Parents of the HS Class of 2017 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

Parents Forum
1381

@rolani88 Your list looks slightly familiar. UofO and CU Boulder are top schools for my son as well. His GPA is similar but he has a higher SAT score. We live in CA, so the rest of his list is mostly CA schools. And with your GPA & out of state I probably wouldn’t try University of California.

What are you interested in majoring. That can really affect things. Have you considered Oregon State? Did you visit UofO? I love Corvallis more than Eugene, and both schools have good offerings. OSU is a bit cheeper and doesn’t need quite so high statistics. OH btw UofO is almost as expensive as CU Boulder.

What major are you applying for at Long Beach? That’s a Cal State and admission are done by major. I don’t know much about the smaller schools since S17 isn’t really looking at them.

Good Luck.

1382

Welcome @rolani88 --do you know what you plan to study? As has been said, it would be helpful to know more information on the type of school, interests, etc.

1383

@eandesmom Thank you! This made me feel a lot better about this stressful process. I agree my list is kind of random but my “dream” characteristics of a school would be medium to large size (preferably no larger than 27k students), A strong journalism program, preferably on the west coast, more of a liberal vibe (since I am from MA I don’t think I could handle a conservative place), I would like a party school hehe but of course education comes first, a good football team would be a nice plus! All of those factors lead me to U of Oregon and Colorado Boulder (Kind of), I already applied to U of O and I’m nervous I won’t get in but even if I do money is probably going to be a factor because they’re not generous with their OOS aid. I do have a few safeties but I am not very interesting in any of them :confused: Also Umass Amherst is a reach for me but its the only instate school I would even really consider and my brother works there so hopefully that could help, not sure.

@curiositycat333 I am applying for journalism at CSULB, I am not sure if thats an impacted major but as an OOS student it is a reach, yet my schools naviance shows that it would be a safety so I’m not sure about my chances. As for U of O I haven’t visited yet but if I get in my dad and I will take a trip out there. The thing about U of O that worries me is my sat score is on point but my gpa is below their average 3.6 but I think I have strong recs, essays, and decent EC’s.

1384

Journalism or Communications and I would love to minor in political science or film depending on what the school offers, a lot of schools don’t have a journalism major but do have communications which is the next best thing.

1385

Did she like the fact that it was small? Did that affect the social scene at all?

1386

@rolani88 I can tell you that kids with your stats have definitely been accepted to U of O. 38% of last years enrolled freshman had a 3.25 or below. So you have a solid chance to be sure.

They will not offer you any merit aid, nor will CU Boulder. Money is always a factor. I really encourage you to find out from your parents what your true budget is as most of your list, other than Amherst, is pricey. These are the cost of attendance numbers for the schools on your list. You may qualify for some merit at Hofstra or Ithaca (Our NPC shows merit for both) but you have to run the NPC to find out. CSLB is the most reasonably priced school on your list.

Do be aware though that it is largely a commuter school. Which doesn’t mean it’s not necessarily a party school lol, but it will be very different than say U of O or Boulder. Ithaca doesn’t report GPA but our very small data set from our HS has it as a match for you. I will say though that the Park School of Communications is well known and competitive so that might make it more of a reach than a match.

Match - CSU Long Beach $35K
Match/Reach depending on major - Ithaca College $60k - possible merit
High Match/Low Reach - U of Oregon $49K
High Match / Low Reach - CU Boulder $53K
High Match / Low Reach - Hofstra University $60K - possible merit
Reach- U Denver $63K
Reach - U of San Francisco $64k - possible 5K grant, tops
Reach - U of Redlands $65K - run the npc, there may be merit $ there

So…I’d suggest having a couple more in the solid match category and finding safeties you love and making sure you can honestly afford any school you apply to. I’d probably also drop at least one of the reaches, maybe more and replace with ones that are at least affordable. App fees add up! A few to consider. Bear in mind, none of these are cheap, they are just less than most of what was on your list.

Safety - University of Wyoming. 30k ish with travel - less $6k OOS scholarship at your stats.
Ok, yes, Wyoming itself is very conservative but the school itself is pretty balanced. Huge football program and a ton of school pride, gorgeous campus. Only 1 hour away from Fort Collins (killer college town, home of Colorado State) and 2 to Denver. Hidden Gem and a killer deal financially.

Match/High Safety - University of Maine. They will match your in state tuition. Great deal.

Match - Washington State University $40k.

Great football, has your majors, party school, much more reasonable OOS$

Low Reach - Oregon State University $45k. less 3K OOS scholarship.
Strong sports school, great town. It is actually harder to get into than U of O, however financially it is a MUCH better deal.

Low Reach - Colorado State University $43k.

Very strong sports school, great town. MUCH better deal than Boulder for our ot state students and would meet what you are looking for.

Low Reach - Rowan University $38k. Possible merit, run the NPC

Reach - Temple $43K. It is a reach school but a heck of a lot more reasonably priced than the reaches on your list and seems to fit much of your criteria.

That’s off the top of my head. My S is looking for a similar liberal vibe but not so much on the football and party scene so he has a lot of smaller liberal arts schools on his list. I’ll noodle around for more ideas later.

