<p>My d’s poor grades are in honors and AP classes, so I am hoping that the schools will take that into consideration! She does high A’s in her regents level classes. I have tried to convince her to drop down a level in English in particular (writing is very difficult for her). To her credit she would rather get a B or B- in the class and be challenged, then take regents level and get an A or A+. I am hoping that decision won’t come back to haunt her.
Emmybet- it is really hard to know how to calculate gpa. I usually take out all the music/art/gym classes and count everything else (too bad b/c she does well in music and art), because I think most colleges are most interested in core classes (math, social studies, english, science, languages). I also calculate her gpa on an unweighted basis because I have no idea how the colleges will weight them. Doing so puts her somewhere between at 3.3 and 3.7 depending on how she is doing at the moment. However, I feel most comfortable on this discussion board and the 3.3-3.6 board b/c my daughter’s mindset fits in better here (as does mine!)</p>
<p>I think colleges do look carefully at rigor of courses.</p>
<p>Small colleges look much more closely at stats then big State U’s. I’ve heard the spiel at PSU a couple of times and they only look at the GPA’s and SAT scores and don’t even take the time to re-weigh. They are one of the only colleges I know that don’t superscore the SAT’s. I guess it makes sense. With 40,000 undergraduates, they must get thousands and thousands of applications.</p>
<p>rentoffour, Welcome to the forum! Have you looked at Hartwick College in New York? <a href=“http://www.hartwick.edu/x13025.xml[/url]”>http://www.hartwick.edu/x13025.xml</a> We really liked it - friendly students, caring faculty and a really cute town within walking distance. Another college that looked like it had a good Biology program was Marist College also, in NY. <a href=“http://www.marist.edu/about/visit.html[/url]”>http://www.marist.edu/about/visit.html</a> Marist is a bit more popular right now but my son liked Hartwick a little more.</p>
<p>kathiep–planning on looking at Hartwick in the fall. We already looked at SUNY-Oneonta. we would have looked at Hartwick that day also but it was snowy and windy out. Both schools are only about an hour from us.</p>
<p>Thank you Kathiep. We visited Hartwick and she added it to her apply list. D1 and I are Marist alumni. D2 will apply but she really wants to go somewhere else. Love both schools. Hopefully she can get the CR score up.</p>
<p>We did a drive-through of SUNY-Oneonta but only because it was ten minutes from Hartwick and because our next door neighbor had gone there and we had to report back about what it looked like now. If our son goes to a State U, we would prefer it to be in our state! (We think. UVM is on our look-see list) The town of Oneonta reminded me of Corning, NY where we lived near for a few years when we were newlyweds. One thing none of us liked about Marist was that it was not within walking distance of a town.</p>
<p>Edited - Well, I guess I’m headed in the correct direction rentof4 if I picked two colleges that you like!</p>
<p>I think that if you a “hole” in your stats or grades, small schools (other than the elite ones) will give you more of a chance to explain it, as they have fewer applications to deal with and more often grant interviews.</p>
<p>“They are one of the only colleges I know that don’t superscore the SAT’s.”</p>
<p>Neither do UC’s (Cal)</p>
<p>rentof4, look at Alfred University, field hockey is only a club sport though. </p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University : Academics : Degrees/Majors](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/academics/degrees_majors.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/academics/degrees_majors.cfm) Majors </p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University Saxons](<a href=“http://saxons.alfred.edu/]Alfred”>http://saxons.alfred.edu/) Athletics</p>
<p>Hollie, your PM box is full.
