College List for a Great Young Man

[Panhandlegal]

I'm still working with my young friend who applied EA (OOS) to UNC-CH. I have to say, I'm really getting into this as the whole process is fascinating! He's asked me to help him create a list of other school options. I've found him to be like most boys--doesn't have much direction; but would, quite frankly, be good at whatever career path he chooses and seems to be the kind of kid who could be happy at a variety of kinds of schools. He has shared that he doesn't want to go to a school where money, status, prestige, etc are really important to student life. (I'm thinking some of this stems from a somewhat warped view of the Ivies and similar highly ranked schools as well as attendance at a rather affluent h.s.) He likes the south, but doesn't want to go to a really conservative school ans is not 'locked in' to the south. Seems to be open to any region.

Brief stats: 2040 SAT/31 ACT, top 5% of class, 4.14 WGPA, lots of honors and AP classes. He's taken the toughest course load available to him. He is an excellent local athlete (although not Div I material) who wants to attend a school with a nice sports atmosphere, but not necessarily the focus of the school. He's been involved in a slew of school activities; leadership is strong; he's done a fair amount of community service; and is an Eagle Scout. He's an active, friendly, normal kid. He's good with people and is very personable. As I said in a prior post, he hasn't found the cure for cancer in his spare time, but is certainly capable of doing something equally outstanding at some point down the road.

He doesn't know what he wants to major in, which adds to the frustration he's feeling. He might opt for med school or pursue the business word. Even considered engineering, but decided it's not for him. He's shared that it'd be cool to work for a sports team, but thinks it's somewhat unrealistic to narrow his focus as a h.s. senior.

I'm offering feedback on his essay, activity sheet, etc. and giving him general moral support. Oh, his teacher and counselor recs are outstanding as well. Sounds just like every other CC kid, doesn't he?!

He's open to suggestions and welcomes your help.

[cangel]

Is FA/merit money an issue? Does he want to be close to the top academically, or more middle of the road? How far away from the atmosphere of his "affluent high school" do you think he wants to get - how important is that to him? I have several ideas, but frankly most of the private Southern schools are full of kids from affluent high schools - they are the ones who can afford it! Some colleges though have many kids who flaunt the money, in others, that would be very uncool.

[lderochi]

I'm more familiar with Southern schools and my first thoughts were:

Emory
Furman
Davidson

Elon as a Safety

Washington & Lee crossed my mind too, but it's probably too conservative for him. Same for for Wake Forest and Vanderbilt. Emory has a reputation of sort of being "in the South but not of the South", which is just a longhand way of saying it's not as conservative as other southern LACs or small university. Furman and Davidson are conservative, but in IMO (based on not much of anything) are a little less so than Wake and Vandy.

Even as an OOS student he might want to give William & Mary a shot. He would probably get in with a nice scholarship and OOS waiver to University of South Carolina.

Just my random thoughts.

[cangel]

lderochi has listed some of the very ones I was thinking of! Great minds! I would put Furman and Wake on "awhatness" with conservatism - Furman technically has a dry campus, probably more like damp. Davidson and WF are academically intense (at least by all accounts). Davidson gets a lot of "word of mouth" applicants in the South, and seems to have lots of doctor/lawyer kids whose parents emphasize education - WF seems similar, but for those who want a larger school experience. WF has one of the finest accounting programs in the south, and has a niche for that.
Emory is the least conservative and most diverse of all, Emory prides herself on no football, but has very active teams otherwise.
W&M would probably be the least "rich kids" as it is a public school, although very selective, not sure what his chances as an OOS male would be, lderochi has a better handle on that than I do.

He is a good candidate for Honors College at some of the big state Us - what are his academic interests, because they vary in quality with the major?

[katwkittens]

When we did our trip to Tenn this summer not only did we see Sewannee (my fav) but also Vandy. And it did not come across like Wake or Davidson at all. As we were told by the director of admissions, ""Vandy now is not your grandfather's Vandy". Stressed research opportunities, small classes, pres wants to move to a residential college system like Yale/Rice and is completing the freshman dorms (new), which would later convert to residential dorms.

