I know a lot of kids who “find themselves” at the University of Montana and Montana State. Montana State is more focused on the sciences/tech/engineering; UofM is a bit more on the humanities side. Lots of out of state kids at both… when my son was moving into his dorms at Montana State, we saw a car pull up with a “Montana or Bust” sign in the rear window. The car’s license plates were from… Rhode Island. My son only stayed at Montana State a year, but he liked the school. And we’ve known kids who really blossomed at University of Montana, which is in just about the nicest town you can imagine: Missoula has cool old houses, a tiny but trendy-looking downtown, lots of little restaurants and galleries, and a lot of fun things to do along the river that flows through it, (Kinda like the book!) The skiing is better at Montana State, but I think the University of Montana offers more of a variety of outdoor activities. So both are worth considering and, if you can, visiting.
@Cheeringsection S21 and I watched a panel with admissions presentations that included Roanoke today. He LOVED it. My non-outdoorsy athlete even said at the end “Who knows, maybe I’ll take up hiking?” after seeing the mountains around the school. 
Seriously, everything about it felt right for him. We’ll see how things progress but I totally understand why his EF coach suggested it to him.
One step at a time. Having another school on the list that he feels more than “yeah, I guess this will work” about is a huge step.
@ububumble , my son is a senior at Roanoke. Loved his four years there.
We toured Roanoke in 2015 and really liked it. While the school is not large in terms of # of students, the campus is laid out nicely so it doesn’t feel small, cramped, or condensed.
Pretty architecture and the mountains make for a nice backdrop.
The town of Salem is just across a small street and the surrounding neighborhood was really nice. Downtown Roanoke is just 10 minutes away.
Easy access to the school off I-81.
This has been an extremely helpful thread. Thanks for posting. We are also considering the two Montana Universities (Montana State and U Montana). My child is really into games (tabletop and video). Also interested in psychology. Which of the two schools seem best?
Are there any other schools that might work that you can think of?
This child also had similar HS grades, EF deficits, very smart, and took gap years plus is in CC currently, looking to transfer. Grades are improved!
Thanks for your thoughts.
@Dustyfeathers I’m glad the thread is useful for you 
We haven’t delved deep into the Montana situation yet (meaning haven’t done virtual tours etc.) but I will say that S21 has been a little overwhelmed with both schools’ email strategies. Too much for him. I’ve told him to ignore that for now but it’s funny how things like that impact you.
U Montana just went test optional for the next two class years. Big move and important for my kid given that he hasn’t taken the SAT yet because of date cancellations and won’t get his first chance until August if we’re lucky. With all the time off school before that date, I’m not optimistic on scores.
Which leads me to looking at his list again and seeing all of the schools that have moved to test optional–and those that haven’t yet. It may eliminate the other state universities off the list right from the start if he can’t get a decent test in. And it will likely take the Rhode Island schools off the list (which will break his heart because he loves Salve) as they require SAT’s for education majors by law.
Xavier is looking really good in many ways (environment etc). A reach based on high school but with your child’s success in CC and the story of progress there, could be a great choice.
And if your child is open to a smaller school, Roanoke is a winner in this house. It came recommended to us from his EF coach and we’re feeling it with everything we see.
Good luck and I’d love to hear where you look!
Do NOT assume that a delayed test means a bad score.
Your son has an opportunity to spend the next X months reading a daily newspaper (preferably one written with more complexity than USA Today), reading articles about things that interest him in the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Economist, or specialized magazines and sites. Boosting that verbal score is pretty easy for a kid who is reading widely. I know that teenage boys and fiction can be an uphill battle- but there are some terrific sports writers, adventure writers, journalists who cover gaming and technology and some of their feature writing is gripping AND challenging (sentence structure, vocabulary, etc.)
If his next testing opportunity is early Fall, a handshake between all of you that he’s going to spend ten minutes a day with an SAT review book (ten minutes! That’s probably less time than his daily shower). He can alternate between math and verbal, or do 5/5, or do all math one week and all verbal the next.
