<p>Missiepie, yes, your son has some overlap with our list. Thanks for the additions we might explore.</p>
<p>Austin College (visited and liked it, but didn't like the location)
Baylor (too politically conservative for our family, but a very popular destination school in our area)
Oklahoma City University (don't know it -- will check it out)
St. Edwards (ditto)
Stephen F. Austin (I should check it out. Sadly my only experience with kids I know there is that they -- these particular students -- are very low achievers. But I should learn more)
Southwestern University (yes!)
Trinity University (yes!)
University of Tulsa (I'll check it out)</p>
<p>"There are some schools that use a chart for merit aid. My son met the criteria on the charts for those schools with his SAT scores by a very large margin, but missed the money for gpa. Those schools that did not take the hs one graduates from into consideration. There is simply "the chart". These 2 schools were also not good for FA, so they were off the table right away."</p>
<p>If your kid is not quite within the chart parameters for scores or grades or honors programs, ALWAYS ASK if the chart is hard and fast or a guideline. </p>
<p>Also ... sometimes merit aid awards are pleasantly suprising - such as a family friend's award at Hiram (community service) or my son's at Brandeis (I am guessing for Science Olympiad and other science club stuff - darn well wasn't his grades). The important thing to emphasize is that some applications are crapshoots - either for admissions or money. If your family can deal with these, then roll the dice a few times.</p>
<p>historymom, thanks for the imput. I was very impressed with Trinity. It looks like there are abundant opportunities there academically, a very nice campus, awesome dorms and the fun city of San Antonio to boot. That's a pretty compelling package IMO. I hope she'll be accepted. I've heard they're actively looking for non-Texans, so she'll have a challenge.</p>
<p>2collegewego - thanks for the link. Where did yours wind up going?</p>
<p>Have to remind myself that, a 29 ACT is 95th %ile and comfortably in the mid range of our flagship state university, so by non-CC standards it's pretty good. I just wonder if using a score from soph year will look bad. I've never heard of anyone doing that, but D doesn't want to take the SAT and if she retakes the ACT the gap between math and everything else will get bigger. She already has such a skewed transcript.</p>
<p>hayze & Queen'sMom - I can relate to test anxiety; although D is fine on most tests she but has math anxiety and tends to give up. When she took the ACT knowing that colleges will see only the best score, so if she tanked first time around it wouldn't matter, that helped reduce the stress level. Beginning with the class of 2010 SAT is giving the option of choosing which test score to report, so that could help.</p>
<p>Ohio_mom, You are right about asking, and pleasant surprises. My son missed merit aid at 2 schools, but also just missed it at a 3rd school. At the third school I expected nothing in merit aid for him because they told me they would stick with the scale. Guess what, he got a nice merit scholarship any way! Go figure!</p>
<p>If you can find the time for an Oklahoma road trip bblfraser, I think you'll like both TU and OCU. I didn't go on the 1-35 road trip (so I didn't see Southwestern or Trinity), so OCU is my current favorite. TU has lovely facilities.</p>
<p>As for Stephen F. Austin, it was kinda sorta on the List, just because it is small for a state U and he didn't have any absolute financial and academic safeties on the list. Then, Son started dating a one year older girl who just started there, so it officially was put on the List. It's the only school we haven't visited, but I assume he'll want to visit her, so we'll do both at once.</p>
<p>And I agree about Baylor (we visited Abilene Christain and it didn't make the list), but it has a lovely campus and a good program in his major, so it's at least worth applying. (Plus less than 2 hours from home.)</p>
<p>I like Tulsa a lot. I wish I could have convinced my son to take a look but it was not gonna happen due to geography. While I was born and raised in Oklahoma, my son and DW are dedicated mid-atlanticers. I never stood a chance of getting him west of the Mississippi. Good academics, nice campus and the city of Tulsa is a very underappreciated city. And Golden Hurricanes is one of the cooler nicknames around. </p>
<p>I believe OCU has a very good reputation in music, at least it did when I was growing up. Don't know about other programs.</p>
<p>cangel, good seeing you here again. Let me know if you have any LSU questions! BTW what's up with Pitt? Seems like an outlier on your son's list.</p>
<p>Man, only on CC would someone with a 3.8 and 31 ACT think that's B+, anyway...</p>
<p>I love hearing that a 3.0 might get into Pitt or Georgia. DD might be inclined to look at Pitt.</p>
<p>Indiana U has long been on my list, but DD's viola skills don't count for much there (one of the best string programs anywhere, so that's not a hook). Lovely campus, though. If they offer any signficant OOS money, that could be a keeper.</p>
<p>Anyone have any experience with UMass, Univ of Maine, Univ of NH?</p>
<p>MSUDad, my D is entering her sophomore year at UNH and loves it. She is OOS and received significant merit aid and FA which made the cost basically the same as our in-state public (UConn). She was top 5% of her class and above 1300 SATS. It is a lovely campus in a small town about an hour north of Boston. Although it is a large school (12,000) it has a small school feel. My D is a psychology major and is very impressed with the caliber of teaching and accessibility of the professors.</p>
<p>Any specific questions re UMaine or UNH? Lots of kids in our area go to both. Step-grandson (a B student with under 1000 SAT) is entering senior year in Engineering at UNH. Thriving there. We were surprised at his admission due to the SATs. I would say most students I know there are more the B/B+ type students but stronger test scores than his. DH is an alum.</p>
<p>UMaine-Orono (flagship), I know C through A students attending. I know their Engineering program is highly regarded regionally (as is UNH's) and I'm sure there are other strong programs as well. </p>
<p>Both schools are great for kids interested in outdoor ECs - mountain or ocean-related. Attractive campuses in both cases we well.</p>
<p>lderochi, my post got lost.
