The B+ student parents' thread

Parents Forum
921

<p>I didn’t do any honors during freshmen year, but step up my game in 10th, 11th, and now 12th grade. I don’t take honors in math or science (this year will prob. be an exception though), mainly because of my LD in math. Despite my LD, I have been able to pass math with at least a B-B+ and have done solid in science. I will only be taking one AP class this year, because my school does not offer many AP courses. It does offer a wide-range of excellent honors courses in various subjects. </p>

<p>I visited MHC in the spring and absolutely loved their campus. I know my 23 ACT will bring me down, so I won’t submit it to MHC unless a miracle happens this fall. I have a solid GPA, I’m 1st gen. Vietnamese to attend college in my family, solid ECs, and hopefully a good essay. I know various people who did not have great scores and chose not to submit them, but got into MHC so I’m crossing my fingers. </p>

<p>Are there any solid LACs I should look at that are test-optional? I know there are a bunch in PA such as Dickinson, Gettysburg, etc.</p>

922

<p>sushi_error, for a complete list of test optional schools look at fairtest dot org.</p>

923

<p>Drew is test optional, as is Muhlenberg. Both solid LACs with very nice campuses</p>

924

<p>Great thread; this is where we fit. D comes home from summer camp job Monday and we will get going on college apps. Have spent a ton of time visiting over the past year or so. I’ve also spent a lot of time on this website (laughing at a lot of it!). Apologizing in advance for the long post! </p>

<p>I realize that getting “chanced” is really just a best-guess game. I really want to make sure we’re not missing a college that might be a good fit…and I wouldn’t mind seeing what you think about our top targets right now!</p>

<p>Basics: </p>

<p>92 WGPA - large public hs on Long Island, NY
ACT: 26 (retaking in Sept)
SAT (best scores - not retaking): 610M, 580 W, 520 CR
Mostly honors classes, 2 APs jr yr, 2 APs sr yr; will have great teacher recs
Class rank about top 10% (we don’t get this till the fall, but she was just about in it after soph yr and her grades were even better jr yr - she just doesn’t test well!); honor roll throughout hs
ECs: Tennis team throughout hs (JV - was capt and mvp soph yr; last yr varsity; this season will likely be varsity capt); environmental club for 3 years; marching band (flute and danceline), concert band throughout HS (first seat flute jr year). Lots of involvement at our temple (class and volunteer, including some leadership)
Volunteer work: variety of involvement with a national not for profit (hands on fundraising, office work, etc.) - this is focused, not all over the place
Other - educational trip to Eastern Europe and Israel last summer (5 weeks), including four-day archaeology dig. This summer she was CIT at a Jewish camp, a lot of involvement in religion plus she was asst to the tennis specialist.</p>

<p>Her interests for college (right now): art history and archaeology</p>

<p>What kind of schools: mid-large, near a city (not rural), offers a variety of majors, interested in Greek life, Jewish population (will be involved in Hillel), prefer Mid-Atlantic where it’s warmer than here, if possible</p>

<p>Schools we’re looking at:</p>

<p>Her favorites:</p>

<p>Univ of Maryland (largest and hardest to get into)
Univ of Delaware
American (smallest) - very different from the others but she loves DC and the internship opps, I would love/need a great FA package!
Towson (safety - but she loved it - would have her apply for honors college)
UConn (not too far from Hartford and Boston)</p>

<p>SUNYs (for financial safeties)</p>

<p>Binghamton (great school, love the price, not the location)
Albany (good school, great price, but we know why it’s on the “ugliest campuses” list!)
Buffalo (really too cold, but most of the SUNYs are in the boonies! this one isn’t)</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>URI (she has a bug for this one, no idea why, I think she’d get in)
Syracuse</p>

<p>We’ve been to all except URI, Syr and Buffalo. Plus went to others that did not make the list (BU, Hartford, UMass, Brandeis - which she likes the idea of but is just too cerebral)</p>

<p>What do you all think about our list? What am I missing? Any suggestions? (Don’t say SAT IIs because that won’t help her - her GC had said at the outset they were not a necessity; also not retaking the SAT I.)</p>

<p>Thank you for reading this long post and thank you in advance for your insights!</p>

<p>(I should add, based on our school’s Naviance - which doesn’t include 09 grads - all look very do-able, with UMD and Binghamton being a slight reach.)</p>

925

<p>Linymom, your list seems realistic to me (although the snow in Syracuse is intense).</p>

926

<p>Bryn Mawr is reputed to have an outstanding archaeology department. They are now “text flexible” so you might be able to substitute AP scores for SATs.</p>

927

<p>yabeyabe2: Thanks for the feedback. Realize that about Syracuse… it’s not at the top of the list, but D realizes sometimes there are tradeoffs. Fingers crossed for one of her higher choices.</p>

