Seeking advice- background is listed below
- what top schools would you add that he can get into if we pay?
- What are best value schools that are good that he can max scholarships likely?
- Will studying to increase 34 ACT really make a difference?
- Will doing service or starting a business or club this summer through Senior year make a difference?
- ANy other advice?
Thanks for your helpLooking for advice…what are best top schools to consider for scholarship and what is best path this summer / semester to mitigate weaknesses? Youngest would have qualified for National Merit as Sophomore but had test anxiety as Junior and regressed. Took ACT without prep, got a 34. Goes to school at a public US News/Blue Ribbon etc high school…9 of 545. 4.0 uw/4.68 weighted.Ok but not extraordinary extracurriculars…National Economics Challenge Missouri State Champion/29th in country. FBLA State #4 Economics. All Suburban St Louis Musician. 4 years Orchestra, 4 yrs Jazz, 2 years Marching Band, marched in Rose Bowl. NHS, Kappa Rho, one year math team but never placed. Weaknesses: minimal service and minimal leadership. VP of FBLA is only substantive officer role.
Rose Bowl sophomore year wiped him out. Extra practices before and after school, summer and non stop fundraising activities drained him. Disengaged from Non Band things because a bit overwhelmed. Junior year was better but AP tests for 24 credits again minimized participation outside of band and FBLA.
Majoring in business…we are white, married parents that were first generation college but he’s not. 200k income. Not anticipating much/any financial aid. Looking for merit at best school possible. Looking at Texas A&M, SMU, U of AZ, ASU, Miami of Ohio, Clemson…not sure he can really get into the top schools.
If you are looking for guaranteed merit, I would think University of Alabama should be on your list.
His 34 ACT and GPA are fine. He has two ECs that are fine. Not sure what he disengaged from that you think is important.
What do you think his weaknesses are? For this summer…I’d suggest a summer job.
In what state do you reside? Missouri? Are you looking at any public universities there?
Look into the University of Richmond.
if he would go to alabama increasing the ACT to a 36 will help get more money; I believe baylor also gives money based on a sliding scale on test scores. However, if after looking(googling) those aren’t schools he would go to, then probably not going to matter much for general admission.
don’t think their calculator is up yet but when I looked at Baylor’s before the higher the score the more schlarship money. Alabama basically is same from 32-35 ACT I think.
https://www.baylor.edu/estimator/index.php?id=955688
Thumper1, we looked at Alabama for first son who was National Merit. Beautiful school, but hoping for much better academically.
I this second son’s safety schools are full tuition at Arizona and half tuition at Arizona State (Barrett). Open to other options that are better.
Also will pay the full fare at a top school if he can get in. Hoped for Penn, Vandy, Emory or USC but not sure he has the wow factor to differentiate given the limited spots for white male., He doesn’t have very much leadership or service on resume…intrigued by what he can do to supplement that from today until December that will matter.
We do live in Missouri and the public universities aren’t great in the state. Mizzou has racial tensions on campus that dropped enrollment and shut down dorms. Missouri State is an off brand school…hoping he can do much better and again, if not, will go to Arizona or ASU before Missouri schools.
anon145, Baylor is a good idea and one we are considering. We have a relative there now and it was our first choice for first son though ended up his second. IN son 1 case, National Merit gave 100% of tuition. Son2 has much better gpa, but didn’t qualify for Nat Mert second time he took it, so looks like 21k meaning still 40k. I’m kinda putting schools in 3 buckets - bucket 1, best schools for under 20k after merit scholarships…best schools for 40k after merit and these schools have to be significantly better schools and schools that are 60-75k that we pay the whole thing if he somehow gets in. I’d find a way if he could really get into Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, Vandy etc…even with perfect grades and a 36, the data seems discouraging without some real uniqueness…
My opinion…colleges, especially the elite ones you are mentioning, Will likely see this as padding that resume rather than a sincere long term commitment to an EC.
Your kid has a nice resume with a good ACT score and GPA. There are plenty of colleges where he can get an excellent education who would welcome him as a student.
I’m also very unclear about your priorities…sounds like elite school is the number one priority. Is that correct? Merit would be nice (many of those don’t even give merit aid…so…if you are full pay, you will be full pay).
So many good programs that aren’t Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, Vandy which give primarily need based aid.
@lookingforward your thoughts?
Thumper1, I’d make the money work if he got into a really elite school. Some consultations suggest it’s going to be a very big longshot for him to get in, even if he retests and has a 36. Not enough uniqueness for an undifferentiated white male. We wont likely get need anywhere…enough income to be affluent, not enough to be wealthy. Upper middle class. End of day, likely looking for value…if the school is great and he can get it, will find/prioritize the money…if it’s in the pack but full retail…then a school somewhere rated 80-110 that pays half tuition or better or gives in state tuition to outstate likely will fit. I’m a Minnesota grad…had reciprocity with the state, couldn’t get in the very best schools and it was regionally strong. I see Arizona, ASU, Texas A&M as my son’s safe “Minnesota” - trying to explore what options to upgrade with value exist.
Is he a rising senior?
First thought is making sure you have Fiske Guide to Colleges.
After that, other than stats-driven colleges, you need a good look at what individual holistic targets want to see. It seems you’re thinking of this hierarchically- not just best or better colleges, but that he needs to have best or better acknowledgements. Eg, how he placed in the Econ competition or FBLA, that he didn’t place in math team or only has one “officer role.” It’s not leader titles, rather a show of leadership qualities that matters.
