<p>Re fridges again, my mom wants to get DS a 1.8 cu ft Emerson she saw at Target…is this an ok size/brand? Thanks!</p>
<p>Thanks Chardo, Shulamit and Pennylane! His mom’s a smart cookie and I’d like to think I’m no pushover either. He has offers from top Division 1 schools, and smaller schools too, but really trying to focus first and foremost on quality of coaching staff, their character and principles. After all, these are the adults that will be the strongest influence, year-round, for the next 4-5 years, besides his mom. Academics and campus characteristics are huge factors as well. UMD is top contender right now and he’s at UDel today. Clemson and Old Dominion next week. Looks like these schools might be the final four. He wants broadcast journalism and my friend was very impressed with UMD’s program. Big decision! And a nice break from obsessing about Cheergirl’s options lol!</p>
<p>have fun, momentscaught! I miss those college trip days!</p>
<p>Here’s the experience of a close friend. Her son was in a similar (although lower division schools) position, high on the recruiters lists. He received a lot of attention and scouts were present at many of his games junior and senior year. </p>
<p>He was also a good student so my friend counseled him to enroll at the school that he liked the best academically, that had his major, while still considering where he wanted to play, the coach, team spirit, etc.</p>
<p>He is very glad he followed his mother’s advice. He tore up his knee halfway into the first season and ultimately had to have surgery and quit football. </p>
<p>He’s is a very happy and successful student at the school, able to continue attending due to his academic merit aid.</p>
<p>Hopefully your friend’s son will have an injury free 4 years. But it never hurts to have a Plan B.</p>
<p>Hello everyone, </p>
<p>I posted a few months ago and got some great advice on this thread. However, we are not making as much progress as I had hoped for. Sorry for such a long post, I am trying to provide more information so that my question makes sense.</p>
<p>If only my D listened to me and DH, improved her GPA a bit more (it was very realistic), was more serious about her SATs and got a summer job, it would’ve made things so much easier 
</p>
<p>Currently, her weighted GPA is 3.2 - 87.4 overall, 89 for junior year, 2 honor classes. No APs but she is taking 2 college-level courses during the senior year. Her SAT is just over 1700 (up 90 points on the 2nd try). She is going to try again in October but I doubt she will do a lot better simply because she is not studying enough. She started taking one practice test each week and does a bit of practicing every day which according to her is sufficient. Unfortunately, her CR score is only 530 (Math is 620, Writing is 560) and, as far as I understand the SAT, she would need to work a lot harder to raise it significantly. I’ll be very happy if it happens but can’t count on it. </p>
<p>She does have a lot of volunteering/service, music/dance and some leadership with many years of involvement in each activity. But this summer she hasn’t done anything yet, wanted to find a job but again didn’t listen when I told her to start aggressively looking back in April. Just like with everything else these days, not enough effort and commitment. By the time she got around, it was too late. Agh…at least may be this will serve as a life lesson for the future, may I hope for that?</p>
<p>We visited several schools in NY,PA,DE and MA, we are in NJ and D wants to go “away”. Ideally, not too far away. Financially, we are in a category where she will not qualify for aid but we can’t afford to pay 50K a year either. We have been saving for her and her younger sister’s education for years and that helps of course but still…</p>
<p>Long story short, my original thought after reading these boards was to steer her towards a smaller school. Academically, I believe (and actually she is in agreement with me) that she does better when she has a more personal relationship with her teachers, feels comfortable to stop by and ask questions etc. She struggles somewhat with comprehension, hence the low CR score, and I think she knows it and would rather ask her questions privately after class than during. I really don’t see her as an independent student who can just “run with it”, at least not yet. </p>
<p>However, it is apparent that she is not very comfortable with the idea of a small school, her concerns are “it is like our HS, everyone here knows everyone”, cliques etc. I guess she is looking for a completely new experience which a larger school would offer. Out of the schools we visited, she liked UDel the most with the exception of its big party school reputation (she is very social but not a big party person). However, UDel is definitely a high reach for her coming OOS. She also liked Ithaca but it is a reach too and she would need merit aid which is highly unlikely. We also visited UMass last year, she didn’t like it at all, too big. So it seems that we are looking for medium size schools where she has a better chance of getting in, residential, not a “commuter school”, active campus but not known as a huge party/drinking school, not too far from NJ and which would also have an active Hillel, strong liberal arts and if not smaller classes then approachable professors, reasonably good advising and reasonable graduation/retention rate. Some singing and dance opportunities for non-majors would be a big plus as well as a bus or a train to NJ or NYC. </p>
<p>We are not ruling out flying. If she finds a school that is great for her and it is a plane ride away, we will have to look at the entire picture, not just the distance. </p>
<p>Are there such schools within her reach or not really? I even suggested Catholic/Christian schools at some point but having a Jewish community on campus is very important to D so I think that is out. She will apply to our state schools of course, there are some that are safety as well but they are either commuter schools or have a lot of students who go home on weekends. We’ll be looking into SUNY schools also, perhaps Cortland? I am somewhat concerned about the budget cuts at SUNY, it seems to come up a lot. Does anyone know how much of an issue that is?</p>
<p>Any other schools to check or just stay within the state and forget the OOS idea?</p>
<p>How about James Madison , George mason and college of charleston?</p>
<p>I’d check out SUNY New Paltz and Oneonta too.</p>
<p>University of Mary Washington?
