@Yankeefan20 I appreciate the interest but won’t go into more detail here as that starts to get into personal areas that don’t add much to the story or help others on the forum. Suffice to say he’s aware and working through them. The situation with Covid-19 has actually been one that has helped him as he’s had the opportunity to really take charge of his own learning and he’s doing really well with it. Every student’s journey with learning challenges is unique and their search for support should be unique as well.
@bopper we’re fortunate enough that the cost of college is covered. Additionally our experience tells us that private schools often have more money available for merit than state schools do to help a little. Even with S21’s numbers, he’s likely to receive some money from a few private schools while he’ll receive nothing from public schools. On top of that, there are only one or two public schools in our state that he’s potentially interested in (which he’ll apply to) and any OOS publics = private school cost. So we’re in it for the kit and caboodle regardless. Unless of course he determines starting at a comm college is the way he wants to go. Always on the table.
We went to Idaho this week. Virtually of course. U Idaho visit was tonight. I really wish it had gone better but it’s off the list for him.
The presentation was pretty lackluster and didn’t cover anything that differentiated the school from any other state university other than how they got the Vandal name (which he appreciated). The whole admissions presentation lasted half an hour and really didn’t say much about the school at all. Some time was spent on Moscow and what a great city it is. Talk about the other hundreds of locations for the University of Idaho. (Why?) The application process.
But no descriptor of the campus, no feature of any programs, any activities, any differentiators at all. No Why Idaho.
Then half an hour with a student which could have been great had they had prepared content to share for a short period of time about student life or why they chose UIdaho and then taken questions. Instead they just waited for questions. So it became a very random assortment of information based on the students who happened to call in tonight they did their best to sort through.
I really wish it had gone better based on everything I’d read but like a live visit that doesn’t hit, this didn’t hit either and so S21 walked away saying “Um, no mom there just isn’t anything there to grab on to.”
Onward!
One more visit this week and then we take June off. So proud of this kid for digging into the process this month with good humor, an open mind and enthusiasm.
Our last visit of this go round and it was a hit! La Salle in Philly today and he was really impressed. So much so that he spent time after the presentation was over on their site looking at the campus and checking out content himself. That never happens.
He liked the enclosed campus. The size feels right for him. Division I sports to watch with solid club sports to play if he wants to go that route. With only two students on the call, the admissions rep spent time as she went through programs talking about education in particular which he appreciated. Made it feel very approachable for him.
The requirement to live three years on campus reinforced that it’s a campus based school.
Any school that requires two recommendations he knows is a good call for him because it means they are looking for more than stats. And he’s feeling pretty confident about his recommendations right now because of his relationships with the teachers he chose and his guidance counselor and how he’s delivered particularly during Q3 and Q4 this year when things went to crap at school.
What he saw of the campus when he went searching on his own afterwards made him smile. The buildings seemed to be a good combination of new and old and the campus is small so he wouldn’t be hiking all over the place. I know Philly really well and so could give him a sense of what that city itself is like if/when he ventures in.
All in all, he said he’s interested in applying. It’s a win. We’d have to make a real visit so that he could see how in the city it really is because that’s been a real “no” for him but given the enclosed campus definitely worth keeping on the list.
So far he’s visited live or virtually:
Elizabethtown–no so far
Roanoke–yes so far
Salve Regina–yes so far
Western New England–yes so far
Endicott–yes so far
La Salle–yes so far
Keene State–no so far
Xavier–yes so far
Roger Williams–no so far
UIdaho–no so far
Wichita State–yes so far
Taking June off from visits
Signed him up for the August and October SAT’s today.
@ububumble , LaSalle was one of my undercover favorites for my S20. I liked the size and campus, and appreciated that it was in Philly. I especially liked that they ended up providing a lot of Financial Aid. My son was lukewarm about LaSalle, and ultimately chose another university.
I like your (and your son’s) search so far. You’ve really kept the focus on what’s important for him. It’s nice to see a search that is all over the map literally, and in regards to size and type of college. I think the end result is going to be that the time your son spends deciphering what it is that appeals to him about each school will help ensure he ends up in the perfect place for him.
