Type of high school: Public, ranked 442 nationally by U.S. News
Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Other special factors: Football and lacrosse (wants to play Lax in college at the d3 level)
*Intended Major: Comp Sci (possibly minor in business)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.786
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 3.954 on 4.0 scale
Class Rank: HS does not rank students
ACT/SAT Scores: Taking soon, scored 1160 in PSAT, will work to bring score way up and will also take ACT
Coursework
*AP classes: US Govt, English, Pre-Calc, US History
Math: Has completed H Geo 1 and H Alg II
French V (currently honors)
Elective: Philharmonia (orchestra). Will take comp sci senior year as he’ll be able to drop foreign language
Awards
Maximum honors student Freshman-Junior
French National Honor Society
CCC All-Academic Team for football and lacrosse 2022 & 2023
Extracurriculars
Football Leadership Council, President HS Orchestra, summer and fall club lacrosse team
Cost Constraints / Budget
Academic/merit scholarships a priority, expecting minimal FA, around $30k out of pocket max.
Would like to stay in the Northeast/New England area but will go further out for the right fit, but prefers colder weather so nothing too far south. Won’t consider a school with less than 1500 students, but doesn’t want a huge campus, either. Not a partier, thrives in a community atmosphere, would like a school with an active sports scene, more a relationship guy than joe campus. Not sure if any of this helps but figured it was worth mentioning. Thanks!
I only have questions for you
Has he begun the recruiting process? (If not, he should get on that asap). If he has, what kind of feedback has he had?
Any merit money is solely going to be related to academics. So to get a lot – and others can chime in as to whether $50,000 a year (for a private school) is realistic – he will have to drop down a few levels academically. That is, he would focus on schools where he’s in the top 10%,wrt academic stats.
Are there any state schools that fit the bill? I know some SUNYs are d3, but they are bigger. Eta, I see you are in CT; I don’t know that state school system unfortunately.
Welcome to CC! For very high academic D3 lacrosse recruiting, (Williams, Colby, Middlebury, Swarthmore etc), your son will need a very strong application plus coach support. My son was recruited by the coaches of 2 of those schools, but admissions said no on his pre-read. His profile was similar to your son’s. Also, had admissions said yes, there would have been zero merit money. There are many others that are great schools with less difficult admissions- Dickinson, Gettysburg, Franklin and Marshall, Denison (where my son is committed), Union, St. Lawrence, to name a few. As PP stated, if he hasn’t started the recruiting process he needs to get on that now. Have his club or high school coach help. There’s a great showcase at Brunswick in early June, the Prep School showcase, that he should do. Lots of D3 coaches are there. Best of luck, feel free to message me if you’d like as we just went through this.
Right right. If he’s a recruitable athlete to D3 men’s lacrosse teams, he should be engaged in this process right now. (Here’s a non-confirmed list of schools.) You will want to have a real sense of the possibilities here as he’s doing the rest of the work. If he is recruitable, then the schools and their conferences will dictate the academic standards.
I think the list of D3 schools with >1500 students that have the merit budget to take students down to $30K where this student will be in the top 10% is very small. Adrian? Fairleigh Dickinson? Gettysburg? Ithaca? (Possibly Ithaca.) I’m just guessing here.
Sounds like you should definitely reach out to @laxmom24! Good luck.
Eastern Connecticut State University, Western Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University and Central Connecticut State University should all come in at your price point, and will be probable academic acceptances.
UConn…my opinion is that this student could be accepted to a UConn branch…instate COA now is about $35,000 (not including health insurance and books). But UConn is test optional through 2026, so that could help this student. Have you spoken to the college counselor at his high school about this.
This all does not take athletic recruiting into consideration…at all.
Ignoring the lacrosse recruiting possibilities (which, depending on the school, could be a big hook), here is a not-small list of schools that are primarily in the northeast that are small to mid-size that I think would have a chance (or perhaps even a very good chance) of getting into the target price range.
Some of these are state schools, some private schools, some at schools with a religious affiliation that are very open to people of all faiths and sexual identies, and some with more conservative religious backgorounds. This is just a jumping off point of places that your family may want to consider, and other posters might have specific feedback about some of these that might nudge you toward (or away) from some of them as well.
Arcadia (PA ): About 1900 undergrads
Baldwin Wallace (OH): About 2700 undergrads
Canisius (NY): About 1800 undergrads
Clark (MA): About 2400 undergrads
Frostburg State (MD): About 3300 undergrads
Hobart William Smith (NY): About 1600 undergrads
John Carroll (OH): About 2400 undergrads
Keene State (NJ): About 2700 undergrads
King’s College (PA ): About 1700 undergrads
Merrimack (MA): About 4200 undergrads
Messiah (PA ): About 2500 undergrads
Moravian (PA ): About 1900 undergrads
Plymouth State (NJ): About 3300 undergrads
Saint Anselm (NH): About 2k undergrads
Saint Joseph’s (PA ): About 5100 undergrads
Salisbury (MD): About 6400 undergrads
Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads
Stockton (NJ): About 8100 undergrads
SUNY Brockport: About 5100 undergrads, and tuition should be the same as at UCONN
SUNY New Paltz: About 6100 undergrads, and tuition should be the same as at UCONN
SUNY Oneonta: About 4900 undergrads, and tuition should be the same as at UCONN
SUNY Oswego: About 6k undergrads, and tuition should be the same as at UCONN
SUNY Plattsburgh: About 4k undergrads, and tuition should be the same as at UCONN
Not sure Hobart would work. I know 6 years ago my son with a 34 ACT (I don’t remember his exact gpa) got $27,000/year merit there, and this boy needs $50,000 or so each year. Of course things may have changed, or you may know the school better.
