I’m a little OCD and have gone down the rabbit hole on college admissions and now believe I have properly managed my expectations as my son (#2) goes through the next cycle.
I’ve lurked the past two years on these threads so I have basically gone through everyone’s pain/joy/experience and learned from it. It was basically training for the game/system. I think many who come to the forum/thread are late to the game and wished they knew then what they know now… or they have already done this with another child and already know.
Basically my experience is with son (#1) (Senior at Missouri S&T), these threads, the GI Bill experience with #1, and internet research. My goal is to help my child have options when he realizes there is no time left to make a decision. Wife and I both graduated from A&M. We are out-of-state because that is where the military took and left us. Wife and I have stayed in Illinois for his high school, but are moving back to Texas once he graduates. He can go to college in Texas or he can stay here, but either way… we are GONE.
His stats will be 6-7% rank, 29 (ACT… still has time to improve), 3.9 unweighted (lol), minimal EC (math team and NHS), no volunteer hours, no job [edit AP/Honors Science and Math, AP Psych, Honors Spanish]. His passion is music (piano/composing), but he wasn’t in the HS band. He is not interested in thinking about/picking a major, nor really hearing what I or colleges have to say. His essay will be completed by last week in July. We will try to pick up some volunteer hours this summer. I’m starting to ramp up my intensity about college so I’m prepared for the struggle.
Links I use a lot:
https://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/profile
https://accountability.tamu.edu/All-Metrics/Mixed-Metrics/ (Geographical is a great source for OOS)(This also will basically show you every engineering applicant was admitted in some form or fashion (98%)
https://provost.tamu.edu/Strategic-Planning
https://aggiesurveys.tamu.edu/public/Reports.aspx
For other colleges I try and find their recruitment/admissions plans as well as marketing plans (UIUC examples):