Frostburg or similar

[Anonymous]

My 11th grade son has a 2.7 in a mainstream private school and 1100 SAT. He is bright with learning disabilities. He would like to go to a four year residential college. As his grades haven't improved as we all had hoped they would junior year we've taken lots of schools OFF the list, but need to start putting some ON. We have enough in the 529 that money isn't a barrier. Major is totally undecided - he fluctuates between business, sports management, construction management, environmental science...he just doesn't know.

He will be a recruited baseball player, which may give him a little bit of a boost to get into some schools he might not otherwise, but we are looking for matches, not reaches, so ignore the recruitment bump. However, school needs to be a DIII or DII for him to play.

We started looking at Frostburg. Graduation rate is only in 50's, which is worrisome, but maybe that just is what it is. Any suggestions for schools in that range that are DIII? He prefers a mid sized to larger school, and likes a lively feeling campus environment. We think he'd do best with small class sizes (those learning disabilities...) and good academic supports.

Salisbury, Lynchburg, Shenandoah and Christopher Newport are all on the list but baseball is probably too much of a long shot - they are nationally ranked. Radford, Towson are D1 so also too much of long shot.

Any schools we might not have thought of where you know kids have had a good experience?

[Anonymous]

I would be a little wary of that graduation rate.

A friend in a similar situation liked McDaniel a lot! Also Roanoke, and I'm glad you're looking at Lynchburg -- it popped right into my head.

[Anonymous]

I was also going to recommend McDaniel, but I know nothing about their sports scene. They’re great for LD’s, though.

[Anonymous]

Look into Fairleigh Dickinson University, they have D1 and D3 teams.

My neighbor has dyslexia, ADHD and other learning disabilities and is doing great at FDU! They are able to support his needs!
He transferred to FDU after freshman after not being supported at another private school.

[Anonymous]

For a young man building a career, ditch the baseball. He doesn't have the luxury of making that a focus, imho.

[Anonymous]

Randolph Macon
Lynchburg
York of PA
U Dayton
Clarkson
Merrimack
Manhattan
Catholic U
Appalachian State
Hofstra

[Anonymous]

There are many levels of support to chose from in the Student Accessibility program (SASS) at McDaniel. DC has a similar profile to yours (but no baseball, lol) and is thriving, which we are thrilled to see. McDaniel also has a one-week program called Step Ahead that gives students who need support a one-week running start on freshman year that begins a week before orientation, which was outstanding.

[Anonymous]

GMU 90% acceptance rate and 70% graduation rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a young man building a career, ditch the baseball. He doesn't have the luxury of making that a focus, imho.

I would actually think the team might be an important factor for keeping him motivated, as well as a built in friend group?

[Anonymous]

Frostburg’s graduation rate is low because a lot of students transfer to College Park or UMBC. They have an interesting program for Mechanical Engineering where students stay all 4 years at Frostburg but earn a college park degree. The engineering/physics/chemistry facilities are really nice and students get a lot of personal attention.
https://www.frostburg.edu/academics/majorminors/bachelor/bachelor-in-mechanical-engineering.php

Also agree with McDaniel as a suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. McDaniel is actually on the list, but on a visit my son didn’t like it - it seemed very quiet and small. But it fits most of his other needs/wants.

I’m interested to hear that the grad rate for Frostburg might be because of transfers - that would be a different story than some of the other low grad rate schools we’ve looked at and worry me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a young man building a career, ditch the baseball. He doesn't have the luxury of making that a focus, imho.

I would actually think the team might be an important factor for keeping him motivated, as well as a built in friend group?

OP here, and yes. Baseball brings him great joy, and he gets depressed when he can’t play. So it’s an essential coping mechanism for dealing with academics, which do not bring him joy but are necessary.

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of athletes at Hood, Stevenson, Goucher and York. All seem happy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the ideas, everyone. McDaniel is actually on the list, but on a visit my son didn’t like it - it seemed very quiet and small. But it fits most of his other needs/wants.

I’m interested to hear that the grad rate for Frostburg might be because of transfers - that would be a different story than some of the other low grad rate schools we’ve looked at and worry me.

Personally, I think the area where Frostburg is located is fairly dismal, but if you have visited and your kid likes it...well that is all that matters.

Here is an interesting article on Frostburg. Says it has an 89% freshman retention rate.

https://www.wcbcradio.com/archives/archiv/retention-rates-transfer-student-enrollment-at-frostburg-state-university-on-the-rise

[Anonymous]

My dad played baseball at Frostburg and eventually wound up with a Masters in Ed. He was a counselor and a school administrator over his career.

Maybe also consider some of the PASSHE schools? Some of them are very reasonably priced even for oos students.

I assume you are a MD resident?

My daughter (whose GPA was even lower due to ADHD) got into 2 private schools you might consider - Randolph in VA and Dean in MA. Randolph does take2 curriculum, which we think might be good to only have 2 classes to worry about at a time. Dean is pretty well known for its LD supports. I don’t know about either school’s baseball team, but you might put these on your radar.