Starting a school list for my son

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My son is currently a junior in high school, and just getting interested in researching college choices. He is a good student with a couple of unique extra-curriculars, and is not having the stereo-typical "clubs, volunteer hours" etc. high school experience - all of his ECs are athletic, taking up approximately 25-35 hours/week.. As such, I'm a little concerned about what colleges would be considered matches and/or safeties for him. I've listed the colleges he has mentioned (most likely because a friend has also mentioned it), and the ones he is considering due to his sport (cycling). Any other recommendations or general advice is appreciated. Sorry this is rather lengthy - but we don't really know what fits him....</p>

<p>The Basics:</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Need LOTS of financial aid: 1 parent retired, 1 w/income ~$40m
School: Average to Good: sends a few top grads to Ivies, many to Duke, Vandy, Emory, etc.
GPA: 3.9 unweighted
4.4 approx weighted
Rank: 30 of 509 at end of sophomore year - just outside top 5%
ACT / SAT - Taking in Feb - no scores yet</p>

<p>Courses taken or scheduled / Grades - </p>

<p>Freshman: Engineering Design - A
Latin 1 - A
Honors English 9 - A
ROTC 1 - A
Honors Biology - A
Geometry - 1
Wellness 1 - A
Latin II - A</p>

<p>Sophomore: Intermediate Algebra - A
Honors Econ / Honors Adv Am Gov't - A<br>
Honors Latin III - B
Wellness II - A
Algebra II - A
Adv Sports & Conditioning - A
Honors English 10 - A
Honors Chemistry - A</p>

<p>Junior (Currently taking or taking 2nd Semester - grades are through 2 6-weeks)
AP Psychology - A (full year course)
AP European History - A (full year course)
Trig - B
Honors Biology II (prereq for AP) -A
Honors Physics - A
Pre-Calc - 2nd Sem
AP Biology - 2nd Sem
Honors English 11 - 2nd Sem</p>

<p>Senior Proposed Schedule
AP Lit & Composition
AP Calculus AB
AP US History
Fine Art requirement
Architectural Design
AP Physics or AP Computer Science
1 Additional elective or possibly a Teaching Asst period</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculuars:</p>

<pre><code> Latin Club - 9, 10 (took National Latin Exam - Bronze award)
SHOUT: 10, selective community-based student leadership program - total of
30 kids chosed from 5 area high schools based on application & interview.
Beta Club - 10, 11
National Honor Society - 11
</code></pre>

<p>Athletics: School:
Swimming: Varsity Letter 9, 10 - state qualifier 9, 10 (will likely have 2 school
records as a junior)
Cross Country 9, 10, 11<br>
Tennis - 9
Track & Field - 10 </p>

<pre><code> Outside School:
Cycling: 10,11 Nationally-ranked cyclist (i.e. top 10)
3x State Champion
USA Cycling Selected him for National camp at the US Olympic training center

in Colorado Springs, CO -
10-30 hours per week depending on schedule - traveling approx 40 weekends
per year for competition

          Triathlon - 9, 10, 11 nationally ranked triathlete
          Member of USA Triathlon SE Region Junior High Performance Team
          Trains and competes in 7-9 triathlons per year

</code></pre>

<p>School preferences: South, but will go outside the area
Small to Medium
Swim Team is a +
Varsity cycling is great, at least club cycling is a must
Club triathlon - great
Intended major(s) - Biology / Neuroscience / Exercise Physiology
Does plan to go to graduate / possibly med school</p>

<p>School List: Lees-McRae, Banner Elk, NC (for cycling)
King College - Bristol, TN - (cycling)
Cumberland University - Lebanon, TN (cycling)
Virginia Tech
Clemson
Emory
Vanderbilt</p>

<p>Any other suggestions for schools that will overlook a complete lack of Volunteer / Community Service hours (when would he do them?) and do not mind a smart kid who is really only interesed in sports??</p>

<p>Again sorry for the length!</p>

2

<p>Vanderbilt and Emory sound great. For what it is worth, I thought of Vandy before reading your list. I would not worry about community service. He is strong in sports and academically. They don’t expect one person to do everything. Rice also may be worth looking at. For aid, consider looking at Tulane and Case Western. If cycling was a varsity sport at more schools, the sky would be the limit for him.</p>

3

<p>Thanks, OneMom! Tulane is a good suggestion, and I think he’d like NO. He loves Vanderbilt, so that is likely on his list, but I have a hard time viewing it as a safe school - academically or financially…the same with Rice - seems like a reach to me, but worth checking out.
The 3 schools listed that have varsity cycling are all admission safeties, but I don’t know about financial yet - I’m a financial analyst I find the the EFC calculators confusing!</p>

