<p>You know what I love? That I make suggestions here, and people listen and respond!!!
That’s very different from what happens here at home…</p>
<p>You know what I love? People here ^^ make me smile and laugh. That’s very different from what (usually) happens at home. ;)</p>
<p>^^^know what you mean. keep smiling!!!</p>
<p>Does anyone know if West Chester college offers merit aid or is it another $50,000 X 4 school?</p>
<p>ok- I am flitting in and out of this thread as my youngest kid just graduated and we are no longer looking at college admission- </p>
<p>But re: West Chester
that was the only school that my kid was rejected from. She had solid stats for west chester (B+ average and 23 ACT’s.) and was accepted to about 10 other schools including Towson- GMU-Tampa-Temple and a host of SUNY’s. But West Chester was a No Go!!
It’s definitely worth consideration and an application- but their admission process may be a bit quirky especially for OOS kids (we’re NY).<br>
also- alot of OOS public’s do have a bit of a commuter reputation. I think that was the main reason my d decided on a SUNY even though she had lots of choices.
She actually thought long and hard about George Mason. She liked the campus, atmosphere and being close to DC. But on a second trip, she felt it might be too dead on the week-ends and she didn’t want to “pick her friends” based on who was around on the week-ends.</p>
<p>so for all our travel, effort and thought we put into the process, my kid picked SUNY Cortland- which really did floor us as d always said she wouldn’t go to a SUNY as it’s too cold- too rural etc. </p>
<pre><code>so just my suggestion: you don’t need to go too crazy with this process. Have a few
</code></pre>
<p>solid suggestions for your kids- But they are going to make the final decision anyway. And it may be the school that you least expect.</p>
<p>and Happy ending- my d really loved her time in Cortland and she was a bit sad at graduation leaving cortland and her college life behind. (well she’s extending her time a bit upstate as she is working through the summer upstate and will be waitressing in cortland this summer when the Jets come back for training camp.</p>
<p>marny1 - that is shocking! Did you ever make any sense of it? I mean, did your GC call and ask why or anything like that? Sounds very contrary to what I would have expected. Very few from our hs have applied there - but those who did were accepted.</p>
<p>Costs seem reasonable - full-time undergraduate OOS tuition is about $16,000 per year. Room & board - depends on the dorm and the meal plan - but say it is about $8000 per year.</p>
<p>I appreciate your suggestion not to go too crazy with this process! Agree completely. For me, at this point, it has become kind of a hobby. When S2 heads of to college - I’ll have to take up crochet or swing dancing or something. But for now, it’s all about college.</p>
<p>West Chester definitely offers some merit scholarships; how much/many, and how limited to PA residents, I’m not certain. It’s a second- or third-tier public institution (depending how you count tiers), a former teachers’ college, so it isn’t $50,000 x 4 by a long shot. More like half that.</p>
<p>The web site says that merit scholarship applications will automatically be sent to accepted students with top-quintile class rank, GPA > 3.5, and SAT > 1150/1600.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania’s public education system is especially confusing. There is Penn State University, with its many satellite campuses. There are numerous “Commonwealth-affiliated” institutions, including Pitt, Temple, Cheyney, Lincoln, Dickinson Law, the first two of which have multiple campuses of their own. And then there is the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, with 14 separate state universities. West Chester is (I think) the largest and most popular of these.</p>
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<p>RVM- I didn’t pursue it with GC. My kid did not fall in love with west chester and she was truly happy with her SUNY acceptances (who would have thunk it) so it just wasn’t worth the effort. </p>
<p>As a New Yorker, I didn’t realize the popularity of West Chester. (I never heard of it either. I think we found it when we took a mini vacation to the Longwood Gardens in delaware. I’ll admit, I did enjoy the process of looking at schools. We really did try to incorporate a mini-vacation and college hunting at the same time.) West Chester did have a high amount of applicants (if memory is correct- over 10,000 applied). So once I realized that, her rejection was not such a shock. </p>
<p>and JHS- you are right. I had no clue about the different types of public U’s in Pa. Temple/Pitt/Penn State/ West Chester. They do seem to fall into different categories of public affiliation.
