Schools for the average kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan of JMU and Longwood. Both are not the best for outcomes - eg Roanoke is in the middle of nowhere.

JMU was ranked the best college in VA for getting a job in 2021 based on Department of Education statistics.

JMU is now a reach for someone with a gpa under 3.5. Great school, but, there are plenty of others and your kid will be fine and can have a good life, regardless of where they go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan of JMU and Longwood. Both are not the best for outcomes - eg Roanoke is in the middle of nowhere.

JMU was ranked the best college in VA for getting a job in 2021 based on Department of Education statistics.

JMU is now a reach for someone with a gpa under 3.5. Great school, but, there are plenty of others and your kid will be fine and can have a good life, regardless of where they go to college.

JMU got the typical application boost when they transitioned to the Common App a few years ago. The difference between JMU and other schools that transitioned is that their application growth continues to escalate rather than plateau. The athletics program has contributed to the university’s national exposure. JMU football making the top 25 is great marketing for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. If this were DC’s school (private, DMV), I would say Tulane, Villanova, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Syracuse.

The specific names come from the info (recent acceptances by GPA quintile) shared by college counseling.

"Average" students are not getting into these schools. OP, this will be a difficult place to get actual answers and there are old threads.

Actual realistic options: Mid-tier, in state options depending on the state (e.g., JMU, Towson), lots of LACs in the 50-100 range (which do give out merit), ASU, Arizona, Ithaca were ones on my legitimately "average" DC's list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan of JMU and Longwood. Both are not the best for outcomes - eg Roanoke is in the middle of nowhere.

JMU was ranked the best college in VA for getting a job in 2021 based on Department of Education statistics.

JMU is now a reach for someone with a gpa under 3.5. Great school, but, there are plenty of others and your kid will be fine and can have a good life, regardless of where they go to college.

JMU must be more forgiving for OOS applicants. Literally, have never heard of anyone from our DCPS school getting rejected from JMU, including just this last year. I don't know their specific GPAs, but middle of the class kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. If this were DC’s school (private, DMV), I would say Tulane, Villanova, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Syracuse.

The specific names come from the info (recent acceptances by GPA quintile) shared by college counseling.

"Average" students are not getting into these schools. OP, this will be a difficult place to get actual answers and there are old threads.

Actual realistic options: Mid-tier, in state options depending on the state (e.g., JMU, Towson), lots of LACs in the 50-100 range (which do give out merit), ASU, Arizona, Ithaca were ones on my legitimately "average" DC's list.

If they’re coming from the right private school they will. If they’re coming from one of the public, these schools will be more of a reach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan of JMU and Longwood. Both are not the best for outcomes - eg Roanoke is in the middle of nowhere.

JMU was ranked the best college in VA for getting a job in 2021 based on Department of Education statistics.

JMU is now a reach for someone with a gpa under 3.5. Great school, but, there are plenty of others and your kid will be fine and can have a good life, regardless of where they go to college.

JMU must be more forgiving for OOS applicants. Literally, have never heard of anyone from our DCPS school getting rejected from JMU, including just this last year. I don't know their specific GPAs, but middle of the class kids.

JMU denied 15,000 applicants for this year’s class. I’m sure there were DCPS students in there.

[Anonymous]

If Catholic then BC

[Anonymous]

Not yet mentioned:

PA has some LAC that give good merit for average kids: Susquehanna, Juniata, etc

Directional or second tier schools in other states, if that flagship is too selective. You have to look deeper but there’s often stand out programs (Mich State’s packaging science, CUNY John Jay for forensic science, UNC-W for marine biology, etc) that a very well regarded in particular industries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. If this were DC’s school (private, DMV), I would say Tulane, Villanova, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Syracuse.

The specific names come from the info (recent acceptances by GPA quintile) shared by college counseling.

"Average" students are not getting into these schools. OP, this will be a difficult place to get actual answers and there are old threads.

Actual realistic options: Mid-tier, in state options depending on the state (e.g., JMU, Towson), lots of LACs in the 50-100 range (which do give out merit), ASU, Arizona, Ithaca were ones on my legitimately "average" DC's list.

Agree with this. Also agree with the suggestion to look at the "directional" schools, or the non-flagship state schools. UNC Chapel Hill is extremely selective, especially for OOS. But UNC Charlotte, Asheville, etc., aren't as selective.

That Awesome Average FB group is helpful.

[Anonymous]

The problem with DCUM now is that it’s been taken over by so many interlopers from outside the DMV that forums like this one have become useless. You can no longer offer suggestions from our region that makes sense because the OP will just say “we’re from Timbuktu not the DMV.”

Why can’t you people find your own websites?

[Anonymous]

ChatGPT is useful to talk to about this. Put in all the kid’s interests, board scores, classes, grades, location wants, financial considerations , vibe wants, etc and ask it to recommend 10 schools, a mix of reaches targets and safeties. Get into dialogue with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. If this were DC’s school (private, DMV), I would say Tulane, Villanova, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Syracuse.

The specific names come from the info (recent acceptances by GPA quintile) shared by college counseling.

"Average" students are not getting into these schools. OP, this will be a difficult place to get actual answers and there are old threads.

Actual realistic options: Mid-tier, in state options depending on the state (e.g., JMU, Towson), lots of LACs in the 50-100 range (which do give out merit), ASU, Arizona, Ithaca were ones on my legitimately "average" DC's list.

Agree with this. Also agree with the suggestion to look at the "directional" schools, or the non-flagship state schools. UNC Chapel Hill is extremely selective, especially for OOS. But UNC Charlotte, Asheville, etc., aren't as selective.

That Awesome Average FB group is helpful.

Yes, we are in NC and at their high school only the top 5% get into UNC, top 10-15% to NC State and most go to all others in the UNC system or other southern schools. Academically, we would probably be happy with any state school (know solid people and great outcomes from pretty much all the schools). It would mainly be a fit from lifestyle, major and other factors (several of the state schools have a “commuter” or suitcase vibe. My DC is only in 9th at this point I’m not sure where many kids end up based on rank/profile, or where to get a sense of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with DCUM now is that it’s been taken over by so many interlopers from outside the DMV that forums like this one have become useless. You can no longer offer suggestions from our region that makes sense because the OP will just say “we’re from Timbuktu not the DMV.”

Why can’t you people find your own websites?

Point taken—I’ll show myself out.

[Anonymous]

I have a couple friends in NC with kids at App State. I also know people with students at ECU and UNC-G.

We considered Meredith in Raleigh for our daughter. Great little women’s school down the street from NC State. Wouldn’t work for a male, but we both really liked it there.

I think ODU is worth a look - we liked it a lot and do know a few successful grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. If this were DC’s school (private, DMV), I would say Tulane, Villanova, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Syracuse.

The specific names come from the info (recent acceptances by GPA quintile) shared by college counseling.

"Average" students are not getting into these schools. OP, this will be a difficult place to get actual answers and there are old threads.

Actual realistic options: Mid-tier, in state options depending on the state (e.g., JMU, Towson), lots of LACs in the 50-100 range (which do give out merit), ASU, Arizona, Ithaca were ones on my legitimately "average" DC's list.

If they’re coming from the right private school they will. If they’re coming from one of the public, these schools will be more of a reach.

💯 true