<p>Here is a well known (around these forums) example of automatic merit scholarships (and presumably admission as well) where out-of-state students are eligible.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus - I had not thought about the unusual distribution, but considering the makeup of the school it would not suprise me. It is 100% magnet (so all students had to apply to attend) and many of the students who apply are motivated. The school serves those students well because they are on auto-pilot anyway. Who it does not serve well is the student who needs more guidance, and unfortunately my son fell into that category.</p>
<p>Op,
Agree with MYOS, it would be nice to keep kid in a smaller private school rather than a UC or CSU where he would be required to sink or swim. Private schools may offer better finanacial aid or merit than UC or CSU which may make it more affordable. And, as I said before, they will do more of a holistic eval of his app to take into account URM and poor frosh grades. With smaller schools, there are more staff to notice if your kid is having a problem and they really work the with kids to try to make sure that they graduate.</p>
<p>Take a look at this thread; maybe some of these schools would work for your son. </p>
<p>And every African-American recent graduate of SDSM&T that I’ve read about has a great job waiting for him/her at graduation. Not bad when you see companies such as 3M, Sherwin-Williams, Dow Chemical and Boeing coming to the campus.</p>
<p>OP, I am very skeptic with the GPA for the type of reach schools you are considering. However, your kid may very well be the anomaly and surprise us all, you never know.</p>
<p>You have received and have acknowledged the great food for thought you have been given on this thread.</p>
<p>As parents, we all want the best for our kids, however, the KEY to making them have the best, is that THEY have to want it MORE.</p>
<p>I am surprised you have not been made aware of Andi’s son story from some of our veterans here. </p>
<p>I would have recommended you have your son read the links, but since you have acknowledged that you are the driver. I suggest you go over these threads(Same Poster) and see how important it is to build schools from the bottom up and take advice from others to apply.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your son, and I’m sure in the end, he will end up at the school where he should be.</p>
<p>Here are the must read threads albeit several years ago.</p>
<p>Just for the record…andison had great stats…excellent GPA and SAT scores. It was actually surprising that he didn’t get accepted to any of his first round colleges. It was just a strong applicant year at the schools to which he applied. The key was, he had no safety schools on his list.</p>
<p>However, he took a very productive gap year, and reapplied to college. His list was more balanced that second time…but the best news was that he got accepted to and graduated from MIT.</p>
<p>*The less selective schools in his second list use “level of applicant’s interest” – the same potential for waitlist/rejection that he encountered the first time around with a supposed “safety”.</p>
<p>andison did not have any hooks and was not a URM with 2100 scores. I don’t see that his story is relevant. I agree that the OP should think long and hard about what kind of school her son will thrive at, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a list of two safeties and as many reaches as the kid can stand to apply to. Both my kids had a big pile of rejections, but they also had schools they were very happy to attend. (And both had reaches they would have been fine with.) Neither had auto admit safeties either, just ones where historically no one from their school with their stats had been rejected from.</p>
<p>The only relevance is that the student has to have at least one 100% certain safety in the list, which andi’s son did not have (either the first or second time, though he got lucky the second time).</p>
<p>You are correct Thumper Andi’s son DID have great Stats. </p>
<p>MathMom- I brought it up to show that even one with great stats and a gazillion reaches does not guarantee an acceptance. So the OP’s “Go Big or Go Home” is very relevant. We do not have to put URM in the equation, because whatever the ethincity, a 2.5 GPA and 2100+ SAT’s is not a good recipe for acceptance at a Reach School.</p>
<p>LOL. I know what the stats say, which is why the post. I wanted to use the anonymous format to shout out the impossible. Unfortunately, his school district required courses that are not college applicable which filled his schedule some - so unable to game the gpa. He had to repeat several courses as well and could not always get the exact same course (so a failing grade would still be counted). AP offerings are minimal. He’s had 3 years of Latin so no more foreign language options. </p>
<p>My S has been identified as gifted since 7yrs old. The problematic HS years came as a complete shock, and it took over a year to turn around. He has however, turned it around. (Forget about college, we had to focus on just graduating high school!) But each semester has been better and better, and he is now working close to the level of his capabilities. </p>
<p>Im sure both he and I would have done things a lot differently 4 years ago. But this is where we are today. I don’t think I can stop pushing now. But Im listening!!</p>
<p>Andison had several likelies but yes, no guaranteed safety. He had one last application to a top 20 LAC that he was finishing at the last minute and that required, back then, a trip to the post office, which they chose not to make. Who knows…if only…</p>
<p>Upward trend is a great thing. Maybe you’ll have some luck with the longshots. Just keep in mind that college app process can be grueling. Don’t let the longshots distract from having a strong submission to the more likely match and safety schools.</p>
<p>Since the student is on an upward trend with previous issues, why not have him go to a match school (may it be a community college or a lower tier school) then apply transfer if/when he gets better grades. If my kid had struggled in high school, even if he is on an upward trend, I would want to give him a bit more time before he is thrown into a too rigorous program. I would also want my kid to prove to me that he is able to handle the work and take it seriously before I invest too much money.</p>
<p>I just went back and reread the OP. I. Elie this family also needs some financial aid. Hopefully, they qualify for the Calgrant which will help with the instate choices. The mom mentioned that some of the reaches were because of the great financial aid. Just an FYI…the first hurdle at those schools is getting accepted. </p>
<p>There are a number of things which have come up on this thread that are of concern to me. This student did not work up to potential until very recently. It sounds like the parent provided him with a lot of support to do so. In college, it will all be up to him. I would target schools where he has the most chance of success. </p>
<p>And realize that a 2100 SAT is terrific, but not tippy top. And a 2.5 GPA is problematic at those reach schools.</p>
<p>Be realistic. Sure, put in a couple or few reaches, but make the bulk of the list attainable.</p>
</p>