<p>Um im pretty sure Drexel should be a safety
and I dont think PSU is a reach, though Im not sure how much the Math will make up for CR.</p>
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The College of New Jersey - 50-50
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Curious as to what you mean by this...</p>
<p>Hofstra, in NY, was a safety school for my S. We all liked it, too ("Love Thy Safety" mantra of Parent's Forum). Well-ranked in engineering. Attractive campus. Other possibles - match/safety or safety - Fairfield Univeristy in Ct. (was a Princeton Review "best value" last year); Trinity College in Hartford - not sure whether match or match/reach. Sometimes I have trouble guessing how a school will handle the somewhat low SAT CR, but the nice high SAT Math is, of course, key with an engineering-headed kid. </p>
<p>btw, per your above qxZ: "50-50" is a term that our GC liked instead of "match." "Match" kind of conveys "you'll get in" when in reality the chances at such a school are more like 50/50. "Sure bet" is a better term than safety in some of our opinions, as kids tend to get turned off to their "safety" schools. Something in the psychology of "safe", maybe. To complete the nomenclature, replace "reach" with "lottery" as so many of these schools have such low acceptance rates that even well-qualified kids may seem to have a lottery chance of acceptance.</p>
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Should take SAT again and raise the verbal.
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Updated info just in...
SAT Verbal now 580 (up 30 points) and SAT Writing now 610 (up 70 points).
Wonder if this is enough of an improvement to help on the "near matches"...</p>
<p>Also, four years HS Honor Roll, member NHS junior and senior years, all 12th grade classes are either honors or AP.</p>
<p>Don't know what kind of a kid S is but Stevens seems like the best match, both academically and geographically. If he is preppy and athletic he may prefer Lehigh (my alma mater) or Lafayette, though I'd say both are slight reaches/near match.</p>
<p>Between Rowan and Widener, hands down Rowan. I live in South Jersey...Rowan's engineering is relatively new, buildings are state of the art, good student body esp in engineering. Widener is in Chester, PA an absolutely awful and dangerous city.</p>
<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is just a 159 miles from NYC and it has the advantage of having Amtrack service to NYC from Albany. </p>
<p>Alan - any improvement in those SAT scores is a help, but there is just never any score which creates that reassured feeling we all - parents and kids - are seeking. He may be like my S, who just doesn't score well on the tests, but does in fact write well. And wrote excellent essay. I would have your S work hard on the essay, making sure that it is not only well written but also a "grabber" - something that really pulls the adcom in and shows your S' personality. I think that will "make up" for the V score. So many schools are not yet using that Writing score that I just wouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>As others have said, he is a very strong candidate. But you are right to look for solid 50/50 and sure bet schools. He won't have "geography" in his favor, since he wants near home. Make sure the 50/50 and sure bets are schools he would really be happy at - as he already feels re TCNJ. Then, even if the lottery schools are a no go in April, he will have good choices to make. I'm guessing he'll hit some of those reaches as well, but who knows?</p>
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[quote]
Don't know what kind of a kid S is but Stevens seems like the best match, both academically and geographically. If he is preppy and athletic he may prefer Lehigh (my alma mater) or Lafayette, though I'd say both are slight reaches/near match.
[/quote]
Definitely preppy ("lives" at the American Eagle store - last time he was there they walked up to him and offered him a job), not at all athletic. He very much liked the 'preppy' atmosphere at TCNJ...</p>
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Between Rowan and Widener, hands down Rowan. I live in South Jersey...Rowan's engineering is relatively new, buildings are state of the art, good student body esp in engineering. Widener is in Chester, PA an absolutely awful and dangerous city.
[/quote]
Interesting - today his college advisor expressed a preference for Widener over Rowan - will have to dig into that more...</p>
<p>Too bad you dropped Penn..its the sweetest school ever..thats where I applied early anyway..for engineering. But it would def be a huge reach. It is for me and my scores are a bit higher. Looked into Cooper Union at all. It would be another reach but its one of the best engineering schools in the nation and theres an automatic full tuition scholarship involved. As far as safety, Rutgers is a great school. It has a 3.1 rating for engineering. Not too far behind lehigh's 3.3. Although i guess it's not the same for him cause hes out of state..I get a full ride. Although as far as I know, Rutgers is a better school than Rowan or Widener. BU's engineering is not bad but that may be a bit out of your radius.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Too bad you dropped Penn
[/quote]
On top of being a big reach, they require not one but two essays, neither of which were similar to any already done for the other schools on the list - decided to focus more on having better essays for the more likely schools - so off it came...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Looked into Cooper Union at all(?)
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We did, but besides being yet another reach, S feels the academic climate is a bit more than he thinks he is looking for...</p>
<p>Visited Lafayette College today with the S - he didn't come away very impressed - in fact rethinking whether or not to keep it on his list...</p>
<p>The applications are done...here's the list we wound up with...will let everyone know how S makes out...</p>
<ol>
<li>The College of New Jersey</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Drexel</li>
<li>Lafayette College</li>
<li>Lehigh University</li>
<li>Manhattan College</li>
<li>Penn State (Univ. Park)</li>
<li>Rowan University</li>
<li>Rutgers (New Brunswick)</li>
<li>Stevens Institute of Technology</li>
</ol>
<p>First two responses have arrived...</p>
<p>Accepted to Penn State (Univ Park)</p>
<p>Accepted to Rutgers</p>
<p>Four more responses...</p>
<p>Accepted to The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Accepted to Drexel</p>
<p>Accepted to Manhattan College</p>
<p>Accepted to Rowan</p>
<p>Only four more to go...</p>
<p>congratulations on acceptances</p>
<p>Congrats to your son</p>