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

Parents Forum
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Willamette is pretty small, but has a friendly, low-key vibe even though several students, coach and admissions people commented on the strenuous coursework. There seemed to be a very good amount of academic support which made D19 happy. Small classes are a plus. Salem seems a little quiet, but we like that - not much more to focus on than school. The outdoor club apparently runs great, affordable day trips and over nights to coast/ mountains etc. D is looking at bio major and science buildings seemed well equipped. Still need to learn a little more about core-curriculum and internship opportunities.

Puget Sound is a beautiful and extremely well manicured campus. The admissions presentation described all courses as being seminar-like. D felt as though the focus on this style of class was almost to the exclusion of other types of teaching/learning. So much so that it would attract a very specific type of student(learner) which may not be her. This was too bad as it was her favorite on paper. The student body seemed diverse in “type” (preppy, alternative, jocks) but all coexist comfortably. She also really liked the coach she met and the athletic facilities are lovely.

I grew up in the northeast and know well the competitiveness of eastern LACs, but these schools seem academically solid with a much more relaxed atmosphere. I liked them both.

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@Acersaccharum If you are looking out in the Pacific Northwest
a son of a friend (from Boston) just started at Whitman and is really enjoying it. He is an outdoorsy type of kid so the relative remoteness of Walla Walla is not an issue. (Nice sized town
but definitely a bit remote.) I hadn’t heard of CTCL schools. Thank you for sharing.

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@SwimmingDad Yes, we considered Whitman which looks really great on paper. However, we are from the southeast and getting there is just that little bit more difficult/expensive. We had to give D19 some parameters and I believe her academic record would net her more merit aid at UPS and Willamette which will be critical if she decides to go that far.

CTCL schools are wonderful, but as they are mostly quite small it is important to visit and experience their individual personalities.

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@Acersaccharum thank you very much for your thoughts! I haven’t heard of Puget Sound and Willamette differentiated that way before (regarding PS emphasizing seminar-styled classes more). It’s very interesting; I hope we can make it up there at some point to learn about it in more detail. Two good schools indeed.

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So unfortunately the kind of longboarding of which I speak is the 50 miles per hour down curvy hills kind. Like racing. They do wear helmets, full face actually, but that does not change the fact that they are rocketing down pavement at the speed of sound. Ugh. He’s super passionate about it, though–great community of kids, honestly. But my god, the strain.

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@brickkicker Mine doesn’t do that yet, but he’s heading that direction. (He’s currently got a scabbed up shoulder, elbow, side and hand from last weekend but I think that was trying to jump over a speedbump). He did at least agree that he needs to go helmet shopping this weekend.

He likes to go out and practice hills at night when there are “no cars.” I have to remind him that “no cars” actually means “not as many cars” and the darkness doesn’t really help!

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D19 and I went on a tour of Christopher Newport University (CNU) yesterday. CNU is an in-state university in Newport News, VA. We also scheduled a time for D to meet with a member of the faculty.

The information session was ok. It was the typical “sit in this darkened room for a Power Point presentation” but the presenter (an admissions officer) was a graduate of CNU and was formerly a tour guide, and he did a good job of keeping his energy level high.

After the presentation, we self-selected one of the tour guides based on their brief introductions. D19 picked the theatre major/political science minor.

In the area of Virginia we live in, there is this undercurrent of “those parents” declaring the only in-state schools that are “good” are UVA and W&M, and maybe a nod to VA Tech for engineering. The remainder of the schools are “so you didn’t make it in to UVA?” type schools. This is especially the case for CNU. “Those parents” will talk about the history of CNU as a community college (true) and how the university president has “thrown lots of money at the school” and there will usually be some mention of his political party when he was an elected official.

So we had no idea what to expect on a tour, or when meeting with faculty, as we had only driven around the campus for 10 minutes when we saw it the first time.

The tour was short but good. We saw the library (which is under renovation as they are more-than-doubling its size), the student union, one of the fitness centers, one of the academic buildings, and a freshman dorm (“residence hall”) rooms. We skipped the visit to the theatre facility as we had gone on a pretty detailed tour earlier in the day.

Some items of note – from a technical theatre viewpoint, the facilities are impressive. They have “new/recent” everything from a scene shop, to a costume shop, to lighting facilities, to sound decks. Their mainstage is beautiful and allows students lots of flyspace to swing things in and out for productions. The audience seating is also not cavernous, which should be great not only for actors to learn to project, but also for sound quality/management.

What I really liked is the focus on liberal arts. So for theatre folks looking for a BFA, this is not the school for you. But for students like my D19 that have many interests, the central theme I heard is the goal to have the chance to combine many areas of study.

Also – CNU admissions views applications holistically. Since D19 does not have a 4.0 GPA (and why I am posting in this thread :slight_smile: ) I paid special attention to this point. In this year’s freshman class, 80% of admitted students took part in the “optional” (i.e., recommended) interview. So now that D19 has decided to apply, we’ll be planning on an admissions interview.

