Please do share. I’d love to see everyone’s list. No geographic boundaries for us.
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A lot of people love Elon. It’s too close to home for us, but I think you will find lots of fans on CC.
I’m interested in schools of all sizes and everywhere and would just love to see everyone’s list if they feel comfortable sharing. I think it might be a good resource for folks (not just our family) who fall into the 3.x GPA category, so please share schools of all sizes, all locations.
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Schools on the west coast she is considering (in no particular order):
Loyola Marymount
Whittier
St Mary’s of California
University of the Pacific
Occidental (this actually just dropped off but a lot of wonderful qualities)
Santa Clara
Westmont
Lewis and Clark
UPuget Sound
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Kenyon
Denison
Denver
Elon
Lafayette
Clark
Connecticut
Beloit
Allegheny
Dickinson
Thanks @Sweetgum, I love this idea!
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Schools in midwest/south/east daughter is considering:
Denison
College of Wooster
Rhodes
Saint Louis University
Marquette
UDayton
Dickinson
Agnes Scott
Spelman
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West
Lewis & Clark
University of Portland
Willamette
Whitman
Gonzaga
Seattle University
U of Puget Sound
Occidental
Loyola Marymount
U of San Diego
East
U of Miami
Eckerd
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Here’s my list for my S, but he’s done almost zero research and only a few visits so no idea what the final list will look like. We had a bunch of tours planned this week and had to cancel at the last minute due to a possible close contact situation with him.
Clemson
Virginia Tech
Marist (visited & liked)
Rollins (visited & liked)
Univ of Tampa (visited & liked)
Butler
Miami Ohio
UVM
Univ of Dayton
Loyola MD
Providence (visited & liked but close to home)
Univ of Delaware
Univ of Denver
St Louis University
Elon (sister attends)
@packacards would love to hear more about UDenver. Don’t think we will visit unless he gets accepted. Would love any info on the vibe and location as well as the campus. Son is sporty and outdoorsy and loves to ski.
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Apologies for quoting myself, but here’s what I said about Denver on a different thread:
University of Denver was a pleasant surprise. He liked the virtual info session - the panel of kids seemed involved in lots of different activities but still academically rigorous. And visiting the campus reinforced that vibe. Liked that they just built a big centrally located dining hall to unify the north and south campuses, liked the traditions around the D1 hockey (he said it actually felt more fun than the D1 football scene at CU), liked the easy public transport around Denver but still a self-contained campus. Just felt like the best of both worlds from a small school and a big school.
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@MAmom111 Wow your list is nearly identical to ours, including the sister attending Elon.
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Have been lurking here quite a bit. My son is above a B student (3.65 UW/4.1W) but is not the super student you see all over CC (negligible ECs, not a 1400+ SAT etc) so I was hoping it is ok to chime in here now and then. My kiddo is all over the place college-wise as he doesn’t really know what he wants to do. Some schools he is considering (loosely): UMASS Amherst (state flagship and his probable safety), BU, Syracuse, Fordham, SDSU, SDU. No real theme except no very small schools as of yet. Nothing he really loves. Am hoping he gets going this fall . . .
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Have you visited any of these schools? What year is your D? Mine is a sophomore and hoping for a more normal year as last year was rough. So far so good!
My son is in the same boat. 3.79 UW but minimal EC’s (just sports really) and we are from MA. I should add UMass to the list as that’s where he may end up based on his lack of interest in the process and it’s a financial safety. He’s thinking business though so it may not be an admittance safety.
@MAmom111 I agree that Isenberg has become a tougher admittance. Admitting by major wasn’t something my son was interested in, so he chose a school where he could “specify” a major, but the school admits generally for most majors. Obviously, the downside is that he needed to gain admittance to his chosen major during his sophomore year.
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@MAmom111 D is a junior and loves it there. We have visited Clemson (liked but virtually no chance of being admitted), VT (liked), Miami (liked), Loyola (did not like - too small and close to home) and Delaware (lukewarm). If nothing else I have learned guys and girls have very different approaches. Like pulling teeth with S to get anything out of him. He had a very rough year last year which really hurt his grades.
Still trying to figure the best approach for applications. Not sure if we should apply RD and hope his 1st semester shows a nice improvement. He may play the ED card if he can find a clear favorite (maybe VT or Miami).
Couple other schools on the initial list (some are a big reach): Fairfield, College of Charleston, JMU, Ithaca, Pitt, Indiana, and South Carolina.
He seems completely uninterested in any of our state schools (Towson or Salisbury).
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@ElonMomMD I’m from MD also. Problem I found with my kids is that with MD being relatively small, all of the schools they might have remotely been interested in were “too close to home” or they were in very rural areas they would never consider (Frostburg, Salisbury, Washington College).
None of mine have stayed instate and my youngest plans on going to university in the UK!
All that said, having grown up in MD but also went OOS for college (I went to Fordham), I was pleasantly surprised visiting Towson with one of my kids. For a larger school, the campus/community of kids during our tour felt much smaller. I had not been on campus since maybe 1986-87 and I was surprised at how much I liked it. But, too close to home so did not make any of my kids lists. Loyola was another that I liked but too close to home.