Kathiep, I think you are being being very fair in viewing your flagship as preferable to an OOS flagship given the likely $ difference. Nothing against UVM, but if the cost is $47K as reported, without the bigtime football and basketball that lures so many kids, your child could have the in state flagship plus a car and major spending money with you still coming out ahead.</p>
<p>The only reason we’re planning to look at UVM is because we know some kids from my son’s HS that have gotten merit aid from there and because we’re already planning to look at Champlain and St. Mike’s. Might as well hit all three at once! Son cares nothing about football so that’s not a consideration anyway.</p>
<p>The deal we make with our kids is that we will only pay up to so much and after that they will need to take out loans. They can apply anywhere and then look over the finaid packages. Finaid packages are always interesting, sometimes not good interesting…</p>
<p>The only rule about finaid packages appears to be that there are no rules. Your hear of so many kids getting vastly different offers from comparable schools, even where no hook is involved.</p>
<p>yabeyabe-oops made some space. wish CC would let you store more messages.</p>
<p>kathiep-I know a young man at Champlain-he loves it. studying game design or something to that effect. Said it is a lot of work, but he just loves the school.</p>
<p>rentof4 and kathiep: my D liked Hartwick as well. She was looking for a small, outdoorsy school. She will be going to Saint Michael’s in Burlington, which was her first choice from the first visit junior year. They have field hockey and have become test optional for this next year. She has a classmate going to Champlain, so another great option. We visited UVM, which was great, but bigger than she wanted and more expensive than I wanted.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the suggestions. UVM is on the list to see and we will check out St. Michaels and Alfred too. Appreciate all your help!</p>
<p>Yes, do give Alfred a visit, H & I have been very impressed with them & our D loves it!
Small classes, Division III Sports, great financial aid, great academic offerings. </p>
<p>While there, walk “downtown” & check out the Terra Cotta Coffee House and the Collegiate & other shops. Small downtown area, but quite charming, the architecture and all the terra cotta roofs etc.</p>
<p>rentof4, Have you considered Ursinus in PA? [Biology</a> - Academic - Ursinus](<a href=“http://www.ursinus.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=525]Biology”>http://www.ursinus.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=525) This is a great college less then an hour from Philadelphia located in a small town. It’s one of the Colleges that change Lives. We visited late in the summer last year but there were no students to speak of on campus except for the student admissions staff so it was hard to get a feel for the college. Son told me on the way there that he had decided on a potential major and it was one they didn’t have. We visited anyway and I think it would have gone on the list had the major been there. </p>
<p>Moravian College is another great PA college for B students. [Welcome</a> to Moravian College](<a href=“http://www.moravian.edu/]Welcome”>http://www.moravian.edu/) It’s located in Bethlehem PA, across the river from Lehigh University and 15 minutes from Muhlenberg which is in Allentown. Bethlehem is a neat little city and really nice for students. If it wasn’t 15 minutes from our house, it would be definitely be one my son would consider. Whenever Son does something really helpful with our computers I always say, “Moravian is a great college!” because it would be really handy to have him close by.</p>
<p>I have a question for all of you successful enough to get your son/daughter into a program they like…</p>
<p>What did you do for recommendation letters? A quick perusal of the thread showed that perhaps your sons and daughters cared a bit more about grades than my S. His teachers have figured out that he is smart but not working to potential - which is not a good recommendation. Did any of you encounter this problem and overcome it?</p>
<p>It’s funny, my S’s chem teacher says he never gets stressed about anything (true), but she wishes he would get stressed enough to study (harder). But she was quick to point out that he is a pleasure to have in class, always polite, respectful and never causes problems. It just seems he may need more than that to get into college. Advice?</p>
<p>My S graduates high school in 2011. Thanks :)</p>
<p>AtomicGirl, I think you should figure out what your kid’s strengths are as a student and have him ask for recommendations from teachers who have seen those strengths on display–even if they’ve also seen the weaknesses. I think most teachers, unless they really don’t like a kid (in which case one hopes they will politely decline), will approach writing the rec as a matter of finding whatever good things they can say. Our son asked a history teacher who had given him just OK grades because of his organizational issues, but who we knew was a big fan of his curiosity and insight as demonstrated in class discussions. I think we probably got a better recommendation from her than we would have from (for instance) a physics teacher who gave him about the same grades, but who would not have seen as much of the side of him that a good teacher would get excited about.</p>