It’s because they’ve been brainwashed that they are a failure if they don’t get in to a HSS. It’s really sad.
@ucbalumnus 's links to California public college admissions are eye-opening.
San Jose State is a state school, so it’s a tier (or more) below the UC’s in prestige. But a student who has a 4.1 GPA and 700 Math, 680 Writing SATs doesn’t meet the cutoff for the Computer Science major.
@“Cardinal Fang” the CA schools are tough! My son has about a 3.5. No official scores but has been getting 1350 on practice SATs. He wants a traditional, big sports, college experience. I know he’ll have to leave CA. He’ll apply to SDSU but that’s not a sure thing for someone with his stats. There aren’t any other CA schools that meet his criteria with his stats. It’s a shame but he’s open to going out of state. Most likely an oos public although he likes the size of medium privates more. We’re just having trouble coming up with a list of schools with big sports for a 3.5 student.
@Marcie123, Arizona? or Midwest schools?
@Marcie123, lots of schools are options, depending on what you are willing to pay.
AZ schools. OR schools. WSU. A bunch of schools in the Midwest and South. UNL, OU, KS schools, MS schools, and a bunch of others.
Thanks! He has Oregon, Boulder and Iowa on his list. Doesn’t want AZ or WSU. I think he’s more open to the Midwest than the South. We live in a very diverse area and he wants a diverse college as well. Favorites so far are Syracuse and Miami.
@Marcie123 There are lots of affordable options through the Western Undergraduate Exchange, many of which would be appropriate for your son’s stats. However, I’m not sure how many have the big sports that he seeks, other than AZ, which he’s already ruled out.
Some parts of the midwest are not very diverse, and some which are diverse are highly segregated (often more so than in the south).
@Marcie123 Utah is a good option with PAC-12 sports which is significantly cheaper than Boulder and Oregon.
@Marcie123, ah yes, Utah residency for tuition purposes is also easy to get, unlike many states these days.
I agree with @Twoin18 We’re in Colorado so we’ve been looking a lot into the WUE schools, and for big time sports, which is basically the Pac 12, I think only Utah and WSU give WUE discounts, and they are both pretty cheap. Utah has a real nice offer, although I think it’s competitive, they don’t give it to everyone. Oregon was initially high on my son’s list, but it is very expensive. Arizona and ASU have some nice merit aid, even for GPAs in the low 3s.
WUE schools with D1 sports include Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming (WUE is limited, but same tuition deal available through Rocky Mtn Scholars), Montana, Montana State, Boise State, Hawaii. Not just Pac12 but Mountain West too.
Right, but it depends on what he means by “big” sports. I’ve been to football games at several MW schools, and it’s a good atmosphere and I had a great time. And I’ve been to games at several Big Ten schools, and it’s a completely different level. I’ve never been to a game at a Pac 12 school, but being a power five conference, I’m guessing it’s a “stronger” atmosphere (I’m not sure what the right word is) because they are higher visibility.
Anyway, there are lots of options for him.
@Johnny523 I wouldn’t say that any PAC-12 school takes its football as seriously as the Big 10 or SEC. but the ones that come closest are in states without an NFL team, namely Oregon and Utah. We found a lot of Utah fans who left college many years ago will travel with the team to away games, and the stadium is always full for home games.
@Johnny523, yep not all P5 schools and conferences care the same. Just looking from TV, it seems like Boise fans are more in to it than pretty much all the CA PAC schools, for instance.
@mamaedefamilia University of Nevada-Reno has been doing well lately in basketball.
What about University of Oklahoma or University of Kansas, or University of Nebraska? Those may be good for a kid with his stats and could be somewhat affordable. They all have big sports teams and lots of school spirit!
What about Utah?
University of Nevada-Reno and Northern Arizona University are both Division 1 and in WUE