So, my youngest will be a HS Junior in the fall. Normally I would have waited till the school year had started to start touring schools, but my school calendar has changed a bit. So we’re doing our first college tour in about a week.
She’s a high B student, but has auditory processing issues-- she WORKS for those grades!!! She hasn’t taken the SAT or PSAT yet, but doesn’t have a history of doing incredibly well on standardized testing. She is thinking elementary ed. If she did change her major, it would be to graphic arts, photography or stage construction-- those are her big interests. So we’re looking at SUNYS with most or all of those majors.
If you know me through my posts here, you’ll know that I already have a table set up in Word-- school, which of those majors it has, distance, (price isn’t an issue; they’re all SUNYs and the prices are basically the same.) SAT 1st and 3rd quartiles.
Next week we’re visiting Fredonia and Buffalo State (with a day at Niagara Falls.) Lots of other schools on the list to visit in the next year or so, including Plattsburgh, Oneonta, Oswego, New Paltz, and a bunch of others. Lots of SUNY choices for kids with all sorts of GPAs and SAT scores.
@bjkmom. You have more kids? ?. Didn’t realize that. Can’t wait to go along on the journey. I really enjoy your wisdom and insight. Good luck to both your children.
Yeah, lol. Ages 21, 19 and 16.
21 year old went away to school for a year (Neumann in PA.) LOVED it, but came home and said he wanted to be a volunteer fireman. Took a semester off, got his EMT certification, is finishing his AS this semester at Community College, then will transfer to a local SUNY. LOVES his work with the fire department. Even though his major is criminal justice, I think I see FDNY in his future.
19 year old just finished her freshman year at Plymouth State in NH. Changed her major from Marketing to Communications, and is counting the days till she gets back.
16 year old has the best grades of my 3, but also works the hardest for them.
All 3 kids have had jobs since the summer after freshman year of HS. My son is currently working at Applbees, both girls work at a local Italian Ices place.
I’ll join in for S20 who is really an A/B student but with a couple of Cs in there (UW GPA of 3.66). But a lowish SAT (1090) makes it tougher. He is retaking the SAT next month and just completed a 2 week Kaplan prep course so we will see what happens there.
He wants to be 1.5 to 2 hours from home (we live in the East Bay about 1 hour from San Francisco and 30 minutes from Berkeley) and so that really limits things. We toured San Francisco State (liked that one) and Sonoma State (loved that one), and we are visiting San Jose State in a week. He will also apply to Cal State East Bay (that one will really only be a consideration if he wants to live at home and commute). He could also commute to Saint Mary’s College in Moraga which would maybe make it affordable, but he wants something bigger and it’s smaller than his high school. He’s not competitive for UCB or UC Davis and UC Merced has no communications major so it’s out.
We’re fine with a Cal State school and so is he. His Cal State Eligibility Index with his current SAT is over 4000 so he should be able to get in at any of the ones he’s looking at even if his SAT doesn’t improve.
So happy to find this thread. I have had “several” children and now the youngest is going into senior year. He has underachieved to put it mildly. 2.53 GPA and 1170 PSAT. Does great in English and History when he puts in the effort, did great in Chemistry and Physics, but struggles in math. A recurrent comment from all teachers: “has more ability than grades reflect”. Not making excuses for him and he will have the consequences. Temple was his first choice, West Chester was a fallback. Neither are options with these grades. We are in the Philadelphia suburbs. I am aware of all the small Catholic colleges. Tuitions there are out of reach and not in line with the quality. He’s not interested in Kutztown (another child went there) “it’s all farms”. Any out of the box suggestions?
@Kiki67 Have you looked at Widener? They do have a pre-law track (and law school) and offer a communications studies major. We looked at it, and they have a very supportive environment, offering several mentorship programs to help students succeed.
Is he taking AP’s in English and Social Science/History senior year?
Penn State Abington for English should be okay (check summer session, see if his SAT can be in the 1200 range which seems doable). Bloomsburg. Perhaps Lycoming, Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown - good value. Susquehanna would be good for English, a reach but hopefully decent rigor + test scores will make it possible. If he wants urban, what about Point Park in Pittsburgh, Chatham, Capital OH, Youngstown State, Toledo State, SUNY Plattsburgh; UCincinnati as a reach? Look also at Elmira, Goucher, Ursinus, McDaniel - they do a good job with underachievers with potential.
