Thanks so much for all of your positivity and suggestions! It really helps.
As to schools: no real requirements yet. I think smaller just because I don’t think he would do well at all in big lectures and becaue he’s so quiet I think he’d get lost at a big school. Not opposed to greek life as brother is in a frat and I think he likes seeing how many friends he has made through it. Athletics would be fun to watch and maybe play intramurals. Really open to any distance as both siblings are far from home and I don’t think he sees it as an issue. Budget is around $40 ideally but could go a bit higher. Some schools I am currently thinking about are Univ of Dayton, Xavier, Susquehanna, Scranton, Loyola Maryland and St Anselms.
My kids are so different! My older one loved the idea of a week visiting a bunch of colleges. My younger one sees it as a waste of time if they’re not interested (at the moment) outside a couple …if that changes we’ll visit more. A little easier as younger one wants to be closer to home (CO is about the limit) whereas older one had her heart set on the east coast, so it made sense to do a bunch at the same time too, plus a little sightseeing (it was her first time in Boston, she’d only been to
DC once before, and both our first times in Atlanta, though we know NYC well). I used a lot of air miles that week haha.
Boulder is more the specific program rather than location but I think the location is definitely an advantage. They have been to the area before but at like age 5 so they don’t remember anything.
Thanks, will take a look at Colorado State but as I mentioned above, it is really a very specific program at Boulder rather than location that’s the draw. The backup options other than CPP (again, a specific program that interests them) are likely to be Arizona, Oregon and possibly UIC (its further than they want) but they are also open to the CC-UC/Cal Poly SLO route if they don’t find a 4-year college that offers what they want to do in a place they like.
Not that you asked me to, but below are my guesses as to your son’s chances at those schools. I start off by looking at the school’s overall admission rate. Then, where possible, I looked at section C of the Common Data Set (linked) to see how your son’s GPA compares to the school’s (i.e. some school have nobody below a 3.0, whereas others do). I also looked at the percentage of students submitting tests (and I think yours should), what the 25-75 range was, etc, when making these guesses. College Navigator (the feds’ website) is also very helpful, though not as detailed as the CDS.
Since I always think it’s really important to find sure things that a kid likes, I went ahead and thought of some other possibilities. The athletics grades are from survey responses from students on Niche, so take it for whatever you think it’s worth. I did look at most of the schools’ CDS reports, but didn’t think to link them at the time I was working on this. I also included some smaller flagship universities that could ensure a breadth of possibilities no matter which way his interests turn, but that I would not necessarily call “small” schools.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Bellarmine (KY): About 2300 undergrads, A for athletics. @M_Fun had a kid attend and wrote a bit about it here.
Marshall (WV): About 8k undergrads, A for athletics
North Dakota State: About 10k undergrads, A+ for athletics
South Dakota State: About 9900 undergrads, A+ for athletics
U. of Lynchburg (VA): About 1600 undergrads, B+ for athletics
U. of Maine: About 10k undergrads, A- for athletics
U. of Montana: About 7200 undergrads, A for athletics
U. of Mount Union (OH): About 1900 undergrads, A for athletics, on the lower end of this category
UNC – Asheville: About 2900 undergrads at this public liberal arts college; B+ for athletics
U. of Wyoming: About 8500 undergrads, A- for athletics
Westfield State (MA): About 3900 undergrads…on the lower end of this category
Likely (60-79%)
Canisius (NY): About 1800 undergrads at this Jesuit; B+ for athletics
Coastal Carolina (SC): About 9800 undergrads, A for athletics
St. Bonaventure (NY): About 1900 undergrads at this Franciscan school. The mission of the Franciscans reminds me a lot of the Jesuit’s mission in terms of service toward others. A- for athletics from Niche.