For theatre, there is no audition/portfolio review requirement. However, they have many scholarships available, particularly to theatre tech students. Auditions/portfolio reviews are required for scholarship consideration.

D19 also met up with one of her friends who attends CNU so she learned more about the school, after-hours activities, and more specifics about theatre operations.

Some other notes: CNU has no swimming pool but they have a club swim team, and they swim at a nearby public rec center. CNU requires on-campus residency for freshman, sophomore, and junior years. The freshman “dorms” are the worst of the lot, but worst looked pretty good to me as they are suite style with a shared bathroom between two suites. (So none of the floor-wide bathrooms that I recall not-so-fondly from my college years.) Freshman are allowed to have a car on campus at $250 per year.

We had a great day on campus and D19 says she’ll definitely apply.

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@orangefish Thanks for that trip report on one of the “other” VA schools. We haven’t seen any schools at all in VA because D16 wanted to go OOS.

I hear you on the UVA/W&M/VT Engineering obsession. The thing is, my kid wouldn’t be interested in UVA or W&M even if he could get in to one of those schools and VA Tech is a big question mark because he doesn’t know what he wants to do. If it’s not engineering, he might have better options elsewhere.

It sounds like CNU has great opportunities for a Theatre kid so congrats on adding a school to the “will definitely apply” column. The only thing I really know about the school is that they are pouring a lot of money into it and much of the campus is probably shiny and new. Our HS has maybe 50 to 55 apply each year with around 10 enrolling. I get the impression that kids choose JMU over it, but for those wanting a smaller school, it seems more attractive with more major options that Mary Washington. Did you explore Newport News at all?

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@eh1234 – your high school application/enrolled stats for CNU sound similar to D19s (55 applied/41 accepted/8 enrolled in 2017 for her school). My sense is students at her high school apply to most of the VA in-state options as safeties and then see where they get in. The “cache” (distinction) factor seems to play a role.

CNU recently wrapped their first large fundraising campaign – they initially set a goal to raise $42 million and announced last week they had raised $66.2 million. The top priority for the campaign was to fund scholarships.

http://www.thecaptainslog.org/2017/featured/defining-significance/

We did explore Newport News today before heading back home. First thing we noticed on campus yesterday were the number of bicycles. On the main drag next to the school (Warwick Blvd), directly across the street from the school, is a series of chain stores – Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Panera. Behind this mixed-use residential retail are the juniors’ apartments. One block along Warwick Blvd is a Harris Teeter with an Starbucks. One more block down on the university side of Warwick Blvd is a Chick-fil-A, a Bojangles, a Food Lion, a bank branch, plus an Italian restaurant. So all these are within walking distance.

We also took a quick right outside the university to check out the grounds of the Mariners Museum. We continued down to this gorgeous area called the Noland Trail. http://www.marinersmuseum.org/park-and-trail/
This is right on the water between Lake Maury and the James River. It was gorgeous weather today and we saw lots of folks walking their dogs along the trail.

We had stayed at a hotel in Hampton so we hadn’t done much of the shopping thing yet, so we went by the Patrick Henry Mall, and a quick look at the directory made D happy as all the places she shops at now at our nearby mall (Tysons Corner Center) have stores there. We also found some stores she liked in Hampton at Peninsula Town Center (the only thing I can compere it to is it is kind of like the Mosaic District), so she “proclaimed it good.”

My D also has zero interest in UVA or W&M (even if she could get in), and VA Tech was too overwhelming for her (also if she could get in). Her concern about JMU is that they may be completely stats based (so not holistic as CNU – and other schools on her list – claim to be) so she may not get accepted as a theatre major. Personally, I’m thrilled she sees CNU as a school she feels would fit her well.

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@Acersaccharum CTCL schools were a large focus for my S17. UPS was a top contender for most of his search (the locals all call it UPS, not Puget Sound fwiw lol). We are local so I am happy to answer any PNW school questions I can!

The two you mention are both lovely schools, but definitely different, as is Seattle U. MY father taught at Seattle U for many years so in some ways I grew up on that campus and am hoping I can convince S19 to consider it. He will likely tour and apply to UPS as well but for whatever reason my kids have Salem issues at the moment so I’ve had zero luck convincing them to consider Willamette. Early days though!

@SwimmingDad Whitman is an outstanding school but very competitive and selective, much more so than the others mentioned. Also not known for merit
similar issue with Lewis and Clark although they are better than Whitman. My S17, based on Naviance, would have had a better shot at Reed than Whitman.

@OrangeFish I’ve heard very good things about Christopher Newport and your D seems like a great fit for what they offer. I do think it appeals, by design, to a different student than UVA and VATech and it’s so wonderful that options like this exist. I believe there is a 2017 parent whose student chose CNU
you could look at the results list and PM them.

