S21--not an easy path, happy to get some input at this stage

Millersville, Bloomsburg, Edinboro, East Stroudsburg, Lock Haven - all former teacher’s colleges, still strong in education and accessible for his stats.
Seconding Lycoming, Goucher, and Elizabethtown. Perhaps include Susquehanna and Juniata as reaches?

@milgymfam probably, he hasn’t researched that far. But double majoring with education (spending day(s) observing in classrooms carrying another 12-15 credits) is tough). A post-grad cert program would let him focus just on the Praxis.

There seemed to be plenty of activities and campus organizations and such for non-outdoorsy kids.

My hubby works at Roger Williams and I believe it would be a good fit. It has become very sporty there in the last few years and class sizes are small. Keeping him close to home to provide some extra supports may be nice. A few other local colleges with support for learners would be Dean (I used to work there), Curry, and Mitchell.

1 Like

Adding Shippensburg to @MYOS1634 's list of PASSHE (Pennsylvania state) schools. Ship is one of the stronger PASSHE schools for sciences and also has a history of producing excellent teachers. My son’s best high school friend graduated from Ship as a chemistry major, was accepted into a PhD program at Princeton, and is now a professor at a well-known university.

Thanks to everyone for your notes so far. Very helpful and I’ve taken a look at the schools you’ve suggested. Some will be added to the long list for him to take a look at in his “spare” time.

He’s visited the following schools on the list so far, and another couple that got taken off the list after his visit. All are within a couple of hours of home so far.

Keene State
Endicott
Western New England
Salve Regina

He likes them all. He’s pretty easy going. But they all also have a lot of similarities. So I need to get him to a larger school as well to experience that.

He’s thinking about sports a lot as well. Pushing it to either end. A DIII school potentially allows him to participate on a team. A DI school gives him the opportunity to be in an environment where there is more excitement around sports. He’s seen his brother at a Big East school have a great time at games and, while he doesn’t need Power 5 conf level, he does love getting behind a team as a fan.

So different with each kid. S18 visited 2 schools. Applied to 7. Was accepted at 5. Waitlisted at 1. Went to accepted student’s day at one more school. And BOOM. Fell in love. That was the one.

Love them equally. Parent them differently.

Lesley U. in Cambridge is a possibility. Strong in education and the arts (but maybe not sciences, not sure). Lesley also has a program that allows you to progress at your own pace (adult learner program). I was thinking Goucher. I like Keene too :slight_smile: MCLA is in one of my favorite towns, North Adams, but I love it because of MassMOCA! And Endicott has great ocean views.

How about the University of Maine for a larger (but not huge), D1 school?

@compmom Lesley is a great school for education in this area for sure. The city campus isn’t for him though unfortunately.

I’m reading more and more about Goucher. Very interesting.

@kidzncatz I love the concept of UMaine. Great school. Great location. Great size.

I think a reach for acceptance but my greater concern is acceptance into the Teacher Candidacy program doesn’t happen until junior year and the standards for that are potentially reachier depending on how adjustment to college goes vs. the other schools which allow selection of the major from the start.

D is visiting Goucher tomorrow. She says she’d attend for the library alone. Ha! I’ll let everyone know what she thought when we get home.

@ububumble Lesley is mostly quiet leafy streets, with Mass. Ave. alongside. But I get that some aren’t used to even that much city.

@milgymfam what’s with Goucher’s library?? D21 wants a nice library! We’re visiting Towson in April, May need to take a peek!

In the scheme of things in the world right now this isn’t a big worry but the SAT cancellations are adding to my anxiety. Not expecting a response but I can’t share this with my kid and I have to put this somewhere.

S21 had scheduled his first take at the SAT for the May exam–near the end of Algebra II and right after test prep. Perfect timing for my kid whose always struggled with standardized tests. Then added June test for good measure once he got the willies out of his system.

Now? Now May is gone. I think it’s likely June will go too. The further he gets from the content, the harder the tests will be for him.

We should be so lucky these are the biggest issues we face in the coming months but I really wanted this testing to go right for him for once. :frowning:

@ububumble I feel your pain. We somehow completely lucked out and got the March test in. It was touch and. Until the last minute. D also just finished prep so I really wanted it done!

On the bright side, August worked well for D as a first test. More time in the summer, go on Khan for 1/2 hour a day, buy the SAT book if you don’t have one and give him a timed test once a week. I’d get on August sigh ups ASAP!

Glad to see Xavier (Ohio) and Roanoke on his list. 2 schools well known for supporting students. XU May be too urban for him but basketball season is a big deal there. I suggest he consider Valparaiso University as well. Suburban Chicago (an hour by train) campus, strong in the sciences, strong intramurals for students, lots of student academic support, etc.

@Cheeringsection thanks for the Valparaiso suggestion. I’ll do some research and maybe add it to the list.

He and I have scheduled some college “tours” next week on the couch. On first glance, that could be a good one to add to our route. We’re going to choose a school a day and go through the online tours. One of us with the tour going and one of us with the school website up.

As he said, it’s not close to being there but it’s definitely a way to start to cull down and we’ve certainly got the time for it right now. :wink:

One great outcome of this time at home: S21 (on his own ?!) decided it was a good time to email a few teachers to ask if they’d be willing to write college recommendations for him.

Other than one of them–the one who inspired him to become a teacher himself and that he has an amazing relationship with–he was really unsure what the response would be. It was hard for him to even think of two more. As established here, he’s had an unsteady road of his own making at times. He was fully prepared for some hesitation on the other end. Not because he’s a problem but because if they can’t write a positive recommendation, many teachers hesitate to write one at all.

Well, responses within 24 hours from the other two teachers saying, “Yes, I’d be happy to do that for you! I’m so glad you asked.”

Beaming over here. At him taking the lead. Big step.

Thankful as always for the amazing teachers he has that continue to walk the path with him.

3 Likes

OP- I suspect the strongest recommendation one of my kids got was from a teacher where my kid was not an academic standout, but where the teacher saw the daily plugging away, never giving up, tenacity type qualities in evidence. I thought it was nuts to ask the teacher in the subject where you are struggling the most- but the guidance counselor disagreed with me, and told the kid “that will be an interesting perspective for sure!”

Parents of older kids had assured me that this particular counselor would NEVER set a kid up for failure… and that if the recommendation was going to be “damning with faint praise” the GC would quickly suggest a different teacher. So I kept my mouth shut.

Sometimes the “unsteady road” leads somewhere great!!!

1 Like

@blossom completely agree!

When he said he wanted to send the emails and was struggling to come up with names other than the one, the only thing I said to him was “Forget your grades in the class, who are the teachers you TALK with and joke with? Who are the teachers you feel comfortable going to after school for extra help? Can you think of two more like that?” And he could. Right away.