Reply to Parents of Juniors - how is it going?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My Junior is freaking out because his GPA is 3.4 right now. He's an excellent kid, well liked by his peers and just made the Varsity Soccer team (again) this year.

We'll be visiting JMU, GMU, VCU and CNU soon, however, from what I read he might not have a chance at any of those colleges. Except CNU.

He takes a mix of regular/Honor/AP classes.

I welcome all the great information I see in this forum, but to be honest, it gives me anxiety. Who would have thought a well-rounded B student can't aim for a good college... [/quote]

Why does "good college" have to mean a big state school in the DMV? Look at SLACS, regional universities, go outside of Virginia for crying out loud. Your son sounds like a great, smart kid - there are good colleges that would love to have him. [/quote]

Maybe cost is a factor and they need to stay in state.  Imagine that. [/quote]

In state isn't always the cheapest option.  Plenty of big state schools in other states and private schools offer great merit scholarships.   My college freshman is currently in a private school out of state for thousands less than he would have paid at Longwood, Mary Washington, George Mason, Christopher Newport, etc.   and it has far more name recognition too.  [/quote]

How do you search information for those?  I've lived in VA all my life and attended GMU myself so I don't know much about anything outside VA. Is Merit offered to 3.4 GPA students as well?

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I found it helpful early on to run a bunch of net price calculators across different colleges of similar tiers, comparing those that ask for GPA/test scores (not all do and if they don't they likely aren't factoring in merit aid, or don't offer it). IME, similar tiered colleges tended to end up in the same range in pricing.

In the end, DS who wanted the big state U experience was accepted at a couple OOS schools that came in around $40k, a couple in the mid-20s and a couple in-state Us also mid 20s. He's going in-state.

DD wanted to attend a LAC and applied to several.  A couple higher ranked ones ended up in the $40-$50k range, a few a tier down all came in around $30k and she's going to one of those. Her best in-state option (UMW) would have been $17k. She did not get into W&M but if she had, that would have been about $39k.
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