We met several students, econ/poli sci double major on a full ride who had Ivy acceptances (penn's wharton) was a rising senior with a fabulous internship that previous summer on Wall Street, many who went abroad and all really liked the school and their experience. They did not come across as stuck-up or snobby and believe me that is something we WOULD notice.

Son applied last year, was accepted and was one of his top choices. Their financial aid package was very, very close to P'ton's were he ended up. The campus itself is very nice and is in the heart of Nashville but doesn't feel urban at all since it is a National Arboretum. With it's med school there were many opportunities for extensive research/internships and almost all the student's we talked to had the opportunity to start in their freshman year and almost certainly their freshman/sophomore summers.

I could easily have seen my son there and making the most of the opportunities and I would say he has a simliar profile and unceratinity about a specific major/career path.

Also high on son's list (besides service academies) Penn's M & T, Duke, Chicago, MIT and Northwestern. He did have some LACs but don't know if that is of interest to your friend. Son did very much like UNC-CH, did a summer research program there through the med school and many of his friends attend. He enjoys the campus but it is a very different feel then some of the schools that ended up being higher on his list.

Hope this helps.

Kat

[Panhandlegal]

Academically, he would like to shoot as high as he can and FA would be nice, but not absolutely necessary as his family has done a pretty good job of saving for his education. The piece about affluence is a bit more inconclusive. He is just really turned off by those who flaunt their status, money, etc. Says he wants to be judged by who he is and not by what his dad does for a living or for the kind of car he drives. Even mentioned the MLK speech about the content of his character!

UNC appealed to him becasue it has such a good academic rep. and he really likes the campus. The idea that all kinds of kids will be there is also a plus. Honors college at a state U is something he is going to look into, so feel free to suggest your favorites! Please don't just focus on the south as he will consider other locales as well.

He visited Davidson and liked it somewhat, but has decided it is a bit small for him, but he doesn't want a huge state U, either. He has also mentioned Vanderbilt--Nashville appeals to him-- although he hasn't visited there.

Thanks for your help!

[cangel]

He needs to visit some of these.
A friend of mine's D had a different take on Vandy than Kat had - and this is a girl who enjoys shopping, and wouldn't be averse to a Coach bag!
The bigger the school, the more different niches and groups there will be - it is more likely than not, that there will be status conscious folks, but also there will be plenty of down to earth kids as well.

Getting way out of the South - Carleton is one of my favorite of all LACs D looked at, I was also impressed with it's less selective, slightly more conservative pal across town, St. Olaf's. Carleton might well be a reach, but being male, and able to pay full freight could help.

Honors Colleges - South Car has some interesting programs, especially in business, Ole Miss reputedly has one of the best HCs, Alabama would be generous to someone with his stats. One of my favorites, although I'm not sure he would qualify, is Ohio university's Honor Tutorial College - PM Digmedia about that, his son attends and I think is having a great experience. Two other schools that I have been quite impressed with, yet somewhat off the radar screen are James Madison and Univ of Central Florida - JMU looks like a great place for an "ordinary" kid who wants some of the traditional trappings, fairly good grades, not sure what he wants to do. UCF has some unusual programs because of its location - in business, computers and the hospitality industry.

[ldmom06]

Panhandlegal - Gosh I really hope he gets in at UNC-CH; you have really captured the essence of the school when describing what he wants.

I know I responded to your previous post, but I can't remember if I mentioned Rice in that post. The oos acceptance rate at Rice is about 30-40% I believe; and it is a similarly unique and progressive school that isn't conservative or too Southern despite the location. Basically, he gets the prestige without all the attitude at Rice. Rice is really on a mission to increase the percentage of oos students on it's campus...I believe the President would like to get the Texan percentage below 50% asap.

Rice has an interim decision plan that doesn't violate ED/SCEA rules. I believe that deadline is December 1.