1387

@endesmom I wouldn’t say CSLB is really a commuter school. Sort-off… all Cal States are commuter schools to an extent. There is on campus housing for freshman at least and plenty of students live nearby. We toured it backed when looking for schools for my daughter. They have dorms and lot plenty on campus life & activities.

All majors at CSLB are impacted. CSLB is one of the most popular Cal States for those from out of state. That doesn’t mean he can’t get in with those stats. Almost all Cal States except Cal Poly are safety’s for my S. It’s an easy app, so go ahead and try it. Particularly as they us UC GPA (lookup how to calculate a UC GPA). You might also consider San Jose State, it’s very little effort if you are already doing the Cal State app. It’s not as close to the beach and in the middle of a big urban area. But it has a very nice Journalism program, nice new dorms.

UofO , I’d recommend that over Oregon State for Journalism. Did you know it’s in a small city in the middle of the state. It’s not hugely populated and it’s not on the coast. And it’s not in Portland. (And yes it is one of S17’s top schools so I do like it.) Have you looked at University of Portland (private Jesuit) or Lewis & Clark? Not sure if either have Journalism programs.

1388

That makes me feel so reassured about Oregon :slight_smile: Unfortunately it is more than what my parents want to pay but I think we could make it work, they’re just uneducated in this entire process and are not helping yet they think they are. They have made this process so stressful on me because they yell at me at the prices of colleges even though my stepmom and dad have a combined income of 130k and my mom is at 70k but they insist that I should just give up and go to a CC or go to schools that I have stressed that I have no interest in. My stepmom says that I should look at colleges that are no more than 15k… but my guidance counselor and I tell her that is not realistic. It is just frustrating because I know my dad makes above 100k and my older step brothers got to go to 50k+ private schools that are paid off and they just don’t want to spend anymore on my education than the bare minimum. My stepmom works part time ( because she doesn’t need to work) and my dad wants to retire within the next 3 years and I feel like they’re just hoping I will not pursue stronger schools and just settle for a CC. My dad says the most we could do without taking out loans and going into debt would be around 30k not including my moms contribution or any of my loans. I know its horrible to take out loans but I want to go to Oregon so badly I would consider taking out 10k a year. As for safeties I know I need more but I only know of the ones near me and none of them appeal to me, I will most certainly look at your suggestions though! I really appreciate all this help by the way! So different than other sections of this site that shun anyone below a 3.6 lol.

1389

D17 just submitted to Beloit and Kalamazoo early admission. She did get an email back for Beloit. She still has to do the scholarship essay and perhaps something else. We completed the FAFSA last week. No aid for us - lovely. She still has Macalester, Conn College and Barnard. She missed the EA time for UNC CH and NC State so she is going to try to get those in before the holidays. She did go to Barnard for an interview but WENT ON THE WRONG DAY. She was supposed to go to a class and do a tour but confused the dates. She flew in to visit my parents in NYC and booked it but mixed it up. They did schedule another interview for her. Unfortunately D17 said the interviewer didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the school and talked about how she never really liked women’s colleges. She said she still liked it but I think it lost some of it’s standing that day.

1390

@rolani88 who is your custodial parent? Depending on that it may influence your financial aid.

Custodial for this purpose means who you live with more than 50% hours of the time. Doesn’t matter who pays more, unless you don’t live with either, it is where you spend more time.

1391

A water main broke on the road right outside our house. Since I can’t do dishes I might as well post on CC, amirite? D got her first acceptance at Oregon State U! She still needs to do their honors app, but she’s already written the essay so hopefully she can get that in today or at least by the weekend. Of course the important thing is getting the $$ info and they didn’t indicate how long that might take. At least the FAFSA has been sent.

She’s applied to a total of nine schools now, including all the Nov 1 EA’s and RD’s on the CA that don’t require extra essays. She has CU-Boulder and Gonzaga due Nov 15, both with essays. Hopefully she can get them done this weekend. I envision obsessive portal checking in my near future. For RD there will be four more, three of which have extra essays. I feel very good about her progress.

Are other kids’ lists in flux in terms of enthusiasm? D no longer has a straight “ranking” as far as I can tell. Right now she is talking a lot about RIT, WPI, Gonzaga, and CSU. WWU would totally be up there, but on our visit we turned up a potential deal-breaker due to a problem with her intended renewable energy focus. I really will write a visit report. Maybe today since I can’t do laundry either. :smiley:

@rolani88, welcome! All the other helpful people here have said most of what I was thinking and more. I’m a Coloradoan and I second CSU. They are big into football and just built a fancy new stadium. Fort Collins is also a great college town and definitely liberal (not so much as Boulder, but few places are!) My D really likes CSU (better than CU-Boulder) even though she does not want a big football school. You’re more likely to get aid there than CU-Boulder.

There are tons of books about financial aid that might help show your parents modern-day college cost realities in a more objective way than you and your GC can. Get one from the library and see if they’re willing to take a look. One thing I’ve heard as a rule of thumb is that the max loan you (the student) should take is the equivalent of your expected first year salary. There’s also work-study and finding paid internships or a regular job during the summer. Keep us updated on your progress. I admire students like you who take on this challenging process without the “helicopter support” that lots of CC students get.