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@ElonMomMD Thanks for the insights. I visited Loyola MD with my D and she didn’t love it but since my S liked PC so much I thought it might be good for his list. Same with Butler. D didn’t love it but I could see S really liking it. He’s dying to see Clemson but don’t think we’ll go unless he gets in. I drove through Delaware & and think he might like that as well. We drove through Fairfield and didn’t love it. We thought the whole campus would look like the building on all their brochures but it certainly didn’t. But we have lots of friends’ kids that go there and love it. Indiana is also one I was just looking at. If he could get his SAT score up 60 pts he would be an auto admit for Kelley but since he refuses to study for it and its in 2 days, I doubt that will happen.
Agree that boys and girls approach this so differently. I think boys are more adaptable, so where they go is probably just less important to them than who they meet when they get there.
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@MAmom111 Nothing like waiting to the last minute but we have pivoted to the ACT and S is taking on 9/11 - hoping for a good result. He is working with a tutor twice a week to prepare.
Since most schools are test optional has anyone developed a rule of thumb on when or when not to submit scores?
Thanks for the insight on Fairfield
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Ok, I’ll play. My D whittled down her list dramatically, but here’s where we stand right now:
Univ of Tulsa - a bit of a wild card, she applied because they sent so many emails in July saying “free to apply, no essay!” and figured why not, since it’s closer to home than many of her other choices. Spoiler: the app had many “optional” short answer essays 
She’s going to interview as well, but we aren’t sure what to think or expect from this one.
Univ of North Texas - The local should be safety. She’s applied and they admit rolling so we should know soon whether I need to make her apply to her other in-state safety, Stephen F Austin State. Her sister also recently transferred to UNT so D sees a bonus “we could go to the same school!” I am wary… but I don’t think it’s her top choice.
Hendrix - The only school we have visited in person, and if we hadn’t, I doubt it would still be on her list. But she loved the cats so I think it’s definitely in the running.
Knox - has been wooing her for almost a year, and she has been liking everything she has seen so far. Need to get her there for a visit, hopefully this fall.
Cornell College (IA) - She is really interested in their one course at a time model. She thinks it could be great for her, and honestly I think she might be right. We are going for a visit labor day weekend to see it in person.
Agnes Scott - This school has been on her list since it was finalist for her older sister 4 years ago. We plan to visit this fall for one of their visit days. @sweetgum I know you are looking for bigger schools but if you think she might need a closer look at Agnes check out their “Great Scott” events this fall, they are offering an additional $1k in scholarship to attendees of either in person or virtual events.
And that is it for her! Some great ones fell off the list for reasonable and unreasonable reasons: Hollins and Sweet Briar both got the axe for the crime of needing to change planes in order to fly there (she actually really liked them both but 2 flights was one too many I guess), Beloit because I didn’t talk about it enough, Eckerd was too beachy/outdoorsy, and Loyola New Orleans was too New Orleans (and I agree the NO vibe is not for her). 
She is applying without test scores everywhere. She took the SAT once, studied and practiced like crazy and scored better than any of her practices, but unfortunately the score is still not one that will do her any favors. The only place I’m nervous about it is Agnes Scott, because they require either a graded writing sample or evaluative interview for TO. She doesn’t have graded writing sample because at her school they submit everything online and never get anything back, and I’m nervous about an evaluative interview. Part of the reason I’m having her interview with Tulsa is to practice. 
BUT I ran the NPC at all schools and her potential scholarships are a bit higher everywhere without scores, so off we go!
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I’m loving reading everyone’s lists. There are a few I haven’t thought of too. Keep 'em coming!
@1822mom thanks for the tips on the Great Scott event. I will check it out. Hollins does a $1k grant/scholarship for a visit too. D22 says she is going to apply but it’s not her top school, but I don’t know what her top school is right now.
@4kids4us my D22 spent all last year looking at universities in the UK. Happy to chat about it if you want. We spent a lot of the fall of 2020 doing research. There are two unis, UEA and Aberystwyth that are still on her list, but she will have to see if she can get her AP scores for them. She didn’t get a high enough score on APUSH last year (got a 2, her first AP class). She’s taking 3 AP courses this year, AP Psych, and doubling up on English with AP Lit in person and AP Lang online (her school doesn’t offer AP Lang in person). For UEA she will need three 3s on AP test I believe. She’s also feeling a little more positive about going to school in the US which I am grateful for. I think the UK could be wonderful but might be a lot easier as a study abroad situation with a college in the US.
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@sweetgum, thanks for the offer to chat. I will PM you in the future as she gets more serious in her search if I have some questions. My D is only a junior this year and decided to do the full IB Programme they offer. She is fully aware of how tough/stressful it will be, but the method of teaching is right up her alley so she has decided to do it. I have seen a little bit about what this means for applying abroad but have yet to do any in depth research. I would have been very excited about it two years ago, but now with Covid, I’m not so excited about all the added issues the pandemic has caused. Meanwhile, she is my youngest of four so I thought by the time her college search started, I’d be well versed and experienced, but of course she decides to be different and wants to go abroad for all of university rather than just a semester!
I’m really only in this thread b/c S21 fell into this category and I belonged to the same thread for the Class of 2021. I follow along here in case I can offer any insight from his college search to the 2022 parents with B/B+ kids or those who might have higher GPA but not looking at the highly ranked schools.
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