Thanks @happy1, I myself am a HUGE fan of Jesuit schools, and medium size enrollments as well; my daughter attends LMU in LA and FWIW there is nonresidential, small Greek presence there…the kind of presence that would be fine for my son and he likes LMU but it’s too far. Georgetown is my son’s dream school but it’s the dream reach and we are not planning on an acceptance there. We are also looking into College of the Holy Cross (again, probably a reach), Loyola MD, and University of St. Louis, the latter two seem a little underwhelming though to others on the list.
@twoinanddone I appreciate the info on Greek and sports adding to the social scene in an area where there isn’t much. Then again, as I mention below, son has a social life, but mostly prefers evenings in at home or quiet gatherings with friends. But it’s something to consider, we’ve been to some schools with teeny towns and he likes the feel of Georgetown, with DC there and the vibrant neighborhood, better.
If he could get that ACT up to a 32 I’d feel more comfortable with all of the reaches on the list, but who knows; and many of our reaches only superscore SAT. We threw around the idea of trying the SAT, but he’s burning out on tests (ACT 3 times already…one mandatory at school that he didn’t prep for long story), and his SAT subject tests did not go well (putting Georgetown even further out of reach…he won’t submit those anywhere else).
So anyway the new suggestions in PA and NY of more likely matches is helpful. I don’t think he will apply ED anywhere. BTW since we are now talking about admissions, he’s white and non hooked and no standout ECs or athletics. Great kid but a little of the “introvert bias” I’ve read about, and also just not an overachiever or competitive guy. So being at the bottom or middle of a schools’ ACT range still makes it a reach, to me.