1392

Congrats to your D, @snoozn! Nice to get that first (of many, I’m sure) acceptance! I’m so glad that only a couple of my D’s schools had writing supplements (and small ones at that). She’s submitted 10 of her 13 apps, and will probably do one more (due by 12/1), and then might just wait to see what happens with EA/ED before pulling the trigger on the last two. But as of right now, we’re just in sit back and wait/check the portal mode.

I think my D’s list is pretty stable in terms of ranking, at least for the top 5 or so. I don’t know if she could really rank the remaining ones at this point–the list is long and it’s just too much to keep track of.

Sorry about the water main (but if it means postponing washing dishes and doing laundry, it ain’t all bad).

1393

Anyway, I second Wyoming for rolani88. It will come in under your $15k budget. I wouldn’t say it is liberal but it is very accepting. My liberal daughter likes it very much. She’s changed a lot in her time there, I think becoming more accepting of all views, including some conservative ones.

1394

@snoozn Congratulations on the first acceptance!!

Admit I’m a bit jealous since that’s the app S17 didn’t get in the other night. Oh well there is still tons of time. I’m guessing if he gets in in this month, he won’t have to wait long even if it’s not in EA.

I don’t know about ranking. But UCSC has gone way up the list after visiting a few weeks ago. It’s not the top of MY list. Don’t know what he thinks.

1395

Curious about the email from Beloit. Is the scholarship essay they are requesting for a special program separate from their merit scholarships?

1396

@rolani88 -

Hofstra is in a really terrible area and, IMHO, isn’t worth the money. Of course, if you get a good financial aid package and it has a program that you really want that is unique, go there but in this neck of the woods, it’s known as the school where rich parents send their messed up kids who they want to keep close enough to be able to get there quickly. It’s also a school where local kids who went away and didn’t want to be away wind up. We are not even having S17 apply even though they keep sending him stuff.

In all honesty, if you have that kind of money, you should look at Fordham and Syracuse. If you don’t, how about looking at a SUNY school? OOS rates are apparently much lower than for California, based on what I am seeing on CC, Check out suny.edu, where you can plug in majors of interest, programs of interest and see what the stats are. Some of them actually even give money.

Welcome to you. I am here vicariously because my own child is totally disinterested in the process to this point.

1397

I only live with my father my mother doesn’t have custody of me and I don’t see her often so she is not really in the process

1398

@rolani88 ,Welcome to the forum !! Unfortunately , I have some bad news- CSLB is impacted in Journalism,as is CSFresno,CSSD,SJSU,CPSLO.

1399

Ok now I feel guilty

New guilt apply tactic.

XX, I was reviewing our early applications and noticed you had not applied yet. Just for you I am extending our EA deadline to midnight tonight!

Jeesh. Stalker much? I am feeling guilty as it is a great school but it’s not a fit.

No ranking here. I think there are a couple of tiers but it’s pretty loose and flexible at the moment. Which is good!

@snoozn yay for OSU!!!

@curiositycat333 bummer about OSU but I think he will be fine.

@rolani88 just know that you will not be allowed to take out 10k a year on your own. The max you will be allowed is $5500 your first year and that is assuming your family files FAFSA.

So, if your dad will pay 30K and you can get a loan for $5500, $35,500 is your budget. Plus whatever your mom will pay if anything. If he will not pay more than that, and your mom cannot make up the difference, you’ll need to work with that number. You can work over the summer (or now) and save up and that will get you closer to the number you are looking for but I think you are still going to fall short.

While I understand the feeling of it being unfair that your stepbrothers had a different financial arrangement, some times that is how it goes. My son is in a similar situation. In our case, my husband and his ex covered their 2 kids (my stepkids) and combined they had XX that they were able to contribute. As my boys biological father is unable to contribute, I only have about half as much to contribute to my kids college fund as my stepkids had. It’s not really unfair, it is just a different funding scenario. Just because my kids have a deadbeat dad, doesn’t mean my H has to make all that $$ up. He can’t. It’s not a won’t, there is just only so much money to go around. I’m not sure of your scenario but try to make peace with it and deal with whatever it is. Being mad at your dad or stepmom isn’t likely to help you get what you want. I feel your pain, I do but realize that 30K is a lot more than most kids in this country have to work with and be thankful for that.

Most of your schools are FAFSA only schools, they will only look at your custodial parents income. So if you live with your dad most of the time it will be your dad and step mom’s income, if you live with your mom most of the time, your mom’s. It sounds like you live with your dad. You cannot pick which parent to use, it is whoever you live with the most.

If your step brothers are still in school when you attend that may help a little, for any years you overlap as that will reduce the amount expected but it will only help at private schools, not the big state public schools.

The private schools may require a form called PROFILE and those will want everyone’s income. Your mom, dad, and stepmom.

1400

@curiositycat333 Compared to the other state schools on @rolani88 's list, CSLB is a commuter school, or suitcase school more accurately. It’s just going to have a very different feel than OSU or Boulder. My H got his first Masters there so pretty familiar with it.