Which colleges would you encourage DD to reach for?

[Anonymous]

Let's say late bloomer. 3.5 GPA, but steadily increasing since freshman year. Increasing level of difficulty in classes (but just a total of 4 APs by senior year). 1250 (M + CR) on SATs (may go up by 50-100 points after tutoring). ECs as expected for this area: varsity sports, community service, summer employment. MD (Catholic) high school. Suddenly DD doesn't want to limit her college choice based on climate or NCAA football rankings but just wants to go to the "best" school she can get into, so every college is back in the mix (except UMD, sadly). Because of an undecided, but not liberal arts major, I'm assuming we're still looking at biggish state universities. High school counselors are not very helpful at this point. Thanks for any thoughts or ideas!

[Anonymous]

Villanova.

[Anonymous]

Get the college book from any bookstore about the "388 best colleges". Your school can also plug her stats into naviance. I also think Villanova, Fairfield, Loyola in Baltimore, St. Marys in MD, and some lesser ranked VA schools (but you probably don't want to pay out of state rates for tha

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Confused by the undecided but not liberal arts major. So is she interested in technical majors like engineering, computer science, nursing kinds of fields?

What do the various search engines pop up? I actually found those to be reasonably useful.

Michigan might be a good reach. BC if she brings her scores up.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. She added Villanova to her list and is thinking hard about Michigan (a neighbor told her Michigan is looking to grab some full pay OOS kids from our area -- so take that for what it's worth). Just plugging her numbers in to Naviance or elsewhere I think give her an idea of "safety" schools, but don't give her the benefit of a school that might actually give her some extra credit for having an increasing GPA.

[Anonymous]

BTW, our Catholic HS Naviance shows an average accepted student at BC has a 4.25+ GPA and 2120+ SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, our Catholic HS Naviance shows an average accepted student at BC has a 4.25+ GPA and 2120+ SAT.

The average scores on BCs website are pretty low - CR is listed as under 600. I thought it might be a typo, maybe that's the athlete effect. It's one of my DCs "likely" schools.

So when you say 3.5 do you mean weighted, not out of a 4.0 scale?

Try plugging in your DDs 10th and 11th grade GPA and an SAT score 100 points higher in the search engines and see what pops up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW, our Catholic HS Naviance shows an average accepted student at BC has a 4.25+ GPA and 2120+ SAT.

The average scores on BCs website are pretty low - CR is listed as under 600. I thought it might be a typo, maybe that's the athlete effect. It's one of my DCs "likely" schools.

So when you say 3.5 do you mean weighted, not out of a 4.0 scale?

Try plugging in your DDs 10th and 11th grade GPA and an SAT score 100 points higher in the search engines and see what pops up.

I didn't see the scores broken down, but the BC website has 25% - 75% total SAT scores are listed as 1960 - 2150. College Board lists mid-range scores at 620-710(CR) and 640-740(Math). Maybe the competition is actually harder, not easier, coming from a Catholic HS? Anyway, I think a below 600 section score must be an outlier. But who really knows.

[Anonymous]

Off the top of my head - Washington, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UDSD, UC Santa Barbara, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, Texas A&M, SMU, Syracuse, OSU. Probably plenty others. Cappex has a "chance me" function that might be helpful in coming up with candidates for your daughter's search. My DD has about the same stats as yours, and this site that has given me some ideas about reaches, safeties, etc.

[Anonymous]

I think I would go in a completely different direction--to a second-tier small liberal arts college that will provide better support for her as she continues to "bloom." I would check out the "Colleges that Change Lives." This is primarily a marketing distinction, but it highlights some lesser known LACs that really do provide a top-notch education. A student like your DD would benefit, IMO, from a teaching-focused, rather than a research-focused, institution.

I know you said "not liberal arts," but unless your DD has some particular vocational interest (nursing? engineering? accounting?), I don't understand why a big university is the necessary default.

http://www.ctcl.org/

[Anonymous]

^^Smaller colleges will also evaluate your DD as a "whole" person in making admissions decisions. Most big universities are not interested in her increasing GPA.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I've tried and tried. I cannot get my kids to consider colleges that they haven't "heard" of. That pretty much limits us to colleges with teams on ESPNU.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. If you feel that a college your DC hasn't heard of might be a good fit, insist on visiting.

It's important to me that the money I invest in my kids' education be well-spent. That means I have a great deal to say about *where* it will be spent. I expect my kids to make a good case for why a certain school appeals to them, what it will offer them and why it is a good fit. And "they have a great football team that gets coverage on ESPN" is not an argument that will get much sympathy from me.

[Anonymous]

I would make her put an app to u of md cp just to have as option.

[Anonymous]

I'm not so sure about college sports as a factor. I went to a no name no real sports college and feel like I really missed out in a lot of the college experience and college alum networking that continues for a lifetime. It's not sour grapes--I'm very successful professionally, met DH at that college, etc. But I can understand the sports appeal.