<p>ACSIN, Thanks for your thoughtful perspective.<br>
MHC, Hartford is now on the Radar. Thanks</p>
<p>ACT test is in active discussion. Thanks all.</p>
<p>mhc - looking forward to hearing about your Elon trip. As far as Miami Univ. goes - while I feel it is a very easy admit for a “B” student - at least from our area - I wouldn’t rule it out for that reason. From what I have heard, the students who attend are happy.</p>
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<p>I think that what this thread, and a number of the other “3.+” threads have shown is that there can be huge successes for kids who are realistic about their strengths and interests - and who attempt to gain some knowledge about the college admissions process. </p>
<p>There are some very active participants on these threads who have had kids admitted to 80% or more of the schools they applied to. And…if it’s a B average kid with good test scores, they’ve managed to get some merit money, too.</p>
<p>Kids who are not lopsided - with slightly above average grades (3.0 - 3.3 GPA) and slightly above average test scores (25-27 on ACT, 1550 - 1750 on SAT) can easily get into a number of schools that are great fits for them…although the “love” (in terms of merit money) may not be substantial.</p>
<p>I agree with you completely - and it reinforces our family decision not to put any reaches on S2’s list - much to the dismay of his GC. I’d rather be realistic about where he will be accepted and where he might get merit aid and apply to those schools - not necessarily expecting 100% acceptances - but several certainly. The students with the reaches seem the unhappiest. Have you noticed how many threads there are from kids who are in at JHU or Vandy or WashU - but all they can think about is the denial from Harvard or the waitlist at Princeton. I’m very happy to have a “B” student for this next go-round.</p>
<p>@LINYMOM: Your Guidance Dept should have the names of retired teachers who do tutoring.
If you’re willing to go north a bit, there are tons of tutors.</p>
<p>mhc: hope you are enjoying your trip…just wanted to add a couple of things about MU Ohio…</p>
<p>My daughter has two classmates attending next year: one is her best friend; A-B student in all honors/AP’s; not a great standardized test taker so her top choices didn’t work out; LOVED Miami of Ohio from day 1 and knew she would be there if her other choices were “no”…</p>
<p>The other is not a good friend and is a “C” student with a higher standardized test score…understand, though, that a “C” in her school is considered “satisfactory” and is probably no lower than the 55% in the class…</p>
<p>Neither student is Jewish, both girls…</p>
<p>net-net: I think that MU has a WIDE variety of the types of kids that are attending…and that’s what RVM’s naviance has expressed…</p>
<p>Agreeing with Rodney on Miami. I quoted some of the lower accepted data to show socaldad that his D does stand a good chance of being admitted. But, there is actually quite a wide range of students who applied - at the high end - some with a 4.5 wgpa and either a 1300 SAT or 32 ACT. Our Naviance shows that 3 accepted students from the Class of 2010 are attending Miami - but you can’t tell which ones. It’s an easy admit for a “B” student (at least from our hs) but I did not mean that to imply that no B+ or A- students would matriculate.</p>
<p>[Miami</a> University: First-Year Student Profile](<a href=“http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/stats.cfm]Miami”>http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/stats.cfm)</p>
<p>This is from 2009 - most recent one I could quickly find. Note that 18% of enrolled students had a 30 or higher ACT. 21% had a 1300 or higher SAT.</p>
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<p>So had dinner with some local parents last night; all of whom have seniors in the local public…</p>
<p>apparent bloodbath of the female population (particularly) for college admissions from the 5-10% ranking…most will be attending their low matches/safeties…have heard this across the board from top public HS’s in NJ this year…</p>
<p>top 5-10 kids (1-3%),(both male and female) accepted to Ivies and the like…</p>
<p>Other thoughts: much easier to be accepted to schools like Bucknell, Dickinson, Colgate this year RD than in the past especially if not asking for FA…lots of RD acceptances across the board…not necessarily for “B” students, but definitely for B+/A- in honors classes…</p>
<p>Many more UMIch/UVA acceptances than in the past…UMich accepted down to top 15% (B+/A- students in honors/AP’s) In the past, smattering of top 10% kids were accepted but as recently as 2008, even that was a deferral/waitlist…</p>
