School Suggestions For My Junior Daughter

Parents Forum
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Compmom - she does like UMass, and we did add Clark to the list of schools to consider. We have smaller schools on the list to visit, as we would like her, and her sister, to see schools of all sizes as they are navigating this path. We have Lauren Pope’s book and have encouraged both girls to look through it. At this point, she does see herself at a larger school.

As for pressure, yes it can be challenging to temper the pressure that high achieving young people place on themselves. We have spoken with her about the test scores and I do not think she has unreasonable goals in this area, but we do keep an eye on her. She has a tendency to burn the candle at both ends.

Richmond and Rochester are on her list to research and we have several high reaches on the list as well for her to consider - simply to open her mind.

Regarding “marine biology” or related majors - yes there is a realization that pursuing this general field will likely require an advanced degree. Her mind is open to a broad range of majors and career paths. She wants to make a difference and recognizes that there are many ways to do this.

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Has she looked at the long list of test-optional schools? (Again, her scores will go up, but there is the option of skipping testing altogether and still going to some really top schools, including many already on her list.)

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It may be worthwhile to evaluate how much pressure is on students that get into fairly ‘elite’ schools. It may very well may vary depending on major and what other high stat students they are ‘up against’.

I am a big proponent of being able to get a job with UG degree, or be able to sustain self. Helping pay three in college will get ‘old’ if any go beyond ‘finish in four’ and then find out the student can only get low paying job out of college. Don’t want student moving in and not advancing to true adulthood.

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Some of her schools are test optional. We will have a better sense if that approach makes sense once she takes the tests this spring.

An undergraduate degree is a 4 year venture. Our experience is that academically prepared students, with funding in place and a solid support structure finish in 4 years with few exceptions. That is the norm among our extended family, friends and town. Most of the young people we see who take longer to graduate have financial reasons for extending their undergraduate years. Of course, things can happen which can have an impact on a person’s plans.

Our children are motivated to be self sufficient once their schooling is completed. Graduating without debt is a priority and will provide them with flexibility and the ability to explore their options. We spend a good deal of time discussing how we all must have a plan, and that we must all develop our opportunities and our options. And that can be done with any major, in our opinion. Accountants, doctors and engineers do not have a monopoly on success. I was a history major. I have friends who were philosophy, theology, English, language, art, music, math and physics majors - all of whom are very successful. I have friends who are successful who did not attend college.

If my kids want to be engineers, they will study engineering. If they want to be doctors, they will go to med school. If they want to be artists, they will study art. All of these passions and pursuits allow one to be successful and self sufficient.

There are new industries and new career options that did not exist when we were in school. Our kids will have jobs which do not even exist now. This is a great time for young people - despite what all the negative nellies would have us believe. We are making great advances in the world. Becoming educated, becoming a critical thinker, being adaptable, taking risks, working hard, being passionate - these are the traits that we are trying to instill in our children. Traits that will make them self sufficient and successful.

Call us naive, but this approach has worked for us and our friends.

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…where you go to school should be decided on strictly personal basis, based on which place fits with personality and very wide range of current and potential interests. Any outside suggestions should be taken with caution and filtered thru if they fit personal criteria or not. That part has been the most passionate with my D’s choosing both UG and Med. School. This approach has worked for her. And if for the most a pretty campus would be considered a silly aspect for success, it was somewhere at the top on her list of criteria and we took her list very seriously.

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MiamiDAP - very well said.

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I will add that I do appreciate the many school suggestions which have been made. That was the purpose of this inquiry - to solicit input on college suggestions. And we have received many good recommendations, which my daughter will research and consider. Discussion and input from others is always welcome.

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U of Miami is strong in marine biology, isn’t it? Agree with another poster that the campus is beautiful. We visited last year and loved it but they had too small of a program for my son’s major.

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Jan/Feb 2015 Money Magazine just came out - great two page article on How to find a Generous College.

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The University of Miami is on my daughter’s not so short list of schools to research. Will take a look at the Money Magazine article.

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I thought I would update this thread, given several months have passed.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment. Your thoughts, ideas and comments are very much appreciated. We have learned so much from this site. The wealth of knowledge this community collectively possesses is quite impressive. The site and this community have been tremendously helpful as we have navigated the college process for our children. Our oldest is just finishing his freshman year at TCU.

So Twin 1 (T1) is our marine biology/environmental science/ocean science oriented daughter who is focused on large, mostly public schools. Her un-weighted GPA is 3.75, with her weighted GPA being 3.99 or so. Her current test scores for the SAT are CR – 660 and M – 690, so she’s had a nice little bump and she is very happy with her scores. She will be taking the SAT one more time in May, but she is basically done with her prep. She is sitting for the ACT today.

Her current school list is as follows (in no particular order): UNC – Chapel Hill, UNC – Wilmington, University of Wisconsin, University of Pittsburgh, UMass, UConn, University of Maryland – CP, University of Vermont, Boston University, University of Miami, University of Maine, University of Washington.

She is very realistic about the odds of getting into Chapel Hill.

We will be visiting Miami, Wisconsin, Vermont and Maine in the coming months, and the North Carolina schools over the summer. As for Washington, barring a change in plans, she will only visit if accepted.

