Trying to help DS find schools to consider

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'm trying to find some schools for my son to look at. He's a senior, ACT 28, unweighted GPA 3.2, top 10% of his class. He's taken fairly rigorous classes (mostly honors or AP) and has 5 AP classes this year. He's thinking computer science but isn't sure. His real love is music, but he doesn't want to major in that (he realizes that it's a difficult field to find a stable career in). Wherever he goes, he would like to have access to music classes (music theory as well as performance) even if he isn't a major. Being able to participate in performance ensembles as a non-major is a requirement, and he would really like a marching band too. </p>

<p>He doesn't want to go too far away, so we are probably looking mostly at somewhere in Illinois or possibly Iowa, Indiana or Missouri. He doesn't want to be in a big city and he does not like University of Illinois (feels too big). He is applying to Illinois State, but would rather go farther away (we live in Bloomington-Normal). He hasn't visited any schools for a "college visit" yet. He's been on ISU's campus many times and has been to U of I on field trips.</p>

<p>He's looked into Iowa State and University of Iowa online but neither really grabbed him. Eastern Illinois may be an option. We aren't ruling out private schools, but would need scholarships to bring the cost closer to that of an instate public school. We probably won't qualify for need based aid. I'd also like a school with a wide variety of majors so that if he decides against computer science, he has other options.</p>

<p>He's one of those kids that really loves high school which is contributing to his lack of motivation in looking at colleges. I'd like to give him a list of a few that sound like what he's looking for so he has somewhere to start. Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>but would need scholarships to bring the cost closer to that of an instate public school</p>

<p>Many OOS publics probably won’t give him enough to bring costs down to instate level without higher scores. Is he retesting? Sometimes an ACT 30 might get a scholarship that covers the OOS portion.</p>

<p>He might try Truman State, but I don’t know if it has computer science. I don’t know what UA-Huntsville or UA-Birmingham would give for an ACT 28, but look there if interested in CS. I know that Alabama wouldn’t give enough for an ACT 28 to get close to instate rate. An ACT 29 would get a half tuition scholarship (about $11k per year), plus about 1500 per year for CS. </p>

<p>What is his weighted GPA? Right now, his GPA will also miss thresholds for scholarships (even tho merit is largely test score based). Has he taken the SAT? </p>

<p>If he retests and gets his ACT (or SAT) up to a 30 or equivalent, there may be some privates with CS that would get costs down to instate.</p>

<p>Are you saying that you’re willing to pay about $25k per year? </p>

<p>Have you looked at any of the Dakota schools? I think one of those has low OOS costs. </p>

<p>I would recommend that he retests.</p>

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<p>His weighted GPA is 4.715 (on a 5.0 scale). Alabama or the Dakotas would be farther than he wants to go. We’d like to stay around $25K a year, but we could go higher if we found something he really wanted. He’s going to have to show more interest in the process before we would be willing to spend more money.</p>

<p>We’ve talked about retaking the ACT, but he wouldn’t be able to take it until December. He has a band competition on October 26 (and missing it would mean failing band).</p>

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<p>Schools that may be under your price limit at list price:</p>

<p>SD Mines
SD State
Minnesota - Morris</p>

<p>There are some schools here that he may qualify for automatic scholarships that bring the net price down to your limit (e.g. UAB, UAH, Howard):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>What about UNI in Cedar Rapids (good marching band) or WIU in Macomb?</p>