Opinions on College List

FrothyShake
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 22:47:40 +0000

Hi, this is my first crack at this so be gentle if I’ve forgotten anything. My son is a rising senior and is having some difficulty with his college list. So I thought I’d reach out for opinions.

State of Residence: Tennessee
GPA 3.62 UW 3.76 W (Basically B+ student at competitive private school). School doesn’t rank.
Course rigor: Medium. Basically half of the APs available
Race: White male
ACT: 33 (one sitting)
SAT: 1300 (R+M) Taking again for sure.
Potential Majors: (Micro)biology. Possibly Computer Science. Definitely STEM interests.
Extracurriculars: Not much. 4 years XC and Track. Good deal of school required community service hours. Some club memberships. Not particularly outgoing. Not looking for an academically cutthroat environment.

College Stats:
Size is important to him. Wants medium “goldilocks” size ~5000 to ~13000. Not interested in small LACs at all (the term “liberal arts” makes him cringe ). Nor large state schools
Within roughly 7 hour drive from Nashville, TN.
Has decent basketball/football program.
He would like a college that has some national name recognition.
Costs: We as parents can pay approx $27000/yr. We will get no need based aid, but looking for solid merit aid.

Reach schools: Need help here. Vanderbilt, Tulane? Not sure we can afford these.

Matches: Based on SuperMatch et al, we’ve come up with these matches in no particular order:
Bradley University - visited and thought it was OK, nothing special
University of Dayton - visited and liked
Elon University - visited and liked
Saint Louis University - visited and liked
Miami (OH) - He felt was a little too big
Clemson - He felt was a too big
TCU - Like this a lot but concerned it is too far away
Baylor - Same feeling as TCU.

Safeties: Need help here.
State flagship UTK is much too big for his liking.

Any additions and/or comments appreciated. Thanks!