<p>Daughter is 100% Guatemalan, adopted, not first gen, not great SAT M&R - 1170, 3.8 GPA, top 20% of class, rising Senior, overseas American High School, interesting life story, good extras, good service projects. She has her top 3 schools but looking for a list of the LAC (Liberal Arts Colleges) that are interested in attracting URM to add to the list. Google has not been my friend on this part of the search. Anyone have a link or some info to share. Thanks!</p>
<p>All liberal arts colleges are interested in URM recruitment…</p>
<p>I’d look at ones in the northeast. There aren’t as many Hispanic applicants when compared to the west coast.</p>
<p>ALL selective colleges are interested in attracting URMs</p>
<p>“Selective colleges”… They all claim to be selective. Looking to research more schools that would be interested in her…the lower SAT score is a problem but it is what it is. DD would like to be in the southeast…Flagler College, College of Charleston, and Auburn are her top three bit she wants to add more. </p>
<p>
A combined Math and Reading SAT score of 1170 equates to about a 1750 overall in the current SAT methodology. This is in the upper 25% of all SAT test takers. In other words, it is a high score not a low score. No, it won’t get her into Harvard or Stanford… but will get her into some excellent colleges.</p>
<p>In the southeast, look at:</p>
<p>Eckerd College in Florida
Rollins College in Florida
Wofford College in South Carolina
Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee
Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina (especially if she is Catholic)</p>
<p>I bet she can get into every one of those, and they are all good.</p>
<p>Anyone have an idea how to find a list of the mid size, mid acceptance schools that are more interested in attracting Hispanic URM? DD will not qualify for any need based FA, and merit is borderline but she has her Hispanic hook, good life story, and good EC, service project, etc. </p>
<p>There are a few ways of figuring out which schools are interested in attracting Hispanics. Here is where I suggest you look:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The website getmetocollege.org. This website will have a list of divesity fly-ins so see if your DD qualifies for any that are offered at schools she is interested in. </p></li>
<li><p>The website imfirst.org This website is devoted to first generation students but much of the information is relevant to non-first generation students who are Hispanic. Colleges are listed as “partner colleges” so be sure to sign up at this website and look for partner colleges. This will give you a good idea of colleges interested in URMs. The listing of programs under each college partner page indicates the kind of support each college provides to URM’s. </p></li>
<li><p>I really like the website collegedata.com. Under the admission tab there is listed the 19 admission factors including “diversity” . If a college has that box checked then it means they are interested in URMS. </p></li>
<li><p>Look at college’s admission website and see if there is anyone assigned for Latino students or multicultural students. The fact that they assigned some one in the admission’s office means they are interested in attracting such students. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>You mentioned that your DD is interested in College of Charleston. CofC has a great admission’s rep devoted to Hispanic students- Christina DiCario <a href=“mailto:decarioc@cofc.edu”>decarioc@cofc.edu</a> They have great outreach. <a href=“Diversity - College of Charleston”>College of Charleston Admissions;
<p>You have to be proactive and simply do the research. Having gone through this twice now it is worth it.
