Hi. I am trying to sort through Fiske and I am completely lost. My son, who is a junior, is open to where and what school he attends. To be completely honest, we are both overwhelmed and could use some advice. About my son: Solid B+ student, junior firefighter, tennis team, very interested in international politics and geopolitics. PSAT scores were not great so he may need to go to a school where that is optional - although getting a tutor for the SAT’s currently. Most important is a diverse campus where kids are immersed in the learning experience. Good internships. Not too far from an interesting city or lively town. A real campus feel. Medium size. Not too sporty or fraternity/sorority focused. A place where teachers are involved and interested in the students. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
For smaller schools take a look at the Colleges that Change Lives.
Any thoughts on budget?
Jesuit schools tend to be medium sized and near cities with an emphasis on teaching and not usually super Greek.
You can go a lot of ways with this - and you can study international politics most anywhere - either as an IR or IS major or poli sci major.
And a B+ will get you into a lot of schools.
Any ideas on budget, environment (weather, urban/rural/suburban, specific area of the country/ What state are you from?
Having a low test doesn’t mean you won’t have or use a test as many schools require or are about to require a test.
But there will be many schools for your student - but a lot depends on desires you have and most especially the budget you have.
Check out Parents of HS Class of 2025 3.0-3.4 GPA (or less)
My D22 had a B+ too but I found lots of helpful info on the 2022 version of that thread.
The regular class of 2025 thread Parents of the HS Class of 2025 will be helpful too but there will be parents of kids there with almost perfect SAT scores and 4.5 GPAs. So sometimes the B thread was more helpful since we weren’t looking at ivies etc.
There will be good options for him. Budget may be the deciding factor unless you have an unlimited budget.
Without knowing more about your preferred area of the country or budget, I would suggest looking at Catholic universities. They most often hit the sweet spot of being mid-size with strong international relations programs, with less Greek life presence, and not too uber-selective.
To start, you might look at Salve Regina University or University of San Francisco, for example.
I might suggest looking into : Vassar, Drexel, Skidmore, Macalster, American, William and Mary -with their partnership with University of Saint Andrews.
These may not be schools you end up applying to but learning about them might help find other schools.
The search can be overwhelming. The more you look at schools, the more you will have responses and a better idea about what might be on the best list. Even looking at schools that seem to have nothing in line with what one is interested in, can have a helpful outcome.
I would also encourage to start with schools that love the “Likely’s” and go from there. There are incredible schools that do not have the top brand name or 34,000 applicants for 500 spots… that are amazing.
A site such as this may help you focus on schools that would be strong for your son’s academic interests:
This is a great suggestion! We visited lots of Jesuit schools that fit this description and applied to several. My D’s favorites among them were LMU, SCU, Loyola Chicago and Providence (not Jesuit, but still Catholic). Among these Loyola Chicago would be likely with merit for a B+ student, and the others would be targets.
Step one is determining your budget. How much can you spend, and will you qualify for need based aid? Do you need merit aid? Home state? Do not look at colleges without that first step; finding a financial fit is the most important step. There are different options at different price levels.
Count me as another vote for Jesuit schools. In addition to those already mentioned here, I would suggest Marquette, Saint Louis U, Xavier, and Creighton.
American matches every one of these criteria:
Located in D.C.
Traditional quad campus
8k undergrads
Students at AU are extremely involved in the community.
AU is DI but doesn’t have a football team or an overwhelming sports culture, and 10% of the student body is in Greek life.
Small class sizes (23 students on average) and all classes are taught by professors.
90% of undergrads do an internship before graduating.
In addition to what @roycroftmom wrote about establishing what the affordable limits are, you might also want to establish some geographical limits for colleges – that is, would you want your son to go to a college or university that can be driven to, or is airplane travel okay? (That is also something that will affect your annual budget, and could limit travel to/from school.) For example, our family lives in the Southeastern U.S.; and my wife and I told our kids that we would not pay for them to go to any school west of the Mississippi River, because of the cost of airline travel that would be involved.
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