Starting our search for our very average sophomore son. Same story as many kids (esp boys), had a rough freshman year, was diagnosed with ADHD this summer, and grades are improving this year. However, he’s still a very average student. GPA at end of this year will probably be around a 3.0. He plays 2 sports and has had job for 2 years. Socially he is extremely quiet. Has a couple friends but generally only does things when someone asks him to. Doesn’t mind being alone but I know he would like to be more social. He’s an all around awesome kid once you get to know him. He’s not nerdy, just quiet.
So, as we are starting to look at schools our number one priority is friendliness of the student body. He’ll likely be a business major. We are in the northeast but he is open to going anywhere. His siblings are both far away at school so that doesn’t bother him. One sibling goes to UDenver and kids are very friendly but we’re not sure he’d get in. Want a school where kids leave their doors open, walk down the hallway and invite others to dinner, and kids are engaged and smiling on campus. Daughter is a senior at Elon and she doesn’t find the kids there all that friendly. Would also like somewhere with a town that he could walk to. Not really sure on size at this point, Just trying to make an initial list.
I don’t know the “friendliness level” for a fact, but what about Hobart, or St. Lawrence? Anecdotally, I’ve known a couple of boys that sound like your son who’ve blossomed at St. Lawrence.
I think the friendly is hard - and even at schools where people say everyone is nice, you still have to find your pack. My daughter’s bf goes to DU and he says - it’s very very wealthy, snobby types - so everyone gets a different sense.
I think - there will be a lot of mid size schools for the kid with the 3.0 - and you needn’t worry yet - he might come up- but a school like U Maine, URI, W Carolina, Hofstra, Bradley in ILL and more. Even DU won’t be completely out with a 3.0 if you’re full pay. UAH can be another.
But you have time…but maybe find a mid size nearby and check it out - does he like the campus size, etc. A U Hartford…We just saw a 2.5 in at TCNJ.
Not all will have an immei\diate town but.
There are some LACs too - that will have business programs - some combined with econ - that will be easier gets.
We visited Susquehanna University in PA with S24 in September, and found it to be the most welcoming, friendly campus we’ve ever visited. Between S22and S24, we’ve visited a lot of colleges up and down the Northeast, of varying sizes and student populations. Going into our visit at Susq, I thought it would be too rural and small for S24, but he loved it! There is a genuine, friendly, down to earth vibe there that went beyond any other college. Selinsgrove is not very exciting, but it’s a small town that is walkable from campus.
My son has been accepted with a very generous merit aid package, his largest so far. He’s still waiting on a few more decisions, but we have scheduled the accepted students day for February. Personality wise, my son sounds a lot like OP’s son. He’s not a high stats kid, but has a decent enough GPA with some AP and honors classes under his belt. Susq could certainly be a landing place for a 3.0 kid.
My two cents is you will likely have a lot more clarity on what colleges make sense by the end of junior year. Not that you can’t start exploring now, but the details of how high school really goes from here are likely to make a significant difference, and meanwhile his academic interests and possible career goals may evolve a lot as well.
I note maximum friendliness and undergrad business majors are potentially a little in conflict. Not completely, it is just the undergrad business types tend to be pretty ambitious and competitive and work hard/play hard in ways that may not always read as maximally friendly. And of course plenty of people go into business without actually majoring in business as an undergrad.
Again, I think it is too early to be definitive about this, but personally I would at least be open-minded to colleges without business majors.
I would look for less selective hidden gem small schools in large friendly cities (with larger colleges) in the Midwest and with business. Places populated by the Northeast/New York or Southern economic elites (eg Elon) can be not that friendly, especially if your kid is introverted and not fabulously wealthy; with notable exceptions at schools with very defined cultures if your kid happens to fit it. St Thomas (MN) and Lake Forest (Chicago) come to mind, but other schools (large and small) in the Midwest that attract a Midwestern crowd are, in our limited perception, less set on bigger personalities. There is no shortage of those schools.
Please also check out the Colleges that Change Lives Colleges, some of which focus on/target students like your kid. Some are in the Midwest but not exclusively, and very many have small business programs with small class sizes and good ADHD acceptance and support.
Congratulations to your son! We had the same experience at Susquehanna! I first looked at it with our oldest son in 2009 - he was offered a full-tuition scholarship. We looked at a LOT of schools and SU was by far the friendliest and most welcoming. My son decided he wanted to study engineering so he went elsewhere.
