<p>CCC: My DS is a rising senior at CofC (how time flies!). I am going to check all these wonderful suggestions!</p>
<p>Stillnadine: </p>
<p>The University of Kansas might be a possibility. Here is a link to the admission requirements for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: </p>
<p>[Freshmen</a> admission requirements - KU Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.ku.edu/apply/requirements/freshmen/?s=clas]Freshmen”>http://admissions.ku.edu/apply/requirements/freshmen/?s=clas)</p>
<p>These standards had been set by the legislature. The legislature recently voted to allow the Regents to set different (higher) standards but only after a phase in period, so students already in high school before the legislative change wouldn’t have to meet the new requirements to be set by the Regents. These still apply for the next class. Schools at KU other than CLAS have different requirements.</p>
<p>KU is a much better school than its difficulty of admission and has a large and active Jewish community. [A</a> Great Place to be Jewish - University of Kansas Hillel](<a href=“http://kansas.hillel.org/home/about/greatplace.aspx]A”>http://kansas.hillel.org/home/about/greatplace.aspx)</p>
<p>It’s cost of attendance is reasonable and they commit to no tuition increase for 4 years:</p>
<p>[Freshman</a> Tuition Compact - KU Affordability](<a href=“http://affordability.ku.edu/cs/compact.shtml]Freshman”>http://affordability.ku.edu/cs/compact.shtml)</p>
<p>So it has been an afternoon of minor meltdowns. Nothing of epic proportions but just enough for me to be desperately tired within one hour of kids coming home from school.</p>
<p>D was markedly unhappy with her SAT results. While I know she would have liked to have done better, she did raise the math section some, which was her goal at the time. At least now it is somewhat respectable although not even on the CC chain! Unfortunately, she is very centered (today) on getting merit money from Ca$e or St 0 and I don’t see that in the cards, at least not in the amounts that she would need. I didn’t say much b/c now isn’t the time. I’ll let her decide if she wants to take it again or let it be. I’m inclined to say let it be, go to a school you like and will be happy attending (and that is affordable) and then kick a$$ with an eye toward graduate school. We’ll see.</p>
<p>S13yo was freaking out b/c he got called to the VP office today b/c he has had three tardies during the school year (quarter? who knows?) He claims two of them shouldn’t have been tardies. He was literally in tears. One more and he gets an after school detention. He HATES getting in trouble with a white hot passion and he was HOT. I just told him to make sure he gets his a$$ to class on time for the next, oh, six days, and otherwise to let it go and not freak out.</p>
<p>CALGON, where are you??</p>
<p>StillNadine, check out Westfield State in Mass (that may not be the exact name). The school is relatively small and has a really good learning center (so good with kids that are not top students in grades and scores-but good kids). Also, University of Hartford may be a good fit and does give money. Good luck.</p>
<p>I will second KU. It is a good school (much better than admissions would indicate). However, It is very big and very easy to get lost in. It also seems to have a very prevalent “party” culture. If your child knows what she wants and is not afraid to ask for help if she needs it, KU may be just wonderful. The Jewish community is very active.</p>
<p>Vandygrad: I didn’t see that your question was answered a while back so I’ll field it and hopefully this isn’t redundant. Most private schools do superscore the SAT meaning that they only count the highest score in each section. I don’t know about most publics but our Texas schools do not superscore. If you have a student with lopsided scores superscoring can be a big advantage because if a student does well in one section they pretty much can ignor it when reviewing for the next test. </p>
<p>Stillnadine: I don’t know your daughter or her mathematical skill so I can only make a general comment. I have heard that the math score is easier to raise than the CR score. If her score doesn’t seem to be in line with her ability then it may be a matter of learning more about how to take the test and brushing up on skills. I wouldn’t think about increasing a certain percent rather I would think in terms of what I saw her capabilities as being and then, if it is important to her and her goals working toward that level. I also thought of Socaldad when I read your post. You will probably be encouraged by reading his posts from a year ago. One thing that we have seen on this thread is that kids have their strengths and weakenesses if they find schools that are a good fit and they can sell their strengths they can be successful. But it is important to set sights on affordable targets. Unfortunately affordability has to be a component of the definition of a school that is a fit.</p>
<p>Stillnadine,</p>
<p>First, there is still time to raise scores. Consider spending time tutoring all summer and retaking in fall. Have you tried the ACT? I found the ACt was better for both of my d’s.<br>
MY D2 started out with a 21 ACT. With a lot of hard work, she got it to 25, which translate to 1730 SAT.</p>
<p>I agree with Kansas. We went and visited. A nice campus. A much better college town than you would think. Campus nicely situated on a hill. While the school has 25K students, it did not feel that large. School has a nice jewish population. They start accepting applications in August. If your D has a 2.5 GPA, she will get in. Check the site. Might not even need SAT scores.<br>
Might look at Arizona as well. With a slight upward tick in scores, this could be an option.</p>
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<p>rodney - What’s the status of the Jewish population at Tampa? Small? Small and growing? Decent?</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, the cost of attendance for OOS students for:</p>
<p>U of Kansas is over $30K (though you gotta love the 4 year tuition freeze).</p>
<p>U of Arizona is over $40K.</p>
<p>U of Hartford is over $42K.</p>
<p>U of Tampa is over $33K.</p>
<p>How generous are their merit scholarships?</p>
<p>I guess my real question is how do you determine how much to spend on someone who is not just a good student? And who may continue to struggle in college? Sending her to a faraway OOS seems risky. </p>
<p>No question she “deserves” a college experience. She is not a slacker, at all. Part of the problem is that we live in South Carolina. She doesn’t really need a large Jewish population to be happy. She just needs a non-Christian/neutral environment and she won’t get that at our lower tier publics.</p>
<p>stillnadine: Have you looked at Coastal Carolina U? They have a Hillel, and I think your daughter would meet their admissions requirements. UHartford is another good suggestion.
