son needs a safety school...

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi-
Thanks to the good advice of people here, my son now has a decent list of match schools and one reach. I'm looking for a safety to round out his list. Anybody care to chime in? </p>

<p>He's interested in Amherst, Beloit, Bennington, Kenyon, Hampshire, Marlboro, and U of New England. I'm actually not sure about that last one, but I added it to his list because they sent us a scholarship offer based upon his test scores, and they are in the right part of the country. DS wants to write and his PSAT scores are: reading 72, math (wince) 58, writing 78. ACT and SAT he will take a second time, but his present scores are ACT English 32, math 22, reading 32. SAT reading 690, math 630, writing 620, science 28. </p>

<p>DS has Asperger's and we'd greatly prefer to have him close to or in New England, but will consider elsewhere if the fit is right. </p>

<p>thanks!</p>

<p>Rellie</p>

2

<p>I'd say that Hampshire is probably a safety but more info is needed.</p>

3

<p>I think that Beloit is safer than Hampshire and looked like a wonderful school. Our experience at Hampshire (also a great school) seemed like it would be too heavy on 30 page research papers for our son. The Colleges That Change Lives book was very helpful to us in the college search. I loved Antioch, another school in CTCL. A friend has a son at Eckerd in FL. This son has language based learning disabilities and had a lot of failure in HS. Is doing great at Eckerd.</p>

4

<p>Thanks to both of you. Son attended the CTCL tour and that's where he heard about Hampshire. I think they are very hot right now and may have a lot of applicants this year. He's not thrilled about Beloit, though he can't find anything he actively dislikes about it, other than location. He'll keep on workign on those apps and perhaps we can find one more school where he'll be a shoe-in.</p>

5

<p>Do not apply to Hampshire without visiting. They look great on paper but people often feel differently after visiting.</p>

6

<p>Also look at Goucher--outside of Baltimore--not quite as far as Beloit.</p>

7

<p>University of New England is a safety.</p>

<pre><code>For another Safety/match consider visiting St Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont, near Burlington.

</code></pre>

<p>Admission Statistics
CLASS OF 2010</p>

<p>Applications
Applied: 3076
Accepted: 2270
Enrolled Students Fall 2006: 580 (anticipated)</p>

<p>Secondary School Class Rank
Top decile: 22%
Second decile: 20%
Top quarter: 53%</p>

<p>Middle 50% Range of SAT Scores
Writing: 510-600
Critical Reading: 500-600
Math: 510-600
Combined: 1520-1800
Information on the new SAT</p>

<p>High Schools Represented
Public: 67%
Catholic: 21%
Independent: 12% </p>

<p>Financial Aid
Number of first-year students receiving some form of need-based aid: 66%
Average first-year student need-based grant/scholarship: $13,225
Average first-year student work study: $1,400
Average first-year student loan: $4,175
Merit-based scholarships are available: valued at $5,000-$100,000 over 4 years </p>

<p>TOTAL ENROLLMENT</p>

<p>Enrollment Figures
Full-time students: 1933
46% men / 54% women
Curriculum: Liberal arts. 29 major fields of study. Emphasis on: honors, independent study, independent research, internships and study abroad. Affiliated with Phi Beta Kappa Society.</p>

<p>Location: 440-acre campus, situated between the shores of Lake Champlain and the majestic Green Mountains, in Colchester, Vermont, overlooking Burlington, the state's largest city with overall area population reaching 100,000
1,900 undergraduate students </p>

<p>Rating and Ranking
Saint Michael's is included in The Princeton Review's Best 361 Colleges guidebook.</p>

<p>U.S. News & World Report has ranked Saint Michael’s in as one of the top 15 Master's universities in the North for 17 consecutive years.</p>

<p>Newsweek/Kaplan named Saint Michael’s College one of 30 colleges deemed a “Hidden Treasure” on the basis of information from Kaplan’s National Guidance Counselor Survey. “Hidden Treasures” were colleges recommended most frequently as being “small schools that deserve national recognition.”</p>

8

<p>Put Clark on your list. I assume it's in the right area for you, and I think your son would do fine there.</p>

9

<p>St. Michael's is a great one to check out! It is local to us and has a very good reputation. I know some of the profs and they are nice people as well as being really smart. St. Mike's has a lot of International students, I believe and is next door to Burlington, a beautiful small city.</p>

10

<p>What about Wells?</p>

11

<p>Don't know if it would be a safety or match, but Skidmore fits in that milieu and it has a very good writing program.</p>

12

<p>I would put RWU on your list. Your son likes writing, they have a good justice studies/pre-law program, communications, etc. BA-creative writing, 3800 undergraduate, 1200 graduate students, quiet pretty campus in Bristol, RI, made the top 10 ranking this year in U.S News for Comprehensive Universities. 1-800-458-7144 ext 3500--my friend just called the other day to get one because her son is applying EA. Good Luck</p>

13

<p>I like the idea of Goucher but also suggest he try OOS to Maryland's Honor college St. Mary's which has lovely property on the water in an isolated town that is simply inconvenient to drive to so selectivity is not sky high as it is at our William and Mary. Professors are very warmly involved with students, life is peaceful but challenging in the classroom and Maryland certainly has some great high schools so students are very bright.
Another OOS location that is 60/40 male female is Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg. It has an idyllic private school feeling but public school rates and has a lot of Middle Atlantic staters. I wil also tout Randolph Macon in Ashland, VA which is a burb of Richmond but is a really cute RR town of old with a campus that has a historic feel. St. Johns in Annapolis might also play to your son's strengths..I would have loved their Great Books curriculum and Annapolis has great charm.</p>

14

<p>whoops..correction 60/40 female/male at MWC, my bad</p>

15

<p>Providence College is looking for boys along with Wells and Wheaton. Providence has good merit awards. A low sticker price school is York in PA and some of the small SUNYs give out some good merit money as well.</p>

16

<p>You might want to look at Emerson. Our daughter has a good friend who is a writer, and loves it there.</p>

17

<p>Son could commute there from here. Unfortunately, he hates the campus (or lack of one) and they really aren't strong in his area of interest. </p>

<p>thanks anyway!</p>

18

<p>Thanks for all the great thoughts. We'll be doing some further research! </p>

<p>best wishes to you and yours-</p>

<p>Rellie</p>