<p>Junior. 3.4 UW GPA. 3.6 weighted. Currently in 2 A/P courses (APUSH and English) and is doing well. Competitive private school. His GPA is about the 50 pertcentile. 4 year varsity wrestling 4 years of football. Wants to focus on academics in college so only club/intramural in college. Not sure what he wants to study. Probably multiple languages, international studies of some sort, maybe business. Good grades in science / math but not his cup of tea. He is really undecided so we want a school that is decent across the board and offers options for the undecided.</p>
<p>Location: east of the rockies, near or in a city.
2k - 10k undergrads
lively campus atmosphere, lots going on in and around campus
tuition and fees around $30k (after merit is OK...no need based will be coming)
likes the outdoors so access to recreation would be nice
Greek scene exists but not overwhelming (he may or may not participate)</p>
<p>Some candidates are Trinity University, TCU, Marquette, Gustavus Adolphus, and Loyola New Orleans. Had some candidates in the Northwest but he has decided to head eastward.</p>
<p>Any suggestions / insights would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that class rank is going to hurt. He has a pretty good GPA, but 50% is not want colleges want to see, which really is unfortunate.
Have you visited anywhere? What kind of city/suburb do you like?</p>
<p>Thanks nugraddad. Thats a school we would have never seen. Looks interesting. Is it a commuter campus or do students stick around on the weekends?</p>
<p>We live in the greater Bay Area. By “in or near a city” I think he is looking for a larger urban area or easy acess to one. For example, the schools listed in the OP: Trinity = San Antonio, TCU = Dallas/Fort Worth, Marquette = Milwaukee, Gustavus = Twin Cities. </p>
<p>The problem we seem to be having is price / size. Most LACs are very small, like 1500 students. Many of the publics are too big. Pitt seems like a great school but there are about 20k+ there.</p>
<p>Smaller classes and strong advising are what he wants. Don’t know if that is possible in a large public.</p>
<p>We will be visiting schools on his spring break so this exercise is to put together a list of good potential candidates that will give him an overview of what is out there. The other big part of this is test scores. I suspect he will do pretty good on SAT / ACT. If I had to venture a guess maybe 28 - 30 on ACT. </p>
<p>I live in the SF and am very familiar with Pitt/Pittsburgh. PM me if you have any specific questions.</p>
<p>BTW, Pitt has 18,000 undergrads on its main campus, so it is a tad smaller than you have in mind. They love kids from out of state, and it is very lively around the campus as it is right in the city. The class size will depend on his major, but intro course can be 100-150 students in size (like Gen Chemistry) but it shrinks quickly as you progress through your program of study…it’s a mid-range size school. Greek scene is about 10% of campus: there if you want it, but it doesn’t dominate the social scene if you don’t. Pitt is very urban, but is adjacent to a large, wooded park … think of something similar to Golden Gate Park without the Buffalo or beach. Lots of outdoor stuff outside the city…skiing, whitewater, hiking in the foothill sized “mountains”, etc. Definitely try to get a visit in if you can.</p>
<p>I know this is larger than you are looking for, but your son might really enjoy UT-Austin. It meets the majority of his list (except size) and if he can wiggle into an honors college, he will get the individual attention you are looking for. Also look at SMU in Dallas.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that Gustavus is near the Twin Cities. It is at least a 1.25 hour drive through farmland. People living in St Peter would not consider themselves to be part of the metro area.</p>
<p>About 45 minutes from the cities is St Olaf. If he can get your estimated ACT, he may have a shot at it. It is one of the larger LACs. They often offer good merit aid. The higher the better for the ACT for good aid.</p>
<p>Have a look at Loyola University Maryland. It is in Baltimore, and his stats seem right in line. Goucher College is another strong possibility in the same area.</p>
<p>American does give merit money, but it’s not cheap to start with. S2 - top 10% of class, B+ in academic courses, 2140 SAT got half of the cost - around $26,000 as I recall. He was also admitted to the honors program. Not sure that OP’s stats are strong enough for merit aid there.</p>
<p>I think Vermont might be a good choice. Most people I know there really like it and Burlington is a pretty town/small city. If you like snow sports it’s a great location. It’s got more geographic diversity than most state colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. The school counselor told me the rank only because I asked (and it was a very general estimate). I will find out if that is something the school reports. I appreciate that insight as it is something I never considered.</p>
<p>Vermont sounds interesting. DOn’t know if Burlington would interest him. I tried to get him interested in U of Montana but he is not enamored with Missoula. I have been to St. Olaf a couple times with my D. Beautiful school however it is a bit of a reach for my son.</p>
<p>Once we visit a few of these places I suspect the net will widen a bit. Reading about schools / towns is a lot different than being there.</p>
<p>I think Trinity University is a good choice – my d got in there with lesser credentials than your son and was given $5K merit aid.</p>
<p>She is now at Ithaca College, which might be worth at least a look at the web site – they have an Exploratory program for freshmen as well as a small business school.</p>
<p>College of Charleston would be in your suggested price range.</p>
<p>Thanks Fendrock. Your suggestions are all over the map but so is my son’s search.</p>
<p>Ithaca is on his “look into a bit more list”. The drawback seems to be it is a bit of an isolated small town. College of Charleston is another that I had not heard of. Looks interesting.</p>