Hobart is also D1 for lacrosse, as are several schools on AustenNut’s list. Some are D2 as well. (although AustenNut did have the caveat of ignoring the lax piece) OP indicated her son is looking for D3 lax.
Thanks everyone for your replies. To say I’m overwhelmed is an understatement. He’s strong academically but not as strong as I thought based on what schools are looking for. So would a school with an average GPA of 3.8 be out of the question? Want to be as realistic as possible through the process. Guidance is providing some help but it’s quite generic at this point.
Yes, he has started the process, has reached out to almost 60schools/coaches knowing he’d need to cast a very wide net. He’s had some convos with a handful of coaches, most from PA it seems. He’s realistic about level of play so not pursuing the top d3 schools. Our state schools that offer lax only do so at the club level which I float out every once in a while but he’s not ready to “give up” on NCAA. He’s currently talking to Allegheny, Moravian, Arcadia.
As others have said, my first thought was the SUNYs.
You’re looking for DIII lacrosse, but at a school that isn’t too small, and for 30K/year or less, with stats/rigor that will not pull in big merit from competitive schools… and also colder weather. Those are a lot of constraints.
The mid-sized SUNY schools have solid STEM, DIII Lax, and both flagship-match and merit to get you within budget. Also, the travel isn’t onerous, because the whole league is composed of SUNY schools: 2022 Men's Lacrosse Standings - SUNYAC For an athlete in a demanding major, keeping the travel manageable can make a real difference.
I’m not familiar with whether the playing level at DIII vs. DII schools overlaps - would DII be a possibility? A strong STEM school with an NCAA DII team is U of Alabama Huntsville (which has a cooler climate than most of Alabama). Auto-merit would bring UAH within budget, with his GPA, if he can clear a 32 ACT or 1450 SAT. (If his weighted GPA hits 4.0, then the test-score threshold to make budget drops to 28/1310.)
Would a club team work? U of Maine’s club team plays in MCLA DII, and that’s another flagship-match school where you’d pay, at most, the in-state cost of UConn. SCSU is also in this league, as is URI, although I’m not sure whether URI could make budget or not. UConn has a D1 club team (as does UNH). I’m not knowledgeable, at all, about how club team playing levels compare.
In terms of privates that are large enough and might give enough merit… maybe Ithaca College? (4600 undergrads, and cross-reg potential with Cornell… and they have a business minor that could complement the CS major.)
Any school that doesn’t offer merit aid are no-gos because OP won’t qualify for much if any need based aid.
These could work out. Also some good suggestions so far, you might expand to D2 schools as well…there is a great deal of overlap in talent between divisions. Good luck.
Have you run the NPC on your instate universities?
Are those affordable?
Then do the same for SUNYs -Cortland is good for athletes though D3, I think, and merit likely; Suny Albany and Buffalo; Geneseo would meet many criteria (Lax, Weighted GPA, cold, cost, size).
In PA, Bloomsburg, Millersville, and especially West Chester though I don’t know if they have Lax. Wondering if Susquehanna, Arcadia, Lycoming, Muhlenberg might give enough merit.
Private colleges in Maryland? Not sure they’d match your price point though. He basically needs a full tuition scholarship.
St Michael’s in Vermont (D2, generous with merit, true “student athlete” spirit).
Is he good enough for Dll (not always better than D3)? St. Michael’s in Vt might come in at your price point if he gets either the top merit award or the Book Award. Here is info so that his CC can nominate him if interested.
Book Award
The Saint Michael’s Book Award Scholarship recognizes students who exhibit the characteristics of the ideal Saint Michael’s student: Strong academic achievement and a strong social conscience. This is a national scholarship for which high schools across the country are eligible to nominate two students in the spring of their junior year that they feel best fit these characteristics. Book Award Scholarships range from $25,000 to full-tuition annually for 4 years*, depending upon academic achievement. The amount of the Book Award Scholarship is not determined until a student’s complete application and academic record have been reviewed. As a premier Saint Michael’s academic scholarship, the Book Award supersedes any other Saint Michael’s merit scholarship.
School counselors interested in nominating a current high school junior for the Book Award should contact us for full details about the nomination process.
My son is committed to Gettysburg to play a sport in Fall 24 and my understanding is that most student athletes receive level of merit. This was not formally discussed during the pre-read and nothing was promised, but we were surprised and thrilled to receive 33K a year for 4 years. I think some schools give a lot of merit to athletes and good students and some do not.
The limitation is that athletes on average can’t receive more merit than non-athletes on average…and schools have to report those numbers every year to the NCAA (maybe the Feds?) to ensure they are complying.
