<p>Northeastmom...thanks for the input. I just looked at the costs and it isn't affordable for us either. My son insists he wants a big school, but I'm trying to find one small one (that would be an academic match) for him to look at, just in case he doesn't realize how big a big school is. (We haven't done any visits yet.) But I guess Bentley wouldn't work...also, even though he is thinking business, you never know...so better to find a more well-rounded choice anyway.</p>
<p>ReadytoRoll, there is financial aid, and at the time my son applied, on average Bentley was meeting 91% of need. Bottom line was that we were not offered a dime in grant money. I will also send a PM to you.</p>
<p>Kalodie1, please take a deeeeeeeeep breath and calm down.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks for your expert advice. I will calm down right now. Why on earth is there so much nastiness here? Oh, well...I will seek advice elsewhere. Good luck to all of you.</p>
<p>Well, I guess that didn't work out too well :-)</p>
<p>HeartArt: Also interested to hear your thoughts on Marquette when you visit. Son really wants to go there.</p>
<p>Our S is a diamond in the rough (3.2 GPA at small private parochial HS, 1160 SAT) and he also applied to 16 schools, not knowing what to expect.</p>
<p>So far he has been accepted to 6 (1 public, 5 private), rejected at 1 (private), waiting on the others.</p>
<p>Here are my "lessons learned":</p>
<p>1) There are some FANTASTIC options for the B - B+ students!</p>
<p>2) Take the attitude that your S or D is a treasure that any school would be delighted to have, and venture into interviews that way.</p>
<p>3) My S (and your S or D too, probably) is lagging in his development, and his upward curve really just started Junior year.</p>
<p>4) I would rather be challenged with helping him finding the "right fit" than scraping him off the floor because he didn't get in to a brand-name reach college. Just read 80% of CC posts and breath a sigh of relief! :) Finding the right fit is an absolutely doable challenge!</p>
<p>5) Let your S or D follow their intuition when you visit colleges - have them talk with students. They will get a feel for "nurturing" and collaborative environment vs. competitive/grade-grubbing.</p>
<p>6) Make sure your S or D's unique personality and character comes through. One great piece of advice we got from a U Penn counselor (my S did not apply there, the guy was just visiting our school) was this: your EC's should demonstrate you are WELL-ANGLED, not well-rounded. i.e. what's your overarching passion.</p>
<p>7) Read the first couple chapters of Colleges That Change Lives, it is eye-opening!</p>
<p>8) Look at the US News "A+ Options for B Students" - huge list to start with!</p>
<p>9) Don't be discouraged by being in the lower end of a college's "range" when it comes to scores, GPA and especially class rank. Look at the US News and notice that for many colleges less than 50% of applicants submit class rank, and many colleges have SAT optional.</p>
<p>One more thing: My S's friends look up to him as the opinion leader in their group.
And they are all the A students! He is definitely an independent thinker, creative and trailblazer. Bet yours is too!</p>
<p>Good luck and have fun!</p>
<p>
[quote]
One more thing: My S's friends look up to him as the opinion leader in their group.
And they are all the A students! He is definitely an independent thinker, creative and trailblazer. Bet yours is too!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I hear that. Son's friends all know who is at the very top of the class, then have a vauge idea of how everyone else in their classes stack up. But they don't judge each other based on grades....they respect Son for the lively discussion is able to bring to his AP Econ class, even if he gets marginal grades because he forgets to turn in homework sometimes. They would also rather be in class with him than the drip who gets a 105 on exams, never says a word and is in no ECs.</p>
<p>Excellent post benel! Your lessons learned are spot on. Passion and character are two qualities that a student can possess regardless of their gpa or sat (see lesson 6). In my son's case, his essays, ECs and recs reflected that and helped him tremendously. I am going to print out your post and pin it to my bulletin board. Thanks for the encouragement!</p>
<p>Montegut: We are visiting Marquette and St. Louis both this month - I will get back to you.</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll. My son has a 3.0 GPA/30 ACT and he was told by 2 counselors that he would get into UCONN. I know 2 girls this year with 3.2 GPA"s and few honors, no AP that both got inot UCONN. </p>
<p>I also worry that it will become increasingly difficult to get into UCONN. It has a great reputation.</p>
<p>benel great post- I copied it to the PA School thread- hope you don't mind</p>
<p>just another data point- we are an out of state for UConn but on our naviance data, the avg accepted are solid B+ GPA range with SATs in the 1265(for 1600) and 1985 (for 2400) range. The % accepted and scattergrams look a lot lower than what I would have expected. UMass and UNH had lower selectivity. <em>From our school</em></p>
<p>To add to the UConn discussion -- for our Massachusetts high school, median for acceptance at UConn is a 3.323 GPA (unweighted, core courses only) and 1280/1600 SAT.</p>
<p>As a point of comparison, median stats for UNH are 3.0645 and 1160.</p>
<p>Thanks, Benel. Taking a tip from HeartArt and printing it up for son as well.</p>
<p>We really are blessed with these wonderful children. I wouldn't trade my son for all the valedictorians in the world.</p>
<p>naviance from our NJ private for UCONN: not one person at any GPA level has been admitted in the last five years....no, I'm not kidding.......yes, weird......</p>
<p>Keep in mind that listing what major/school will matter as well as the state that you represent if OOS. In our hs the ave. for UCONN was a 1300 (out of 1600), UNH 1120 (out of 1600), UMASS 1200 (out of 1600). I cannot give you gpas (not listed).</p>
<p>rodney, not weird. It is very difficult to get in from NJ especially if you are applying as a certain major (ie: to their business school from NJ).</p>
<p>yup, I guess but with 3.8 GPA? just surprised....</p>
<p>We're in the NY NYC suburbs and we get lots of kids into U Conn. In fact if your SAT was over 1270 there was a 100% acceptance rate - the average SAT accepted score was 1192 (out of 1600), average (weighted) GPA was 92.66. UNH was 1162 and 93.02, with anyone with a (weighted) GPA over 90 being accepted. (All SATs were accepted for UNH BTW, it went as low as 800 (!), it seemed grades were much more important). UMass was 1184 and 91.59, with somewhere around 1300 being the magic number for 100% acceptances.</p>