<p>I think the change occured when Umich stopped recalculating GPA’s and added back freshman year to the mix…</p>
<p>…UVA is a shock (to me at least) since in 2008/2009 our local public had been shut out to that particular public…</p>
<p>Lots of locals attending Binghamton…(can’t blame them with the value of OOS tuition and a top public)</p>
<p>will report back on more “B” student choices when I find out; most of the Bing attendees definitely fall into that category…</p>
<p>Have also heard alot of moaning from tippy top kids (“ugh, my only choices are Cornell and UMich”…tinniest fiddle playing here; my heart bleeds)…</p>
<p>so happy this child of mine was a “B” student who was done on december 1st…</p>
<p>off to Costco; can’t wait to find out how mhc’s weekend went!!!</p>
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<p>Congratulations to emilybee’s and 2flipper’s students!</p>
<p>Socal, I just wanted to say that I think that you are doing such a great job supporting your daughter. To overcome the challenges that are within us is an amazing accomplishment. She has done this with your support. You also encouraged and developed her dance ability - and it is so great that she has this to “hook into”. (The fact that she has no tics while dancing reminds me of James on American Idol, who has too many tics to count during his interview, and then goes on to perform completely tic-free 
I am also reminded of the Oliver Sacks piece on the surgeon with severe Tourette’s whose tics involved banging his whole body into lockers in the scrub room while yelling profanities, and then he did precise, meticulous surgery under complete control!) Anyway, it sounds like you and your daughter both have a great deal of menschkeit, and that you are going to do what is right regarding her college search.</p>
<p>Earlier in the thread, I posted a question about racial discrimination at the University of South Carolina. The reason that I asked the question is because I heard about this from a Jewish B student that I know (he wants to transfer from there, actually, because of his discomfort with the prevailing culture). He was attending a fraternity party with an African American friend, and no one would talk to them. When he later asked one of the fraternity members why no one would talk to them, he was told “We really don’t mind black people, but if the sorority girls’ parents find out that blacks are in our fraternity or at our parties, they won’t let the girls come to our parties.” Yes, I know this is anecdotal and one incident, and of course it also takes people to change this attitude, but I just thought that I would point out something that might not be apparent on a college tour.</p>
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<p>Going back a few posts…</p>
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<p>I can see it being relevant. If the Jewish presence/environment that someone is looking for is liberal, gender inclusive and views social action in a Reform or Conservative way, a Jewish presence that is primarily traditionally observant may not meet that student’s criterion.</p>
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<p>Hi. Been out of town and am catching up on my CC reading. Socaldad…read your posts w/ tears in my eyes, thinking about my S2…also ADHD and other learning disabilities and working so hard to get Bs and Cs at a very competitive high school, and a very poor standardized test taker. I will be following your experiences w/ great interest since we are a couple of years behind you.</p>
<p>Thanks lev… Appreciate your sentiment. Very kind
Umich, I will continue to share our journey. I owe it to all who help us here.<br>
Thanks</p>
<p>[An</a> Early Look at Net-Price Calculators - Head Count - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/an-early-look-at-net-price-calculators/27989]An”>http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/an-early-look-at-net-price-calculators/27989)</p>
<p>Has everyone heard about this? It sounds good in theory.</p>
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<p>Elon’s overall admissions rate this year was 56.90% - up from 48.82% in 2010. I’m not sure what to conclude - but I guess it bodes well for S2. Total applications dropped from 9771 in 2010 to 9051 in 2011.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg’s admissions rate dropped from 48% to 42%.</p>
<p>Binghamton stayed fairly constant at 40%.</p>
<p>Delaware’s rate increased from 48% to 53%. Applications fell from 26,518 to 24,469.</p>