<p>qialah: Thanks for tip on Bryn Mawr. Just checked it out; it’s the same size as her hs, so really not an option.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

928

<p>Linymom, since she likes city schools, perhaps Drexel? </p>

<p>If she changes her mind about size of school, thee are many in the Midatlantic with good programs in her area, pretty campuses not too far from Philly or Baltimore, and where she might play tennis on a Division 3 team for fun</p>

929

<p>yabeyabe2: Interesting idea… not sure she wants to be right in the middle of a city, but D3 tennis would be an attraction. Will look into Drexel. Thanks for taking your time to answer.</p>

930

<p>If she is open to suburban schools with D3 tennis, Drew; Goucher; Loyola Marymount; Ursinus; Muhlenberg; Arcadia; Manhattanville and SUNY Purchase might be options, plus 1 or more Boston schools</p>

<p>Good lcuk</p>

931

<p>I’m a student lol, but I think I fit this mold perfectly.</p>

<p>I have a 3.1 UW and a 3.5W at my school. I’m hoping to get that unweighted score to at least a 3.2-3.3. </p>

<p>Got a 1730 on the SAT(taking the ACT and SAT again in September/October).</p>

<p>I took honors and AP classes when available in my schedule. Got a 4 on the AP Bio exam.</p>

<p>I’m in NHS for 2 years, did ROTC for all 4 years.</p>

<p>I’m trying to apply to NC schools; ECU, UNC, NC state. Do you guys think I’m too ambitious in these apps?</p>

<p>Also, if you can suggest any good schools you know with AFROTC(non-crosstown) for someone like me, it’d be helpful.</p>

932

<p>

</p>

<p>To UNC (Chapel Hill), yes. The rest, no.</p>

933

<p>Thank you for starting this thread…I rarely post on cc because most of the posts had been from parents of kids who were much more academically inclined.</p>

<p>My dd had a rough high school start but in jr year really worked hard and received mostly A’s. I believe her gpa will be close to 3.2 now and she has set her sites on SUNY New Paltz, hoping that is realistic.</p>

934

<p>

GWU sounds like an excellent fit. Possibly Temple.</p>

935

<p>Temple would be a good choice, especially with our brand new Hillel building, but we dont have too much Greek life (thankfully).</p>

936

<p>I’m encouraged by the good admits in the the “where did you get in with your 3.0-3.3” thread. BU, Northeastern, merit aid at LSU, OOS tuition waived at Northern Arizona, Redlands.</p>

<p>Good stuff out there for our kids.</p>

937

<p>diontechristmas: I didn’t know that about Hillel at Temple. My D doesn’t want to be IN a city, just near (Amer is in DC, but it’s quite suburban in that area, or so it seems to me) and from what I’ve heard, Temple is quite urban. My good friend (college roommate) visited Temple with her D this year and they really liked it; will share the Hillel info with her.</p>

<p>Archaeologist: GWU? Really?</p>

<p>My confusion is where does a kid with a pretty good GPA (92 - 3.5-3.6?), lots of other very good info for the college app and not great SATs get in? I guess time will tell. I’m really hoping for Maryland, but thinking Delaware might be more realistic. I’ve gone over our school’s Naviance for these two schools a million times (it’s new, and they haven’t put in the ACT info yet - I think they will do that next month). I’ve also looked at the CC stats for these two schools but most on here are so off-the charts. Anyone on this thread have experience with UMD or UDel?</p>

938

<p>

</p>

<p>If she’s not interested in being in a city then TU wouldn’t be a good choice. We’re uh, slightly urban lol</p>

939

<p>

I was completely serious. Since you apparently doubt my suggestion, let’s go through your daughter’s needs.</p>

<p>— Mid-size
GWU has roughly 9500 undergrads.</p>

<p>— Near a city
DC</p>

<p>— Variety of majors
Check.</p>

<p>— Greek life
22% of students join Greek organizations.</p>

<p>— Jewish population
32% of GWU undergrads are involved with Hillel.</p>

<p>— Mid-Atlantic
Check.</p>

<p>— Art history and archaeology
GWU has several prominent archaeologists, most notably Eric Cline, who happens to be a fantastic pedagogue. I know of a young Jewish couple who studied Near Eastern archaeology, one at Columbia and one at GWU, and they both spoke very highly of their universities. Naturally the museums in DC and nearby Baltimore and Philadelphia are excellent.</p>

<p>— Top 10%
Only 67% of incoming students ranked in the top 10% of their class.</p>

<p>— 26 ACT, 520 CR/610M/580 W
Her scores are in the middle 50% range (albeit on the low side) for all tests except SAT-CR.</p>

940

<p>Archaeologist: Thanks for enlightening me! I guess I didn’t do my HW on GWU. I will look into it.</p>