we may have different types of institutions in NYS- like Suny colleges vs. university centers vs technical schools & community colleges. But the are all under SUNY and they are all listed under in the SUNY website. Makes it easier to shop around.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip on Longwood Gardens - DH hates that sort of thing - but if I can tie it in with a college visit I may yet get there!</p>
<p>@rockvillemom
Does your kid get B grades in Honors/AP courses or the regular courses?</p>
<p>Longwood is also near the Dupont estate at Winterthur and the Wyeth collection at the Brandywine Museum.</p>
<p>dylandlima - he generally gets Bs in his honors courses and As in his regular courses - giving him abut a 3.5 gpa and about a 3.9wgpa. I know different people define a “B” student in different ways - I consider him a “B” student because many of those Bs were very low - would be B- if our transcripts were done that way - same with the As - many are really A-. Our hs only shows the letter A, B or C on the transcript and then they add 1 point for each honors or AP class to the gpa. So, he really benefits from this system!</p>
<p>yabeyabe - I’m sensing a birthday request/college trip merger.</p>
<p>Banner Year for 'Berg Admissions</p>
<p>ALLENTOWN, Pa. (May 24, 2010) For the fifth straight year, Muhlenberg College has received more than 4,300 applications for freshman admission. This year’s total is 4,569, up from 4,410 last year.</p>
<p>The College is on target to enroll 595 first-year students this fall. Current net first-year deposits stand at 621. The College is seeking to maintain steady enrollment of about 2,200 traditional day students.</p>
<p>For the past 11 years, the College has admitted fewer than 50 percent of its applicants. This year’s acceptance rate is 48 percent. Less than 150 colleges nationally admit less than half of their applicants.</p>
<p>“Quality continues to be the name of the game,” say Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Christopher Hooker-Haring. “All of our key quality indicators improved again this year. We also made significant strides with our diversity initiatives.” More than 11 percent of the incoming class will be made up of students of color, the largest entering group of multicultural students in the College’s history.
A major addition to Seegers Union, a new performing arts rehearsal house, a major Hillel expansion, and several recently built residence halls have contributed to Muhlenberg’s momentum on the admissions front. Several new academic programs in areas such as Film Studies, Finance, African American Studies and Public Health also have spurred student interest, according to Hooker-Haring. But, he notes that “it is still the Muhlenberg people - students, faculty and staff - who make the experience what it is and are our primary drawing card. Prospective students and parents often comment on the special sense of community and high energy they experience when they visit our campus. That’s a difference-maker for us.”</p>
<p>Interesting–4569 applications and a 48% acceptance rate resulting in 621 deposits suggests their yield on acceptances is under 30%, despite their heavy use of ED. Part of the reason colleges are so expensive is the vast amount of money they must spend trying to lure the kidis who are admitted to actually enroll.</p>
<p>This would suggest there should be a lot of pressure to keep aid for ED kids similar to RD kids, because ED is so cost-effective for them–to get 1 kids to enroll, the basically have to either admit 1 ED (assuming almost all enroll) or 4 or 5 RD.</p>
<p>I agree - that has been a question in my mind as well - one I will have to address further when we visit this fall. I have heard anecdotes that ED admits get good FA and merit aid - but I would want to see hard numbers on that before considering it. I think this is a school that will give you an “early read” on FA if you are considering applying ED.</p>
<p>What does anyone know about Skidmore? Might be reachy for a B student and I don’t think S2 wants that climate - but it is 20% Jewish - 2400 students - does have a business major. Just curious.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter just graduated from Skidmore. Yes a reach for B students. Good school, but traditionally a LAC for girls, so the gender ratio may be very good for your son, but check how extensive the business courses are.</p>
<p>Because business is a very popular major because it suggests that kids can get jobs, many LACs have added business majors, but some offer just enough business courses for kids to cobble together a major by taking all of them, even those where the profs are not well thought of, or which are irrelevant to the business career they seek.</p>
<p>For example, a kid who wants to be an accountant or a marketer without going on for an MBA will need more than a couple of courses in the area.</p>
<p>When my older S applied to college we struggled with the decision about ED and I searched these forums for advice. While the school S would have applied to told us that applying ED gives you an advantage with FA since none of the money had been given out yet, others on this site made another point. They said that while you can get out of ED for financial reasons the amount of time it took to be realeased from the ED obligation could interfere with RD applications. Others didn’t think this was likely to be a problem but it dissuaded S from applying ED…End of story, he was WL’d at top pick but found a new top pick that accepted him with good FA, a happy ending!</p>
<p>Regarding the poster requesting information about game design: if the student wants to approach it from an art standpoint rather than an engineering standpoint (in other words, if the student wants to study animation, sound design, interactive media, etc.), you might want to check out Emerson College in Boston. Interactive media is described here:
[Interactive</a> Media | Emerson College](<a href=“Academic Departments, Undergraduate & Graduate Programs, Emerson College”>Academic Departments, Undergraduate & Graduate Programs, Emerson College)</p>
<p>Except for a handful of highly prestigious schools (Ivys, MIT, etc.), I don’t expect yield to be high because I hear that a good number of kids are applying to large numbers of schools. Many of these kids will get multiple offers.</p>