K), money to offset her foreign study (+2.5K), and money to offset her housing costs when she took an unpaid summer internship (+3K). Obviously, not everyone will get those, but it really made a difference to us. She graduated with some loans, but at a far lower level than her friends/coworkers have now that she’s out in the working work and supporting herself.
I’m always surprised DePauw doesn’t get mentioned more on CC. It’s typically ranked in the low 50’s on USNWR (#53 this year), which is a pretty strong showing. I think it gets overlooked because it wasn’t listed in CTCL, even though it’s very similar academically to many schools that were. Plus it’s in Indiana, haha.
Other LACs that I’d suggest looking at would be Wooster, Denison, and Beloit. They all have Greek life, though I believe they lean more to the “club/local” side vs. the more traditional residential Greek life at DePauw. Wooster, especially, is known for good sciences.
I’d also suggest Kalamazoo College for the strong sciences and weather (good lake effect snow!), though they are located in a bigger city and have no Greek system, so that might take them out of the running for your son.
We managed to visit several schools over the weekend on our way to visit family. Unfortunately, we had to do all self-guided tours but it still helped.
McDaniel College - didn’t think D would like it based on the size of the school (2,750 students) but the campus was very nice and there were several sporting events happening with families tailgating. Sparked enough interest that we will return for their Open House on 4/22.
Gettysburg College - was not on our list but was basically on our route so we stopped in and I liked the campus but D did not like the “feel”. Beautiful downtown area right off campus.
York College of PA - we did not stay long, the surrounding area is not very nice and the school grounds also not very appealing. Seemed to be lots of parking lots.
Millersville University - campus is nice, very chopped up and for someone reason that turned off D.
West Chester University - we printed out and did their self-guided walking tour. D really liked the school and said she could see her self attending. Grounds are very nice and she liked the old stone buildings and that it was a walkable campus. We will return for an official tour. Connected to a very nice downtown area with shops and restaurants.
Villanova University - we were not planning on visiting here initially but we were nearby so we stopped by. The have a huge building program going on that will add new housing for over 1,100 students plus a performing arts center. The grounds are beautiful, very walkable campus. Will probably do an official tour when we visit West Chester. Would be a huge reach school.
Temple University - lots of new construction going on. Several walkable areas but the outer are neighborhoods not that great. Also, much larger (close to 40,000) than I think she wants. I think this also solidified that she does not want the Urban style campus.
Drexel University - she hated everything about the location. Spread out around some very bust streets. This definitely confirmed that urban style campuses are out.
University of Delaware - we had an official info session and walking tour. It was very crowded. The info session was very basic with no real information and lasted about 30 minutes). The walking group tours were large (probably close to 50 in our group). Tour guide (junior) and his shadow did a real good job considering the size of the group. Tour lasted about 90 minutes and covered most main areas of campus. We did visit the freshman dorms (very sparse and basic). Very walkable campus and all the students seemed very happy, especially given it was their first day back from spring break. We had lunch on Main Street, which is a very nice area with shops and restaurants. I think Delaware has risen to the top of the list.
We have several other tours scheduled: UMBC, JMU and Towson in the next month.
D did ask if it would be possible to visit some schools further south (NC,SC) to see what it is like to get away from the mid-Atlantic area. Trying to figure out now how to make that work. Considering schools like: South Carolina, Elon, Tennessee, UNC Wilmington, Ole MIss.
It’s good to see D finally getting engaged and excited about the process.
Hi all! I just wanted to pop in and share my D17s thoughts on a Dry vs Wet campus. She is at a small LAC that requires all students to live on campus until they turn 21, and is a wet campus - it is also a smoke free campus. Most of the upperclassman live in university on-campus 2-6 person apartments, cottages, or houses. There are also 4 fraternity houses on campus (the sororities only have meeting suites). She describes the three dorms (mostly freshman and sophomores) as “sleepy and quiet”. She said she must leave the dorms to find the parties. Her campus also sits right across from MO State - a large public U that is a dry campus.
D17 says that the Drury parties have lots of alcohol but they also always have security nearby and seem much more controlled and safe than the off campus parties that she sometimes goes to at nearby “dry” MO State (where all the parties take place well off campus). She also said that there is a lot less “smoking” and drugs since her campus is smoke-free and the students can’t just sit out on their decks and smoke like the kids at the off-campus housing at the nearby State U.
Now the two schools are different in many ways - so I am sure that there are tons of factors that contribute to the differences, not just dry vs wet, but I do think her observations are interesting.
About halfway through D17 first semester last year, after she had experienced weekend social life at both these schools, and had time to visit and spend a weekend at a couple of other nearby schools where HS friends attend, she declared “Mom, you should have just let me attend Frat parties at each of the schools on my list. You can tell a lot about a school by the Frat parties…they are all really different”
So so so sad that I just now found this thread.
My son easily fits the bill for this one.
Just wanted to give a glimpse of hope for parents reading this in the future.
S had a weighted gpa of 3.63 and unweighted 3.32. 26 ACT 1290 SAT. Horrendous scores. He ended up only taking 4 AP courses.
He was really worried that he would not get into any school whatsoever so he ended up applying to 11 (YES 11) schools. (He lives with his old man in Virginia. Fairfax County yikes, he wanted out of VA ha)
After an exhausting and grueling process these were his results:
University of Appalachian State
ACCEPTED
Merit: 2,500
University of Seton Hall
Declined :(
University of West Florida
Accepted w/ 21,000 merit
University of Florida State
Most shocking moment ever. Accepted. None of us were expecting this one (major major reach)
University of South Carolina
Accepted w/ 14,500 merit
University of Western Carolina
Accepted w/ 8,000 merit
University of Radford
Accepted
University of James Madison
Declined
University of Louisville
Declined
University of Kent State
Accepted w/ 1,200 merit
University of Ithaca
Accepted (another shock) w/ 8,900 merit
@EmpireFrontier why do you say your son’s scores are horrendous? I’m sorry, but that really bothered me. The whole point of this thread is to be a support thread for parents of lower stats students. My son’s scores are below yours and I would never call them horrendous. Your son did well in admissions so I see no point in using terminology like that to put him down. Save that for the threads inhabited by the Ivy League types. That really just hit a nerve.
Edited to add: I just looked at your prior posts. Are you the student, not the parent? Please don’t misrepresent yourself.