Please suggest some vibrant, diverse colleges for my son....

My son, a junior has just started looking at colleges and I’m hoping someone here can help suggest schools we should consider.

He has spent his life in CA and is looking for something new (right now is leaning toward he East Coast but he really doesn’t know) - we just got back from a week road trip through New England: he really liked BU and UVM but did not at all like UNH and UConn (because they were in the middle of no where he said).

He is most looking for a school that is vibrant and exciting with lots to do, I think either on the campus or the town it is in. He also wants a good biology program and possibly music program.
The only thing ‘weak’ about him is his gpa in my opinion… Budget: we’d like to keep the cost < $60k/year ideally. He prefers a mid size to large school.

Major: Molecular Biology
Possible Minor: Music
GPA: Probably only around a 3.4 unweighted
SAT: 1500
AP Classes: Will have 8-9 AP classes when he graduates including AP Music Theory, AP Euro, AP Stats, AP Calculus, AP Bio…
He also will have the award for 6 years of music when he graduates, which means for two years he does both Jazz Band and another music class
Jazz Band/Concert Band all four years
Four years of JV/Varsity Soccer
Four years of JV/Varsity Football
Football captain senior year
Four years of track and field
Founder and vice president of a peer mentoring group
This summer he is planning to take AP Calculus and maybe a programming or music class (which will hopefully boost his GPA)
Thanks in advance!

I’m not sure about the strength of programs but you might want to look into Fordham. From what we could see they seem pretty generous with merit aid (my D got offered $10k with a GPA/ACT combination that is probably on balance a bit worse than your son) so probably your son could get more which would bring it below $60k. Definitely vibrant and diverse, large, big fun city.

Your son’s GPA will hurt him at super-exclusive schools but there are lots of great schools in/near big cities that aren’t too hard to get into - his scores are great, so that will help. I would look at:

Temple
Rutgers
Drexel
Loyola Chicago
American University

Northeastern
University of Rochester - opportunities for music at Eastman
Carnegie Mellon - reach
Tufts - reach
Brandeis

Not on the east coast but the University of Utah would be a good safety offering both molecular biology and music. It’s very cost effective and has good merit aid, especially with the option to get residency, and is great for kids who like the outdoors (in particular you can’t beat the skiing). Salt Lake City is a very pleasant city but is often overlooked by Californians.

Miami is a different kind of vibrant, exciting, and diverse from the Northeast, but it’s definitely all of those, and U of Miami could be a fit. The combination of strong sciences and music through the Frost School of Music could be a good fit ( https://instrumental.frost.miami.edu/degrees/music-minor/index.html ), and it’s a notch less reachy such that his high scores would probably be enough to compensate for the softer GPA. Whether his combined stats would be enough to get merit and bring the price into range is another question, but it could be worth a try.

U of Denver would have good merit potential and also has a great music school; and Denver, while not east coast, is another vibrant city that’s a total change of pace from CA.

SUNY Stony Brook is strong in both life sciences and music, but it may be too much of a commuter school.

Richmond, VA is a student city worth looking at. U of Richmond could be a great fit for him - a bit reachy to hope for academic merit, but there are arts merit scholarships that are available to music minors as well as majors. Also in Richmond is Virginia Commonwealth U - VCUArts is top-notch, and it’s a solid school in general academically.

Ohio State is big and has a strong reputation across the board; Columbus isn’t NYC or Boston but it’s a real city that has all the student-friendly resources you’d expect from having one of the largest public flagships in its midst. Excellent music opportunities for both majors and nonmajors at tOSU.

URochester and Case Western Reserve are both amazing urban schools for scientist-musicians. These would be reaches and would likely come in over budget, though. WPI could be worth a look.

If you’re interested in crossing the border, Dalhousie in Halifax is in a gorgeous small city, and it’s affordable and has strong music programs.

Thank you these are great suggestions!