<p>Any suggestions on a few solid schools that would likely be both admission and financial safeties? He likes William & Mary, but I believe the OOS fin aid (or lack thereof) will make it too expensive for us.</p>

<p>On another note - he is likely a recruitable swimmer as well - certainly at the DIII or DII levels, maybe even DI Mid-Major. Not quite SEC or Big 10-level , but he only swims 3 months a year due to cycling time commitments. While I realize few here can accurately assess his chances for athletic $$, are his stats good enough for an admission tip and some academic merit $$ at some DIII schools?</p>

<p>Thanks for the help and suggestions!</p>

4

<p>I’m planning on studying civil engineering at clemson (I’m a freshman) and I love it here so far. If you ever have any questions, feel free to send me a message!</p>

5

<p>Did he take the PSAT? How did he do?</p>

6

<p>Maybe Washington & Lee</p>

7

<p>gadad - he took the PSAT on Saturday - results due in December. Knowing him, I think the ACT will play more to his strengths, so not expecting a huge PSAT / SAT score…we’ll see…</p>

<p>Pierre - thanks for that…Clemson is a great school and he would like it there I think. He’d probably be able to swim there, but likely no $$ to do so…ACC athletics are pretty good!</p>

8

<p>Intended Major???</p>

9

<p>Perhaps he should consider an Ivy League college…
Your son is very well-rounded. You should be proud.</p>

10

<p>jcc, Your son has what it takes to get into just about any college in America. No guarantee, of course, as admissions can never be 100% predictable but there’s no reason to rule out any college that appeals to him. Rather than thinking about where he could get in he should be thinking about what he wants. And, most importantly, he should have a balanced list of reach/match/safety in selectivity.</p>

<p>Have you used one of those on-line calculators to get an idea of the amount of need based aid that your family might expect? I would think that it would be quite substantial, especially if your son were a recruited athlete.</p>

<p>If he is interested in participating in varsity sports he should begin contacting coaches now. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about the volunteer/community service aspect one bit. Academics, sports and leadership will do nicely.</p>

<p>I’d suggest that he take a look at some of the small liberal arts colleges with sports focused cultures – Williams, Amherst, Hamilton, Kenyon, Bowdoin, Davidson. </p>

<p>If he decides to pursue schools in the Northeast his Tennessee location will be a plus.</p>

11

<p>You may want to do a little local college visiting so he can get a feel for whether he wants a large public university experience, a small liberal arts college experience, or a private university experience (somewhat in between). These are very different kinds of education and different kids needs different environments to thrive. You can find schools within each category that offer generous financial assistance. It would also help to know what he’s interested in studying-for example, if engineering is his goal, that would eliminate many, but not all, LACs. Does he want to be in a specific part of the country? And what kind of culture does he thrive in?</p>

<p>It’s less about his scores, grades and coursework at this stage, then about what kind of person he is, what kind of experience he wants, and what works best overall for you and your family.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for all the replies! His intended major is in the biology / neuroscience / exercise physiology realm - not 100% narrowed down yet, but is interested in medical school or possibly physical therapy.<br>
During the last year, we have made a point to visit schools when we travel for his races - just campus drive-throughs to get a feel for them. From that, he <em>thinks</em> he’d prefer a smaller school. He does not like UT’s (the one in TN :o) campus at all - too big and spread out, but has liked Sewanee, Emory, Furman, etc.</p>

<p>I think he’d do well in a smaller college atmosphere - his favorite classes, regardless of subject, have always been the ones where he made a connection with the teacher. </p>

<p>Your replies have made me think he should be looking a little farther afield than we originally thought. The only non-Southeast school he’s ever expressed an interest in is Dartmouth, and I’ve always thought that would be quite a reach for him. While I realize it is highly selective, I think I’ll tell him to give it a shot if he wants to…</p>

<p>And thanks for the tip about contacting coaches - swim practice for him starts Monday, so it’s probably time to start thinking about that as well.</p>

13

<p>Dartmouth like all the ivy league is a reach but not an impossible reach. Cornell is larger but has similar ambience. [cu</a> cycling - Home](<a href=“http://www.cornellcycling.org/cucycle/]cu”>http://www.cornellcycling.org/cucycle/)</p>

<p>The colleges that I mentioned have a lot of overlap with Dartmouth in atmosphere and student type (i.e. full of smart athletes). The small LACs emphasize undergraduate teaching – small classes mostly all taught by full professors, ample advising for internships, jobs, graduate schools.</p>

<p>Cyclying would be a club sport, but swimming is prevalent and is especially strong at Williams and Kenyon. </p>

<p>I hope your son will have a chance to visit to see how he feels about a mostly rural/small town environment.</p>

14

<p>Sounds like great merit scholarship opportunities at Furman & Washington and Lee. I agree to also look at Davidson. Good luck to your son!</p>