Good luck. </p>
<p>Please sure to read the sticky thread at the top of this forum. There is a lot of good information there. </p>
<p>Thank you so much ITSV for the fabulous information. I was searching each school looking for “diversity” admissions etc. You shared loads of very helpful and relevant information. Daughter will be busy today with all of this! Thanks again</p>
<p>OP- It really is simply sitting at your computer and doing the research as well as having your DD call the school. To the best of my knowledge no lists exists of colleges looking for Hispanic students. With my own children I not only wanted my children getting into the college I wanted them getting out so I looked to see what kind of support the college provided my children once they were in the college. Not every college can have a separate office especially if the college is small but many do. Look to see what kind of support they provide to Hispanic students once they are at the college. Typically the office will have a title like “Office of Diversity and Inclusion” or “Office of Minority Affairs” or “Office of Minority Education”. To show you what I mean here are a few relevant links: Georgia Tech <a href=“http://omed.gatech.edu/redux/”>http://omed.gatech.edu/redux/</a> or Ohio State <a href=“http://odi.osu.edu/”>http://odi.osu.edu/</a></p>
<p>A couple more bits of information:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In addition to the term “diversity” other relevant buzz words to look for are “underserved” “multi-cultural” “inclusion” “Latino” or “outreach”. If you can’t find someone assigned to Hispanic students on the school website then call the admissions office and ask if there is someone assigned to Hispanic or “underserved”. It is of course great when the admission website lists such an admission rep but there could also be someone assigned which is not listed on the college website. </p></li>
<li><p>Your daughter’s SAT is not as bad as you may think but I suggest she look at schools that could care less about her SAT and are test-optional colleges. You can get a list at fairtest.org. Your daughter’s grades are good and she is in the top 20% of her class so use that to her advantage. A couple of colleges right off the top of my head that might fit her criteria that are test optional are Dennison and Clark (the one in New England). I visited Dennison last year and now they are actively looking for smart Hispanic students. I can’t think of the rep’s name but she really helped a student of mine. Dennison is very generous with their diversity fly-in program so contact them now. Your daughter’s counselor has to nominate her for Dennison’s diversity fly-in but it is a real simple form. Dennison also gives good merit aid. It is a really pretty campus about 25 minutes outside of Columbus. Clark is also a great test optional college. </p></li>
<li><p>Look at the “Colleges That Change Lives” group at ctcl.org. This is a really wonderful group of colleges. Be proactive in asking them questions. They have a college fair that visits cities and when I attend it I always ask each rep about Hispanic reps; scholarships and diversity fly-ins. Many times I will learn of an opportunity from them that is not listed on a website. Someone mentioned Eckerd College which is a CTCL school. I think that is a great suggestion. Maria Furtado is their Director of Admission and she is wonderful. I suggest your daughter contact her. </p></li>
<li><p>Also look at the listing of merit scholarships on a college website. If you see that they offer scholarships for Hispanic students then odds are that they are interested in attracting URM’s to their college. Always ask colleges if they offer any additional merit scholarships to URM’s. Some schools have additional scholarships not listed on websites. </p></li>
<li><p>I forgot to mention but there is the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. <a href=“Home - Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities”>http://www.hacu.net/hacu/default.asp</a> I also found this list of the top 100 colleges granting degrees to Hispanics but I caution you that I wouldn’t look too much into that list because the top colleges are in areas where the Hispanic population is large. <a href=“Hispanic Outlook Job board”>Hispanic Outlook Job board;
<li><p>Be sure your DD applies Early Action to as many of the colleges on her list as possible. In my opinion that has been a general shift in college admissions and the chances for admission increase with early action. Plus many colleges have earlier deadlines for consideration of merit scholarships which usually falls on the early action deadline. This past year my own DD applied to all her colleges Early Action with the exception of one. She did very well and went 12 for 13 in acceptance. Plus it is just nice to be done with the own college admission process early senior year. The Common App will go live in a week. All of my students are working on their Common App now. Your DD can get them down now and it will mean she will enjoy her senior year more. The website I gave you getmetocollege.org has some great tips on completing college applications and she has a companion website on writing the college essays. Look also at the website ■■■■■■■■■■■■■</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The best advice I can give you is to be proactive; go out and seek the information. Don’t wait for people to tell you because chances are no one will. I had that wake up call with my first child over five years ago and I put a lot of time into researching all the issues you raised. My children’s and my efforts really paid off. I hope you and your daughter have the same success.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>She can do much better than Flagler - 46% graduate in 4 years, only 66% return for their soph year. Compare this to Furman (LAC in SC) at 80% and 88%. It is cheap, but in this case, you may actually get less than you pay for.</p>
<p>Thank you again, ITSV, for your wildly informative, helpful, and encouraging post. DD has been working on her application, we talk about college search everyday on our long dog walks, she is working on her test strategies and the practice tests methodically and regularly. She / we have actively opened up the list from her long held top three and are learning about interesting schools thanks to your input, Cappex college match search, and others. She will devour each site and lead that you shared. Eckerd, Denison, and others are all of interest. Please fell free to pipe in with any and all suggestions. Thanks again!</p>
<p>We have the book Colleges That Change Lives and have many highlighted. It is time to go back to revisit the notes we have there.</p>