This seems like an exceptional opportunity to have him spend a modest amount of time boosting his study skills (for sure important wherever he goes to college), prove to himself that he can stick with something not TOO painful when there’s a goal in mind, and actually improve his test taking skills.
He doesn’t need to spend hours a day cramming… he’s got months. He can bite off manageable chunks- which I’m sure is the discipline you’d love for him to develop in order to launch successfully in college. Believe me- I raised an “all or nothing” guy, and if he didn’t want to spend 5 hours on something (writing a paper, studying for a test) he’d just as soon blow the whole thing off entirely. He had to get with the program pretty quickly in college-- just chip away at it, every single day, whether you feel motivated or not- just chip away.
His life would have been easier if he’d figured that out in HS for sure!!!
This may have been posted already but I would contact the schools and see which have good support services for students with executive functioning issues. some schools have services you can pay extra to receive where students can get help once or several times a week with organizing their school work and etc, and other places include these services for everyone. This may have been asked and said already but does your child have a 504 or IEP? I think in general smaller is better for many who are dealing with issues like executive functioning. Sounds like a nice young man. Best wishes in finding a great fit for him. 
We’re starting a series of virtual visits this month and so I thought I’d share notes/thoughts here–mostly for myself so that I don’t forget this as we get to application time.
Wichita State today. It’s important that S21 “sees” a big school because to date everything he’s seen has been under 3,000. They did a great job with the virtual visit. Great summary by admissions. Financial aid spoke for a bit and then the student tour guide was wonderful. They also had a different admissions person answering questions on the chat as we went. Very efficient but personable.
Kids from throughout the country on the visit which answered one of our unasked questions–would S be the only person not from Kansas or the immediate area on the call. Admissions also sold Wichita itself really well. Knowing how much the city our older son’s school is in has ended up impacting his experience in a positive way, that mattered.
A lot of talk about internships. Every college does but the focus here on the detail of preparing students for them (interviewing skills, resume building, dressing them for students who don’t have access to the wardrobe etc) tells me this is a place that really means it. Stories about the corporate, private partnerships that have moved on campus–true integration between the University and the city. Interesting.
All dorms built within the last 6 years but only freshman on campus (except for another 700 upperclassmen). Not sure how S feels about that. Something to think about and probe on moving forward for sure.
Loves the friendly, mid-west vibe. Loves the lack of football and heavy focus on basketball with the option to play club soccer.
Admissions said to reach out separately about SAT’s as they are working on “something” to address '21’s who might not be able to take exams in time for application. They are a school that has a very straightforward admission formula.
S21 said afterward he’d definitely be up for applying after the call. I loved his enthusiasm. I said that as large schools go they showed really well and we should look into class sizes because that’s important for his success, what living off campus after freshman year looks like. Things like that. He agreed and wants to leave it on the list as a “what if”.
All in all an hour and a half well spent.
Elizabethtown “visit” today. It was…fine?
S21 was the only student in the visit which threw him a little. Ultimately a good thing as the content was tailored a bit to him but it also put him in the position of having to be very interactive during the session which is tough enough during his high school classes right now where he knows everyone. Much more difficult in an online environment where he’s never met the person before. She was wonderful but dynamics are tough.
Several comments about how excited they were to have someone from our state visiting. That threw him a little too as we’re not that far away.
Overall E-Town came across as a solid option that really wants to see the whole student during the application process. Music to our ears. They said they are likely to move to completely test optional soon (vs. only for those over a 3.5 GPA right now). They were very encouraging about conversations with coaches etc. but in an appropriate way given they know nothing of my son and his skill level.
The session was only a 1/2 hour with a push to check out student Q&A’s that are available elsewhere and dates and ways to visit in person next year. No pics of buildings or interiors anywhere. I know we can do the virtual campus tour ourselves, but we were there as a captive audience. Feels like a missed opportunity for them and I’m not sure he’s going to want to go back and do that work now. :neutral:
My prediction is that the school is going to blend into the pile for S21 and when we look at the list for applications ultimately it’ll be a coin toss as to whether it makes the cut for him. There just wasn’t a hook for him here that each school he’s nodding eagerly at has had (none of those are the same hook).
