<p>Hello - Just a curious parent here. Trying to navigate the college application waters with my oldest daughter. She's in the Class of 2015 and just about to enter her Senior year in High School. </p>
<p>I'm not sure of the preferred order to list things here but I'll try to hit on the the key points:</p>
<p>3.58 Unweighted GPA; all As & Bs but she got a C in second semester AP Calculus this spring.
Class Rank 71 out of 362
AP Classes: US History, World History, Calculus AB. She did not get above a 2 on any of her AP Exams
Dual Enrollment at local community college: Physics & US History (2013-14; GPA 3.25 with 16 Quarter Hours); Chemistry (2014-15)
Senior Year Classes: AP Chemistry, Senior English, Government/Economics, Choir, remainder are electives.
EC Activities: FIRST Robotics; Her FRC team won the Regional Chariman's Award & went to Word Championships in 2012. FTC Team Captain/Programmer 2011-present. Her Team won Regional Motivate Award in 2014. First Trumpet in Marching Band, German Club, Female Dramatic Lead in Fall Play, Patent Pending on a Pet Invention that she developed. SEMI High Tech U. Concordia Language Villages full Scholarship for German Camp (2012)
African-American Female</p>
<p>Long story short, we are baffled as to where she should apply for colleges. We attended the Colleges that Change Lives presentation and she like Agnes Scott and Reed College. We also visited Pacific University here in Oregon and that looks like it will be one good safety school for her. </p>
<p>What's a good breakdown on how many schools she should apply to and how many are reach, sure-bets or safety schools?</p>
<p>Also forgot to mention that her SAT & ACTs were not that great (she really doesn’t do standardized tests well). She’s retaking the SAT in October and possibly the ACT in September.</p>
<p>My husband is currently in Graduate school (working on a Master’s in Teaching) here in Oregon. I’m paying off student loans currently. We know we will need to make a contribution but a lot of it depends on where my husband ends up teaching next year (teaching salaries really vary across counties and even states). </p>
<p>She is very adventurous and wide open to any opportunity. Her biggest constraint is that she doesn’t want to go to a really large school; would prefer less than 2000-3000 undergraduates.</p>
<p>She may want to look at test optional schools. It’s great that she is open to women’s colleges because that will expand her options.</p>
<p>Reed is very intense academically. She may want to think about what she liked about Reed and then find schools with a similar vibe or quality. Guilford in North Carolina, which is one of the CTCL schools might be a nice fit.</p>
<p>She has an interest in Robotics/Mechanical Engineering? Can’t go wrong with Oregon State U. Much stronger departments in the traditional engineering disciplines than U of Oregon. U of Portland engineering is also good though not as many resources at OSU. For schools similar to Agnes Scott (liberal arts but co-ed) think about Ohio Wesleyan U, which is very good in the sciences. As a female STEM applicant she would be sought out by engineering departments such as Ohio U (not Ohio State U), which offers engineering scholarships including awards for AA students. U of Rochester has great Science Departments and also has been known for good financial aid. Another STEM school that wants more females is South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, which would be a safety school for you. SDSM&T is small but does attract AA students, mostly from the west coast. SD Mines is a strong science university that provides an excellent education at a bargain price. Also consider its rival, Colorado School of Mines, a great STEM in Golden, just north of Denver. I’ve read that financial aid at CSM is hit or miss, however.</p>
Few students follow through on 3+2 programs because they don’t want to leave their friends after three years together in college. There is also the added expense of an extra year of school.</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that there is hardly any money available at ‘2’ school. Honestly, if one wants to study engineering, one shouldn’t bother with the 3+2 route. Just go to a school that has engineering and get started on it.</p>
<p>Yes, 3/2 program opportunities at times seem to be more sizzle than steak. As was said above, often times students decide not to complete them. Thus they remain at their LAC. Attending an engineering university from the get-go is the better choice for most students. Sure, engineering departments at public universities can seem overwhelmingly large (200-seat classrooms), but as one progresses from the Freshman year enrollment in engineering courses tend to get smaller. Of course, there are smaller and medium sized universities with great engineering departments. The top Ivy engineering departments come to mind, but obviously competition for admission is fierce at Ivy League schools. Here are some “smaller” engineering departments at schools where you could also get a reasonable dose of the liberal arts (though your engineering classes at any school will command most of your class schedule, obviously);</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve University
Rice University
U of Rochester
Saint Louis University
Texas Christian University
U of Portland
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
U of Tulsa</p>
<p>Also, an engineering HBCU might interest you; North Carolina A&T University (alma mater of the late Dr. Robert McNair, the Astronaut and namesake of the national McNair Scholars Program), which has a solid department. And there’s Florida State University. FSU is not an HBCU but its engineering school is a joint operation with the HBCU Florida A&M University. FSU engineering is trying to raise its profile so they may toss some cash your way because they want to attract more females to STEM. Investigate U of Maryland-Baltimore County and its Meyerhoff Scholars Program. Finally, although not an engineering powerhouse, U of Alabama Birmingham is a medium size university that offers Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The school is definitely underrated, although biomedical and health sciences departments have an excellent reputation. For your daughter, UAB could offer all the rah-rah of a larger campus (marching band, big time sports, student clubs, etc.) but don’t confuse UAB with flagship U of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. UAB is more intimate and has much, much less fraternity/sorority influence in Student Life. UAB will probably be a safety for you. And the financial aid from UAB for out-of-state students with good GPA and scores can be quite attractive.</p>
<p>Sorry to revive a “dead post” but things have changed enough to where I think we may need some more suggestions.</p>
<p>Over the Summer, we moved to Texas due to me being laid off by my employer in early August. Her new school is three times bigger and has weighted GPAs (out of 5.0) scale</p>
<p>So her new Weighted GPA is 4.0244. She also retook the SATs in October and her scores went up as well.</p>
<p>She’s already applied to the following schools:
Agnes Scott
Centenary College of Louisiana
Southwestern University
Trinity University
Pacific University
Baylor University
Texas Christian University
Texas Tech University</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions. Still interested in Majoring in Engineering but may add a minor/double Major in German.</p>
<p>When will Centenary College add engineering? It’s not on their web site and wasn’t true when I lived there. Do you mean the 3/2 program which takes and extra year and most students don’t complete because they don’t want to leave their friends after 3 years?</p>
<p>What is her rank in her new school? Texas schools are very sensitive to rank.</p>
<p>Does this mean that you’re willing to pay all costs for her to go there? If so, then super. If not, then it’s not a safety.</p>
<p>If you aren’t sure how PU will get paid, then you need for your D to find another safety or two. A safety has to be affordable…you have to know that you have all costs covered.</p>
<p>If aid is needed, then don’t do a 3/2 program anywhere…no assurances of what the aid would be at the 2 school. </p>
<p>Have you figured out how much your family can contribute each year?</p>
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<p>The Writing score isn’t really used by most schools. The M + CR score is the most important and she now has a 1220…nice improvement. </p>
<p>Will she qualify for instate in Texas? If so, which Texas publics is she applying to?</p>
<p>With regards to State Universities in Texas, she’s applying to Texas Tech (Safety School).</p>
<p>She applied early action to several schools and we’ve heard back from 4 so far (all admits):
Pacific University
Southwestern University
Baylor University
Centenary College of Louisiana</p>