<p>Towson is more spread out then U of DE. It’s very popular because there is no in-state advantage at all and many students from NJ choose it over their State U’s because they are very expensive and Newark is a hop, skip and jump away. Academically, I think they are about the same, but just like Elon is a hot school in the south, Delaware does seem to have some sort of cache in the mid-atlantic states. </p>
<p>Another College that isn’t talked about much here is Marist in Poughkeepsie, NY. This is a great mid-size college that has recently gone SAT optional. Beautiful campus and lots of interesting majors.</p>
<p>I know some people have found the ACT giving a score boost, but D3 was one of those who did not. Her scores came out roughly equivalent to her SATs. She “does not test well” and her test scores routinely come out lower than her GPA would predict. Ultimately, though, she was happy to try the test even if it turned out not to give her any great advantage.</p>
<p>college 4 3…Mich st. is on a list to be considered. The Ohio St. is probably too big a reach. Thanks for the florida comments. Violently agree about applying early. D1 had all applications done by sept. Had acceptance letters from Indiana and Pitt before Oct. D2 will do the same. As one admission person said, if you can give me one good reason for not applying as early as possible, I will pay you 100 dollars. We follow that advice.</p>
<p>Kathiep… Will look into Marist. What is poughkeepsie like? Is it a nice town? I agree with you about hot schools.</p>
<p>Rodney…thanks for insight about Ithaca and different programs having varying levels of difficulty. Good point. Will research that.</p>
<p>socaldad - the only real reason to not apply early (as in early action and rolling) would be for a student who had a weak junior year with a downward trend in grades - who is on fire senior year. For that particular student - applying regular decision so that first quarter grades can be included and first semester grades sent subsequently would be the way to go. But this is the only example I can think of where applying early is not advisable. Every school on my son’s list is either EA or rolling. We waited until April 1 for decisions with S1 and will not be doing that again. In the college admissions process - the earlier the better.</p>
<p>Well, since I can’t bear to watch the news now with all the reports on the Jets’ loss, I will pull up some Naviance data for you. Our HS is very very diverse - racially and socioeconomically. DD (I gave stats earlier today) graduated within top 10 percent. So here are some numbers:</p>
<p>UMass - Accepted average - 91.09, Accepted average SAT (1600): 1226
UConn - 92.26, 1106
Towson - 89.05, 1114
URI - 89.29, 1138
UVM - 91.3, 1244
UDel - 92.75, 1215
Marist - 90.56, 1160 (DD’s GC went to Marist; she always pushes it!)</p>
<p>There is lots of data on these schools as many students apply each year from our Long Island HS. There are other schools talked about here that we just don’t have data for (Elon, CofC) since there not very many students from here who apply there. I would think that if you come from an under-represented state, you’d be more appealing to adcoms.</p>
<p>The info from Naviance was very helpful. We just got it at our school, and most of these schools are not big at our high school. Thanks for sharing. Many of the schools that I thought would be achievable, are tougher than I thought. Wow. I am sure she will find her place. Thanks for oyur help</p>
<p>Another reason I can see for applying later is if there are things that you want your ap to reflect that are only starting in senior year, for example if senior year is the first opportunity to take on leadership positions. I think that would probably be more applicable to kids applying to very competitive schools.</p>
<p>socaldad: Thank you for your summary about Jewish life at UT Austin. Your description gave the school a more cohesive feel than we got when we visited, particularly among the Jewish community. This had been S2’s first choice until we visited TAMU. He felt much better about TAMU mainly because as a whole the school seems to be establish a bond among all of its students. Aside from that, if rank remains in range for auto admit at both schools TAMU would be a pretty sure thing for the business school. UT McCombs auto admits about the top 3% of the class so admit to the business school as a freshman is unlikely. I expect he will apply to both though. Presently he is talking about wanting to visit Baylor which seems such an unfit for him that it is the only school I have ever told either of my kids that he can’t look at, I won’t send him.</p>
<p>Momjr: Thank you for your suggestions, Arizona has been on my radar but I think we would look at that if stats for Texas didn’t work out. Univ of Miami is a school that I had not looked at before, I will do more research on this one. I’m thinking that Vandy and UCLA are great schools but out of his reach.</p>
<p>I think that if you live far away from Colleges that your student is investigating, they seem more like secret places or hidden gems and therefore might have lower standards. The truth is that many of these are simply regional schools and well known in a tri-state area. There is a good chance that a little geographic diversity might give OOS students a tipping factor.</p>
