Please help with VA college list for average student

[Anonymous]

We have a family member at Mary Washington. She loves it there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you are joking if you think there is any reason for this kid to apply to uva and william and mary! you can easily google the average SAT scores and GPAs for different schools. I think he needs to be realistic and you do too.

+1

If you're not paying, you need to stop talking about out of state now.

Here's where I think you should focus:

ODU
VCU
JMU
CNU
MWU
Radford

You are undermining his mother and interfering in financial discussions that shouldn't concern you at all. MYOFB.

Thanks for your concern, but mom and kid have specifically asked for our input, and he is also a relative of mine.

[Anonymous]

The average GPA for last year's freshman class at UMBC was 3.78 and the average SAT for just reading and math was 1210.
Add it to the 'reach' category for this student.

[Anonymous]

CNU and JMU, or University of Richmond are very much reach schools based on acceptances from the 2015 class. As the PP mentioned, Radford and Longwood are much more on target with those stats. Randolph Macon often offers a lot of $ so with that GPA and SAT he might want to consider that school too.

[Anonymous]

If his long term goal is, or even might be, pharmacy school, then his short term goal needs to be to obtain a B.A., with prerequisites, with the highest grades and the least debt possible. He'll likely need to take out loans to get through pharmacy school, but starting pharmacy school in debt will make that challenging.

A "match" school rather than a "reach" school will also mean that he's more likely to shine in his classes, get good grades, and gain the attention of faculty which can lead to good recommendations, and other opportunities. In addition, a state school with a reasonable tuition will mean that he's less likely to need to work overwhelming numbers of hours, and can concentrate on his studies and opportunities such as internships.

If his grades, and test scores* were significantly higher, I'd feel differently, and advise you to explore merit aid and look at need blind/full need schools, but those are probably out of reach. He should investigate every state school in VA. If he honestly can't find any that meet his needs, then he should maybe look further afield, but that's unlikely to happen. VA has wonderful diversity in their schools.


*I'm assuming that the 1500 is for CR/M/W, and not just CR/M. If it's the former this puts him at the 50th %ile for HS seniors, and below the 50th%ile for college bound kids. If it's the latter, then ignore my whole post.

[Anonymous]

Can you run the financial aid calculators on the websites of the schools you're suggesting? That would give the young man and his mom an idea of what the costs for them might be. Also, sometimes private SLACs can end up costing less than an in-state school with merit scholarships and financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The average GPA for last year's freshman class at UMBC was 3.78 and the average SAT for just reading and math was 1210.
Add it to the 'reach' category for this student.

Is that for admits or for students who ended up going there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The average GPA for last year's freshman class at UMBC was 3.78 and the average SAT for just reading and math was 1210.
Add it to the 'reach' category for this student.

AAs getting into schools generally have SATs 200+ points lower than the average accepted student. Not sure about the GPA, but his SATs are probably just fine for UMBC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you are joking if you think there is any reason for this kid to apply to uva and william and mary! you can easily google the average SAT scores and GPAs for different schools. I think he needs to be realistic and you do too.

+1

If you're not paying, you need to stop talking about out of state now.

Here's where I think you should focus:

ODU
VCU
JMU
CNU
MWU
Radford

You are undermining his mother and interfering in financial discussions that shouldn't concern you at all. MYOFB.

Thanks for your concern, but mom and kid have specifically asked for our input, and he is also a relative of mine.

His single mom wants him to apply to in-state schools only, given the cost, as she doesn't want him saddled with debt after college.

You are still ignoring the mother. Are you ponying up the extra $$?

[Anonymous]

I'd have him go NVCC, keep his grades up and do the in-state transfer to another state school then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd have him go NVCC, keep his grades up and do the in-state transfer to another state school then.

Yep. I know many folks who got into UVa this way. It's a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you are joking if you think there is any reason for this kid to apply to uva and william and mary! you can easily google the average SAT scores and GPAs for different schools. I think he needs to be realistic and you do too.

I have to agree with this but would have put it more kindly. Especially if you are applying from NOVA - (?) (sounds like it). The competition is fierce. Kids with much better stats got rejected from GMU on EA. But if he has the money (applications and reporting of test scores is costly) go ahead and try. The URM status and athletics may help but competition for all VA schools has become impossibly fierce if applying from McLean/Nova.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I'd have him go NVCC, keep his grades up and do the in-state transfer to another state school then.



+++. Each VA school guaranteeing admission in the junior year has a different sent of rules as to what they want to see done at NVCC, however. So check carefully (just google it). UVA requires certain courses be taken and a certain GPA be maintained. It's easy to figure out and a terrific program for motivated students. But you must maintain that GPA and take the prerequsite course.

[Anonymous]

Radford should be a match. Maybe Temple in PA as a URM, if he qulifies for FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd have him go NVCC, keep his grades up and do the in-state transfer to another state school then.

Why do people assume that a kid who's pulling a 3.1 in high school is going to magically do much better at NVCC? Doesn't always happen that way.