Fresh perspective & recommendations needed

College Search & Lists
1

We’re looking for some fresh perspective, perhaps unknown (to us) gems for my son. He’s a really good student, good stats, decent ECs (we think), but nothing unique spectacular (He hasn’t managed to cure cancer, brought peace to any warring nations, nor built a space probe that made contact with extraterrestrial beings, but he did once save a “kitten” from a storm drain, that unfortunately turned out to not be a skunk, so, probably not a selling point, LOL!), just regular, “good student”, teen accomplishments. He is undecided on a major, and would like to be undecided for at least the first year, so he can explore possibilities. He’s good at a lot of things, but is not set on anything. We’ve visited the big state flagships, and they feel “too big” for him.

Stats:

-State of Residency: Texas
-Current Year in School: Junior
-Unweighted GPA: 3.94/4.0

-Class Rank: Top 5% (with upwards trend, but has always been in Top 10%)
-SAT: 1400 (Note: He’ll retake at least once before senior year starts. He’s mad about the harsh curve/equating lol.), EBRW:740, Math:660
-APs (so far): AP Human Geo=4, AP WH=5, AP Psychology=5, AP Chem=5
-APs (in progress this year with end of semester 1 grades): AP Eng Lang/Comp (A), AP US History (A), AP Calc AB (A), AP Computer Science (A), AP Physics (A). All of the rest of his classes are honors or Pre-AP. He may or may not take the AP test for ALL of his current AP classes. He may just opt to take 2 or 3.
-APs for senior year will be: AP Eng Lit, AP Stats (his school doesn’t offer calc bc), AP Comp Sci Principles, AP Gov, AP Microeconomics, AP Enviro Science (he’s already taken honors bio, ap chem, and ap physics)

ECs:
-Two sport varsity athlete (He is nationally ranked in 1 sport with recruitment interest, but the purpose of this post is to look for academic and social fit without consideration for athletic recruiting, which is why I’m not naming the sport.). He wants to continue in the sport in college, but it’s fit first, as he does not (at this time) plan to be a professional athlete after college.

  • He is the President of one club that he also founded, sophomore year. They read books and have spirited discussions/debates.
  • NHS (No leadership. He only joined because it’s a requirement to be a peer tutor.)
  • Peer tutor (with his school), approximately 75 hours (this is where he really shines outside of athletics-- he is the peer tutor that all of the teachers and students recommend). He has an amazing gift for explaining things in ways that his peers just get, but he has absolutely no interest in becoming a teacher.
  • Approximately 80 hours with a local charity (cumulative since starting high school)
  • Approximately 30 hours with a National charity for athletes

Other considerations:

  • URM, black male
  • Prefers medium sized universities (no less than 4k, no more than 15k student body size)
  • Location: Suburban, or “college town” with access to larger urban areas within a couple of hours. This may seem silly, but little things like being able to get a haircut are a big deal to him, and he doesn’t want to be the ‘only’ brown face around. He is fine with staying in state, or going out of state (we are not native to Texas, and I will not retire here, so out of state is fine if it’s financially feasible). He likes all four seasons (we’re from the North).
  • He has a distinct preference for a diverse environments, so HBCUs are probably not going to make the list. Environmentally conscious/aware colleges would definitely make the list.
  • Religious affiliation: Preferably none, however, as long as it isn’t a school that requires some sort of religious indoctrination he’s laid back enough to not care.
  • Not into politics
  • He’s not a big joiner, so he doesn’t care about the availability of fraternities. He’s an athlete, so a campus that isn’t rampant with drugs and alcohol abuse (yeah, I know this is a tall order) would be preferable as well. He’s very social, but not a partier.
  • He’s in the Gifted/Talented program in high school, and I think a school with an honors college would be great for him.
  • Budget: We’re not poor, and we’re not rich. I have some money saved for his college. It is very likely that we will not qualify for need based aid for him. Ideally, we would like a school that is generous with merit-based aid, as I’m facing caring for a parent who is ill and has no income. That said, outside the prospects of athletic or merit aid, his budget would be $25 to $30k per year tops (so, pretty limited).

Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations for colleges that we might not want to miss looking at would be greatly appreciated. He’s driven, but not obsessive in his academics. He’s passionate about physical fitness, environmental preservation, minimalism, and nutrition (for optimal health, not as a prospective career). He’s not a ‘name brand’ or prestige seeker, so it doesn’t have to be a “Top-whatever” school. As the parent with the checkbook, I only require that it be accredited, reasonably safe, and have a solid 4 year graduation rate overall, AND specifically for black students (preferably at or above 75%). All comments are welcome.

2

With respect to 4-year graduation rates, this list could help for an initial screening: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-grad-rate. For more detailed information, IPEDS includes rates for students grouped by background (e.g., https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Bowdoin&s=all&id=161004#retgrad).

3

Your son sounds very interesting and I think he will have lots of options if he can bring that SAT score up. (Maybe also have him try the ACT.) Have you run the Net Price Calculator at any schools that meet full financial need? If so, are those looking affordable? (Also, the kitten/skunk story is funny and could be a good launching point for an essay.)

4

He’d be a great candidate at lots and lots of schools. How about a mid-size national university, which I would put in the 5-10,000 undergrad student range? I’m thinking Tufts (Boston), University of Rochester, and William and Mary. These all have large sticker prices, but he might well receive some aid. And this is a very important point–many private universities will offer significant aid to a large range of students, often meeting full financial need. So don’t go just by the sticker price. That said, W&M is a public university and offers more limited aid to OOS students, though he may be able to receive some through his sport. These are top-notch universities with academics as good as anywhere.

Wake Forest is also in that category but not sure it’s what he’s looking for.

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU, “Crew”) in Cleveland and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are STEM schools of similar size. WPI has a notably hands-on, project-oriented program. Both outstanding. Both often offer generous merit aid.

Does he like amazing weather? Santa Clara University is in a suburban location in Silicon Valley. Mid-size national university with a beautiful campus. Silicon Valley=internship opportunities. I’m less sure about financial aid here, but you could run the NPC.

You can run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) to get a good estimate of what your family might be expected to pay at these schools. You can also google “colleges that meet full financial need” and “colleges that offer generous merit aid.” These are often the most competitive and wealthiest schools but some less so than others, and your son would be competitive at many of them.

Good luck!

5

What types of possible majors is he considering (e.g. humanities, social studies, science, engineering, business, etc.)? Be aware that some majors (usually engineering and some sciences) do require starting the prerequisites from the first semester, and, at some schools, some majors are difficult to get into after enrolling undeclared because they are already filled to capacity with frosh direct admits. If he is undecided, one criterion to consider is that all of his possible majors are not competitive (or not excessively competitive) to get into after enrolling as an undeclared student.

Graduation rates mostly track admission selectivity – stronger incoming students are more likely to graduate college on time (or at all). There are also probably financial considerations mixed in – students from wealthy families are less likely to drop out due to running out of money, and colleges with better financial aid for those from non-wealthy families reduce the drop out risk for those students.

Texas public universities with rank-based automatic admission should offer plenty of safety options (but some may not assure admission to popular majors like CS, business, or engineering majors). However, many things are bigger in Texas, including many of the public universities.

With respect to drinking in college, https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/media/Journal/082-Presley.pdf describes college characteristics associated with higher or lower college drinking, though individual colleges can vary. Some are fairly obvious (e.g. fraternity/sorority participation is associated with higher drinking). Other sources suggest that black and Asian people tend to drink less than white people, so college demographics may be associated with drinking rates.

As noted above, be sure to run the net price calculator on the web site of every school under consideration.

6

Isn’t he an auto admit at UT-Austin?

7

Run the NPC for Rochester…he definitely sounds like the Rochester type. :slight_smile: Rochester also offers merit aid in addition to meeting need, so if he thinks Rochester might be a fit for him, he should talk to the financial aid department about merit opportunities, too.

8

Wow, thank you for all the great info and leads so far. I knew the CC community wouldn’t disappoint! The college navigator tool is very helpful, as was the study on college drinking. I’ve bookmarked them both. I feel so clueless, it’s been so long since I went through the admissions process.