What about Grove City College? It may be a bit smaller than what he wants, but it has a great reputation for job placement (nationally ranked) and is D3 if he is interested in continuing his athletic career. It’s a nice small college town and in Pennsylvania. I would also consider Slippery Rock University, which many consider one of the best PA state schools for value. It’s similar to GCC, but at a lower cost.
Grove City is strong academically but hardcore Evangelical. You have to buy into their worldview, there’s a creed to sign, some courses are vetted for content, and chapel is mandatory a certain times a week. It can be very interesting chapel talks, it’s not always a religious service.
(If your middle of the road is Rick Santorum you’ll be 100% okay.)
WCU is another PASSHE school (like Slippery Rock), but PASSHE schools’ big problem is being way underfunded.
Grove City does have some hardcore religious commitments, but I will say I have quite a few friends who go there (as nonreligious people) and it does not seem to bother them.
Apologies for not reading every single suggestion, but Susquehanna in PA is a great school, does interviews, has scholarship money . I agree that the PA system schools may have finally been dealt a deathblow via the pandemic, but Shippensburg’s teaching program is very highly regarded.
Grove City for a non religious person is a very poor match. I was raised nearby and they are very very serious about their faith-and-education concept. Of course plenty of people go there anyway, but it’s a haul. You want to spend 4 yrs being everyone’s favorite heathen to save? or target for matrimony? (GCC has a long and storied history of “sent our girl to find a spouse”)
S21 and I did one more college “visit” last week. Goucher has been on the list for a while and I had high hopes for it. But this is what visits are for. Virtual or otherwise. It’s not a fit for S21 and I understand why.
He likes a lot about the school. The approach to admissions: test optional, common app and video app. While he wouldn’t use video app he loved that they have that option and figured out for himself how it likely drives the level of diversity they are achieving–far beyond most other schools he’s seen. And he’s interested in that. The academics work for him. The location. All of that.
But a couple of things really didn’t work for him. The requirement to study abroad. He’s very interested in going abroad but something about a 100% requirement to do it rubbed him the wrong way even knowing that it doesn’t have to be a full semester for every student. I get it though–he’s always been someone who ends up doing the thing most people do but really, really, really doesn’t want to have to be forced to do it.
The other challenge for him was the theme that ran strong through the whole presentation of social justice activism on campus and the expectation of it from students. Interestingly it’s something we’d been talking about just a month or so ago. He’d brought up how strongly he felt about many of the issues being discussed in the news and happening around the country and in our town but that, as a quieter person, he handled them in his own way and was trying to figure out if that was okay if he wasn’t marching and posting online all the time (longer story but that’s the gist). So to hear from a college that they are looking for marchers and posters and fighters didn’t appeal to him at all. He’s looking for a place where he can find his place and not feel out of place. He said “it’s weird because I would probably agree with everything they fight for but I don’t think I’d fit in because it wouldn’t look like I was out fighting for it in the ‘right’ way”
It was a lot to get from a virtual tour. But time really well spent because it’s helping him continue to narrow in on not just the schools but himself. Which is a lot for a 17 year old boy to do.
I thought it was worth an update at this point–headed into senior year–to share where we’re at.
Overall at the end of junior year GPA is at 2.55. But he has a story to tell though, going from a 2.1 to a 2.6 soph to junior year (fresh year was a 2.9). His recommendations will be strong and speak to his mindset growth, leadership inside and outside the classroom and his embrace of his 504. Hasn’t been able to get an SAT in, though scheduled for August and Oct. Not a historically strong test taker. Hoping for 1010. We’re in MA and so fingers crossed tests will happen as COVID numbers are looking okay here. Don’t have final senior classes yet but is requesting Physics, Environmental, Trig, Psych, Travel Lit (senior Eng Seminar), Entrepreneurship.
He’s working on his essay this summer and has done a ton of college “visits” in addition to the several in person he did last summer.
