Can you all think of a 3rd college for my son? He’s considered Franciscan and Furman but needs a 3rd. He wants to major in Japanese, stay within 500 miles of his southeast home. He has 1310 SAT and is homeschooled.He has fallen out of love with Belmont Abbey, his former 3rd college, due to research and the fact it appears to be Catholic in name only. Thanks in advance!
He’s only going to apply to 3 schools? That does not seem like a good idea.
If he’s pretty much guaranteed admission to the 3 and they are affordable to the family, then it’s fine.
He wants to study Japanese, at a Catholic college that is “not in name only” - what does that mean, exactly, to him?
I don’t see Japanese major offered at Furman. Not sure which Franciscan you’re looking at.
Loyola in New Orleans has a Japanese major. So do several other secular universities in the area.
Phil: No need to apply to a lot of colleges, in our family opinion. I only applied to 3 or 4 myself at his age. I know other families do things differently.
OHmom: my son is strong conservative Catholic. He wants a college to match.
Furman offers Japanese under Asian studies, I believe. Franciscan University at Steubenville in Ohio. Yes we’ve read up on Loyola. Thanks!
Since my original post, my son has picked College of Charleston for college choice 3.
Thanks!
I’m don’t know how old you are and I certainly do not mean to be rude; but the chances of gaining admissions to colleges are freefalling and the number of students applying are skyrocketing. 3 or 4 is not prudent and if your child only gets into 1 or 2, then you’ll be in a tough spot if the financial aid package is very poor.
The scariest part of your post for many regular posters on here is thinking that applying to college now is anything like it was when you applied. To be honest, that makes us all fear for you and question the decisions being made overall. Are any of these his choices or yours for him?
My son’s best friend applied to 2 schools, got into both and chose his favorite. If you select the right schools it’s fine.
People, OP’s son has chosen schools that are nearly open admission. If they are affordable and S is in range with stats (homeschooled is maybe more test dependent?) , 3 is fine.
CoC is totally secular (and public, and not cheap) but I’m sure you know that, @apraxiamom
@apraxiamom My son attends the Honors College at CofC. While its is secular and public as @Ohiomomof2 points out, there is a active Catholic Student Association at the school and merit money and departmental scholarships are available to higher stats students which can bring the cost down.
Unlike popular opinion on CC , one does not have to apply to a multitude of schools ( double digits) if they target the right schools for their scores and aren’t looking for superselective schools. My son applied to 5 , and 2 Honors Colleges, was accepted at all 5 with substantial merit.
Thank you everyone, for your feedback!
@apraxiamom : Another tack is to look for colleges that, while not strongly Catholic themselves, have a very strong Catholic community (Newman club, church community…)
Can you afford any of these colleges? Your son will likely get into all of them, but they don’t “meet need”, have very little endowment, and cost a lot of money. Unless you can pay for college from income and savings, your son may end up with 3 unaffordable choices. Have you run the NPC on all three?
Can you run the NPC on a couple more universities? I’m thinking Hillsdale (not Catholic, but conservative), Grove City, Wheaton IL, Hope (all three are conservative protestant but welcome conservative Catholics), perhaps Troy? What about St John’s College? Wabash (conservative, men-only)?
https://www.csbsju.edu/about/saint-johns-university
https://www.wabash.edu/
I have run the NPC on the 3. They are all doable with student loans and monthly parent payments to school., before any scholarships/merit aid. Thanks for your suggestions. Will look into them.
If you want a conservative social environment at a highly regarded university with a strong Japanese program and at a phenomenal price maybe look at BYU - and yes they have a Newman Club.
^True - BYU’s Japanese program is nationally-known and they’re the national reference also for conservative religious college students.