[toneranger]

Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. Excellent program. Very selective. Cross disciplinary - but many of the students are business, science and engineering majors (all well regarded programs at PSU). Campus is VERY big but the honors college helps to make it smaller. Intramural sports are big - football is very big (can be a positive or negative) but it does seems to enhance the feeling of community and pride. Big party reputation but the honors dorms seem more sedate. They just hired Dean Brady from Tulane - seems like a great guy for the future! One last note: my son said the UNC campus reminded him of PSU's campus. Big and green with a thriving college town right on the edge of campus. Students are friendly - I haven't seen much flaunting of wealth (even though it does attract some wealthy students).

[NorCalDad]

Panhandlegal,

I wanted to reinforce the possibility of Emory University for your young friend. It is a selective, but not ultra-selective, school that offers a very solid foundation in the liberal arts tradition while also being a nationally-recognized research university. The college is especially beneficial for somebody who is still “exploring” his/her academic interests and offers a strong support infrastructure to undergrad students, e.g., academic advising, career center counseling, intern/work opportunities, and the breadth of a number of graduate institutions that provide additional influences (e.g., schools in business, law, medicine, public health, nursing, and other research institutions). It also has a very active program in Division III sports, with a consistently high national ranking in a number of sports. In addition, there are some very competitive “club sports” that offer inter-collegiate competition.

Your friend’s academic stats are very solid. The top 5% ranking is excellent, as is the weighted GPA (average unweighted GPA for enrolled freshmen at Emory is about 3.75) and the rigorous courseload. At Emory, the test scores (SAT 2040 and ACT 31) would put him at about the 50th percentile of enrolled freshmen at Emory, which balanced against his other academic measurements and his EC’s would put him very close to a Match for admission to Emory. Without a doubt, the campus is very diverse in its student make-up, and while the students are hard-working, they seem to take time out to relax in other ways too. I think the overall tone of the campus leans toward liberal but not significantly so.

The city of Atlanta provides for off-campus opportunities for everything from social activities to volunteerism. Emory’s campus is situated about a half hour from the ATL airport, in the Druid Hills suburban-type area. Every time I visit (my daughter is a freshman there now), I keep thinking that I’d love to be attending Emory myself. Emory has about 6,000 students at the undergraduate level, and about 11,000 student including graduate schools, so it is not too small and not too large, especially compared to UNC – CH. One important thing to cover if your friend is interested is to visit if at all possible. The Admissions Department keeps track of this “demonstrated interest” in Emory. At the very least, go to their website and order the DVD/video. Good luck to your friend!

[Panhandlegal]

Wow, thanks to all for your help!

Rice hasn't been considered, but we'll look into it. The interim date also has some appeal. Unfortunately the UNC-CH notification date means he's going to have to apply RD to his other schools by Jan 1 since UNC doesn't notify the EA apps until the end of January. Seems to defeat the purpose, but that's the way it goes.

Not sure how he'll feel about Minnesota, but it's surely worth a look. There was some discussion about S. Carolina Honors, but I'm not sure where that stands. Think he was a bit turned off by the fact that SC doesn't have a very academic reputation. PSU Honors, on the other hand, has a great reputation and might really appeal to him. I've heard their application process is quite detailed, so he'll have to get busy!

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Keep those ideas coming!

[toneranger]

panhandlegal: If your friend is interested in PSU Honors, it would help his admission chances if he got his application in by Nov 30 (the priority deadline). He has to apply to both PSU and Schreyer - and yes the Schreyer app takes quite a bit of time (multiple essays and recommendations). Good luck - I hope he gets into his first choice, UNC-CH. My son really liked it when we visited and almost applied - but then decided to go for UVA instead (unfortunately he was waitlisted and then rejected!). Might have been the same result at UNC but who knows? In any case, it's wise to have other good choices just in case.

[warblersrule86]

Clemson has a good reputation, although it has a fairly "wet" campus. Cornell is also somewhat similar in size, campus, academics, and athletics.

[PackMom]

NC State(could enjoy great sports rivalry with UNC-CH if they reject him)

[azsxdc]

And he'll cry after every time NC State loses...