Still focused on teaching high school (chemistry–maybe bio…)
Based on all of that here are the schools he’s interested in applying to at this point (down from a list of 27):
Roanoke
Salve Regina
Western New England
Endicott
La Salle
Xavier (OH)
Wichita State
There are a few that he hasn’t “seen” yet so potential adds to come.
Certainly some reaches there and without an SAT Salve and Endicott aren’t options as an Ed major so that’s a watchout.
Overall, I’m super proud of the kid and how he’s approaching this. He’s thoughtful, realistic about what might and might not happen and taking it all a week at a time.
We are from MA and visited Roanoke with my D20. We really liked it. Cute town attached to the campus, a small city nearby, and the mountains surrounding it are gorgeous. The presentation was great. Ultimately, my D decided not to apply as she had too many schools on her list but we both really liked what we saw. Students we met seemed really nice and the campus had a New England feel to it.
Senior year will start fully remote. And not until mid-September. S21 took that fairly in stride. He’d not gotten his hopes up either way. But he’s still holding out hope for a fall soccer season. I won’t be the one to tell him how unlikely it is. Verdict from the state is probably going to come this week. They can rip that bandaid off.
His August SAT was cancelled. He’s got a seat in October but he’s not holding his breath that it happens. So as of today, no SAT. Which means two of the schools on his list come off, including one of his favorites, as they require a score for Education majors. For his overall application, not sure if it helps or hurts to not have it. He’s never been a good test taker and so it’s unlikely that a test score would wow admissions. But a decent score in the 1010 range would have been a real help for some of his reach schools.
But then he stopped in my office to ask me what I thought about a couple of transition phrases he’s thinking of for his essay (he’s been working on it by himself) and told me he got an email from his most favorite teacher to let him know that she was finishing up his recommendation and she hoped he was having a great summer. He was grinning and excited and I know that, after all of this, he knows what his story is. Who he is.
This kid is all about resilience. And thank goodness because I think he’s going to have lots of opportunities to practice that coming up.
FWIW if the Oct. SAT is cancelled I would not eliminate the two schools that require SATs without at least consulting the schools directly . If he can’t take the SAT in Oct. I would have your son reach out to those school’s admissions officers, explain the Aug. and Oct. tests he signed up to take were cancelled as a result of covid and ask if they would agree to either: 1) waive standardized tests this year for the Ed major or 2) accept a later test if he applies RD and no decision on his application is required until the spring. I think this would be a reasonable request and a thoughtfully worded email stating his case to an admission officer might even make a positive impression.
^^Its so awesome to hear his progress and for sure, our kids will need resilience. In fact, I think many have more than the so called adults!
I was going to say also that he should not give up on the two that require the test score. This is such an incredibly crazy year and more to come! He has signed up for the tests and did his due diligence. The schools must be aware of this difficulty with testing also and be offering students some other option. At least I would hope they would and IF not, then he rightly probably should cross them off his list – how institutions handle this pandemic really shows their true colors too.
Thank you for sharing his story and progress! Best to him and your family!
Last night he added a new geographic option South Carolina.
So now I’m looking for schools like:
Roanoke
Xavier
Salve Regina
in South Carolina that, ideally, aren’t populated with 90% kids from SC. I don’t see any at this point but that may be because I’m unfamiliar with the area.
Furman? I know nothing about it other than a classmate of my D’s is there (NJ, in case my name didn’t give it away!). College of Charleston? State school but a number from our school also head there so may have a decent OOS population.
Thanks @NJWrestlingmom! College of Charleston is the only one I had inklings of–Charleston would be his ideal location in SC so I started there. I’m going to investigate that one further.
I’m thinking Furman is likely too much of a reach for him based on the couple of kids I (distantly) know who’ve attended but the size and style of school makes sense. I’m going to poke around there as well.
It’s one I thought of early on for him as an option but at the time dismissed (like St. Michael’s in VT) because of it’s DII status. He was interested in potentially playing at DIII or being part of a bigger DI environment. The situation in high school impacting sports changes that as he may not have a real senior season to potentially show to DIII coaches and so he’s thinking with more flexibility there.
Might be time for him to check it out. Thanks for raising it!