<p>I agree with not doing EA for the reasons stated above, however, if your B student continues on the path they’ve held for the past three years in HS into senior year and does not suddenly change into an A student, then there is no reason to wait for those magical first quarter grades. My son has been accepted at a handful of schools and deferred at two. The ones he was deferred at asked for this semesters grades so he was put into the RD pool anyway. </p>
<p>I, for one, think that just getting the applications in, is worth taking a chance on getting deferred. I’ve found that once son started getting acceptances, it was harder for him to do more applications, even for Colleges that he preferred.</p>
<p>Completely agree. Socaldad: if you DD has stats below those “average accepted” for our NY HS, but is very interested in the college, she should go for it.</p>
<p>Correction to my post about Towson. It is about 30% OOS, not 30% Jewish. I’m not sure about the Jewish percentage, but I’d guess it’s about 20%. A lot of Jewish Maryland kids who need to stay in state choose it over the other instate options if they don’t get into UMCP. </p>
<p>Socaldad: We visited UConn and UMass last spring. Of the two, UConn is more selective. UConn has a very pretty campus with friendly happy students and lots of new facilities, but it is very rural. There is nothing in walking distance of campus and minimal shopping and restaurants in the surrounding area. We preferred the location of UMass. Amherst is a cute college town, and there are shuttle buses to the other colleges in the 5 college consortium. Northhampton is about 15 minutes away and even has an Urban Outfitters. UMass has pretty grounds but UGLY buildings. The facilities did not seem as up to date as those at UConn. The academics seemed okay, but nothing really stood out.</p>
<p>I found this thread while doing some research for D2, a jr. She is strong academically, but not at the Ivy level. We live in Western PA (GO STEELERS!!!) and would prefer a drive of no more than 6-8 hours, but that’s negotiable. I’d appreciate any suggestions for the following profile:</p>
<p>Strong political science program with internship possibilities
Jewish community on campus
Keeps kosher, but would go to a school with good options for vegetarians/vegans.
Availability of strictly kosher for passover food
No interest in sororities–a campus that centers around greek life would not be good in this case. </p>
<p>So far the exploratory list includes Pitt, Oberlin, Kenyon, Franklin and Marshall, Washington and Lee, SUNY Binghamton, Syracuse, American, Temple, Muhlenberg, GW, Wash U, U Maryland, Vanderbilt. I’m also exploring Susquehanna, but the political science department is fairly small. Although there are large schools on the list, I’m thinking smaller may be better. </p>
<p>Assuming that she will have decent options given her GPA, the critical factor here is quality of life on campus–particularly the kosher/vegetarian options. </p>
<p>mom - there is also a “colleges for Jewish A student thread.” You might want to try that, too.</p>
<p>My D1 goes to Tufts, and I believe it has all of the options you want. She eats kosher (no pork/shellfish/milk-meat) and when she was looking for schools really had no problem finding ones where she could eat the way she wants.</p>
<p>I’d take Washington & Lee off the list – very “Greek” and I’m not sure she could find kosher for Passover food even in the small surrounding community. </p>
<p>Your list encompasses lots of different types of schools - small, Southern, Conservative rural LAC (Washington & Lee), large and public (MD), large and urban (Temple), funky and quirky middle-of-nowhere LACs (Oberlin, Kenyon), etc. etc. Is there a <em>type</em> of school she’s interested in?</p>
<p>I know young Jewish women - who kept kosher - who were very happy and very much enjoyed their times at Binghamton and WashU, for what it’s worth anecdotally.</p>
<p>Justmytwocents: At this stage, there isn’t a clear sense of what “type” of school she wants. Initially, she thought big and urban, but she’s liking what she’s seeing in some of the smaller schools. My focus has been less on type, more on the political science major and Jewish life on campus. Financial aid packages will also drive her ultimate decision. That’s why the list includes schools that are actively recruiting Jewish students–it may help with the aid packages.</p>
<p>if she is willing to consider an all women’s school – smith (dept is called gov’t, not poli sci) and mount holyoke both have kosher dining halls. i believe smith’s gov’t dept is strong, don’t know about mt. holyoke.</p>
<p>I still find it very interesting that Wash U, Vanderbilt and Univ of Maryland (for OOS) are being considered for “B” students. I just don’t feel they are. My research shows that these schools are for a solid A- student with a min of 1900/2400 SAT’s.</p>
<p>Mom4989 - Reading your post my gut voted for American and I believe B students even qualify for merit money.</p>
<p>@mom4989:
First of all, J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets (sorry, I’m just having a small pity party).
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Of your preliminary list, it appears that the greatest convergence of department, internship potential, size and food options would be GW and American. UMaryland and F and M are solid choices. Brandeis is, of course, a perfect fit. What about the University of Miami? There is a vibrant Jewish community, good poli sci, and a nice campus where kids don’t feel pressure to go Greek. Northeastern is also a good choice.
Vandy is VERY Greek, almost to a fault. I second the advice re: women’s colleges.</p>
<p>WashU and vandy are very much for A/A- students, increasingly for A+/A students.</p>