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(crossposting from the main 2019 thread; excuse the repetition:)

I’m feeling really good right now about D going to West Chester University. So good, in fact, that I’m looking at my spreadsheet with more confidence and wondering where else we should concentrate our efforts, since, why not? She’ll be happy with her safety and they look like they’ll be happy to have her, so maybe we need to make sure we aren’t selling her short, if that makes sense?

And I am not sure I’ve seeded the spreadsheet correctly. I have four financial and academic safeties on there - all PASSHE schools. I have a WVU and OU, a couple of big state unis that offer some aid to OOS kids they like, and she’s an academic safety for them, and possibly they become financial safeties too, or at least matches, if my aid research has been accurate.

As far as anything above that level, though, I’ve not done as well. I have ridiculous reaches like Colorado College and Vassar/Wesleyan, where she has really no chance. I have a bunch of small private LACs like Ursinus and Muhlenberg and Allegheny and the more schools we look at with D, the less I’m thinking she is a fit for those types of schools. She seems to really feed off the energy of the bigger schools. Granted, she has liked Sewanee and Otterbein, but I didn’t get the same gushing afterward. And as I’ve mentioned, she’s still flitting from one career possibility to another, and more options is better than fewer in that kind of a kid.

So does anyone have suggestions for maybe some bigger schools that might be only minimal reaches? We are looking for theater, lax, and a decent environmental program that is maybe not heavily science/math-oriented. Chinese is a bonus. And I don’t think we want to go to the West Coast, or probably not even beyond the Midwest. I’m just not feeling that level of distance, monetarily or parentally.

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@Gatormama, have you considered the University of Vermont? My nephew is a junior there. Last I heard, he was hoping to double major in theater and environmental studies. I think it has a big-school feel but isn’t gigantic. I just checked the website, and saw that Chinese is offered.

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Thanks for the UVM suggestion but I’m pretty sure it’s well above our budget, which is not large. I have looked longingly at it!

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I understand. It’s quite expensive for OOS students. The only reason it’s affordable for nephew is that his dad is on the faculty and there’s a tuition-remission program for staff members and their families.

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@Gatormama – have you looked at the University of Rhode Island? I know they have theatre, an environmental program, and Chinese. Not sure about LAX though.

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Thanks @OrangeFish - that is one of those hovering in the outer consciousness that I really need to give a closer look!

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@eandesmom Thanks for the input. I have read a lot of your posts from last year and found them very helpful. My D19’s concerns about UPS (!) v Willamette are that she likes academics at one and athletics at the other. I am interested to hear more about Willamette’s academic reputation and core curriculum. As a small LAC, I’m sure it has many of the seminar-style classes that she is worried about at UPS. She is interested in bio or exercise science and is a more linear/concrete/practical learner. Finally, she likes a small town but I am concerned that Salem could start to feel a bit sheltered after a few years.

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@Gatormama have you looked at U Delaware? It’s theater programs are well regarded, sciences are strong and it’s old main campus has a more intimate feel than many Big State U’s. I’m sure it has lax too.

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i have a colleague whose daughter just started at U Delaware, they got a very good financial aid offer. So the money is there if they want you.

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@Acersaccharum most LAC’s will focus on small classes. Which lend themselves to seminar style. The 2017 group has a student attending Willamette and also one of the parents went there. I know many adults who attended but don’t have a lot of exposure to it directly versus UPS where I have quite a bit. From a reputation standpoint it is well respected, probably similar to UPS with the difference being one will have a Portland based alumni network versus a Seattle one. I do think there are other differences, athletics certainly being one of them and suspect that UPS wins on that front. UPS also wins, hands down, for music and theater if that is of interest at all.

UPS will offer overnights and the ability to sit in on classes and I think that can start junior year. We found sitting in on classes and 1:1 meetings with professors to make a huge impact in the decision process. For a student who is really clear on what they want
the core, while it sounded fabulous from a learning perspective, might not be the right fit for the student who wants to get straight to their area of interest. Reviewing the curriculum is so important. On the flip side, for the student who really isn’t sure, it can be a fabulous way to explore. Not NW but Allegheny and Ursinus might be good ones to consider. Both are strong on the athletic side, solid stem schools and offer merit in this stats range. Allegheny suffers from Salem syndrome based on the location though.

@Gatormama re: UVM. If you are looking at packaged that will offer FA and Merit then no, it’s not a good choice. Top offer will be 18k which will bring it just under the 40k mark total COA. As it is a state school, there really isn’t FA offered beyond subsidized or unsubsidized loans. It doesn’t really hit the mark for music and theater. Ithaca would fit the bill nicely but the price point won’t work. But if she is feeding off the energy of the bigger schools than the reaches you mention aren’t great fits. U of Maine has a great tuition match program and would work, strong environmental but its heavy on the marine side. Many of the state schools could be options but will be pricey (UNH, UDel, U Mass Amherst). I might suggest looking at the SUNY schools to see if there is a fit, the OOS prices are among the more reasonable.

Out of the box location wise, but attractive financially and do well in all of her areas would be University of Wyoming and Northern Arizona University.