I am new to posting on CC but have spent a lot of time reading on here, especially during my D’s college search. I must start off by saying I feel a little bit bad for my S. as I am weary from my D’s college search and don’t yet have the enthusiasm for his as I did for hers. In any event, we are getting the party started but I am posed with some challenges with his search that I did not face with hers. My S. competes at a very high level in a winter sport that does not translate to college athletics. As a result of this sport he missed a ton of school – but went to a private high school specifically tailored to his sport. The challenge now being that he is an extremely accomplished competitor, ranked in the top 100 in the world and top 50 in the US in his sport. Awesome, but as a result his GPA is not so much awesome (3.33uw, 3.71w). ACT 31 after second go around. He is very smart, in an intellectual kind of way, excelling in conversation, discourse, debate, oral presentation. He wants very much to go to college and plans to take a break from his sport to do so. He is possibly interested, but not 100 percent committed to, studying political science and possibly also computer science.
He would like to go to school in/or near a city but isn’t discriminating about the size of the school. His high school was tiny so I think a small school will feel big to him. He also wants a diverse student body as his HS had a strong international population. We live on the East Coast so will be doing our visits there this summer but he is open to the entire country in terms of schools. I think he would do really well in a interview and hope that a strong interview along with his accomplishments in his sport might help him get in somewhere awesome. I am just not sure where. So far we have looked at Tufts because it is close to home and we plan to look at Brandeis. He wants to look at NYU but we are discouraging it due to its poor reputation for financial aid. Other contenders are GWU, Emory, Northeastern, Fordham, Drexel. Would we be crazy to look at Haverford? Washington U in St. Louis?
I would love to hear from anyone else who has a success story of a successful college search with not the strongest GPA and am open to any and all “where to look” suggestions. I hate being constrained by the “city” factor.
I doubt that he would be competitive at WashU: it is notoriously stat-fixated. Haverford might be more “holistic” in terms of considering his unusual extracurricular accomplishments. Is he interested in a strongly pre-professional school for STEM or Business? If not, then Drexel and Northeastern probably aren’t great options. His stats are unlikely to win a sizable scholarship from either, if finances are a concern, and they aren’t much more affordable than NYU. What about Pitt and Temple? Both are big, but so is Northeastern. They are less expensive, but similarly urban. Is his sport an outdoor one? Would he want a campus where he can still keep up with it outside of competitions? There is excellent skiing and snowboarding within reasonable driving distance from Syracuse, UVM, URochester, UNM, UDenver, et al. He is in a tricky academic situation, because those stats aren’t strong enough for merit packages from more prestigious colleges even if he is academically qualified for them. What about Occidental? My son got in, with similar stats, and they met our (high) FAFSA EFC. He went elsewhere, for financial reasons.
If he’s in the top 50 in the U.S., is he really gong to be happy taking a break from his sport for 4 years? And is it going to be feasible for him to pick it back up after college? It might be good for him to go somewhere where there are nearby facilities for him to at least do it in a low-key way during college, so he at least keeps up his skills.
You said that he goes to a tiny school, so a small school would feel big to him, and some of the schools on your list are very big. If he’s intellectual then a pre-professionally focused school might not be a great fit. Emory does sound good for him. So does Fordham, perhaps.
I thought of Occidental College, Trinity College, maybe Brandeis as a stretch-ish, Elon University (30 minutes from Greensboro), American University (in DC), College of Charleston (it is public so I don’t know what aid would be like), Furman University (Greenville is a small city), Syracuse, University of Rochester (would also be a bit of a stretch), St. Olaf (hour to Twin Cities), Willamette University (not so far from Portland), University of Puget Sound (in Tacoma and close to Seattle), Clark University (maybe a stretch? relatively close to Boston), Goucher College (nearby DC), St. John’s College (in Annapolis and not too far from DC)
Lawrence University and Ithaca College are not nearby large cities, but could be a good fit otherwise.
I don’t think you’d be crazy to apply to Haverford or Wash U, as long as he has reasonable expectations. Those are reach schools for him, and he’d have to make peace with the idea that he most likely won’t be admitted - they’re long shots. But, they’re not totally outside of the realm of possibility, especially given that he has a compelling explanation for the so-so GPA (and really, IMO a 3.71 is not so bad, especially for a top athlete!)
So how much are you looking to pay each year? Obviously not $70K+ based on the NYU comment.
@woogzmama and @juillet thank you for your great feedback. I do have Occidental on the list, my D was accepted there this year and we were so impressed by their “Welcome to Oxy” acceptance package. I think its’ diversity and location would appeal to my S. I am also going to add URochester to the list. I think that could be a good choice. We can look at Ithaca and URochester in a NY State trip. UDenver was high on his list and fell off but I might encourage him to rethink that. Burlington VT is not something he is willing to consider-- he says he knows too many people there and wants to go to college for new experiences, not more of the same old so to speak–this is his four years so I can respect that.
I do see the disconnect between Drexel and Northeastern and the rest of our ever evolving list. He started out wanting to focus on Computer Science but this past year had a fire lit in him by his AP US teacher and is now in love with Politics. He hasn’t completely put Computer Science to the side, we were at one point completely focused on Carnegie Mellon, RIT and WPI but is now coming to realize that he would be better off with a school with both options.
Thanks again for the suggestions and the support.
Reading your description of your son, some schools that come to mind are Emory, Johns Hopkins, Haverford, Macalaster, Colorado College.
Actually, having something like wanting a more urban environment can make the college search easier. There are so many good colleges out there, it’s helpful to have some way of narrowing it down.
How much are you willing to pay for his college?
doschicos - I think most of the colleges you listed would be extreme academic reaches for the OP’s son.
@woogzmama - Yes, some of them are reaches yet every list needs reaches. Macalaster and Colorado College are more likely in the match range, especially if he can write a compelling application which is important with any LAC school. His accomplishments in his sport may give him an edge/make him more interesting to an AdCom. I am pointing out schools that meet the criteria laid out by the OP, not suggesting they are easy schools to get into nor should they be the only schools to consider in a well thought out, balanced list.
I am appreciating all of this feedback, reach, match, safety, thank you.
Will the schools that people are listing use the weighted or UW GPA? The UW appears that he mostly has B’s, with a few A’s.
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. He wants to look at NYU but we are discouraging it due to its poor reputation for financial aid. Other contenders are GWU, Emory, Northeastern, Fordham, Drexel. Would we be crazy to look at Haverford? Washington U in St. Louis? <<<
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So you need FA. How much can you pay? How much do you pay for your D? Does she go to a school with “super aid”? What is your EFC for one child?
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I am appreciating all of this feedback, reach, match, safety, thank you.
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Safeties have to be affordable. Do you know if the safeties listed will be affordable? Have you run the NPCs?
What about Temple in Philly as a matchy safety? SUNY’s? CUNYs? Fordham?
In addition to the schools noted perhaps look at Loyola MD and Tulane. Since finances seem to be a consideration definitely consider your state flagship and the SUNY schools have good OOS pricing as well.
I do think a few schools on your list would be real academic reaches but I’m not sure how much they would weight his sport achievements – he did achieve a high nationwide ranking but will not be continuing the sport in college. I’d talk to the guidance counselors in his HS to get a sense of how students like your S fared.
@mom2collegekids “super aid”, I haven’t heard that term before, let’s look at those schools 
as we have been through the FA process once, and very successfully, we are pretty on top of cost and net price calculators. as i mentioned in regard to nyu, we are purposely avoiding schools that we won’t expect to receive decent FA aid from.
we will most definitely look at our state flagship as a solid safety, i forgot to mention that.