<p>Happy New Year, everyone! Im looking for suggestions about potential transfer colleges for my son.</p>
<p>Looks like he will have a 2.8/2.9 GPA for first semester freshman year of college (still waiting for one grade which will be a B or B+). He got Bs in all classes except that he failed a one credit science lab (he took the related science class as an AP class in high school, and was trying to get credit toward his general ed requirement). He went through a rough patch mid-semester, and basically had a choice between rescuing the grade in a required 3-credit course or the lab and wisely chose the 3-credit course.</p>
<p>While he is returning to his current college for the Spring semester, he may want to transfer for Fall 2010. He is going to one of the Colleges That Change Lives schools, but is not happy socially. He is a couple of friends including a good relationship with his roommate but the other boys in his dorm are hard-paryting jocks or stoners. Not his speed. And there isnt a lot to do on campus or in the surrounding small city. He thinks he might meet more people in the Spring with interests similar to his (due to a course and extracurricular that he plans on getting involved with), but wants to be prepared to change in the Fall if things dont improve.</p>
<p>Id guess hell end up with a GPA for the year of around 3.0. His high school unweighted GPA was a 2.8. It was 3.3 weighted. Tough non-magnet high school with a 98% college attendance rate. His SAT and ACT were 1200 (or equivalent). Two AP classes with a 4 on both exams.</p>
<p>Targeted transfer college type larger school with football/basketball program to enjoy as a fan and also big enough to attract some good live music. Geographically between Maryland and South Carolina. Public or private works for us; we wont need financial aid.</p>
<p>Wed be grateful for any suggestions. I suspect that he'll be out of the running at a number of colleges if he doesnt end up with the 3.0 GPA; is that right? I havent been keeping up with CC for the last few weeks so if there is an existing thread that covers this topic, please point me in the right direction.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Hi, Happy New Year!</p>
<p>Your son may have it a bit harder without a 3.0+ GPA, but it may not be fatal at some schools if you expand geography a bit. You may have to expand geography beyond Maryland thru South Carolina unless U South Carolina is acceptable to your son (since he wants the big sports rah rah aspect. 
) There are certainly some schools that would accept your child within that geography, but they may not have that aspect.</p>
<p>Since he’ll be applying before he has his spring grades, I think schools will use his high school grades/scores and his first semester grades. </p>
<p>Is that SAT 1200/1600 or 1200/2400? What was his ACT score?</p>
<p>What is his home state?</p>
<p>I’ve never run into anyone with 1200/2400 stats.</p>
<p>That is 1200/1600; using the ACT to SAT concordance tables, ACT was slightly higher.</p>
<p>I’m not comfortable disclosing our State as I’ve posted some fairly detailed information about my son elsewhere on CC. Suffice to say that the in-state options that fit his criteria are colleges that he didn’t like when we were doing his original college search or he can’t get into (or both).</p>
<p>I’d assume that he would be admitted (or deferred) from the transfer schools contingent on his Spring semester grades. Also, it looks like some colleges want high school transcripts, but sometimes it depends on how many college credits the applicant has.</p>
<p>I have a friend with a daughter got about 1200/2400 on her first attempt at the SAT’s in her junior year. Her grades are a solid B+ – at a good high school – but she has always had issues with standardized tests.</p>
<p>I’m not comfortable disclosing our State</p>
<p>That’s fine. I was only asking as possible schools, since in-state schools are often a little more lenient with stats, but as you’ve stated, his in-state choices aren’t desired. </p>
<p>* Also, it looks like some colleges want high school transcripts, but sometimes it depends on how many college credits the applicant has. *</p>
<p>Yes, schools want high schools stats unless the student has a lot of college credits. Since your son only has one semester completed, I’m nearly certain that transfer schools will consider his high school grades. How many college credits does he now have (AP plus first semester credits?)</p>
<p>I’d assume that he would be admitted (or deferred) from the transfer schools contingent on his Spring semester grades.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of transfer students being “deferred,” but it would be likely that the schools would accept him based on HS stats and first semester stats, AND they might ask for spring transcripts to be sent to confirm.</p>
<p>Is U South Carolina an option? how about U Maryland? Will he consider expanding a few more states (but still staying in the SE “region”?</p>
<p>For example…From U South Carolina’s website…</p>
<p>*Grade and Course Requirements for Transfer Applicants</p>
<p>If fewer than 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) of college-level work have been attempted, then the applicant must meet both transfer and freshman entrance requirements.
