SDSU is basically numbers only admission, but does not publicly show past thresholds like some other CSUs. But it does admit by major, so some majors may be much more selective than the school overall.
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Yes, that “something else” is the essays (and lack thereof at CSUs). There’s no opportunity to explain a unique EC or a shortfall in grades, so unless it fits within the narrow bonus point criteria, it doesn’t count for anything. It’s very common that kids are rejected from CalPoly for competitive majors, but get into T20s, sometimes even Stanford.
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Works for me!
If you do a search on CC on St. Olaf, you’ll find some discussion of this. We are culturally Jewish but also atheists. S23 wouldn’t even look at high schools with “St” in the name, but we did look at St. Olaf for college (the only SLAC he looked at). We really liked St O’s approach to religion. It was much more humanistic and philosophical than it was about any specific religion. Considering its size, it is a very diverse campus in both culture and thought.
Here are the religion classes they offer this year. While S23 has no interest in religion, he could have been completely enthusiastic about taking almost any of these classes. Religion < St. Olaf College
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I have a child at Trinity U (San Antonio) and love that place. Highly recommend it. Child is a STEM major and it’s going well.
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What about Brandeis, Franklin & Marshall, Drew, Wheaton?
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And I love Vassar, see what his stats look like when it gets closer. With a 1500 I think Vassar could be a contender.
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Update after Tennessee trip: Rhodes was a hit with our son, despite suboptimal weather. We went two days in a row – once to have lunch and do an unofficial tour with a friend’s kid; then again to do an official tour + sit in on a class.
My own feelings were more complicated. The Rhodes kids were nice. The campus was pretty. It did feel smaller and more provincial than I was expecting, with a high percentage of students coming from the immediately surrounding areas. I think for a kid coming right out of high school it would be comfortable, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. I wonder if it would challenge him/stretch him enough, though. I also took a closer look at how students sort themselves across majors and it seemed like a ton of pre-med/pre-law/pre-business.
We did a drive-by of Vanderbilt (when in Nashville…) but he really wasn’t interested and campus was deserted the day before Thanksgiving. He thought the frat/sorority houses looked like dental offices and was (I think) kind of overwhelmed by the scale of the school compared to Rhodes. We didn’t make it to Sewanee – it was too much driving (especially considering that we were renting an EV and needed to charge en route).
PS: he got his PSAT scores back and appears to be one point shy of NMSF qualifying in our state (720 Verbal/760 Math → index score of 220, and he probably needs 221). He was disappointed but I think this gives him the impetus to practice more for the SAT. Onward!
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Congrats to him on such great PSAT scores! As for the visits, good to begin and see what lands and what misses the mark, size, architecture, vibe (when students are there).
For us, these visits were so good for learning what characteristics my kid liked and also what she didn’t like. Even though we had several visits that resulted in schools coming off her list (or not being added to the list), I think they were all time well spent. Her absolute favorite college on paper (by paper I mean video lol) her sophomore year was Mt Holyoke. She was head over heels, and at one point even expressed interest in EDing there. By senior year it had moved down the list, and when we finally visited September of senior year it ended up being dropped entirely.
Some schools really need to be experienced in person to be understood, which was why Rhodes never made it to our list despite all the great things I had heard, and I cringe to admit it, but the south was never even considered for my LGBTQ indie yet outdoorsy west coast kid.
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We had a similar Mt. Holyoke experience. Endless viewings of the website, mooning over the virtual tour and academic descriptions. Dropped off the list completely after a visit. The thing that was a bit strange is that it felt exactly like the website to me. No false advertising. Just the vibe felt wrong for daughter. Daughter complained they talked too much about Dirty Dancing during the tour, as she put it, “Baby definitely won’t be at Holyoke in the Fall”.
I hope @goldbug, your son can try to figure out what spoke to him specifically at Rhodes so you can find other schools with those same characteristics. We found each small LAC to have completely different vibes so figuring out if it was the pre-professional part of Rhodes he liked, or the nice kid vibe, or the location, etc will be important in figuring out the where to check out next.
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hilarious! And yes, vibe was way off. But food was good!
Food was excellent, definite highlight.
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Kind of late to this post but I had to comment on how in tune you seem as a parent. I too have adhd kids (2 very different ones) and one is a junior with very similar stats to yours. We have lots of overlap in our list but my kid is a humanities kid thru and thru, possibly art major. We are headed to junior day at Macalester in February. Maybe we’ll meet you there!
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Here’s hoping it won’t be during another polar vortex! I’d be curious to hear more about your journey. I’ve recently become more intrigued by Colorado College, which seems to combine a bunch of nice-for-my-kid things in one tidy package (mountains/snow sports/cycling team/one course at a time/sunshine even in the winter!) But, of course, it’s super selective.
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One school that would be a highly likely acceptance that has some similarities to this is U. of Montana Western. It’s a WUE school, so your son wouldn’t be as far away from home. It has about 1400 undergrads at its residential campus, and it’s the only public school I’m aware of that offers classes one at a time, like Colorado and Cornell College(s). It offers business and most academic areas, but I don’t think that physical sciences are an area of strength. With its location I suspect that skiing and hiking and such would be pretty accessible.
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We should chat, D24 was recently accepted ED there and I’m happy to give your more info as we learn more, attend admitted student day, and of course after she launches in August. I’ve often thought it might be a great fit for your son, but didn’t want to seem overly biased (lol).
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Colorado College is kind of an up or down school, depending on the kid. The main thing to focus on is the school’s block plan structure, where the students study only one subject for a three-week term, then take a break and then start another subject. I was excited about the school, but my son was horrified - he kept talking about how being sick for a day would be like being sick for a week in an ordinary program, and the people we spoke with at the school (info session and tour) didn’t really provide much assurance this wouldn’t be a problem. (I would look at the four-year graduation rate if that’s an issue for you.) On the other hand, my daughter really liked the idea of being able to focus on just one thing at a time and ended up at a school with a somewhat similar structure. Colorado College is beautiful, and it was clear that students take advantage of the mountains during those extended breaks between the three-week periods. I don’t remember the area around the school, as we stayed at the hotel at the Denver airport and drove back and forth on the same day. This was our junior-year spring trip, and we had been from California to Texas to North Carolina to Maine, with Colorado as our last stop before flying back to Tokyo. Of course, he ended up in Ohio!
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Have you thought about getting formal neuropsychological testing done for your son? You mention ADHD and executive function issues. Knowing exactly what his weaknesses are will help for future. It may also help him get necessary accommodations for college.
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Yes, I’m hoping the weather cooperates a bit. I don’t want him to make his decision before we even get out of the car! 
I also was very intrigued by Colorado college and thought it might be a great fit, but my son is Transgender and the LGBTQ club attack in the area really turned me off. So it’s off the list. So many parameters to work with!
Thanks for the suggestion. We did the testing years ago and are actually in the middle of updating it so that accommodations are possible.
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