Thinking:
Northeastern
Brandeis
BU
Temple
Rutgers
Ohio State
UVM
University of Minnesota
University of Wisconsin
University of Richmond
University of Maryland (?)
University of Denver
University of Colorado
U of Rochester
U of Miami
U of Utah
U of Rochester

Any comments on the above or any additional schools would be appreciated

My nephew is just about to commit to BU, he really likes the program where he studies in London for a year. Most likely molecular biology as well, as he is trying to go in for Dentistry. However, without any merit the cost is a bit north of $70K from what I understand.

BTW, his list of schools that he got into, all in the Top 60 category, all medium to big schools, for some sort of Biology (he has similar SAT, but about 3.7 uw GPA)

BU
Penn State
University of Miami
UIUC
UW-Madison
UW-Seattle
CWRU

@TheFrenchChef some of those schools might be a bit reachy with a 3.4 GPA - thinking NEU, BU, a couple of the publics for OOS. Any idea how much he might lift his gpa by by the time he applies?

Tulane could work although it’s not east coast- GPA is a little low for RD but I have seen kids with 3.4’s get in ED and maybe even EA (it’s getting harder every year though and it is almost impossible to predict - lots of high states kids don’t get in when lower stats kids do.) It is mid size (8,000 undergrad) and definitely seems to be vibrant, exciting and has lots to do on and off campus. They like to see TONS of demonstrated interest so if he s interested it would be good if you could visit. I know there are lots of CA kids there.

What would be your other choices be for a major? About 1/3 entering students change majors. Make sure:
Your second and third choices are available at the University, and
Students at the University can fully participate in musical performance options without actually being a music major.

Check out average GPA’s at your selected candidate universities as you want to pick your reach/match/backup options. Look for actual, current data.as many sources are dated. E.G.: WPI is only raked by USNEWS at number 59 and the current freshman class has an average, unweighted GPA of 3.89. The Common Data Set is sometimes available for 2018 on the respective University websites.

GPA may be a bump in the road, but things like football captain could pull for you in a Division III university. Your GPA may not rule you out, but you need to cover your bases.

Roch sounds like it could be a great fit! Internationals are 30% of their student body, so it’s very diverse. With his level of rigor, it may be more of a high match/low reach. Have you looked at the NPC? They are a meet full need school, and our NPC was very accurate so that should give you a good idea if you are a traditional income earner (W2s).

Perhaps obvious, but be careful about interpreting out of state flagship admissions, as the stats and acceptance rates usually vary pretty heavily for instate vs. out of state students. For example, at Wisconsin, where my kid went OOS and I still follow admissions – a 3.4 for an OOS student is pretty much a non-starter, no matter what the test scores whereas for an instate student, it might work. It is often hard to find the break down between instate and out of state admissions stats so it can be easy to think, “Oh UW, 50% acceptance rate, middle 50% test scores of between x and y, that’s a safety.” When OOS acceptance rate might be closer to 25% and requires test scores in at least the top 50% if not top 25%.

What about GW? GW offers a Minor in Music.

For some of the private schools, your son will have to apply and hope some merit money comes his way. I’d think he would see some awards if he shows interest. Just make sure he has a safety he really likes.

Just a reminder that 3.4 is an unweighted GPA and he has many APs. Weighted GPA could be 4.2ish.

I live in NJ. Rutgers is a good bet with the SAT scores. And they are trying hard to get OOS students. The campus is spread out , and there’s a bus going to different parts. So initial impression may have no “wow” factor. It’s about an hour by train to NYC, and the campus area is quite busy with activity. It’s ranked something in the 50s among national universities according to US News.

Suggest you take a trip in the summer to check out the colleges people have listed in the philly/nj/nyc/Boston area.

CU Boulder is a very pleasant school, but hard to justify paying $100K extra over four years compared to Utah when you are OOS (though strangely a lot of people do).

He might get merit at Ithaca College. When we filled out the NPC, it also provided a read on merit based on GPA/test scores as well as financial aid. Not sure about their music programs, though. Also recommend Rochester as a possibility.

U of MN might be a hair easier to get into than UW, but not by much. The Sciences are a harder admit. The school is right in the middle of the city, quite big, with buildings on both sides of the river. Quite safe, lots of things to do. Well funded, relatively happy Big 10 school. Airport is close, and can be reached by public transit. Winter is not for the faint of heart.