Connecticut College might be worth looking at: Mamacoke Island Conservation area; sailing; arboretum; Thames river access.
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@MACmiracle I canāt seem to find it now, but S19 applied to UMaine a few years ago and there was some sort of auto-merit or grant for kids with I think, a 3.0? It was an award for kids from certain states, including MD that are not part of the NE consortium. We live in Maryland (MD is part of the Academic Common Market consortium which includes all the southern schools). He graduated with either a 3.3 or 3.4 and it was part of his financial package. I donāt think it was much - maybe $5-7500K but just mentioning it. so I was pleasantly surprised to see this offer available to MD students to a state school in the NE. Might not be applicable to you depending where you live but thought I should mention it.
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Thank you. We are in NJ so she should get our state flagship rate. Thatās the pro. The con is the cost of health insurance.
I feel like it might be worth it to drive up and take a look. Drive one day. Spend the night and next day there. Then come home the next day.
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Western Carolina seems so great. And Ohio University also seems like it might be worth looking into. But they are also far.
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Maine is not my favorite on the list (based on USNWR ranking alone - though I know itās not the whole ball game) but we have not visited yet. I believe weād need Orono for his programs (apparently Marine Bio is quite good, and Pre-vet also has relationships with some vet schools, which is important.)
What does your D23 like about UMAINE? Just need a change of scenery? What does she want to study? Iām from PA (outside Philly). FYI I came to Boston for college and never went home. New England is beautiful.
Now live 15 min from UNH which is very good for what DS wants, but he wants to get out of Dodge.
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Both my kids applied to UMaine so Iāve visited twice. D wanted smaller and S really liked it but liked his other options more. Itās a really nice campus in a great location if youāre an outdoorsy type. Kids very friendly and down to earth. Great engineering program. Nice price tag.
D just graduated from Susky. Rocky start as she was a transfer but she ended up really loving her time there. Professors for the most part really great. Lots of nice kids. Some of the sports teams are getting national recognition, which is cool. Great merit. Any admin we dealt with were great and went out of their way to be helpful. D was a TA and had many research opportunities. Sheās actually there now. Went down this weekend for a visit and brew fest and one of her profs asked if she would stay and help on a river trip with the Freshwater Research Institute for a few days. Happy to answer any questions from a parent or student pov.
We toured Ursinus too but it was more remote and felt smaller. SU has a really cute walkable downtown and big box stores/restaurants/movie theater etc on the strip a few miles away. Lots of smart, good kids at Ursinus though.
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My son just got an email from Western Carolina that says his admission is guaranteed if he has a 3.5 GPA (weighted or unweighted.) While I am not sure if it is true for OOS applicants but something to keep in mind. My son shrugged and saidā¦I guess I am going to college? Lol.
He is going to DE for two STEM classes in the fall. I figured he will apply with his current transcript, which is fine. If he does well in those DE classes then thatās gravy on top. Retaking the SAT too in Aug. It is starting to get real!
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Lots of kids retaking SATs. We went in the other direction. DS ACT scores werenāt so hot and every school on his list was test optional, so we just dropped it. His college counselor said lots of kids just arenāt putting themselves through the stress of taking it this year.
The only reason I really see taking/submitting the SAT/ACT at all is if you are testing higher than what would be expected for your GPA. This certainly wasnāt the case for us.
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Re: ACT. We will be submitting. His 35 ACT and his 3.3 GPA mismatch. But we are finding it might help at a few schools.
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Marine Biology and his stats - UNC Wilmington (right on the NC shore)
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Iām curious about the difficulty of getting into UNC W as an out of state student. Any idea?
I wish I knew what the fascination was with U Maine. It seems like a fine school and itās good for the majors she is interested in, but so are other schools.
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Thanks for the great feedback about Susquehanna. I think weāll have o go back for an official visit.
I got a chance to talk to a friend whose child just graduated from Ursinus and they didnāt encourage us to consider it. They have a younger child at a local college and are much happier with that. I think the cost rising every year was one issue they mentioned. That can happen anywhere but I guess if you love a college, you can accept it a little more easily.
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Not difficult. Most of the state schools in NC are relatively easy to get into as a OOS student. I know several kids who attended Wilmington OOS.
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I thought the UNC System requires 82% of spaces be set aside for in-state students. Is it just not an issue beyond UNH-CH?
The 82% mandate (also known as an 18% OOS cap) applies to all NC public universities. Historically, to be safe, none of the universities usually gets within 2 or 3 percentage points of that limit.
The overall acceptance rates for schools not UNC or NCSU is more accommodating to all applicantsā¦ Here are the OOS % listed on Princeton Review
Wilmington 12%
Charlotte 5%
ECU 9%
App State 7%
Greensboro 4%
NC A&T 16%
NCSU 9% (more difficult for OOS STEM applicants)
UNC 14%
NCCU 10%
Being on the coast, Wilmington attracts a lot of OOS interest, but not so much that it becomes significantly more difficult to be admitted OOS.
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I had no idea that NC A&T was so popular with out-of-state students. Definitely learned something new today!
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Many kids in my area (OOS) attend the other NC state schools and transfer to Chapel Hill.
Average HS GPA is 4.06
SAT is 1277, ACT is 26
90% in top half of graduating class
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A&T is a great school, apparently unknown by many. Several friendsā children have graduated in recent years in majors from Engineering to Accounting to Business and they all land great, well-paying jobs.
While it may be ignored by the masses, those in the know, from all states east of the Mississippi seem to respect what A&T has to offer.
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