South Eastern Colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:C'mon people. These are SEC schools, not the Ivies, not the little Ivies, not even any in the US News top 50. UNC and Duke are in a whole different league than the SEC schools, though.

What matters is not so much the exact GPA number, but what your school profile looks like and where you fit into it. The colleges will know this. I'd say OP's DC has a great shot at any SEC school, if that DC is from a strong public or private in this area.

Last year we had many of these same schools offering big, and I mean, big financial aid packages to the top students at DD's private. They were the top students, though. Maybe the top 10% or so. A couple students took the bait and went, surprising many because they had been looking mostly at top 25 schools. Everyone has a price, though.

Keep telling yourself that - For the Fall of 2011, admitted freshman applicants had an average grade-point average (GPA) of 4.3, a 1963 SAT score, and a 30 ACT score. I'm not sure what is is now. But when my daughter applied, you were not safe even with a 4.0 or better. My daughter's best friend was accepted to to Brown and turned down at Florida. Hard to believe, but it happened the same year my daughter got in.

The SEC schools do not automatically consider your student somehow "better" just because they graduated from a strong school in the D.C. area. I have a child that graduated from a very well respected Fairfax County High School. None of the admissions offices seemed to even give that consideration. I was hoping they would. But they didn't. They looked at GPA, test scores, essays, and extra-curricular. Believe it or not, there are fantastic schools outside of the "D.C. area". T.J. is the only D.C. area school that even breaks the top 10 best public schools.

I should add that I am not a fan of UF. I think Gainsville is a filthy, dangerous town. Plus, I've been conditioned to hate the Gators since birth. But to suggest that UF is not very, very difficult to get into is ridiculous. There is a reason it is one of the Public Ivys.

[Anonymous]

UNC is not out of the realm of possibility. Our kid was accepted at Chapel Hill (OOS) with a 3.8 weighted GPA, 31 ACT, no hooks, but consistent involvement and leadership position in one extracurricular activity + excellent writing ability. It was a huge reach but it went our way. There is NO merit money, though, unless you are superstar, and then they are very generous. Also accepted at UGA (with merit money) and USC (they notify late about merit awards and the honors program, which is *extremely* competitive). Deferred at our state's flagship school. Look at UGA - great school with lots of academic options, an Oxford program, beautiful campus in one of the best college towns in the country, incredible alumni network, and they just started giving good merit money to OOS applicants. Until recently with the Zell Miller grants, they couldn't afford to woo OOSers with merit money, but we were pleasantly surprised with a generous offer, automatic consideration. There's great merit money at Alabama and Tulane and Auburn as well, to judge from offers received by other kids we know.

[Anonymous]

No, Florida is not "very, very difficult" get into. Not even close. Florida accepted 43% of its 2012 applicants. That's no where near the top 100 most selective colleges, according to US News.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/lowest-acceptance-rate/page+4

As for SATs. According to Florida's own numbers, fully 1/2 of the class of 2016 had SATs under 1940 ( out of 2400). Oh, be sure, they are using the highest scores for each student.
http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/ugrad/frprofile.html

Florida loves to tout the high grades of its admits. But wait. Look closer. Florida says the grades are "as computed by UF." They are obviously weighting heavily. Almost half of their applicants had GPAs over 4.0. Really?
Source: Same as above.

Take all these self-reported numbers by colleges with a grain of salt. The colleges are all coming up with ways to make them seem impossible to get into.

It's your schools counselor's job to let the colleges know how rigorous the school is. Sounds like your counselor wasn't working hard enough. More likely, the counselor had too many kids to really advocate for them.

I moved here from Florida. I know all about high schools in Florida and sorry, they are nothing like the schools up here. A good way to measure the kinds of students states are turning out is the NMSF cut-off.

Maryland 219
Virginia 217

Florida 211

[Anonymous]

Florida is not a "Public Ivy!" There are 8 Ivy League schools. In his 1985 book, Richard Moll named the public Ivies as:

William & Mary
Miami University of Ohio
California
Michigan
UNC Chapel Hill
U Texas at Austin
UVM
UVA

The runners up were: Colorado, GA Tech, Illinois, New College, Penn State, Pitt, SUNY Binghamton, Washingon, and Wisconsin.