Run the NPCs (fin aid projections) for various colleges. And if you think you’d take loans to afford a better name, please reconsider that drain.
One thing so many of us have learned over the years is that so many colleges offer such a fine education. You do have a nice array of safeties.
His ECs are fine- but adding comm service would be insurance of a sort Top holistic colleges like to see a kid has an awareness of the needs around him and some committed action. This can be as simple as a meal site, a few times/month, from now through December (or more.) The idea is to get out of one’s comfort zone. Not found some club that basically does little, for the founder title.
Yes, the music involvement is nicely broad. But it’s easy to see why he’s wiped out. On top of that, he’s got 12 AP (or is that including next year?) If it’s 12 tests now, I’d consider skipping the tests for easier, less impressive AP classes, to give him a breather. But we’d need to know more.
lookingforward, yes, rising senior. I have a lot of college resources, but not Fiske I’ll get it! Good feedback on the holistic and qualities…he just got turned down for a great opportunity he was a ridiculous fit for adn the feedback received was…not enough leadership positions. Probably was bad feedback and I thus over emphasized.
He doesn’t lack hours of community service, the issue is how it’s done. He’s in a bunch of elite music groups and a drummer, so he shows up for the cancer benefit, the fundraiser for the band, the drum line for a community event etc…and not as connected/personalized. Your feedbacks are right on same wavelength I’ve been thinking. I did think that starting a substantive club that did something was potentially helpful…likely not.
As for AP, he had 5 tests for this year and has 5 next. This year’s had the some of the double classes…APUSH for 6 credits, Calc BC for 8, and then Physics 1 for 4, Macro 3 and Micro 3. Tougher go around…Sr Year will be a breeze with AP Stats, Psych, Physics 2, English Lang and LIt and IB Business. We’ll use the extra time to figure out schools:)
lookingforward, two ap classes as sophomore bring that to 12. Sorry for leaving the math hanging.
Would he have any interest in a smaller school like Babson? (It has around 2400 undergrad so more like a LAC but business-focussed).
WashUgrad…exactly perfect idea that hasn’t been a home run yet. I’ve opened conversation to try to apply to Olin Engineering and dual enrollment across the street at Babson. Olin is small small and really hard to get in but he might have enough factors in a school that small that work. Babson has been my personal “darling” school since I read Roger Enrico “The other guy blinked” book 30 years ago. It wasn’t listed but is on my personal list of 30…my son still thinks snow will kill him:) If I could rewind, I’d have gone there in a heartbeat.
Washugrad, are you MO/St Louis native or from out of state? Big fan of Wash U…20 min from home is a little closer than I was hoping for him:) If you were local, I’d love to here your experience going to school in same town. I’d kind of like him to experience somewhere else.
Not that it matters but…son also won Rensselaer Medal for outstanding Math and Science Junior, was one of the two Jr Males to represent school at Boys State this summer. Add in All Suburban Music and State Champion Econ and 4th place Econ and his only subject he didn’t get recognition was English, though he still had 34 English ACT
Ha, okay, I’ve got kids who want to go the opposite direction (hate hot weather) so I get that climate matters. In that case… well, this probably goes into the top end rather than the merit side but what about Pitzer or Claremont McKenna? I just had a quick look to see if either have a business major… CMC has econ and then some 3/2 MBA relationships, but Pitzer has one called Organizational Studies. There’s also Trinity in San Antonio which does have a Business major and has merit aid.
@RedbirdDad
Olin is primarily an engineering school. What would distinguish your son for the very very highly competitive admissions there…considering you mention he wants to major in…business.
What about Bentley…another business focused smaller college?
You know…there is an old saying on this forum…”Love the Kid on the Couch”. Your son has terrific stats, and a fine EC list, including his community service. Not every college applicant is president or founder of a club. Your son has shown a commitment to his music ECs long term. He is an officer of FBLA at his school.
There are plenty…repeat…PLENTY of colleges where he would be a welcome admitted student.
Please clarify…you say you are full pay but are looking for merit awards. Is this essential or is this a hope? Are you willing to be full pay at any college to which your son gets accepted…or only If they are highly ranked?
He has his sure thing schools. Just make sure you apply early to those AZ schools. Affordable and you seem OK with them.
Does your son have a geographic preference?
How much will you pay annually for him to attend any college?
Those numbers would work well for WashU if you are full pay and doing an ED1/ED2. I do agree that it’s not necessarily a great idea for a college student to live too close to home. Which is why my kid opted for WashU instead of a University of California school.
I would add Indiana Kelly to your list of business schools to consider. Also would CMU Tepper be a candidate for your son?
Edit-NYU Stern might be another good candidate school, but NYU is stingy with any aid.
Washugrad, I think Pitzer is out. Former all women’s school, probably on progressive side. Not a culture match. CMC is likely pretty conservative which is intriguing…but only way I see kiddo going to CA is if he got into Stanford, and I think that’s so unlikely, he prob won’t event apply. Trinity is interesting choice. Was on list, cut it off…maybe should reconsider. A client’s family went to LeTourneau and he’s advocating for it, likely for similar reasons as Trinity. Neither may have enough “brand” to get him…but national FBLA championship is in San Antonio in a month and he is indeed visiting Trinity while he’s there. We’ll see.
What about Southern Methodist University? Great business program.
I know this is an out of the box thought for you @RedbirdDad but University of South Carolina has a great undergrad business program, and connections with lots of good businesses…like Deloitte. We know several happy grads. Costs are decent for OOS, but your kid might get one of them OOS scholarships…and that would really make the costs favorable.