Bob

If you're looking in MA, there are boat load of decent colleges...all depends on what you're looking to study I suppose.

BUpton

My son wants to do engineering, and cost is a major consideration. UMass Lowell has a great engineering degree and this with the mistaken belief that we could get in state fees was very appealing. he has a very strong ACT mark 33, but not so strong GPA, he is a solid B student, but has amazing extra curricular achievements in leadership that are out of the normal. Im not sure where to look as the ACT and GPA are in different categories. He did not have a strong freshman year but has been taking AP and honors courses all the way through. Not sure what colleges are going to make of this and where to aim. very little guidance from the school. he is a strong interviewer.

Sally Redux

Our school did not help. They used to have a dedicated counselor for college applications, but she went in budget cuts. Some people hire private counselors.

He can just fill out the form to the best of his ability. If they have a section for extra curricular activities then obviously stress the leadership. If they require an essay, shape this to his strengths. I think it's unusual to interview here.

Presumably you are familiar with the College Board site:

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in

BUpton

I think Sally the private colleges interview, state universities don't. Living in Weston everyone here as some kind of private counselors with unbelievably high fees so not an option unfortunately.

S Folinsky

Back in the 70's when I was in law school, I had a classmate who grew up in California. He did his undergraduate at University of Indiana and had to pay out-of-state tuition. After graduation, he returned to California to attend law school. Unfortunately, his parents has retired and moved to Florida. So California classified him as out of state! Fortunately, that applied only to his first year until he re-acquired California residence. In contrast Indiana did not allow a change in determination.

BUpton

Oh NO!!!, sometimes its just too hard !!! glad to see things worked out:-)

petitefrancaise

Our eldest is also in a "different" situation to most kids too - we moved here (Texas) last september and to our horror found out that the school district she goes to refuse to give any gpa or credit to any student who didn't study in that district. We fought it, got nowhere and it is now in the hands of a federal body to investigate discrimination (we are not the only family affected by this state law).

Anyway, we quickly realised that we would need a bit of extra help with college applications and found a very good private college counsellor who has been invaluable. I phoned up the colleges she wants to go to and explained the situation regarding gpa etc and in most cases they have been great. The larger colleges have said they are used to seeing this and will take her french school reports into account. Our counsellor advised our child to take every exam that she thought she would do well in and so she has...ACT, SAT, SAT subject (x3) as well as her normal AP and IB classes at school. Again, we got extra help with the SAT simply because she had never sat a MCQ exam before.
The way we look at this is that she has to put in a great deal of work to get where she wants to go, we moved her and so we also have to do our bit. So far, all seems to be working out but I guess we can't say anything for sure until the offers roll in...

Bob

Looked at Harvard/MIT/BU/Franklin/Tufts/WPI? They've all got various grants and other bits and pieces that might be able to help out.

Looked into MEFA for help? - Student Savings, Loans & 529 College Plan | MEFA - Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority


Thing to look into, any outside school scholarship , that the money reduces cost of tuition to you, rather than getting taken out of loans eligibility, which is more a issue for state rather than private schools.

Oh and going out of state but local, RISD is a really good design/engineering type place in Rhode Island.

BUpton

Thanks Bob appreciate that! I will look into RISD, I did not know about them

Bob

NorthEastern is another engineering type place that's good...got a lovely campus, spread all over the green line I think it was

But yes, RISD is a nice place. Though you didn't say what kind of engineering you were looking into but worth a gander and it's closer to you than Amherst

Oh and Champlain College, in Vermont might be worth a look, depending on the engineering you're interested in. Good for the software/art/design side of things at least.

BUpton

Brilliant thanks Bob will give those a look at
Thanks

Markoncarp

Isnt Olin College, an engineering college? Its between Needham and Wellesley.

Nutmegger

RISD is a top art school -- I wasn't aware that they did anything connected with engineering.

Bob

Design work....it is more on the aesthetic side of things, but the OP never said what kind of engineering they were looking at.