I think I will go back and re visit Colleges that Change Lives but in the meantime, throwing this out to the savvy parent crowd here on CC. Perhaps y’all might come up with something that I haven’t thought of. My last child, my darling daughter, is applying to college now. Community college or gap year may be in the cards, but she wants to have options for a four year school. Her grades are average. She spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Japan, so her transcript is not typical, is missing the typical junior year classes. And she just took the ACT, and will be taking the SAT soon, so those scores are not available yet, but for now, let’s just assume they will be average. Looking for a nurturing place that looks at kids as diamonds in the rough, not finished products already, not a pressure cooker environment. She doesn’t know what she wants to major in, needs time to figure that out. She is a city mouse, so doesn’t want to look at anything that isn’t in a large city or very close to one. She is a gifted singer and actress, with tons of performing experience, but does not necessarily want to major in music or theatre. She might want to pursue something in science, maybe biology? – just doesn’t know. She hasn’t taken enough science to really know. She is taking Biology now, as a senior. She has a good handle on the Japanese language/culture due to the year abroad. She is working hard to catch up on what she missed by not spending her junior year here.
She is considering Temple in Japan, University of Minnesota, Concordia College. We need some schools in warmer climates to consider. We lived in sunny California for a long time, and moved to this part of the country that has deep winter a few years ago. Deep winter is hard to get used to. She has been to New Orleans and is attracted to the idea of going to school there. Is Tulane too reachy? I think we will try to make a trip there soon to visit Tulane and Loyola New Orleans. I was browsing CC and the internet yesterday, and thought maybe Gonzaga might be a possibility, but don’t know much about it. Any one here familiar with Gonzaga?
Don’t know GPA yet. Probably a B average. School is in the process of updating transcripts. Don’t know yet how they dealt with giving credit for the year abroad. She attended classes but didn’t get grades while abroad. So it is something I’ve not seen before, dealt with before. Figures that #5 kid might be the most challenging yet. I expected to know everything about this by now, but no . . .
I would expect ACT to be above 20, maybe somewhere between 24 and 28? – although I don’t know what to expect, really. She used to test high on these things (standardized tests), but as she has gotten older, things seem to have changed. I think she could get a respectable score if she prepped and studied, if her score is iffy this first time taking it, but there isn’t a ton of time here . . .
Is she a senior? There is a huge difference between a 24 and a 28, but they are both well above average. A 24 is the 74th percentile and a 28 is the 90th. A range like that is unlikely for a given student and the schools are very different.
I guess I expect something like 24, but hoping to be surprised. She took some sort of pre test some time back, and score was lower than I expected. But some time has passed since then. We will see. So, lets go with 23/24 level schools for now. I’m trying to keep my expectations realistic, and even on the low side. None of my other kids even took the ACT, as far as i remember. So, I’m dumb when it comes to ACT. She’ll be taking SAT also soon. Complete unknown as she was not here to take PSAT.
Yes, she is a senior. She was thinking after her experience as a foreign exchange student, that she might like to take an extra year to finish high school, but the public school here won’t allow that, so main focus is to get her graduated. But I want to have options for next year. She wants that too. We discussed going to community college, and she seemed to think that would be a good thing to do at first, but now she thinks she would like to go to a four year school.
It really feels like although she had a great experience in Japan, that she is missing Jr. year. Still, though, there must be a place for the unconventional applicant. Also, maybe worth mentioning, is that she is taking 5 IB classes this year. I assume that is good? It is a load. I’m hoping it isn’t too much. Her counselor at school thought these classes are where she should be, so I’m trusting the counselor’s judgment here.
US News has a section called A Plus Schools for B Students. Check that out. If she likes cities I would highly recommend Manhattan College. It is in a leafy part of NYC, very close but very safe and suburban.
I actually think colleges will like that she went abroad junior year. It shows a level of adventurousness that is uncommon in today’s pool of “play it safe” students.
My D just graduated from Tulane and I have noticed that it is getting more selective recently. I think it is worth a try, though. I think it is still a free application, make sure to do the “Why Tulane” essay (it really isn’t optional). Just don’t expect much in the way of merit money. Then, if she gets some it will be a pleasant surprise.
I am thinking Tulane would be the reach school for her. Worth a shot. And besides, I think it would be fun to take a trip to New Orleans. Thanks for the suggestions. Manhattan College is one I hadn’t heard of before.
Just one data point, but a friend of my son’s got in to a top 25 U with grades that would not typically be competitive after spending his Jr HS year in Europe. He applied ED (or EA not sure which) but even with good SATs, he would be an unusual datapoint on Naviance.
Was she in Japan alone or with your entire family? If she was alone, a nurturing place may not be required.
How about Fordham, Northeastern, BU, for city schools that may be doable. Santa Clara if she wants to go back to California (not in a city). Marist is not quite in the city but a decent commute. University of Pittsburgh is right in the City, but still has a campus. Syracuse (tough winter and not a great city). College of Charleston or U of Miami (warmer). There are so many choices. She needs to perhaps to come up with some more criteria.
My advice is to go to the USNews list and go down a page or two on both the University and LACs pages and just start looking.
Doesn't she want a place where she can continue to study Japanese and Japan at an advanced level? A year abroad won't equate to fluency in Japanese, although it's a great start. Pity to waste it if she has interest. That may well reduce significantly the number of smaller colleges she might consider.
The "city mouse" thing is going to be tough.
We have friends whose similar child had a great experience at Kalamazoo College . . . but it's going to be hard to mistake Kalamazoo for a city, much less a warm city. I think it's one of the Colleges That Change Lives, FWIW.
Her “average” GPA and test scores would make Depaul a fit. It fills the big city requirement but not the wish for warmer weather. (However, she DOES have U of MN on the list, so I’m guessing the cold isn’t a deal-breaker.)
It’s a big school (so not very hand-holding) but it’s also not a pressure cooker.
Pitt for an out of state student with around a 3.0 and a hypothetical 24 ACT will not happen. The average at Pitt is a 29 with a 3.9 gpa. Duquesne in Pittsburgh is possible.
We’ll see what we can do to come up with more criteria as we start this process again. I am pretty familiar with schools in California, and have lots of connections there, so I think I can come up with good West Coast options. Am somewhat familiar with Boston, as I have a family member in the area, and also one D just graduated from Brandeis. A friend of hers went to Suffolk. I have visited Boston University, and liked it. I would consider going back to visit that one with this kid, if it seems like it fits her profile. I have a couple of kids living in NYC now. Not that familiar with NYC or NYC area schools, although visited NYU, Columbia and Barnard with her older sister – Manhattan sounds intriguing. I have a ton of relatives that have gone to Lutheran schools in the midwest, so am familiar with those.
Chancing is not reliable even with all information on hand; our hands are really tied without GPA or SAT/ACT info.
Nearly every student has reach/match/safety schools… but we can’t tell you what those are for your daughter until we have her stats.
We could give provisional “3.5 GPA/28 ACT” or “3.2 GPA/24 ACT” advice – and that might save a bit of time later – but definitive chancing (and the advice that goes with it) cannot be complete until we have GPA and an ACT or SAT score.
@mstee Manhattan College is an exceptional choice, great location, great kids and a nice campus. It was recently ranked 18th of all private colleges in terms of value by Payscale. I live in the area and it is highly respected and the quality of the education is terrific.