<p>Thanks Blossom–those are interesting thoughts. I think of BC as having benefited from its sports exposure, especially after jumping to the ACC, and still being well behind Notre Dame and Georgetown. It has the best football north of Penn State and the only UConn and Syracuse have comparable basketball north of Villanova. Perhaps Holy Cross is a better example?</p>
<p>NYU benefited from an enormous infusion of donations in the past 30 years, but even in the 60’s was a magnet for kids wanting NYC, but unable to get into Columbia.</p>
<p>I am not from the southwest, but thought Texas was viewed as head and shoulders above the other publics in its region for decades, perhaps because Texas is by far the largest state. And Austin has been a much more fashionable city than Norman, OK, etc for at least 20 years.</p>
<p>Binghamton, conversely, I think of as having dropped in stature somewhat. It was always the top SUNY school and I remember when Harpur was far more competitive OOS than it is now. My sense is that the explosion of interest in college sports following the advent of ESPN hurt it badly (compare its OOS admisson trend in the past 20 years, to not just UNC and UVA, but neighboring UConn). Purchase, New Paltz, Stony Brook and Geneseo might be better examples.</p>
<p>I think the CTCL book gave those schools significant boosts.</p>
<p>An interesting comparison is the top 50 US corporations of 2010 vs. 1980–Goodbye Kodak, Chrysler, Xerox, AT+T, CBS and United; hello, Walmart, Google, Amazon, Intel and Apple. Life at the top of academia is much more secure!</p>
<p>I just got my mail and my daughter received a free priority application with information about a scholarship from Washington and Lee. I wondered if she was selected because she checked off “Jewish” in her ACT personal info? Unfortunately, she prefers schools that are larger, Northern and urban. It’s interesting to think that being Jewish might help with admission.</p>
<p>SUNY Albany has definitely dropped off over the past 30 years; in my day (think horse drawn carriages hehe), a graduate of their business school had a golden ticket; arts and sciences a silver one…some of the smartest, most successful people I know are graduates…</p>
<p>yabeyabe2 – have to disagree with you about binghamton – at least within the last few years. i think it was always considered the best of the suny university centers, but at least when my oldest was looking at colleges, it was common for kids to just view it as a safety – kids applied hoping they wouldn’t have to go. a lot of kids who ended up having to go (often for economic reasons, sometimes because they otherwise set their sights too high) often resented having to settle for it. just go back a few years to the postings in the binghamton forum on this site and you’ll see people talking about how binghamton simply wasn’t a top choice.</p>
<p>with the change in the economy and the bargain suny price, applications steadily soared. kids who used to count on getting into binghamton as their “safety” were suddenly finding themselves on the waitlist or rejected. there is nothing like telling kids how hard it is to get into a school to increase its desirability. its applications keep going up, its admissions rate keeps dropping. kids who attend are increasingly happy as opposed to feeling they “settled.”</p>
<p>it probably has gotten somewhat easier for OOS to get in from what i’ve been hearing. the economy has made the higher OOS tuition attractive to the school – the percentage of OOS students has increased – but that also means more OOS are applying. a few years ago i doubt binghamton was even on the radar of most OOS applicants. then recently it was labeled a best value for OOS by (i think) kipplinger. its been getting a lot more attention. </p>
<p>its school of management recently jumped quite a number of spots on business week’s ranking of undergrad business schools.</p>
<p>the whole basketball fallout wasn’t pleasant, but i really don’t see it as having any impact on its academic stature. applications continue to flood in, kids continue to hope they’ll get in.</p>
<p>if you want to let the fact they are letting OOS students in a little easier [so that binghamton is prominently mentioned on this thread, whereas, no in-staters would consider binghamton a school for B students], make you think that it is falling in prominence, i think that you are falling victim to the old groucho marx type of reasoning – not wanting to belong to a club that would be willing to have you as a member.</p>
<p>I agree with Unbelievable- I think Binghamton is held in high regard by employers with Arts and Sciences and its Accounting departments considered very strong. Like many other State U’s its location can be a negative, but I don’t think its the same U as it was 20 years ago. And for my dime I’d rather live in Binghamton than Geneseo.</p>
<p>I think Rutgers is more highly regarded out of state than in.</p>
<p>There is a whole slew of schools which I think enjoy a “name recognition” factor because of one or more sports teams but where I don’t think there’s been an investment in academics or in upgrading the quality of the student body. But I would not put B or R in that category.</p>
<p>I think Rodney is right about Albany–and perhaps that is helping Bing and other SUNYs.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree Bing is a deservedly hot ticket in NY–on another thread I was defending it vs. those who think southern and midwestern flagships are much better. I do think, however, that its OOS rep is nowhere near its NY rep–not to say deservedly so–and this is reflected in the Naviance data from various OOS posters. </p>
<p>NY kids and parents must be shocked at all the NJ posters reporting that Bing is a routine admit for NJ B students who have no chance at UDel, UConn, UMD or Penn State.</p>
<p>I think the comparison with Rutgers is interesting–my impression is Rutgers has a much worse rep among NJ residents than Bing does among NY residents, based on my time in bothstates.</p>
<p>I certainly agree that some schools have able to attract boatloads of OOS applicants based on nothing other than their sports teams and Bing has not been a beneficiary of this at all (Siena has probably done better).</p>
