<p>No matter what schools your kid applies to and where they ultimately choose to go, SOMEONE will not think highly of it.</p>
<p>You can take the coy route and when people ask where your D is looking you just say, “Oh, a variety of schools that we think will be a good fit for her.”</p>
<p>Actually, reading your post, state flagships is exactly what popped into my mind as fitting the bill for your D - and she may get merit money to some of them (especially your instate) with that strong GPA.</p>
<p>(That said, it wouldn’t hurt to LOOK at one or two more “prestigious” schools, just so your D can check them out for herself, but if your D still doesn’t like them then why would she apply there?)</p>
<p>There are several nice, larger private schools with good school spirit - Syracuse University, for example - that are great for the B+ student. This could mitigate your D’s concern about big state schools being too “research oriented.” Also many non-flagships focus more on undergraduate teaching - WI has several of them - but they are not D1 sports. </p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll find the right fit. And again try not to worry about what people think. Most people’s ideas of where someone “should” go to college are completely unfounded (including our own). And in your case, you can smile and nod all the way to the bank!</p>
<p>momofboston - your D’s stats look very good. As a parent of a B student who will soon attend a state flagship, I say enjoy the process. With our help in finding the right school, she’s going somewhere after high school and she’ll do well!!!</p>
<p>My D is a B+ student. She is bright, definitely has above-average intelligence, but she is not in the top 1% and I doubt she ever will be (not a put-down to her, just reality). She is a junior in HS and hasn’t yet taken the SAT or ACT, but her PSATs are so so…164 total. Her math is not very good. But she has always had problems with math, despite some very good tutors. It just isn’t her thing. She tries really hard and eeks out a B. Sometimes if the teacher is really good, she can get an A, but that is not the norm. She excels in verbal. She’s in 3 AP classes this year, and is getting A’s in 2 of them so far. But her other courses are solid B’s or high B’s. Her GPA is around 3.85 or something like that. I tell her that I’m proud of her and all the hard work she does. She takes school seriously, which is all that matters to me.</p>
<p>She thinks she wants to go into visual arts. She is a talented photographer, but wants to explore her options. We want her to get a good rounded liberal arts education so she can figure out the best career for herself.</p>
<p>I started a thread yesterday to ask other parents for suggestions on how to help my daughter raise her standardized test scores to at least have a shot at some of the more competitive UC’s here in California. The advice so far has been very helpful.</p>
<p>It’s so easy to get totally wrapped up in all this standardized test/college admission stuff. On one hand, you want to give your kids the best advantage possible. On the other hand, getting into Harvard doesn’t mean you’ll have a successful or happy life. </p>
<p>As another Mom said to me recently (regarding all this college stuff), “It’s crazy-making!”</p>
<p>schfam4, she sounds like a great kid. Two points to ponder are whether she would be happier in a small school than a large one and whether she would be happiest at a school where she is better than average, average or below average.</p>
<p>My personal view is that most kids like the feeling of being better than average (which can also bring merit aid).</p>
<p>If that is unweighted out of 4.0, around here that is considered the GPA of an A student. A 3.7 is an A-, a 3.3 is a B+. Don’t know what the SAT is, but S1 was accepted at UChicago and S2 at UC-Berkely with lower unweighted GPAs.</p>
<p>bblfraser-
My D is a graduating senior at a competitive high school, and has chosen to go to Centenary College of Louisiana. She has a good GPA (3.8 weighted, don’t know her unweighted GPA), but not great SAT/ACT scores, just average. Can’t remember her SAT, but ACT was 26. She got a great scholarship to Centenary, and also was accepted to U. of Tulsa with a scholarship, but chose Centenary because of the friendliness of the kids/profs and because she knew they really wanted her. She applied to Trinity, but got wait-listed. It’s actually getting more selective in it’s acceptance rate, although I think the only thing that held her back were her scores. The interaction and communication we have gotten from Centenary has been fantastic, and she is really excited to attend in the fall. Another thing we like is that it is a quick drive back to us here in Texas, just 2 1/2 hours, so it’s actually way closer than if she had gone to A&M which was her top choice for Texas schools. Good luck!</p>
<p>My HS jr. son is actually more of a B to B- student due to poor grades (and an active disdain) in math. He got a 23 on the ACT (a 25 if you take away the 16 he got in the math portion). For his college choices we both buy in to the Loren Pope “Colleges that Change Lives” model. </p>
<p>To reference one of the original questions in the first post back from 2008, neither of us are concerned about a school’s perceved prestige. He especially believes he’ll get out of college what he puts into it.</p>
<p>His college list is Kalamazoo, Wooster (reaches), Beloit, Earlham and Albion. He’ll apply early action to all. If he strikes out with all five he’ll look at community college for a year or the big state schools here in Michigan.</p>
<p>Despite his aversion to math he loves school and has a genuine thirst for learning. He plans to major in history and anthropology with an eventual career in museum studies.</p>