*</p>
<p>So, in the above example, if your son’s AP credits plus his first semester’s credits are less than 30, he’ll need to fulfill incoming freshman requirements. How many college credits did his college award him for his AP credits? (I’m wondering if a school that is more generous with AP credits would view him differently.)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that financial aid as a transfer student may be greatly reduced or not available.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids – I probably should have just stuck with “contingent.” I just meant that they might not make a final decision until they see his Spring grades. </p>
<p>As of the end of fall semester, he’d have 17 transfer credits (excluding the one credit F for the lab) – 11 undergrad and 6 AP. So he is well below the cutoff for not submitting high school grades at all schools, I’m sure. He is scheduled to take 15 credits next semester.</p>
<p>I think you hit on something with your earlier post; the potential transfer schools that would accept him may not meet his criteria for non-academics.</p>
<p>Iron Maiden - this actually may be something that works in his favor, whether for an out-of-state public or a private college. We won’t need financial aid.</p>
<p>But he has a significant scholarship at his current school, and my husband and I would certainly be sad to see that go!</p>
<p>*I think you hit on something with your earlier post; the potential transfer schools that would accept him may not meet his criteria for non-academics. *</p>
<p>That’s what I really felt when I read your first post. While of course academics are super important, students also like for their schools to include their “non academic” criteria - which can be anything from “rah rah big sports” to awesome dorms to nice rec centers to fun off-campus hangouts. </p>
<p>That’s why I mentioned the possible need to slightly expand the Maryland to S. Carolina geography to include the SE region. Is that possible? Because if it is, there are several more schools that would fit his criteria AND would happily accept him. :)</p>
<p>But he has a significant scholarship at his current school, and my husband and I would certainly be sad to see that go!</p>
<p>I completely understand!!! May I please ask how much you’re currently paying (minus his scholarship) out of pocket? Perhaps there are schools that will still be about the same “out of pocket” expenses for you. :)</p>
<p>You mentioned that your son as a 1200 (M+CR) SAT **and that his ACT is a bit higher <a href=“27??”>/B</a>.</p>
<p>That suggests that he’s in the about the 88th percentile. Certainly schools will accept him. :)</p>
<p>From my point-of-view, the area of interest could be expanded further into the SE. From my son’s point-of-view, I think he likes being within a day’s drive of home. Maybe the right school in GA or FL would change his mind! </p>
<p>We’re paying about $20K a year after the scholarship now. I assume that any family would rather have the $16K a year scholarship than not. But as I said, we are fortunate that we can pay full freight where ever he chooses to go.</p>
<p>Agreed about the SAT/ACT. I think they give him plenty of options. I think the grades – high school and college – will be the sticking point. This, of course, is the same issue that we had when he was applying to colleges for freshman year.</p>
<p>*We’re paying about $20K a year after the scholarship now. I assume that any family would rather have the $16K a year scholarship than not. But as I said, we are fortunate that we can pay full freight where ever he chooses to go. *</p>
<p>Oh definitely! I was thinking that he’s at a private (with a COA of around $45k for tuition, room, board, books, etc), so perhaps you were still having to pay about $30k a year. If that were the case, I was hoping to come up with some suggestions that wouldn’t cause much more out-of-pocket.</p>
<p>Re…Florida and Georgia. UFlorida doesn’t accept many OOS kids and would expect a higher GPA. UGa recalculates high school GPA using only classes from 5 core areas. That could be an issue if he needs elective, PE, and other classes to help boost his GPA.</p>
<p>If U Southern Carolina doesn’t interest your son. I was thinking if he’d consider going more east to UTenn, UKentucky, Auburn, or UAlabama (Alabama does not recalculate GPA and accepts the highest weighted GPA that is on the transcript.) I think all 4 would accept him with his stats and have big rah rah sports. I don’t know how many hours drive those are from your home.</p>
<p>I am late to the conversation, but I don’t understand. Isn’t the OP’s son trying to get away from “jocks” and “stoners”? How are big rah rah schools going to accomplish that goal? BTW, I think all schools have “jocks”, “stoners”, hermits, intellectuals, shoppaholics, bookworms, social butterflies, and just about every other group you can think of. One just needs to find their group. I know someone who transferred after freshman year and is now happy. He could have stayed at his first school. It took til mid-spring semester of freshman year to find a group of friends. The reason was that he attended a school that seems too heavy on ultra wealthy students. The student who transferred was upper middle class from an A+ public HS (rather than a private prep school). He had trouble relating to the majority of students on the campus. He was quite uncomfortable for his first semester, but found a small group of students that he could be friendly with in his spring semester. By that time he already had apps in and his parents just wanted his college years to be happy ones. He is very happy at school in New England. The other school was in the south.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>but the other boys in his dorm are hard-paryting jocks or stoners.</p>
<p>*Targeted transfer college type – larger school with football/basketball program to enjoy as a fan *</p>
<p>At larger schools with big sports, you can more easily avoid being in dorms with jocks.<br>
Often at larger schools, the athletes are housed in their own dorms or in certain areas of the campus (often near the stadiums). My kids dorms aren’t anywhere near the jock dorms. My kids’ dorms are actually quite quiet.</p>
<p>I agree that virtually any school is going to have a variety of partiers, jock-types, etcs.</p>
<p>However, I get the feeling that the OP’s son is looking for more extracurriculars - sports, etc, that his smaller CTCL school doesn’t have. That’s just a gut feel that I’m getting. I could be totally wrong. :)</p>
<p>northeastmom – I can understand your confusion, but I don’t think my son is so unusual. He hasn’t had good experiences in high school or college interacting with the jocks personally, yet enjoys watching big-time college sports. As mom2collegekids says, I think he is figuring that there would be more kids like him at a bigger school.</p>
<p>And there is the fact that there isn’t much on campus or in the local town to do.</p>
<p>Look, no school will be a panacea. But I’m very happy that he isn’t interested in spending his weekends drunk or stoned, so I want to do the best I can to get him some place where he is happy.</p>
<p>delamer, I understand what you are saying. Every parent wants to see their child happy, and not spending time getting stoned or drunk. I thought that you wanted to stick with another smaller school for academic reasons. I did not understand that you are looking for a school with big time sports. I sent a PM to you before before I understood this.</p>