Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think students should start thinking about trades if they're not top students. Welders, plumbers, electricians all can be interesting careers.

Seriously? For a 3.5 to 3.8gpa? Those are still "top students" with an A- average. So sure, if they are interested in trades, encourage that. But 3.5 students have tons of options. Look at privates schools (both In state and OOS) that offer merit. with a 3.5 UW Gpa you can still get college costs of only $30-40K fairly easily (and that's equivalent to In state publics). Search and you can get it even cheaper (hint: drop down a tier, find a school where your kid is at the 90% for stats).

Plenty of kids do not find their academic stride until college. There are good colleges even for a 3.0 gpa in HS, just not T50 schools for them.

for reference, I have one of those 3.5 UW students, took only on AP in HS and got their first D in that class (first grade below a B ever) but managed a B + 2nd semester. They graduated from a T90 university with a 3.4 GPA (and it's low cause they attempted to be pre-health sciences freshman year and killed their gpa before switching majors to finance/accounting), gainfully employed at a great company and succeeding at "adulting" and love their job.

Thanks for your message. I agree with you.

+1

NP. I agree, as well. I think OP might be trying to say that the "mid" VA colleges are slowly closer to the bottom (lower stats and application information required), than the top (higher stats and application information required) of Virginia's list of schools, and that can be frustrating for some. But this PP has a well thought out and pertinent post.

The VA options below the UVA/VT/W&M tier compare favorably to MD in the offerings below UMCP. Maybe UMBC and Towson are comparable to GMU and VCU if you squint a little, but not in my view.

I also think they compare favorably to the directional schools in other states.

So yes, it is very frustrating to have reduced access to UVA/VT/W&M, but we still have a good situation in the VA public university system.

Anonymous wrote:All the VA state schools are fine.


That said, Looking at some of the median salaries of the health certification programs at NVCC makes me think getting the 4 year degree is a waste of time and money unless you want to get the doctoral degrees. Get the certs, get into an office, and if they want you to go further, THEY can help with your tuition.

Just be aware that those health programs at NVCC are not open enrollment; you have to apply having taken the pre-reqs, and admissions is competitive. My DD was in a class with a girl who was getting ready to apply for the sonography program, and her classmate was told that if you don't have all A's in your pre-requisite classes, they won't even look at your application. It was an intro physics class, and she was pretty stressed because if she got anything other than an A she was going to have to take it over again.

Don't forget about the VTAG money, which can be used at private schools in VA

http://www.cicv.org/Affordability/Tuition-Assistance-Grant.aspx

Here is the list of private colleges
http://www.cicv.org/Our-Colleges/Profiles.aspx

There are LOTS of schools that give decent merit packages to kids with 3.5-ish GPAs that bring the tuition down to a more reasonable level. You just have to be willing to do your research.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think students should start thinking about trades if they're not top students. Welders, plumbers, electricians all can be interesting careers.

Seriously? For a 3.5 to 3.8gpa? Those are still "top students" with an A- average. So sure, if they are interested in trades, encourage that. But 3.5 students have tons of options. Look at privates schools (both In state and OOS) that offer merit. with a 3.5 UW Gpa you can still get college costs of only $30-40K fairly easily (and that's equivalent to In state publics). Search and you can get it even cheaper (hint: drop down a tier, find a school where your kid is at the 90% for stats).

Plenty of kids do not find their academic stride until college. There are good colleges even for a 3.0 gpa in HS, just not T50 schools for them.

for reference, I have one of those 3.5 UW students, took only on AP in HS and got their first D in that class (first grade below a B ever) but managed a B + 2nd semester. They graduated from a T90 university with a 3.4 GPA (and it's low cause they attempted to be pre-health sciences freshman year and killed their gpa before switching majors to finance/accounting), gainfully employed at a great company and succeeding at "adulting" and love their job.

Thanks for your message. I agree with you.

3.5 - 3.8 students are still going to great VA colleges. They are still getting into JMU, sometimes VA Tech, definitely CNU, VCU. and there are options that are suitable for those with lower GPAs as well.

Anonymous wrote:I think students should start thinking about trades if they're not top students. Welders, plumbers, electricians all can be interesting careers.