<p>We’ve visited Albion, Kalamazoo and Grand Valley. We had a great experience at a junior visit day at Albion, staff and students alike were very friendly and accomodating. The staff at Kalamazoo was very kind and helpful considering we showed up unannounced at 3:45 PM on a Friday afternoon. While they didn’t have anyone to give us a tour (nor were we expecting one) they outfitted us with school brochures, directions and a map. Students we appoached randomly were great and gave the school high marks. We’ll go back more formally over the summer.</p>
<p>The experience at Grand Valley was much different. It was a junior visit day and there must have been 4,000 people seated in their field house. There was a very slick powerpoint presentation followed by group tours of the campus. Everyone was approachable and friendly but my son reacted negatively to the size and scope of the school. He liked the much more low key, one-on-one experiences we had at Albion and K’zoo.</p>
<p>We’re hoping that with a well prepared application including a strong essay (he writes pretty well) he’ll have a shot with at least one of the five schools he favors.</p>
<p>^^^Traceydeen, Centenary is a great school. We have some friends there who love it. We are from New Orleans, and it was a big hike for them to go there, but they found their fit there and love it. Wishing your D the best there!</p>
<p>Huxley - your S sounds like he is moving in a great direction! His motivation level for this process will serve him very well.</p>
<p>His list is nice, and your EA tactic is a great one. The only advice I’d offer is that if small, nurturing schools are his absolute favorites, why not add some really solid safety LACs? He shouldn’t have to jump to large state schools that he doesn’t like just because he doesn’t get into some of the more selective LACs. </p>
<p>Since you’re from the Midwest and he seems to like smaller Midwest schools, keep looking. I’m wondering about Carthage or maybe Ripon in WI? How about Rockford College? They are very nice B-student schools. My D has a friend who goes to Carthage and loves it; she was an atrocious math student in HS (almost couldn’t graduate because she couldn’t pass 2nd year math), but is gifted in French. At Carthage she’s been able to pursue her strengths and succeed wonderfully … as a French major, of course!</p>
<p>This thread kept me sane when I was looking for guidance regarding S1 (college class of 2014). S1 had a 2.8 HS GPA and either a 21 or 22 on his ACT. I chose to ignore many posters on the other CC threads who said I should send him to a CC or to a trade school. I am happy to report that he just finished his freshman year with a 3.708 GPA. He was always a poor test taker and did see any reason to put academics over sports in HS.</p>
<p>So what saved my son? These are just guesses…</p>
<p>A) I had him apply in July/August to rolling admission schools so he would have a secure spot. We had 1 rejection, 2 acceptances and 1 conditional acceptance. </p>
<p>B) By the luck of the draw, he lived on a study intensive floor. Again by the luck of the draw, 2 of his professors were the department chairs and amazing teachers. </p>
<p>C) Being at a small school meant that he had multiple assignments/quizzes versus just a mid-term and final. This gave him more opportunities to put points in the grade book. </p>
<p>This resulted in something “clicking” inside of him and once he found that he could have and control those successes, he has not looked back. There are many who would look down at what they perceive as a lowly LAC, but I say “look out world…here comes my son!”</p>
<p>I am sure that he will stumble a few times, but he now believes in himself and has learned the skill set necessary to pull himself back up.</p>
<p>He wants to transfer to a more challenging school and we are open to discussing the options, but at this time are leaning toward one more year at his current college.</p>
<p>Good luck to all B/C students. I believe in you and know that if you want it and believe in yourself then you can achieve it!</p>
<p>A couple of years ago (and it might even be further back on this thread) there were some parents who posted about Northern AZ University. A couple of kids went there with sub-3.0 GPAs and really thrived.</p>
<p>I have heard very good things about Kalamazoo here on CC, and a friend’s D just graduated from Beloit and had a terrific experience.</p>
<p>I like your idea about looking into “safety” LAC’s. Off the top of my head, we should add Carthage, Ripon, Adrian, and Alma to the list. My immediate concern is timing. I’ll have to research regular decison app deadlines at these schools to make sure we will still have time to apply should he be denied at his first top five. My initial thought was to default to state schools as most of them have rolling admissions.</p>
<p>I’m glad you liked the suggestion. Good luck to you - and you might be pleasantly surprised by the deadlines. Many smaller privates that are less competitive also have rolling admissions, or at least February deadlines.</p>
<p>Are you postponing what you think might be “second choices” in order to save admissions fees? I would suggest that you add at least one of those schools to the earlier group of applications. One admission in the bag might make your S feel a lot better if he starts getting rejections or deferrals. And when you start visiting, you might be surprised at how much he likes some of these “safer” schools, too.</p>
<p>No, application fees are not a big issue. Fortunately (or regrettably, depending on your point of view) we qualify for application waivers and will use them for the suggested maximum four applications. Really timing is the bigger issue.</p>
<p>Applying to one of the “safety” schools may be a good idea as I could see my son my son easily getting discouraged. Having someone say, “we’ll take you” may be a nice boost to his confidence.</p>