No Florida.

OP go ahead and apply!

[Anonymous]

I am not so sure data from 1985 is dispositive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not so sure data from 1985 is dispositive.

Dispositive? Data? Huh?? Moll coined the term "Public Ivy" back in 1985 and named 8 publics that fit his construct. His wasn't any quantatative judgment, just a list of the public colleges that seemed the most like Ivies, based on age, traditions, academics, feel, etc. Since then lots of others have thrown the term and expanded the list every which way.

[Anonymous]

College professor here wracking my brain to figure out what UVM is!

[Anonymous]

I don't know where she got that acronym, but she means University of Vermont. Look it up like I did, you professor you.

[Anonymous]

The University of Vermont has been known as UVM forever - I had friends who went there in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UNC is not out of the realm of possibility. Our kid was accepted at Chapel Hill (OOS) with a 3.8 weighted GPA, 31 ACT, no hooks, but consistent involvement and leadership position in one extracurricular activity + excellent writing ability. It was a huge reach but it went our way. There is NO merit money, though, unless you are superstar, and then they are very generous. Also accepted at UGA (with merit money) and USC (they notify late about merit awards and the honors program, which is *extremely* competitive). Deferred at our state's flagship school. Look at UGA - great school with lots of academic options, an Oxford program, beautiful campus in one of the best college towns in the country, incredible alumni network, and they just started giving good merit money to OOS applicants. Until recently with the Zell Miller grants, they couldn't afford to woo OOSers with merit money, but we were pleasantly surprised with a generous offer, automatic consideration. There's great merit money at Alabama and Tulane and Auburn as well, to judge from offers received by other kids we know.

This is good info- thank you. Please tell me- which is "extremely competitive"- the honors program, the merit money, or both?

[Anonymous]

My dh went to Auburn. He loved Auburn and got a great education.

I went to one of the top five liberal arts colleges according to us news and world report.

I've never had an interviewer comment on my college. Dh always seems to have interviews with fellow sec grads and they chat football and then he is offered the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College professor here wracking my brain to figure out what UVM is!

The UVM is for the Latin translation of University of the Green Mountains. Viridis Montis or something like that (sorry I didn't take Latin). Can't believe you've never heard of UVM before as a college professor. I applied there back in the 80s and it's always attracted a pretty big out of state contingent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dh went to Auburn. He loved Auburn and got a great education.

I went to one of the top five liberal arts colleges according to us news and world report.

I've never had an interviewer comment on my college. Dh always seems to have interviews with fellow sec grads and they chat football and then he is offered the job.

That depends on the interviewer. DW hires people all the time here and I assure you football is something that never gets mentioned. She is an Ivy grad who hates sports, especially football. It may depend on the kind of job though.

[Anonymous]

22:14 here - Sorry, I realize I wasn't clear - the honors college at U of South Carolina is extremely competitive to get into. South Carolina is actually quite generous with merit money for OOS students, bringing the cost down to nearly in-state levels in many instances. You can try the net price calculator on the schools' sites to see how merit money may factor in. You might also look at the Academic Common Market to see how certain degree programs not offered in your home state can get you in-state tuition elsewhere. Good luck - there is merit money out there, and the southeast has some great colleges for every kind of student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is a junior and he has compiled his list of schools he wants to visit. He is thinking south-east. U of NC Chapel Hill (reach), FSU (Safety), Alabama Safety), University of Fla (slight reach), University of South Carolina (I have heard they give good merit aid.) DH is poo-pooing schools in the South East, and wanting DS to look North.

Stats:
3.95 weighted GPA
29 ACT
1990 SAT/ 1340 Math/Reading.

So here is my question. Are schools in the South East seen as sub-par from a hiring/interviewing standpoint? Are they thought of as all play and no work, as my DH thinks?

Thanks

Would your DS be ok with going to a satellite school for two years and then transferring if he didn't get his pick? I went to North Carolina State and was accepted at UNC-CH as a third year transfer (I knew a decent number of people who did this).