You can emphasize how at Elizabethtown there’s a lot of personalization, they’re not going to “drop him”, they’ll make sure he becomes the best version of himself (if that makes sense). So, z good low match to have in case the others don’t pull through.
Roanoke “visit” today and he loved it. Again.
Easily becoming his top choice. There is so much about the school that he likes but one of the most representative things is the focus on being able to choose some really interesting courses to fulfill the core requirements.
The session today (1.5 hours) also talked a lot about the various types of mentorships available to students throughout their time at the school.
The May term piqued his interest quite a bit as he’s really interested in travel abroad but not sure how to fit in a whole semester given secondary ed and chemistry.
S21 appreciated that there were students from many different states in the session–he called out the difference with the visit to E-Town last week where he was the only one on the call and the rep was thrilled to have someone from our state to talk to. No matter that I pointed how random all of that can be. Impressions matter.
All in all, he’s definitely going to want this place as an option next spring. Fingers crossed.
@ububumble , my son just graduated from Roanoke. Loved his time there. We live in NJ. I’d be happy to answer any questions you or your son my have. BTW, my son just accepted a job offer in Phoenix, AZ, his dream city.
IUP has a good education program.
My S had a higher GPA but similar SAT. He got $2,000 merit two years ago. He applied in July.
He just applied for Step 1 and didn’t have to take basic skills tests.
He is a music education major and will have at least 130 credits.
Xavier (OH) “tour” yesterday. It was another winner with S21. They aren’t doing live sessions but have all of the same content recorded and available on their site if you do the digging to find it.
Plusses: The size hit a sweet spot for him. The Big East sports certainly did as well. It doesn’t hurt that a chief rival is his older brother’s uni. Because of that a lot felt familiar. He also really responded well to the Success Coaches–said it reminded him a lot of his current EF coach relationship. Manresa, GOA, the focus on the whole student from the start–not just “we help you find your major” had him smiling.
Questions: Obviously as a Jesuit school there was talk of faith. But there was a LOT of talk of faith. We’re not a religious family–of any sort. Didn’t phase S21 at all but wondering if it will at some point in the process. I’m also not sure how focused on religion Xavier actually is relatively speaking once students are actually on campus. Interesting to me that S18 wouldn’t even look at schools that had a religious background (fear of feeling other on campus) while this one doesn’t say a peep either way.
We talked about Xavier being a reach for him but he said it’s a reach he’s likely to want to take and see what happens because he thinks if he got in and decided to go he thinks he’d do well there. Love his attitude.
I can say a couple things about Wichita State. My S17’s gf is from Wichita and lots of her friends went there are really liked it. He sister thought about it and went to Washburn U and couldn’t stand it. She is transferring to Kansas State.
We have see that OOS students are more prevalent than you would think at all the Kansas Universities. My S from TX has loved being in Kansas and feels the people there are very down to earth and nice. The Wichita area has lots of housing very near the campus so being off-campus is really close.
Good luck with your decisions!
Thanks for the info @momocarly !
One last “visit” this week. Roger Williams in RI. It was fine. He put it in the “maybe” category.
The location is great for him. On the water which he LOVES. The size is right. Nothing too special in the presentation to give it a hook in his mind.
A nice moment though when he asked about the testing requirements for education majors because they are test optional otherwise. The presenter shared that if he went in as “undeclared-education” then RI doesn’t require SAT scores and he can wait until the Praxis as a sophomore. So an option should he run into issues this fall. Not sure Salve Regina has the same flexibility but it was nice to hear here for him.
All in all, his response was a shoulder shrug and that he would check in with his two friends who are headed there this fall to see how they like it before he decided anything. Not a rousing endorsement from this kid. Always good to see schools they don’t love too.
What are some of the EF issues?
If he is going to be an education major, I would look for one without a private school price (unless EF help is worth it to you).
It might be cool to him that he is on the water…but would that be a big distraction for him?