Christopher Newport University?</p>
<p>NeedPlanB,</p>
<p>If you live in New Jersey and your D wants to “go away” to school, meaning out of state, then that increases the cost issue.</p>
<p>All private schools are going to have their same price tag regardless and state schools obviously have higher costs for OOS students.</p>
<p>Your only option would be to achieve some merit aid but, to be honest, with your D’s statistics that is going to be harder to come by.</p>
<p>That aside, the most numerous “mid-size” schools are state university branch campuses. And since you live in NJ I would check out either the many SUNY schools or the Penn State branch campuses such as Lehigh Valley, Berks, Abington, York, Hazelton, Schuylkill, etc.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>NeedPlanB - have a look at University of Hartford. Academically could be a good fit, active Hillel, lots of NJ kids. Somewhat of a party reputation but that’s not across the board.</p>
<p>While you’re in the area, maybe Quinnipiac?</p>
<p>Hi - hang in there - you will successfuly naviagte this process!</p>
<p>Two quick thoughts - ACT? I only saw you mention the SAT. So many kids do better on the ACT. Buy the red prep book or get a free practice test from your hs. The ACT questions are more direct and you are not penalized for wrong answers, but time mgmt is key.</p>
<p>For college ideas - Towson University - outside of Baltimore - comes to mind. Mid-sized campus - has shopping/restaurants and movies close by and very close to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Price is reasonable - not in the $50,000 range - and her stats would fit. Large Jewish population due to Baltimore proximity. It is somewhat of a commuter school, as many do live off campus or live at home in the Baltimore area, but I beleve something like 16,000 live on campus.</p>
<p>Just checked - Towson is about $34,000/year for OOS.</p>
<p>Hey, an internet post that brings fame to my hometown!</p>
<p>Chris Newport and Mary Washington are not medium size, more LAC-sized.
JMU and Towson are good suggestions. Perhaps venture into Ohio for Miami and Ohio U.</p>
<p>Have you looked into Pace?</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I just typed a huge response and lost it when my login timed out. Will try again tomorrow.</p>
<p>Quick question to Vitrac, do you think my D would have a chance at GMU? It sounds like they are increasing OOS % (20% of the last freshman class) and according to some very positive posts on CC, it is no longer a commuter school? Her GPA is definitely low (3.66 is the average), SAT is OK but they seem to be SAT optional so it only “considered”</p>
<p>^ I don’t know why CC logs you out while typing a post. BTW the log out time seems ridiculously short?</p>
<p>How about Hofstra?</p>
<p>Just wanted to share that S2 heads back to Elon tomorrow to start sophomore year. (He goes early due to his campus job). It’s hard to believe that it was 2 years ago that I was stressing about college applications! It goes by very quickly, and from what I have seen, it generally all works out in the end. So, if I could time travel back to August 2011, I would tell myself to chill! For those of you with rising seniors, take a deep breath and try to stay calm. If you need to vent, we are here for you.</p>
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<p>Well, instead of arguing semantics, we can just use real world numbers.</p>
<p>Both CNU and UMW have 5,000 students. I don’t know any LACs that size. All, I’m aware of, are in the 1,500 to 2,200 range.</p>
<p>And James Madison has 20,000! That’s pretty darn big. Not Penn State-University Park big but still large nonetheless. Have you been there? It is almost two miles from one end of campus to the other!</p>