Answers for the questions asked:

  1. I haven’t yet run the net price calculator for schools that meet full need, because (at least in my mind) they were only the super-selectives, like the Ivies, and Stanford, extreme reaches. My kid is bright, but he’s not cutthroat competitive where academics are concerned. He quite a bit more laid back than what I imagine (and I freely admit that I may be mistaken) strong candidates for those schools are like. He hasn’t done amazing, nationally recognized things (outside of sports). That, and his only SAT score I think is not competitive for those types of schools. I’m certain that he’ll score much higher on retake (he had no prep leading into it, other than the October PSAT where he had a nearly identical score), but I just wonder if that’s his 'cup of tea. Maybe I watch too much TV, but I can’t picture him in a cutthroat environment. Then again, it’s not about me, this will be his experience, so we’ll take a look over the weekend to see what he thinks. I think he would love a “collaborative & supportive” environment. Maybe I’ve wrongly pre-judged some schools, and frankly he hasn’t really paid much attention at all, so we’ll dig deeper. At a glance, there are some very familiar names that have reached out to him already, so maybe there’s a gem in our back pocket already.

  2. Prospective Majors: He’s all over the map, and this is the big issue. I can’t fault him, he’s only 16, and he’ll still be 16 when he submits his first apps this summer. I don’t expect a 16 year to choose a career path to dedicate himself to. Some potential majors that he’s expressed interest in, in no particular order, are Physics, Writing (or English w/ writing concentration), Pre-Law, Business/Entrepreneurship, Applied Mathematics, Environmental Engineering, Public Health Policy (NOT pre-med… he feels very strongly that he’s not touching anybody’s “gross, nasty, or oozing body parts”, LOL!!!), and there are others, but… he’s all over the map. These are the ones most commonly (if you can call it that) mentioned.

  3. As things stand right now, he would be an auto-admit to all of the Texas publics, including UT-Austin. So, he does have safeties. His only reservations about UT, TAMU, Texas Tech, et al is that they feel “too big” to him. We just hope to find matches that he would be totally thrilled with, and maybe a couple of reaches that aren’t too far out of reach to aspire to.

9

Physics, math, and engineering majors tend to require starting on the prerequisites from the first semester. English or writing may be more flexible in the ordering and sequencing of prerequisites; the courses for such a major can be taken alongside physics, math, etc. during the first year or two. The prerequisites for the major not chosen can fulfill some general education requirements.

Pre-law is not a major and does not have any specific course requirements; students from any major can apply to law school (the pre-law stereotype major of political science makes up about one fifth of LSAT takers). High college GPA and LSAT score are highly important in getting into a high rank law school, and high law school ranking is highly important in getting hired to a law job. See http://schools.lawschoolnumbers.com/ and https://www.lstreports.com/schools/ .

At UT Austin and Texas A&M, engineering majors are highly popular, and are restricted in different ways. It may be better to apply for an engineering major, since it is easier to switch out than to switch in (the engineering prerequisites do mostly overlap with physics and math). Business is also highly popular and is often a restricted major.

10

@ucbalumnus I’m going to have him read your last response directly. One of my biggest challenges in guiding him has been getting him to understand the competitiveness of majors. It irks him that, by state statute, he has to declare a major even for admissions at any Texas public. I actually suggested, while touring A&M that he might apply to Mays business school, since it’s so restrictive, because it’d be easier change out (to some majors) than to transfer in to Mays. I think he’s still just young enough that he thinks the world works the way he thinks it should, rather than how it really does.

11

Maybe Brandeis University in Massachusetts, or University of Rochester in New York.

12

@nomatter, I believe your son will be a person of interest to many colleges and universities. At this point I think he’s doing the right thing in considering a wide range of options. As your research evolves, opportunities that you weren’t aware of will pop up so don’t pre-judge the outcome.

First, get more clarity on the financials. Many, many schools only offer need based aid, not just the tippy top most selective. So, yes, do run a few net price calculators. You might be pleasantly surprised. If, on the other hand, the NCPs don’t bring good news, then concentrate your search on schools that offer merit scholarships.