Fast forward six years, and I dragged my younger two kids to the school (middle kid had taken 2 1/2 gap years and my daughter was a high school senior). My daughter (fairly average) was given good aid and decided to attend. She had a wonderful four years there. She graduated in 2020 (that was not great, but not SU’s fault) and is still in contact with some of her professors. She was in the honors program and enjoyed it a lot. She majored in art history and photography and actually got a job in her field. She learned to write really well, too.
I will add that my daughter had developed anxiety (in large part due to her older brother’s struggles with schizophrenia), and she went to counseling her whole time there. I don’t think the therapist was required to continue seeing her that long, but she did.
The Susquehanna River is gorgeous. Every time I visited, I would go for a long run along the river. I liked the area so much that when my D and her friends went back to campus in 2022, at their invitation I went with them for closure! I miss going there regularly.
I think the one thing D wasn’t thrilled about was the food! But once she got into a student townhouse, she could cook for herself.
He sounds like my son. Quiet until you get to know him. Just a nice good kid. Decent grades and some good ECs but nothing outstanding.
With help from his college counselor, internet lists of “A schools for B students”, and the excellent non-judgmental forums here called “Parents of class of 202X 3.0-3.5 GPA”, we complied his list. Those 3.0-3.5 forums are so helpful. Discussions of all sorts of great schools with details for our very competent awesome kids who are’t the 4.0/1550 SAT kids who get the most attention here. I followed the one for son’s year and read back over those from previous years. I highly recommend them for schools which possibly aren’t on your radar and parents who don’t look down on your options.
We started looking for a small school b/c we (mom and dad) thought that would be the most welcoming for a quiet kid. Looked at Dickinson, Gettysburg, and so forth. Looked at Elon (it was number one for a while). Finally he decided he wanted a larger school for the larger options of majors and mostly the larger number of clubs/activities. He especially wanted to be able to sing but not major in music.
He’s currently a freshman at Miami Ohio living his best life. I was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a Miami school in Ohio before it was recommended by a friend. After our visit, I wanted to move right in. I went to William and Mary and Miami is like W&M on steroids. All red brick and trees. The people there are so nice and so happy it seems unreal (possibly just a midwest thing but as an east coast girl who lived in NYC, it’s almost disconcerting). He loves it. He choose it in no small part b/c of the activities available. He joined the Men’s Glee Club, and he lucked out 100% in the roommate department, Nicest most welcoming guys ever. I couldn’t have custom designed a better place for him. It was the perfect example of finding the right fit.
I can’t speak to all of the different aspects of whether it would be a fit or not (it’s a Christian school, so that might / might not work for your son), but people on the boards here have spoken absolutely glowingly about the people at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
Exactly what I thought after being at both with my daughter and spending time. Anyone who loves W&M but can’t afford or get in should have Miami on their list.
Check out Illinois State University. It doesn’t get a lot of attention on this site, but I used to teach there, and the students are very kind and friendly. It has a business school. The surrounding town (it’s located in Normal, which is part of a larger twin-cities setting of Bloomington-Normal) combines a quaint and walkable small-town environment with a larger suburban setting with everything you’d need. Easy access to Chicago and St. Louis (about 2-2.5 hours away from each, straight shot on the highway or train, and there are buses from both Midway and O’Hare, as well as a small airport in Bloomington-Normal itself, so transportation is pretty easy). Campus itself is lovely – the main quad is an arboretum. If you’re flexible about location, ISU is worth a look.
Denver makes sense, if he is full pay there will be some give on GPA especially if he EDs.
I second Miami Ohio. Adding U Dayton and U Delaware, both very strong for business without the competitive BS (mostly…there are some hard to get into finance clubs at Delaware). The career centers at those schools are well oiled machines, really impressive. Nothing like the inept career center at my D’s elite LAC. Marist probably fits the friendly bill too.
If he wants to go further afield, I would look at Kansas, Kansas State, and U Arizona.
Someone said Bradley and I would stay away from that for now, they are having budget cuts, including some business majors, Peoria is not a good town, and it will be hard to get to from the NE.
Someone also said Lake Forest college and I would not rate that highly on friendliness/inclusiveness. Not saying it’s competitive/cutthroat, but not super friendly either.
I would suggest Xavier in Cincinnati. Extremely friendly kids and families with a strong northeast presence and generous merit aid. Many academic supports as well.