UTampa is a welcoming school for Jewish students, although not particularly generous with FinAid.</p>
<p>Guys!!! This is a time for new beginnings; try not to dwell on then lasts (easier said than done, I know).</p>
<p>Luvmom,</p>
<p>I assume that you numbers are correct. Though, Arizona seems high to me. kansas is one of the more reasonable OOS publics. One should also know, there are ways to get instate tuition at Kansas after one year. Apparently, many people do it. There is a company in Boulder that assists families in gaining in state at Boulder and some other schools. Kansas is one of them. You only pay them if they succeed in getting you instate. Their web sight is tuition specialist.com.<br>
I am not sure of what other states they help with. Well worth knowing about. As a dad who is paying instate tuition in Texas, I can tell you it is an amazing savings.</p>
<p>Thanks, socaldad.<br>
[Tuition</a> Specialists | Home](<a href=“http://www.tuitionspecialists.com%5DTuition”>http://www.tuitionspecialists.com) - interesting. From their site:
"Currently we work with students attending public universities in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Arizona. However, we are constantly expanding so feel free to reach out if you are considering a different state and we will look into it. </p>
<p>No Risk Guarante
You pay us nothing unless and until you receive in-state tuition. At that point, you pay us 10% of what you would have paid for out-of-state tuition."</p>
<p>I know a number of kids who have successfully used them at Boulder. Very happy parents…I do not have first hand knowledge of anyone using them at Kansas, but heard thru the grapevine that it works there as well. For the right family, this could be the most lucrative tip thus far on this forum.</p>
<p>Okay, so the good news is that my S’s new ACT score very nice: 32. So happy for him, and nice sigh of relief for me! He worked very hard, so I am incredibly proud of him. However, given that he is a B student (reminder: very poor Freshman year, including some Cs, then has improved consistently since - however, over 3 years, B/B+ average), I am wondering if this score actually impacts where he can apply??
We wanted a small school in Northeast,engineering. But it seems like there were no choices so gave up small size as a criteria unfortunately.<br>
He is considering applying to: UMass, UConn, BU, Northeastern, Syracuse, SUNYs. Any ideas regarding if the ACT score opens up any opportunites for him? Do you think UMiami still too reachy (I know it’s not northeast haha!)
Thank you for your thoughts. Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone!</p>
<p>Champs:</p>
<p>where are you located? we are in the same boat as you. B/B+ student looking for engineering in the NE. </p>
<p>Have you looked at the following: Wentworth Inst. near Northeastern, UHartford or Western New England Colleges as safeties, Trinity College in CT as a possiblility (new Hillel building), Union College in NY, Binghamton, WPI, RIT, possibly URochester, although that seems to be a hot school these days…Drexel, Stevens Inst. of Tech in NJ, Rowan?..these are some of the schools on my list to check out…RPI and Northeastern would be a reach for my S2 at the moment, hope that’ll change after Junior year (he’s a soph now).</p>
<p>Did Samtayla, Rodney or RVM have a chance to read my post a few pages back re: The new & improved University Grill near Elon? :)</p>
<p>Re: Coastal Carolina–
In post #5457 in this thread, the rabbi who serves as the Hillel advisor there offered to answer questions. Her email address was deleted by a moderator per site policy, but I think she is easy enough to find online. (If not…let me know by PM. She’s a friend of mine on Facebook.)
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<p>I guess my answer would be that I personally can’t think of a better investment. The A kid with a 2300+ SAT score could get a decent enough education almost anywhere. But a kid to whom studies do not come easily but who is willing to work hard, now that seems to me to hold the possibility that, with the right support in the right environment, this is a young person who might finally find her footing in an academic setting.</p>
<p>Sop14’s Mom, I agree 100%.</p>
<p>Assuming the child wants to go to college, I think every effort should be made to support her.</p>
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<p>We’re all in love with stillnadine’s D, aren’t we? :)</p>
<p>My D2 is a smart, insightful, funny, highly charismatic kid who can be utterly charming when she so chooses…but can also be disrespectful and irresponsible. Her test scores are higher than your D, stillnadine, but it sounds like your kiddo’s lifeskills are far more advanced. </p>
<p>We want to send D2 somewhere where she won’t fall through the cracks. However, the other side of the equation is that the student has to be willing to ask for help when things start going south. If your D is the kind who will seek out help (and it sounds like she is, or could be strongly encouraged to do so), then I’d absolutely vote for investing the money in the place that will help her find her way. </p>
<p>Not that I’ve visited either school yet, but the vibe I hear about Earlham reminds me of the vibe I hear about Guilford.</p>