<p>We are in Virginia - there are lots of schools to choose from. JMU is son’s favorite by far. Have you looked at UMary Washington in Fredericksburg? We toured last spring and came away with a very favorable impression. I think CNU also has a lot to offer. Not a fan of ODU though, but that may just be because it is our neck of the woods. We are visiting George Mason next week and are hoping to like it. We also really liked Roanoke College in Salem, not sure if private schools are on your radar.</p>
<p>I’m from a neighboring county in Va from 89wahoo. HS level classes taken in 8th grade are on the HS transcript and do count towards the overall GPA. Some colleges do see the upward trend and give a certain amount of ‘grace’ for that. However, as far as the official transcript the hs level courses taken in middle school most definitely are included.</p>
<p>Just updating my son’s status:</p>
<p>Applying for Mech Eng. Currently he has a 3.37gpa, 1980 SAT (720math, 660CR and 600 WR) He is an Eagle Scout and so has many hours of community service and other activities (camping, hiking, leadership opportunities) thru Scouts. He has had a part time job for 3 years. We live in Mass. </p>
<p>Accepted:
UMass Lowell (Dean’s scholarship 1/2 tuition and fees)
Roger Williams (11k/yr)
UNH
Western new england Univ (14K/yr)
UMass (Accepted but not to Mech Eng)</p>
<p>Applied, still waiting to hear:
WPI EAII
RIT RD
UConn RD
URI EA</p>
<p>Is going to apply to RPI (deadline is 2/1)</p>
<p>My son’s 1st choice is UConn. He spent a week there last summer attending an Exploring engineering program for high school students. From what I have gathered from attending a couple of programs at UConn they are putting a lot of money into the school (renovating building, building new buildings, hiring more faculty, also a tech park is being built right next to the campus which will help with internships and research opportunities).</p>
<p>His 2nd choice is WPI but I feel that even if he gets in (long shot) that we will not be able to afford it.</p>
<p>Lehigh University’s mascot used be an “engineer”. They changed it recently to a mountain hawk. Lehigh is known for it’s engineering and business programs. Lehigh also has a lot of money and as one student put it, they hand it out like candy.</p>
<p>At our high school 8th grade grades in high school level courses are factored into the student’s GPA and used in determining rank, so inevitably they will make some difference in college acceptances. I don’t know if colleges that recalculate grades notice that some of the courses on the high school transcript were taken earlier. They give you lots of warnings in middle school before you sign up for these courses and don’t recommend kids that they don’t think will get at least a B.</p>
<p>Very interesting about 8th grade courses factoring into HS GPAs. Both of my boys took Alg 1 in 8th grade and it would have been excellent if that grade had carried forward to HS GPA! The three years of language taken in middle school count as one year of language, so students enter HS at Spanish or French 2 (unless they take 1st yr Latin or Mandarin). Am trying to rationalize allowing my son to not enroll in Spanish 5 for 12th grade b/c I feel like he has already had four years of Spanish, but fear colleges may not see it that way as there are only three years of Spanish on his transcript, even though the last year is Spanish 4.</p>
<p>CT - What schools is your son looking at? (I went back 5-6pgs to see if you’d mentioned. If you did I missed the post). You’ll get differing opinions on this but our GC and calls to a few schools confirmed on our case it was the level completed not the number of years taken in hs. Having said that, there is one school we came across that wanted academic solids in all areas, inc FL, all four years regardless of the lvl completed (read, don’t drop any core your Sr yr even if it means 5 yrs). I do know students admitted to the school with 4yrs FL, so they are giving advise for a most competitive schedule, not absolute. We found one school. There may or may not be others. Best to call schools of high interest.</p>
<p>Britsmum - Very interesting about Lehigh being generous with money. S2 wasn’t interested (2011grad), but I’d like S3 to take a look (2014). I have a gf whose DD is a current soph and loves it there. We are very close but have never discussed the money aspect of college admissions as frankly it isn’t a concern for their family.</p>
<p>Hi Lauren! Hi Blue! Familiar faces here…
Mathmom, they gave warnings. I gave warnings, then threats… to no avail. Debated having him re-take it but since he did pretty well on tests but simply didn’t do the homework the teacher recommended he move on… I knew it factored in, but wasn’t deep enough into the college knowledge to realize that one grade could cause so much trouble overall… But it was 8th grade… I wish we were in one of the counties where it does not count.
Spritle, I’ll look at Roanoke. He seems to want “big” but “big” is hard to find with the stats he has. Hence, ODU on the list although he’s not happy about that for some reason. I’d love him to make it to JMU, but this year is going to be critical.
CT1417, I don’t know what schools you’re considering, but my D really didn’t want to take Spanish this year either. We called her top two schools- UVA and UNC- and both said to take the 5 “academic areas” this year. So, AP Spanish it is… I’d say to call and ask. We had hoped the 4 years would be ok with them too.</p>
<p>Just wrote and attempted to post a lengthy post about my DD wonderful experience at SUNY Buffalo. She just finished her first semester at University at Buffalo, which is not the same as Buffalo State. Anyway for some reason the whole post was wiped out. Oh well so frustrating!!! I will try to highlight what was in my first post. She was a solid B+ student in HS who did not do well on SAT or ACT but who was nationally recognized for her community service and leadership activities. She was accepted to University at Buffalo ACE program. ACE program is for students that have low SATs but have great potential based on their grades and community service activities. The only difference with the ACE program is that she is gets a special ACE advisor and is required to meet with her 2x per semester. It is great. She is getting more advising then she did in HS. SUNY Buffalo is spending more money to educate her because she is in this program and I am not paying any additional fees for it. She is required to remain in the ACE program for two years, other then that there are not any restrictions about what classes she can take. She ended up doing very well the first semester and I attribute some of that success to the ACE advising. They also set her up with a great tutor when she was having a little difficulty in one of her classes. Great program.
