Western Schools for the 3.0-3.3 kid

Parents Forum
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<p>Mitchwebb,</p>

<p>I too found out yesterday about the increase in GPA for the scholarship. I was kind of shocked and saddened by it. The requirement went from 3.0 20 ACT last year for 150% of state tuition to 3.6-3.8, 25/26 ACT this year. That is a big jump. We felt so fortunate to be able to benefit from this last year, and feel for the other 3.0- 3.3 kids. I actually called them yesterday to verify if it was true, since I have another child nearing college age. They said indeed it was, with the tuition discount increasing with the higher gpa and ACT. Since the cost of living is lower than CA the housing prices keeps the costs down, though, which may make attending there still feasable. It will be interesting to see what the other WUE schools do.</p>

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<p>Going to the Oregon university system college night tomorrow at the high school. Son still thinks OSU is for him, although I’m still a little bit unsure about whether his grades will pass muster. But I went to a parent-oriented meeting at school last week (mostly about graduation requirements, financial aid, scholarships, etc.) and picked up the Oregon public university brochure, and checked out Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Based on test score and GPA data, it looks like it would be a safety for my 3.04/1850 kid, and they actually have an interesting CS degree with a concentration in computer security. Ashland is a beautiful town, too. Tomorrow night’s event will have admissions folks from the public schools so we’ll have a chance to chat with OSU and get a feel for son’s chances there, but I wanted to come back here to throw out SOU as a Western option for the B student. A 2006 NYT article listed it as a “hidden gem” among lesser-known schools.</p>

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<p>Sounds great!</p>

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<p>Hello everyone
I haven’t posted on this forum before but I just noticed the post on Southern Oregon. My nephew was one of those kids who “woke up” late in HS and didn’t start turning it around until senior year of high school He actually barely qualified for SOU but it’s great he did because that school was terrific. He studied business, and also received a special certification in internet marketing. He spent a semester abroad in Mexico which was a wonderful experience for him. And, as the poster said, Ashland is a top-notch town. My SIL was very impressed with the attention he received. The best part–he graduated last year and got a job in this yuck economy.</p>

<p>Also, I know it’s been mentioned before, but if you have a S/D who is really into extreme sports or active outdoor pursuits, look at Ft Lewis College in Durango, CO. World class skiing, snowboarding, mountain bike capitol, and rock climbing. Very athletic student body. Nice business program and liberal arts. It is a WUE school. Con: It’s remote!</p>

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<p>Hi all -</p>

<p>I’m new to the board, have been catching up on the abundance of information available here. Thank you to all who have offered so much! </p>

<p>I’ve got twins: daughter is a firm 3.3 without any AP or honors, with softish SAT scores of about 1670 including writing (510/510/560). She doesn’t test well but is a hard worker and is consistent. Son’s SATs are 1920 (630/610/680) with writing with about a 3.1 gpa, including one D in an advanced math class that he wasn’t able to repeat. He’s definitely capable of higher grades but he slipped up last year. He’s back on the ball now, but it is what it is. </p>

<p>Does anyone know if the D is going to come back to bite my son? He’s taking another math class this year so he’ll have the ‘advanced algebra/algebra II’ requirement by the time he graduates. I’m wondering if the D is going to be viewed as part of the a-g requirement for the CSUs (which is a no-no) or if they’ll let it slide because he’ll have it filled with this year’s math.</p>

<p>Daughter has been accepted to NAU and is very interested …we’re going to visit at the end of the month, and son will have submitted his transcript to them by then. Both will be applying to Sonoma State, San Jose State, Humboldt (son, only), San Diego State (total reach this year but you never know…you always see the statistics that include a small % in their range, so why not them?), possibly Montery and SF State, and possibly Arizona State. </p>

<p>It’s so difficult to find the perfect package… nothing huge (I felt invisible at my SUNY school a million years ago and it was relatively small compared to so many of the California schools), a campus that doesn’t empty out during the weekends (I’m finding a lot of comments about that for Humboldt, San Jose & Sonoma), something that has a Greek life for my daughter (ideally…not a deal breaker) … and someplace that won’t be total culture shock to these 2 Southern California Jewish non-affluent teens. </p>

<p>We have to stay within California or WUE … two tuitions for them, plus one coming up just a year behind them, makes big ticket schools out of the question for us.</p>

<p>Idaho might be too foreign, University of Arizona and Univ of Oregon don’t participate in WUE. Colorado State at Ft. Collins looked good until I saw that OOS requirements are way higher than either kid comes close to …they want a 1490 reading/math for 3.1 gpa and 1440 for a 3.3. </p>

<p>Would love to hear if anyone has any words of wisdom … and, specifically, if anyone has heard anything negative about NAU.</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone … the people who contribute on this board are amazing -</p>

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<p>poppymom, thanks so much for the info about SOU! I’m going to pass that along to my son–he sounds very much like your nephew, with the late blooming, and the more I look at SOU the more I like it as an option for him. I’ll have to wait and see what he thinks.</p>

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<p>SOU is a really nice school. I’m very familiar with it. If anyone has any questions about the school generally or the area, I’d be happy to chime in.</p>

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<p>Thank you for all the info.</p>

<p>D had a two week seminar with OSF at SOU this summer and loved it. Her one disappointment where the dorms they stayed in. I was wondering if anyone had information about the dorms in general at SOU, did she just get a old dorm because of summer program? The town of Ashland is beautiful and the theaters are like no other western school town.</p>