I was going to suggest Susquehanna and Lycoming. S17 was close to those stats and got merit at Lycoming, bringing it down to low 30’s, I think? I also loved Millersville.
D21 is probably more an A/B student, taking the SAT this August, but I will probably stick around here if you don’t mind as she isn’t into prestige AT ALL and is merit hunting. She’s leaning towards psychology right now, maybe communications. The dream is to work for the FBI!
That’s very good. Add an easy math class senior year (the easiest your school offers: taking physics will serve as proxy for math/quantitative skills) and foreign language level 3 or 4, mostly B’s first quarter, 1200-1250 and he’d have lots of choices from the list above. (2.57 uw is not good. 2.7 uw is okay. What’s his WEIGHTED GPA?)
That is weighted. He is taking a math; not sure exactly which one yet. I have heard of most of those. Going to Ohio is not an option; OOS tuition for state schools I do not believe is a good value. I have heard good things about Ursinus but it is so expensive, way out of our price range. Kind of looking for a hidden gem. I know of all the state system PA schools (many family members and children of friends and family) and honestly not impressed with the quality of the education as well as the far flung locations. I know this is not a popular opinion.
Compared to Pennsylvania, you’ll find the Ohio schools excellent bargains.
(As I said, I’m pretty sure that if he applies to Penn State Abington August 1st, checking “summer session” and major: English, he’ll get a positive reply by the end of September. Expect to be full pay though. Also, uw v. w makes a difference.)
Run the NPC on all the private colleges.
2.57 weighted v. unweighted makes a huge difference = what’s his UW?
If 2.57 is weighted and he’s taken honors/AP, are you sure he’ll be allowed to graduate? He must have failed some core classes? Math? Has he retaken them? (This matters. 2.57 unweighted is a B-/B weighted. 2.57 weighted with honors/AP would indicate a barely 2.0 GPA, with D’s and F’s on the transcript?)
Has he gotten A’s/B’s in English, History, and Foreign Language? What classes has he taken or is he scheduled to take in these subjects?
He has failed a math class and gotten some D’s. No threats of not being allowed to graduate though. That is weighted but the unweighted was barely different. He has gotten A/B in English/history. He is taking AP English Lit, AP Euro History, Physics 2. I did not think of Penn State Abington. It’s over an hour for us and not in the commutable range and not paying for him to live there. It may be the best option though. I agree about PA schools being so expensive, even for in state students. I am wondering about NJ schools; just seem closer than Ohio or Pittsburgh.
If there’s no commutable college he can get into, it pushes things to finding a college where you can afford for him to live.
Ohio schools will be cheaper than NJ schools (Compare Montclair or Rowan with Toledo or Youngstown).
PSU Abington is a bit bigger than Brandywine, which is just a barely glorified community college. He could apply Abington 1st choice, Brandywine 2nd choice… Abington is a “suitcase” school, not commuter like Brandywine, in that there’s a group of students who live on campus during the week and go home on weekends.
What’s your budget? With his grades, you can’t expect merit scholarships. He may qualify for PHEAA grants depending on your income and see if he’d qualify for any amount of Pell grants.
Right now, PSU Abington would be $28,782 for the year (including tuition, fees, room, and board, but not books or personal expenses). The PASSHE colleges would be in the 21-23K range for the same direct costs. The private colleges which have good support for underachieving students (Elizabethtown, Lycoming…) would be competitive with either PSU Abington or PASSHE, and offer a more supportive setting. For the record, I entered unweighted GPA 2.5/SAT 1210, family of 4, $75,000 income, and your total net costs would be $23,000 at Lycoming, which would make it a very good deal. YSU would be about $23-25,000 (PA residents get PHEAA grant and a PHEAA grant match; unfortunately, GPA needs to be 3.0 for scholarships.)
Have you considered East Stroudsberg? And there are a million SUNYs if you don’t mind paying OOS tuition.
Also, consider some of those Catholic colleges-- you may find that the aid they offer offsets the tuition. My son went to Neumann for a year and loved it-- but decided he wanted to come home and join the fire dept. while attending school locally.