University at Buffalo is actually in Amherst NY which is a very nice suburb.</p>
<p>Easy to get home to LI via Jet Blue/ Her dorm is only 15 min from Buffalo/Niagara airport.</p>
<p>Campus divided into North and South Campus making campus very easy to navigate</p>
<p>Really nice dorms for Freshman and Sophomore and for Junior and Seniors beautiful on campus garden apartments!</p>
<p>Many dining options/ recently opened new dining hall by freshman dorm that is the equivalent of an international food court with fire place and lounge area.</p>
<p>Campus includes medical school, dental school, engineering school which is ranked 54th by US News while Watson at Binghamton ranked 102nd, pharmacy school, law school, business school, architecture school</p>
<p>Close to Niagara Falls, Toronto and 6 malls including a Galleria Mall</p>
<p>DD has become involved in both Hillel and Chabbad</p>
<p>One of the best features SUNY Tuition for both instate and out of state residents is a GREAT valu</p>
<p>We didnt think money would be an issue for us until we looked at our 6 kids and realized that we will have kids in college for the next 15 years with many of those years having 2 and somtimes 3 at same time. Lehigh has a HUGE endowment!</p>
<p>Britsmum–that is really depressing when you state it like that–15 years of college :eek:</p>
<p>Have been following this thread (and have picked up some great inspiration and advice!)
Son’s stats are: 3.6ish GPA, 1740 Super score (610M, 560W, 570R) Strong EC’s (Captain of Golf, 4 yrs Varsity Wrestling, NHS, Freshman Orientation Leader, numerous academic and sports awards) Great Recs
Plans to study Business
Accepted to: UMass Lowell Business School (MCAS tuition scholarship, Dean’s scholarship)
UNH - Whittemore - no $ offer
Endicott - $8G renewable Merit</p>
<p>(Impatiently -lol) Waiting on: Bentley EA
Should hear by Friday…
Great to see a thread like this - much less intimidating and disheartening than the rest of CC! Best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>SteveMa- my mom and dad paid for 21 years of college for their 5 kids. We did have some loans.</p>
<p>Update - UMaine also offered Honors College and 5K/yr Merit</p>
<p>BI & Wahoo–thank you! Now, if we only knew where he wanted to apply or for that matter, where he intends to visit/interview during April break, we would be in great shape! So, BI, you did not miss the post. Not trying to be purposefully obtuse, but I just can’t quite figure out where we should be looking. High boards, low GPA. It will be an interesting process.</p>
<p>Thank you both. I will be sure to ask when we are at schools this spring.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is this really true? I hadn’t heard this before! I was on this thread a few years ago for my DD (WGPA was 3.6, she’s now a junior at Delaware) and haven’t really been here lately because my DS has a higher GPA (and higher test scores than DD did). But he is very interested in Lehigh - I just didn’t think they gave out as much money as his other leading choices (Miami and Tulane). Does Lehigh hand it out for merit aid or financial need? Based on our HS Naviance, it looks like a match for DS. EFC - at least when there are two kids in college - should result in some help. Can you tell me more about the money Lehigh gives out?</p>
<p>CT, I can’t decide if I envy you that or not… one the one hand, high something would be nice… on the other hand, maybe it just complicates things more…I will be curious to see what you find. D was the opposite forever- perfect grades, top of her class, and SAT (and ACT we tried both) scores that were just not in line. Finally I had her do one.last.try in November and she brought them up significantly, enough to let me relax and got into her #1. Until then I was pretty nervous.</p>
<p>whaoo89,</p>
<p>We’re in NOVA. We’ve applied to:</p>
<p>William and Mary
University of Richmond
Virginia Tech
JMU
GMU
VCU
CNU</p>
<p>Our weighted GPA is the issue: 2.7 (freshman), 3.5 (sophomore), 3.65 (junior), 3.9 (senior)</p>
<p>7 AP’s - 3 Junior and 4 Senior</p>
<p>DD’s mother and I split up her freshman year and the guidance counselor offered to write a note to send with her transcript. Can’t hurt!</p>
<p>ACT was 28 composite, which according to the tables is 1260 SAT (Verbal and Math).</p>
<p>EC are good - sports all four years and volunteer activities + clubs, but no leadership!!
I think we have a good teacher recommendation - AP English teacher Junior year
Dad went to JMU for whatever that’s worth.</p>
<p>One of my kids had a HS course from 6th grade (he was 10 at the time) on his HS transcript. All depends on the school system. Ours used to give us the option of whether to include those grades – a few years ago they eliminated that option.</p>
<p>JMU1989, thank you. I’ll be watching to see where she lands. Good luck to her- she definitely looks like a kid who is bouncing back from a tough time. I hope she ends up at whichever she likes the best! :)</p>