Are/were you a Tiger?? Do you know anything about the living/learning communities or the dorms at LSU?</p>
<p>DS is the poster child for illogical thinking, snap judgments and preconceived notions. He most likely will end up at LSU, which is fine, I'm more concerned about his readiness for any college, large or small, but my opinions carry very little weight with him. The advantage of LSU is that it has almost every possible major, as opposed to Alabama, where some programs are split with Auburn, it is also OOS for him, and few people he knows will be there. I know, I know, UA is a big school, but for him it will be high school years 13-16, and there is some truth to that.</p>
<p>He earlier had interest in going way OOS, and after we visited a few schools, Pitt was the only one left that he was still interested in. I've tried to get him to look at UAB, which would be a good match for Pitt and a safety for him, but no way, B'ham is not a REAL city like Pittsburgh. DH and I were very impressed with the city of Pittsburgh, too. I was hoping he would apply to Mich State, but it was just too big and too cold. Now with airfares going nuts, it is probably for the best, it is very hard for us to get air service in and out of our city.</p>
<p>Georgia and Pitt are reaches, but why not try. I will say this, I would rather he go to LSU if he can get into Herget Hall than to Pitt or UGA as just another student, or as a squeak in - I think that atmosphere might be better for him.</p>
<p>My post got lost, too. I posted that Oklahoma City University is really big on dance, music, musical theatre and nursing, so my son likes the female to male ration.</p>
<p>Re: UMaine and UNH: how are they on campus life (I like the size)? Arts/culture? DD won't be a theater major but will participate in drama and orchestra.</p>
<p>I'm new to this, so please pardon any faux pas I may inadvertently commit.</p>
<p>I have a B+ kid... 3.38 unweighted, 4.31 weighted GPA because of a lot of honors and AP classes. Great AP exam scores, 33 ACT, NM Commended (too low for NMSF in our competitive state), but the kid racked up a lot of B's and even a C+ (horrors! :rolleyes: ) because the kid has clashed with some Humanities and English teachers on things like interpretation and analysis, and kid refuses to compromise kid's principles for the sake of conforming to someone else's opinion (ahh, the naivete and idealism of youth ;) ).</p>
<p>Likewise, the kid's class rank varies significantly: 26th percentile unweighted, 7th percentile weighted.</p>
<p>The kid is a non-distinguished varsity athlete, moderately involved in extracurriculars like music and volunteering, and has a part-time job.</p>
<p>As of now, kid wants to be an Actuary - though I know many students change their minds throughout their college years.</p>
<p>Clearly, top schools are out of the question. So, what colleges/universities should we realistically be looking at for this non-conforming kid? The kid would like a large, good quality state school or similar. We're in the Midwest.</p>
<p>I'm stumped. I have no idea what would be a good match for this kid.</p>
<p>Any ideas would be appreciated - thanks! :)</p>
<p>cangel -- Yes, I am a proud Tiger alum. While I grew up mainly in OK, we moved to LA when I was in High School. It's been so long that I may not have a lot to contribute about student life and dorms. The freshmen residential concept at Herget seems to get very good reviews. At least they aren't putting kids in rooms that are built into the side of Tiger Stadium anymore, and the school seems to have discovered air conditioned dorms! </p>
<p>My old roommate's daughter is at LSU and loves it. Even larger than I remember it, but they have done a very good job in the last 8-10 years of significantly upgrading their facilities and their academics. </p>
<p>I do have to say that if he doesn't think B'ham is a "real" city compared to Pittsburgh, he is going to be sorely disappointed with what Baton Rouge has to offer. The campus area is great, but the city itself is not New Orleans. I like Pittsburgh a lot, but I'm also a big fan of Birmingham. </p>
<p>Chartreuse: I don't see why you'd think that top schools would be out of contention. He got a 33 on the ACT. That is in the top 99th percentile!! His grades aren't great but not horrible either. Maybe not Ivy league or the most selective top 20 schools but there should be some other top schools he could get into. How big is he thinking? Does he want to stay in the midwest? Truman State is a selective state liberal arts school in Missouri (average ACT is 28). Only about 6000 students though. He could get in there and get some good merit aid too.</p>