Seriously? For a 3.5 to 3.8gpa? Those are still "top students" with an A- average. So sure, if they are interested in trades, encourage that. But 3.5 students have tons of options. Look at privates schools (both In state and OOS) that offer merit. with a 3.5 UW Gpa you can still get college costs of only $30-40K fairly easily (and that's equivalent to In state publics). Search and you can get it even cheaper (hint: drop down a tier, find a school where your kid is at the 90% for stats).

Plenty of kids do not find their academic stride until college. There are good colleges even for a 3.0 gpa in HS, just not T50 schools for them.

for reference, I have one of those 3.5 UW students, took only on AP in HS and got their first D in that class (first grade below a B ever) but managed a B + 2nd semester. They graduated from a T90 university with a 3.4 GPA (and it's low cause they attempted to be pre-health sciences freshman year and killed their gpa before switching majors to finance/accounting), gainfully employed at a great company and succeeding at "adulting" and love their job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally thousands go to those other schools.

Is the same person constantly spamming the same dumb advice? Would you send your kid to UDC? University of South Carolina, Aiken? Lindsey Wilson College?

There is a world of options between VT and UDC, and you knew that.

There are not 'thousands' There are a few hundred at best, far less if you cut out commuter campuses half way across the country. US news calls 443 universities national, and another 180 regional. UDC isn't even the lowest ranked regional university, so if UDC is unimaginably lowly, then your real number doesn't even approach thousands

The original post was about VIRGINIA schools, not UDC or other schools across the country. Keep to the topic, people!

PP said there are 'literally thousands of other schools" Are you implying that they were referring to the thousands of colleges and universities in Virginia?

No. PP did not. It said that thousands of students choose other Virginia schools, not that there are thousands of other schools. Reading is fundamental.

The consequence will be that schools like VCU, CNU and JMU will continue to “gentrify” and become more desirable as students get shut out of VT, W&M and UVa.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the COMMONWEALTH of Virginia

I think in this context she meant "the state of" like you say "the condition of" or "the state of the union"

I know. Sorry. Just being a smarta$$.

All the VA state schools are fine.

GMU and VCU are large universities with plenty of options.

We have been to ODU and Radford campuses and they are both quite nice. ODU is close to the beach, too - doesn't suck! These two are also rather affordable comparatively.

Lots of people seem to love CNU and UMW. A friend of mine has a child deciding between CNU, Purdue and SLU right now.

Honestly don't hear a lot about Longwood, but I had investigated it online and it seems like a nice place to spend 4 years. Like Radford, I think the town isn't very exciting, but the campus looks pretty self contained. Honestly, I didn't leave my campus all that often - just to go to the mall and big box stores.

The community college to 4 year pathway is another option. That is looking more and more like the path my child is going to take.

That said, Looking at some of the median salaries of the health certification programs at NVCC makes me think getting the 4 year degree is a waste of time and money unless you want to get the doctoral degrees. Get the certs, get into an office, and if they want you to go further, THEY can help with your tuition.

However bad you think the options are in Virginia, agree that there are many more tiers and affordable options relative to other states.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally thousands go to those other schools.

Is the same person constantly spamming the same dumb advice? Would you send your kid to UDC? University of South Carolina, Aiken? Lindsey Wilson College?

There is a world of options between VT and UDC, and you knew that.

There are not 'thousands' There are a few hundred at best, far less if you cut out commuter campuses half way across the country. US news calls 443 universities national, and another 180 regional. UDC isn't even the lowest ranked regional university, so if UDC is unimaginably lowly, then your real number doesn't even approach thousands

The original post was about VIRGINIA schools, not UDC or other schools across the country. Keep to the topic, people!

PP said there are 'literally thousands of other schools" Are you implying that they were referring to the thousands of colleges and universities in Virginia?

Just send your kids to ODU and tell your friends that they’re at the “Norfolk campus of William & Mary” (which is what it was founded as). Does that help, OP?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally thousands go to those other schools.

Is the same person constantly spamming the same dumb advice? Would you send your kid to UDC? University of South Carolina, Aiken? Lindsey Wilson College?

There is a world of options between VT and UDC, and you knew that.

There are not 'thousands' There are a few hundred at best, far less if you cut out commuter campuses half way across the country. US news calls 443 universities national, and another 180 regional. UDC isn't even the lowest ranked regional university, so if UDC is unimaginably lowly, then your real number doesn't even approach thousands

The original post was about VIRGINIA schools, not UDC or other schools across the country. Keep to the topic, people!