<p>Maryland stayed steady at 44%.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech dropped from 67% to 64%. Applications increased from just under 20,000 to 21,000.</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> and Duke Accepted How Many? Colleges Report 2011 Admission Figures - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/admit-stats-2011/]Stanford”>Stanford and Duke Accepted How Many? Colleges Report 2011 Admission Figures - The New York Times)</p>
<p>The admission stats are interesting. They confirm most of what I’m seeing at my daughter’s HS. We got the usual number of kids into the very top schools, but it was a tougher year for the school ranked 10-20 where our kids usually have a lot of success. The honors kids did fine, with lots of acceptances to Delaware, VT, Maryland and Delaware.</p>
<p>It is important to consider size and acceptance rate when picking safeties and matches. I have found that medium to large schools are very predictable based on GPA and test scores, but small schools do a more detailed review, and you can’t count on an acceptance even with numbers well above the ranges.</p>
<p>This year also showed how things can change from year to year. Kids applied to more schools, so acceptance rates went down at many schools. I would guess that average GPA and SAT/ACT ranges probably went up at those schools.</p>
<p>Just back from college visit road trip- I posted visit reports in the forums for James Madison University, University of Mary Washington, and St. Mary’s College of Md.</p>
<p>JMU got lots of smiles from my D and the students there all seem to think it is “awesome!”…she liked the feel of the campus and I have to say that I-81 did not bother us. </p>
<p>UMW is in a cute historic town but college not so appealing to my D, and SMCM was a disaster for its completely isolated location… we’re ruling out all small schools as of now!!</p>
<p>Pamom: I’m glad that you had a good trip. Kids learn a lot from the schools they don’t like!</p>
<p>If your daughter liked JMU, she will probably also like Delaware and Towson.</p>
<p>pamom - the small school selection can be really challenging. Some will be of interest if they have good proximity to a city - like Goucher being near Baltimore or some of the smaller PA schools that are near Philly. But I agree with you - when the college is small and in the middle of nowhere - proceed with caution. But sometimes you have a quieter kid who likes that - if the campus has a lot going on - they may be just fine with the isolation.</p>
<p>I think it is useful to examine with your child whether they are looking for more of an “on-campus” experience or more of an “off-campus” experience. Some students will rarely leave campus. They want that grassy quad, traditional campus feel where you spread your towel out on the grass to read/study/socialize. Whether it is clubs, Greek life or intermural sports - campus life is what they are seeking.</p>
<p>Others want to explore a new city, go to clubs, major sporting events, shop, etc. They can’t wait to live off-campus after their freshman year.</p>
<p>And of course, there are those kids who want both experiences simultaneously!</p>
<p>I just know that in my own college experience - this was an issue I did not adequately address. I ended up at a small isolated campus that looked gorgeous - but had very little to do. I am much more of a wanderer/explorer and would have been way better off at a larger, more urban campus. So - it helps if your kid can identify what type of experience they are looking for.</p>
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<p>rvm-good advice. My D is more of a stay at home, hang out with friends type but she does occasionally like to go shopping, go out to dinner or a movie. Based on feedback from these school visits I think she prefers a big campus with the possibility of living/doing things off campus. Her sister is going to an urban campus next year and she also liked that environment.</p>
<p>Another factor is that she goes to a small high school and is anxious to go somewhere where people don’t all know each other and there is less gossip about who is doing what with whom.</p>
<p>Also small schools seem to draw a certain type of student whether they be more intellectual, quirky, artsy etc. each small campus seems to have its own vibe whereas a larger campus has a larger variety of people and it is easier to find people with whom you’ll feel compatible.</p>
<p>PS- neither of the smaller schools seemed to have a large percentage of Jewish kids and while we are not Jewish we live in a very mixed area and are used to more diversity.</p>