Twin 2 (T2) is our daughter who has been focused on education and social work, and had been considering schools where flying generally would not be needed. She has expanded this a bit, and has been researching programs in the area of International Development and Social Change, Urban Development & Social Change. She would still like the school to have an education program.

Her un-weighted GPA is 3.5 and weighted is 3.75. She has taken almost all honors courses and will have 2 AP courses senior year. Her SAT scores are CR – 600 & M – 610. She too will be taking them one more time in May, but she is happy with her scores and they align well with her grades. She is not taking the ACT.

Her current school list is (in no particular order – Juniata, Catholic University, Providence, Loyola Maryland, Elon, Marist, St. Josephs University, Moravian, American, Clark University, Stonehill, Roger Williams. We still have a number of these schools to visit.

Does anybody have have thoughts or recommendations for T2? She now is researching schools across the country, so a plane ride is no longer out of the question.

Again, we are full pay and have the money set aside for their education

Thanks in advance.

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Washington College is worth checking out for sure. It is in Chesterstown, MD.

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In the MD-VA area: St. Mary’s College of Maryland and University of Mary Washington in VA. Both are public, liberal arts colleges. in nice settings.

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Maybe consider a few more Jesuit schools - St. Louis University, Marquette or John Carroll ( Cleveland ).

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You already have a lot of good choices here, but if you are looking for merit scholarships, your daughter’s stats are not good enough to get merit at a top-30 school. It is certainly fine to reach for schools like USC to get in, but if you want a wide range of options, including merit, I would encourage your daughter to dig into the USNWR rankings in the 40-80 range. This is where you will get more merit awards with her stats (my S is a 3.75/4.1, 1400 SAT and this is where he got decent merit awards within this range of schools). I would say she should get her SAT up to at least 1300 to greatly improve her merit chances, and they will go up exponentially further at 1400. There are plenty of options with good bio/marine bio departments in there, as well as schools that will provide the social diversity she desires. This way, she will have options and if she hits a reach or two, you guys can decide financially which way to go.

As a clue, for schools that offer lots of merit (many threads on CC, as well as in college guidebooks), look at the GPA/SAT stats, and your daughter should be hitting at least the top 25th percentile to be in the hunt (% varies by school for inclusion in merit). After she narrows a few down, come on CC and check the admissions and stats threads for the schools in which she is interested to see who got in this year. I found all of this research very helpful and extremely predictive of my son’s results, even down to which merit award he got. There is a ton of info out there to utilize and if you spend some time, you will be very well-prepared and have fewer disappointments.

A couple of closing notes: I hate to dash dreams but I’m just a realist - coming from NJ your daughter has very little chance at Duke unless she’s a recruited athlete (or you are going to endow a professorship) - I’m an alumni interviewer and it is just ridiculously competitive coming out of NJ for spots. However, what I will say is that coming out of NJ if she looks to the west coast, she will be a more interesting candidate than she will in the northeast. We are from CA, and my son applied mostly to NE schools, and he got in to many places where kids with much higher stats from NY and NJ were getting rejected.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to PM me. You are off to a good start, good luck!!

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Sorry, I posted before reading your update on the last page - rookie mistake. Both girls have very good choices across the safety-reach spectrum.

Did D1 check out U Minnesota? They have a very good bio dept. Did you consider Syracuse for D2, their education school is very good.

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And BTW, D1 is now in the range for a $8-12K (maybe more) merit scholarship at U Miami, congrats on her SAT improvement!!

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Cameron121 - no worries about dashing dreams here, we know the drill for Duke - Duke was never a possibility, and UNC, with the competition for OOS students is more than a long shot. I will suggest U of Minn to my daughter. We had a niece who went to Syracuse. I cannot recall what my daughter thought of the school when we visited her cousin. We will take a look. Yes, both girls have gotten nice bumps in her scores. Their work paid off and they are both where they feel they need to be. T1 says 700 is her dream, but she is not stressing it at this point. We are in a good place with both of them regarding testing. Over the next year there will be some AP and SAT2 tests, but the heaviest stresses of junior year are nearing an end.

Ir4450 – thanks for the suggestion. We will research Washington College. It looks a bit remote, and I suspect that could be why it doesn’t make the list. (The same thing may happen with Juniata – we have looked at a couple of remote schools and they were too in the middle of nowhere for my daughter.)

Mathprof63 – thank you. We will take a look at those 2. We read good things about both schools. Again, their remoteness, may discount them for my daughter.

leftrightleft – Thank you – we are big on the Jesuit schools, and my daughter (T2) really likes their approach to developing the whole person. I have suggested Marquette and John Carroll to her. We will see what comes of that.

Any merit money they might earn at their ultimate school will be gravy. At some of the schools on their respective lists they are in line for merit, with others, not really. Ultimately fit will be the deciding factor.

We appreciate all the input thus far.

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Take a look at University of Portland for your D2. It is right in the city of Portland (Oregon), but has a residential campus in a residential neighborhood with public transportation to the downtown area. It is affiliated with the Holy Cross Fathers who founded Notre Dame and Stonehill and has a strong social justice focus and a school of education.

Seattle University (Jesuit) is right in the the city of Seattle and would also fit your daughter’s criteria. Both U of P and Seattle University are popular choices at our local Catholic H.S.