U. of North Dakota: About 9900 undergrads. A+ for athletics
U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 5900 undergrads, A for athletics
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Augustana (SD): About 1800 undergrads, A for athletics
Drake (IA): About 2800 undergrads, B+ for athletics
Drury (MO: About 1400 undergrads, A- for athletics
Merrimack (MA): About 4200 undergrads, A- for athletics
Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads, A for athletics
Stetson (FL): About 2600 undergrads; B+ for athletics
U. of Evansville (IN): About 1700 undergrads B+ for athletics
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Hobart and William Smith (NY): About 1600 undergrads, B+ for athletics
Wanted to chime in briefly to maybe give some of you parents some hope. My D24 applied to college with an unweighted GPA of 3.22. Applied to 7 colleges, got accepted to all of them, even with scholarships! She’ll be attending a Colleges That Change Lives school (Austin College, near Dallas, TX) this year. We move her into the dorms at the end of this week!
I used the “Parents of HS Class of 2024 3.0-3.4 GPA” thread a lot. It was a nice reprieve and I’m sure that all of you here will find this to be a safe place to land when you want to compare notes with other parents whose kids are in the same boat as your kid is.
Everything will work out. There are lots of colleges and universities that would be happy to have your kids attend. There WILL be a place for them to go…a place that’s a financial fit, an academic fit, and a campus vibe fit.
Oh, and start listening to the “Your College Bound Kid” podcast.
Join us for the second session of the CC Bootcamp line-up on Wed, Aug 21 at 7pm ET and learn more about the importance of standardized tests in the college admissions process. This session is hosted by our partner @Tony_PrincetonReview.
Session Outline:
Overview of Different Standardized Testing Policies
Some Case Studies on Test-Optional Admissions
Why Have Schools Gone Test-Optional?
Should I Send My Scores or Not?
Taking/Retaking Soon? Some Advice for Juniors & Seniors
X26 is not happy with the amount of work in history! They also find it frustrating sometimes because there aren’t “true” answers like with math or science. Other than that (and also a lot of work from English it seems) school seems to be going well. There seem to be improvements in executive functioning (no assignments overdue!) so hoping that lasts, as it makes such a difference.
My DS would like to be an engineer. His grades have been impacted by two French classes. He just didn’t like the teacher and didn’t really try. I would think his GPA is around a 3.4 UW and may even go up since he stopped taking French. He is taking accerated History this year as well as Pre-Calc and regular Physics. Not counting on a great SAT score. So, will likely go test optional. Would he have a chance of getting into University of Dayton for Mechanical Engineering? He has seen RIT and likes it. We want him to look at Clarkson too. What are some other schools that he should look at? We are in Western PA.
Check the RAI at Iowa and Iowa State. It is auto-admit if he makes the cut off. You should be able to get some kind of idea where he stands by estimating his classes and grades for next semester.
He may want to look at Ohio U. in Athens or U. of Louisville. If he likes smaller colleges, then Penn State Erie (Behrend College) and Ohio Northern are two possibilities off the top of my head.
If you let us know more about his interests and what he wants out of his college experience (as well as a budget), then we can provide more targeted suggestions.
So how does the RAI work? We are OOS. Wasn’t sure if cut off is different for engineering and other schools? I know you are admitted to pre business if you don’t get a direct admitt to the business school.
How are everyone’s kids doing? Semester 1 finished this week and C26 has done really well in improving on a lot of stuff, though history remains their Achilles heel. They were on the borderline of B-/C+ all semester then dropped down to C+ again right at the end because…of a bunch of missed assignments. But, at only 0.3% away from a B-, so it all depends on how they did in their final (and they came out of it totally unable to judge). I’m trying not to show how disappointed I am at the tailing off at the end,they were really trying hard so much of the semester. Their history teacher is not the speediest when it comes to grading so we may only know in January. Although still awaiting the final English grade, for which I am hopeful, it looks like they got As for everything else this semester which is such a huge improvement. And the confidence boost they get from that has helped a lot too. I’m just hoping it maintains. Diagnosing and then finding the right meds for ADHD has been a total game changer.
How has the start of 2025 been for the parents/kids in this thread? I’m happy to celebrate or commiserate or brainstorm or anything with anyone in this group!
Been good for mine! C26 squeaked through a B- in history (just… 79.53% lol but we’ll take it) and As on everything else, so it was a good semester. Hoping it keeps up and that colleges they apply to are cognizant of the upward trend. Finalizing senior year course choices and starting to get more excited about college prospects.
