<p>Hi all - we have a junior son who has a 3.8 uw gpa, is an IB candidate, and is not a super competitive type guy. He is a laid-back procrastinator, but a very good guy to be around because he doesn't stress much. We need to start building a college list and he is having a difficult time coming up with ideas. PSAT of 211. Hasn't taken SAT or ACT yet.
He is interested in a business major with an eye on med school afterwards.
Would like to have small classes. He thinks he likes an LAC type environment, but I think what he really is trying to avoid is classes larger than 50 or so and anything taught by a TA.
He says weather doesn't matter, but I think if there's snow, then skiing would be needed.</p>
<p>Merit aid is very important and we will also qualify for need-based aid at most schools. We do not want him (or us) to have heavy loans due to his thoughts of med school.</p>
<p>Any ideas?
Any other info. needed?
We have only visited a few near schools and we need to start planning some visits due to other time committments coming up.
Thanks</p>
<p>No suggestions, but I just want to point out that I don’t know of any LAC’s that offer majors in business. It’s just not considered a “liberal arts degree”. If he wants an LAC environment, he may have to think about economics instead.</p>
<p>I agree with Smithie that liberal arts schools and business majors are mutually exclusive. I also can’t think of a university that will always have introductory classes <50, when it’s not unheard of for LACs to have 30 to 80 students in some introductory courses. </p>
<p>Colorado College might be worth checking into. Students take one class at a time. I don’t know if CC has merit aid, but it does have need based aid. </p>
<p>Your son might want to check out honors programs. Honors programs may have smaller honors classes, and in theory might get the “best” professors.</p>
<p>I know the “LAC size” but with a business type major might be difficult. Here are ones he thinks might fit the bill. None are “highly ranked”: Trinity U in Texas, Seattle Pacific U, U of Denver, Westminster in Salt Lake City. Those are the only places he’s found that are small and also have a business major or something close. Are there more?
Are there some a bit more rigorous?
I’ve tried to use search engines to ferret out this combo, but they seem to come up with very little.</p>
<p>CMC would be a dream school, I think. Does he have a chance at getting in?
His ECs are “typical” - 4 year varsity athlete, photo editor of newspaper, DECA business club, blah, blah - nothing that makes him stand out from the pack. He will write good essays but he isn’t setting the world on fire - just doing well in school, enjoying being a kid. He doesn’t watch TV or play video games and he does have a job. He is a wonderful young man and would interview well, it’s just that compared to many students on this site, he is quite “normal”. It’s hard for me to get a picture of who gets in to CMC.</p>
<p>Babson College in Wellesley, MA, focuses on business. It has 1,800 undergrads and 1,600 graduate students. This is what it says on its website: </p>
<p>What about a small university? My D is at LMU (5,000 undergrads), and she has yet to have a class with more than 35 kids. It has a pretty strong business program, including a focus on entrepreneurship, and he might well get merit aid. Same at Santa Clara and Gonzaga. The mid-size Jesuits have business programs and smaller, professor-taught classes.</p>
<p>University of Denver is also a good idea, and I hear they are generous with aid.</p>
<p>Seattle University (not to be confused with Seattle Pacific U): I don’t know if it’s technically an LAC, but it’s small and has the feel of one. The Albers School of Business & Economics offers undergrad degrees in Accounting, Finance, Business Economics, and Marketing, among others. </p>
<p>Muhlenberg College is an LAC with an Accounting, Business and Economics department and is also well-known for its pre-med program. I think your son might score some good merit aid there. Skidmore College is another LAC with a Business major, a little more selective than Muhlenberg, so rather less likely to offer merit money. I think both schools may be located close enough to ski areas to permit some weekend jaunts.</p>
<p>I think Trinity in SA is more highly “ranked” than you give it credit for being. It doesn’t make the first page of USNWR because it offers a few grad programs, but it definitely bills itself as an LAC. I may be biased, but my D goes there, and she chose it over what are considered very highly ranked schools, some of which are NU, BC, Haverford, Wellesley, CMC, Carleton and others. The classes are challenging and profs highly accessible. She is a business minor and will be doing an internship in Madrid this summer through TU business department. Stats-wise TU is comparable to Lafayette and Trinity in Connecticut, but it costs about $12,000 less and has much better weather.</p>
<p>Bryant University (in Rhode Island) is small and known for its Business program. I know someone there who got good merit money. She’s a freshman and liking it a lot so far.</p>
<p>You might also want to google “Public Liberal Arts Colleges” The first one I thought of was Truman State. It’s small enough, about 5000 students, but does offer several business degrees. They also have some automatic merit money. A quick glance at the OOS cost, under $25,000/year is a lot less than many privates. One caveat though is that as a public one never knows how generous financial aid packages will be for an OOS student. Just another idea.</p>
<p>Babson sounds interesting, but could a student also complete the pre-med requirements there?</p>
<p>How about William and Mary? It’s a smallish university with an undergraduate business major. Selective, but an IB diploma candidate with the kind of SAT score your son’s PSAT score predicts would be a viable candidate even from out of state. Not sure about merit aid, though.</p>
<p>Admission to W&M as a freshman does not guarantee admission to the business school as a junior (or at least didn’t a few years back, another application process was required).</p>
<p>Look at Elon in NC their business school is AACSB accredited.
Another AACSB accredited school with generous merit is St. Joseph’s in Philly.</p>
<p>Not sure where the OP lives, but a comment on Truman State. It’s a great school and very affordable. But Kirksville, MO, is a very small, isolated down. Only shopping is at Wal-Mart. Our sons have several friends who go there and love it, but they are from a small Missouri city. It does snow there–and there is a ski “hill” near it in Iowa. But definitely not mountain resort skiing.</p>
<p>Our niece is at Rollins in Winter Park, FL, and loves it. They have a strong international business program.</p>
<p>You might also consider the University of Tulsa. Business is their largest major and they have a great merit aid program. It’s a private school with D-1 sports, if that’s a consideration at all.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest Loyola Marymount U, Santa Clara U and Saint Mary’s College of CA.</p>
<p>SCU and Trinity U are ranked #2 and #1 respectively among western maters Universities by USNWR. SMC has a locally very well respected business program but being in the same area as Stanford and Berkeley makes it harder for the school to get the recognition I think it deserves.</p>
<p>You can find some fabulous business programs at schools of all sizes and selectivity is really not the best indicator of quality. The availability of internships and numbers of students employed or in grad school within 12 mos of graduating are both better criteria.</p>
<p>I think part of the job is to think strategically. Is he ok with going to a different part of the country- providing geographic diversity? A nice laid back guy from 6 states over will be much more interesting than one that is instate.</p>
<p>It is good for him that males are a little harder to come by at LACs and therefor have a slightly higher rate of admittance. (See the threads in the past 6 months about gender inequality. Pomona’s females admit rate is 10%; males is 20%)</p>
<p>Any issues regarding amount of diversity on campus? This was big for us but not so much for others. For example, St Olaf has good merit money, great pre med, and a concentration in management studies. However it is very blond - at best 13% minority. It is a good school with really nice kids, but no way would my daughter apply. Lots of other kids from my town are very happy there.</p>
<p>For merit money, your son will need to be in the top 10% or so of admitted students. Lots of good information can be found on each college’s Common Data Set. Are you looking for $5000 per year, $20,000, or a full ride? Both on the financial aid forum and the parent forum there are threads that are stickied at the top with information about merit offers and how to find them.</p>
<p>Don’t forget to have him take the SAT2 exams this spring in subjects he is doing well at. Take both the SAT and the ACT. My daughter did much better at one than the other and then the great score was the one we based her search on.</p>