This board is a good source of information on merit awards. The problem is that in most cases, and unlike need-based aid, merit is difficult to predict, so you have to cast a wider net. Often the more generous schools are some you’ve never heard of have some other negative aspect, like size, location, diversity. Again, keep an open mind until you’ve probed further.

Unless your son is seriously considering engineering, at private schools he needn’t worry too much just yet about his eventual choice of majors. At most schools students declare their majors some time in their sophomore year (although as @ucbalumnus notes, they will want to take foundation courses early on). Many, many kids change their majors over the course of four years and many choose double majors or inter-disciplinary majors. Choice and flexibility is the beauty of a liberal arts education.

Your son’s involvement in sports is a solid extracurricular. The tie-in with the national charity for athletes is a plus. If he is willing and able to play at varsity level in college then good, he should start talking to coaches. But not seeking to be recruited isn’t necessarily a negative. There are lots of schools with “sporty” cultures, encompassing not just varsity teams but also intramural and club teams as well as other outdoorsy activities. This is part of the fit that your son should look for.

In addition to his sport, your son should pick one other EC or interest to feature in his application. The peer tutor position sounds perfect, but he needs to use his “explaining” skills in his application, especially in essays and recommendations, to convey more about what this entails and what it means to him personally.

I don’t think there’s a school in the US that isn’t interested in recruiting high achieving URMs. It’s natural and understandable for your son to prefer schools with high diversity percentages, with access to urban areas. But, conversely, he might also going against the grain and looking at schools that have to try harder to recruit URMs because they located in rural areas or in less diverse parts of the country.

Although they lack a few of the elements on your son’s wish list, I’d suggest that he looks at some of the NESCAC schools such as Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Middlebury. All of these are academically rigorous, have sporty cultures and actively seek to recruit high achieving URMs. Generally speaking, these schools attract friendly, outgoing, confident kids and although most selective colleges lean left, these are mid-range on the political activism scale.

13

I agree on the NESCAC school recommendations, especially Tufts but also Williams, which is sometimes ranked as the #1 LAC. It’s actually interesting that small LACs like those listed above actually have a much higher % of varsity athletes than a big public flagship like UT-Austin, which obviously has a reputation for big-time sports. But it makes sense. Williams with approximately 2000 students has only a relatively smaller number of varsity athletes than UT, with tens of thousands of undergrads, because it has many of the same sports. I believe the % of varsity athletes can often be in the 25-30% range for varsity athletes at a small school. So there is an athletic community/culture at these schools. (Tufts is larger, as indicated above.)

That said, Williams is pretty small and isolated. It is a cool place though and does meet full financial need. Tufts, Trinity College, and Connecticut College are probably the most urban/suburban NESCAC schools. If he would consider a smaller school, Rhodes College in Memphis would check a lot of boxes, and is not so far from TX. Beautiful campus.

14

I would look at Haverford. He sounds like a lot of Haverford students I’ve known - especially the minimalism and fitness orientation - and it will be a friendly environment for a student who is on the younger side. Am I reading that right that he will be 17 his freshman year? He sounds like a great kid.

15

Haverford is pretty tiny, though, and the OP says 4,000 is minimum size.

16

@intparent I missed that, thanks. Although Haverford does hit a lot of other points and it is in consortium with Penn and Bryn Mawr which opens it up a little, maybe feeling bigger.

17

@CCtoAlaska, yes, he’ll be 17 when he starts college, but he’ll turn 18 in November.

18

Once you run the NPC at a few meet full need schools and let us know if those look affordable or not, we can help you with more schools. What about Rice? Also maybe WashU. WashU has some (very competitive) merit scholarships that might be worth a look. They also meet full need.

19

The use of “I” instead of “we” to refer to parent-specific situations suggests that you may be a divorced single parent, even though you do not specifically say that. If that is the case, please read http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html in order to get a better idea of the financial aid issues that students with divorced parents may encounter.

20

Have you looked at Davidson?