<p>The other school she is showing interest is Boise State. She has applied just not sure she will get the WUE. Thank you for the information on Colorado State at Ft. Collins she will be looking into the Majors.</p>

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<p>The SOU dorms are pretty basic. Your daughter probably had one that is typical. Not impressive, for sure. My daughter had one just like the SOU dorms at Univ. of Oregon. I think they’re pretty typical for older, state univ. type dorm rooms. If a better dorm room is a significant factor, then that would be a negative in the SOU column. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal for many kids. Dorm life is about the friends and the whole college experience more than it’s about the room… or at least that’s my perspective. Most students move off campus after the first year, although there are some very nice dorms for upperclassmen. Newer and quite nice.</p>

<p>I have heard the Greensprings dorms (which are also freshmen dorms) are nicer at SOU, but the summer programs are housed in the Cascade Complex because it’s closer to the dining hall. I don’t know if a student can choose their dorm, but that might be worth checking out.</p>

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<p>I don’t know why Colorado State doesn’t get more mention. It is a great school in another top notch town. Although it is known more for its science/natural resources/engineering it also has solid liberal arts and a very good business program. Its not too big, has Div 1 athletics and is a WUE school (at least last time I looked)…every kid I know there really loves it. Also, I wouldn’t be too quick to think CSU will reject your S/D over their test scores. They still pride themselves on a review which includes other factors besides test scores. My D and I toured it and liked it quite a bit. I don’t think they are quite as doctrinnaire as the Calif. schools seems to be about admission standards. My D also thought the dorms were better than many of the other state schools we visited.</p>

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<p>‘rentof 2… I have also become curious about SOU for my son who is interested in Technical Theatre and the Convergent Media program. We’ re in Northern Ca. and he would certainly qualify for at least WUE. I spoke with a very nice woman in the Theatre Department today and she explained that there was no Theatre minor which is what we were hoping for. We were looking into into a major in Communications(Convergent Media with video production track) and a Theatre Minor but think it might be possible to flip that around. What do you know about the Communication school, specifically the broadcast facilities and equipment? How about the Honors program? I would really appreciate any info from someone who is really familiar with SOU.</p>

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<p>is this 3.0-3.3 weighted or unweighted ?</p>

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<p>Both theater and communications are quite strong at SOU. The broadcast facility was newly built … I don’t know… like four or five years ago. I don’t know much about the video production element, but it’s quite active in regional programming and works closely with some high tech types in the area. Maybe a visit, or a discussion with someone from the communications dept. would be more helpful, since I am not so familiar with that area. Theater is, of course, the local industry, so the SOU students get a lot of benefits from that in terms of internships, theater professionals on the faculty, etc.</p>

<p>The honors program is not as developed as some. It’s really more just certain class sections set aside as honors classes, so for example, there’s Intro to Philosophy and then there will be a different section that is Honors Intro to Philosophy. So it gives the honors program students the option of classes with other strong students and a more challenging curriculum, which does raise the level as you’d expect. It’s not, however, a school-within-the-school sort of model like some more established honors colleges at larger schools. There are some really terrific faculty members who teach the honors classes.</p>

<p>I don’t know if I answered your questions exactly. If you want to know anything more specific, feel free to PM me and if I know anything pertinant, I’d be happy to share it.</p>

<p>It’s also a very pretty campus… but you probably knew that already.</p>

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<p>'Rentof2… thanks. That was very helpful. Most of the schools that S is applying to are big and he asked me to help find a much smaller option that we could afford so that he will have some choices in April. I will certainly PM you with additional questions.</p>

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<p>The size of SOU is a great feature. There is a lot of personal attention there, lower division classes taught by professors rather than TAs, and lots of oppotunities for undergrads to get in on some very interesting projects with direct applications.</p>

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<p>nyn8mom–</p>

<p>Would 18,000 undergrads be too big of a school for your son? University if New Mexico offers the Amigo Scholarship to OOS students who have 3.0 and SAT 1170 (Cr+M). It pays the OOS portion of tuition plus offers $500 towards personal expenses. The Cherry and Silver Scholarship has the same requirements as the Amigo and is worth an additional $5000/year.</p>

<p>[Incoming</a> Freshman Scholarships :: Admissions and Recruitment Services | The University of New Mexico](<a href=“Office of Admissions | The University of New Mexico”>Office of Admissions | The University of New Mexico)</p>

<p>Additionally UNM is a WUE school.</p>

<p>No culture shock for a So Cal kid…And it’s attracting more and more OOS kids–this year they estimate that almost 30% of the freshman class is from Arizona, Colorado or California. </p>

<p>If you’re looking for a smaller campus–Eastern NM University. ENMU has about 6000 students, is WUE school and offers well defined scholarship to OOS kids based upon GPA/SAT scores: [Academic</a> Scholarships](<a href=“404 Error – File Not Found”>http://www.enmu.edu/future-students/scholarships/out-academic.shtml)</p>

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<p>“is this 3.0-3.3 weighted or unweighted ?”</p>

<p>if you mean the whole thread, it’s been somewhat flexible, but the original intent was that it did NOT mean 3.0 weighted, 4.0 un-weighted"</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info on New Mexico…I’m going to check it out…</p>

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<p>“but the original intent was that it did NOT mean 3.0 weighted, 4.0 un-weighted” "</p>

<p>Oops! That was supposed to be reversed.</p>

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<p>Eastern NM University? Hmmmmm. Pretty low retention and graduation rates. Even kids from NM don’t stick around there very long. Definitely visit before deciding.</p>