School Choices for My Son

College Search & Lists
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<p>We are beginning a search for a college for my son. He is in the top 10% of his class, and is a moderately serious and responsible student. He is also an excellent musician (piano and french horn), and enjoys sports although he is not varsity-level material. Right now he is not sure of a major- he could go into either Social OR Physical Sciences. His political sensibilities tend toward the conservative, but he is not a “preppy”, he’s just a good, solid guy.<br>
Three colleges that have been recommended to us so far:</p>

<p>1) SUNY at Geneseo
2) The College of New Jersey
3) Ramapo College of New Jersey
4) Richard Stockton College of New Jersey</p>

<p>Any comments/insights about these (particularly the academic and social environments), or any other ecommendations?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Are you looking for schools mostly in New Jersey?</p>

3

<p>Gpa And Sat Scores Por Favor???</p>

4

<p>Hey, preppies can be good solid guys!! Some are even musicians.</p>

5

<p>Sorry for not filling you on as well as I should, I’m new at this. Anyway, GPA is 94 and SATs in low 1300s.<br>
Sorry also about preppie comment, I just wanted to clarify the TYPE of conservative mindset I was referring to (or not referring to).
And for “bashi”, we actually live in upstate NY but are not real impressed with the SUNY colleges (other than Geneseo). On the other hand, would prefer a state school</p>

6

<p>Stockton is way below the others in terms of academic strength. Your son can do better. </p>

<p>The others are good choices. For state schools, I would recommend Penn State or Maryland’s honors colleges.</p>

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<p>If he can get his SAT scores up, you may want to try for Cornell. They have land grant colleges which are run by Cornell, but you pay state college tuition.</p>

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<p>Cornell,NYU! :)</p>

9

<p>Thanks to all. One more for “Xeneise”, can you clarify “Maryland’s honors colleges”? I am familiar with St. Mary’s College, which refers to itself as a state honors college, and I think also UMBC refers to itself as a Maryland honors university although there are things I have heard about UMBC that make it less than desireable for a full-time resident student (i.e., that it is largey commuter-oriented with not much going on on campus). Are you referring to these or to some kind of special program on the College Park campus? I know Maryland-College Park is huge, maybe not the best choice for my son, and I imagine Penn State is the same.
I believe St. Mary’s is similar in many ways to the other colleges I originally mentioned. The one big drawback about the place though (I’ve been there myself for a weekend conference) is that it is probably in the most isolated location on the East Coast, nothing at all but the outdoors for surroundings (I did find a convenience store after some searching around).</p>

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<p>Xeneise, please give us some specific criteria or examples that justify your low opinion of Richard Stockton College.</p>

11

<p>Weldon, does your son have any interest in the Life Sciences? If so, consider SUNY Plattsburgh. Plus it’s a gorgeous location near Lake Champlain. See the school’s Environmental Science and Biology programs.</p>

12

<p>1300s…is that all three sections or just math and critical reading?</p>

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<p>Villanova, TCNJ, NYU, Lehigh, Lafayette, Cornell, CMU would all be good high match/reach schools to look at.</p>

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<p>Just math and reading</p>

15

<p>I’d say you’re shooting too low. With a top 10% rank, 3.7ish GPA and 1300+ SATs there are a lot of doors open.</p>

16

<p>I would agree. I think your shool choices are almost certainly safeties for your son, but then again I’m not an expert.</p>