<p>RM - my D is also a very slow reader. a strong student otherwise, but reading speed is a real issue in almost every subject area and especially on standardized tests. I have asked for help since she was in middle school, but her teachers have had no advice or resources. finally, a friend suggested an “educational therapist” ([Association</a> of Educational Therapists](<a href=“http://www.aetonline.org/index.php]Association”>Association Of Educational Therapists - Home)). after an evaluation, she has had two sessions with the ET, working on reading strategies. too soon to see results, but I am optimistic. if it really turns out to be a silver bullet, I’ll let you know :)</p>
<p>Hi - I would be interested to hear how it goes. Reading has been an issue since grade school - I do wish I had done something about it sooner - as you said - it impacts all subject areas. I think his reading speed is a little slower than it should be - and comprehension/retention could be better as well. I’m not sure if he would be willing to see a reading specialist - but it might help - not just for ACTs - but in general. Please do let me know how it goes.</p>
<p>I think the most important thing for boys (yes this is a generalization) is to provide high interest reading material. For teen boys, this usually means magazines with subjects your kid is interested in (for ex.-biking, sports, cars, computers). Keep these magazines scattered around the house. Make available Sunday comics, joke books, go shopping together at the big book stores. See movies of popular books (ex. Harry Potter).</p>
<p>I just think most boys are not heavily into reading unless it revolves around subjects of real high interest. Key is to determine what your son’s are interested in.</p>
<p>I think the combination of videogames, youtube clips, cable tv, dvds and ESPN Sportscenter has hurt the reading habits of millions of boys. It is very hard for books, magazines and newspapers to compete with their level of stimulation and coolness and they are available 24/7.</p>
<p>Then again, Newsweek, Time and Reader’s Digest have lost almost all their adult readership</p>
<p>You are both so right about the importance of reading and the difficulty - with boys in particular - of inspiring a love of reading. My older son was a voracious reader throughout elementary school and middle school. We read Harry Potter together until he could read them on his own - he loved the Eragon series - and lots of general fiction. It was a lot of fun to read the same books and share the experience. Then he got to hs, and it kind of faded away - like Yabeyabe said - the Internet and sports blogs/news became his focus. He no longer reads fiction. I borrowed a few John Grisham and that sort of book from the library this past summer - thinking he would pick up a novel - not interested. I love to read - so I find this kind of sad. Younger son has really never been a very enthusiastic reader - although he did enjoy a series in middle school that had to do with vampires and such. The only thing he has read of late is a fantasy football magazine. DH doesn’t read fiction either - I think it’s a shame. </p>
<p>S2 is going to be reading Great Gatsby in school shortly - I suggested to him that I would read it also and we could have our own book club of sorts and discuss it - needless to say - he was less than thrilled. One of these days his eyeballs are just going to roll right out of his head!</p>
<p>RM and shawbridge, congratulations to your son and daughter on their scores!
RM - perhaps you can increase your son’s interest in reading the sports section by discussing issues related to these sports with him. For example, you can discuss whether the NFL owners might lock out the players next season, and whether it is right or wrong for the owners to expect players to have some giveback in order to “contribute” to all of the new stadiums that have been built. You can discuss revenue-sharing and whether it is fair. Etc., etc. The idea is to get him not only reading but also thinking!</p>
<p>I wonder if serious fiction reading is linked to gender–every book club I know is all women and never has a couples book discussion, even when the book is about a couple, such as some of Alice Tyler’s work.</p>
<p>I just read the current #1 best seller on the Times List–Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen, a 30 year look at a couple and their families and neighbors. I thought much of it was wonderfully written.</p>
<p>Older son loves to read and younger son only wants to read non-fiction areas of high interest. I think the schools do not do the best job teaching English through books mostly not interesting to boys (female protagonists, subject matter not appealing to boys, too much emphasis on looking for deeper meaning, etc.). </p>
<p>That said, my opinion is to focus on sharpening Math skills for the SAT or ACT if your child will do the practice tests/quizes. I don’t think there is a whole lot you can do to improve reading comprehension by the end of high school.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t care if my younger son does not like fiction. He has a lot of other strengths, and we should just appreciate our children’s strengths.</p>
<p>Last call: Are there any other schools similar to Towson (not $$$, has Jewish kids, ok for B plus student, has Business school) that I should be adding to our list (Towson, Salisbury, UT Dallas and Binghamton)? Thanks before we wind down application time.</p>
<p>MD, did you look at whether Rutgers had the courses you were looking for? The OOS cost is probably higher than Bing, but it is much easier to get to than Dallas or Bing. UDel is even closer, but more of a reach.</p>
<p>I also think you point about the books used in HS is very insightful–I can’t recall any that were likely to interest most boys, unless there was a racial connection. John Updike, Irwin Shaw and others used sports in their writings, but they were never assigned.</p>
<p>Very confused about the different locations of Rutgers. Do you know anything about these locations? I know my son will not consider Newark as he doesn’t like the area. Also, since we have 4 state schools on the application list, thought I would try to find a smaller private school that is less than $50k a year where he can get more attention. My son just does not want a rural location and does not want Manhattan. A good suburban location with resources is ideal.</p>