lilianaanna, Our son chose Case Western for MechE, even though he was also accepted by CMU and Purdue. Case provides a lot of student support and they encourage students exploring before locking in their major at the end of their sophomore year. Unlike Purdue, engineering students are guaranteed their major at admission. He applied as a MechE because it was the most competitive major in which he was interested, but I would not be surprised if he chooses another major like BioChem or Material Science. It was just a good fit.
He likes it so far and he is doing well. He already has contacted a professor about doing research and every day is Christmas at the Sears Think Box for him.
I am so happy for you and your son. Going through this difficult process for both children and parents, one wants and deserves a story of success and good fit at the end. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Iām a CMU alum and my we visited the campus twice during the search. Feel free to message me if you want some insight into the culture, student life and resources of the school.
Iām a big CMU fan - lots of history. I tagged along with my S during his tour and interview (I donāt think they do that anymore). Itās a great place. In the end, for him, it came down to Stanford, CMU SCS, and Cal.
To get an idea on the history and flavor of CMU I strongly suggest you Google āThe Last Lectureā given by Randy Pausch. Man, when my son, wife, and I watched that together there was not a dry eye in the room.
Amazing choices he had - which did he end up accepting? And how has it been since?
Thank you for the video suggestion - it will be for ādessertā at the end of the night, probably this evening. Looking forward to it.
By ānot a starā, is your student outside of the top 10% for rank? Outside the top 20%? Do kids with similar GPAs to your student have success at the schools on your list? I think for a young student in particular, not being able to rise to the performance of top classmates (with the same rigor) despite being very intelligent/gifted may give some pause to AOs. Would you consider transferring to private boarding school for a PG year, to establish ability to hang with the top kids as far as performance, as well as to give another year to mature?
By the way - it was my first time posting and I just realized that I cannot edit the original post. Wanted to add that student won a NYTimes competition 2 years ago (national), some language competitions (national), volunteers his time, math and coding skills in several places - a non-profit teaching children languages globally, Schoolhouse.world for SAT prep, middle school math tutoring, etc. Attends several clubs in school, including Mu Alpha Theta, coding and developer clubs, etc., as well as is responsible for the IT web infrastructure of all of the clubs at school (over 200). Kids are so busy these days.
School does not make the ranking public not to stress the kids but I would guess student is in the 20% range. Kids with similar stats get in to top schools (sometimes lower test scores, and higher GPA, give or take). The GPA is not awesome as student is bright and school comes easily to them, therefore grades were never a focus, unfortunately. I understand that it is not the best attitude for college and am hoping maturity and passion will step in, particularly when exposed to more passion subjects and less core, necessary ones.
That is pretty common. My kid only learned how to crack down as a high school junior. Of course, undiagnosed ADHD also played a part. Still, her college GPA is higher than her high school GPA, even though her college is far more challenging than her high school.
Iām glad that you did expand on what your kid is doing and has done. That sounds like a full load of ECs, though it would be important for him to provide more information on his accomplishments. That makes many of the schools seem like more reasonable choices. Still reaches, though.
It seems that, like many parents of really smart kids, you try to avoid any appearance of bragging. This is not something that is a good idea in applications. Sharing those things here will also help people with their recommendations for colleges, so no need to feel uncomfortable of that people will judge you here for ābraggingā. Even if you brag, nobody here will judge you, or, if they do, their opinion is not important.
The OPās kid is at a magnet school in New York, so I donāt know that a PG year would be of much help. I also guess that kidās grades, in the context of the high school, are pretty decent. The fact that, according to the OP, many kids with similar stats are being accepted to highly rejective colleges indicates that these colleges have high regard for the high school.
Yes, this student would have been a HS junior next year (at 16 yo), and maturity is coming up to the surface now, so thank you for giving me hope. Maybe next year, gap or college, the ātaking for grantedā attitude will slowly go away and diligence will take its place.
Since this was my first post, I probably did not think it through; I just posted a few sentences that came to my mind without thinking of how they can help others. But I absolutely understand your point now. Yes, I am trying not to say too much; maybe am afraid to jinx it?
Student considered pulling back by a year in HS but it really is not possible without dropping HS for a year or two and restarting. One does not do it with/in a competitive school without a major reason, like mental health issues, for example. Yes, general grades are quite good (particularly science and math, even post AP level), with zero effort really, with a few lesser grades due to silliness. Yes, school is well known.
My kid skipped a class, so was 15-16, BUT she is a girl, so thatās equivalent to 16-17 for a boyā¦ Sophomore year, though. Oy.
Normally, Iām not a fan of the ātaking a gap year if they donāt like their college acceptancesā, but your kid is a person for whom that advice is appropriate. Only, though, if they take that year to do something worthwhile. From what your kidās EC look like, that is something which is very likely. From expanding his research, an internship, expanding his mentorship activities, etc.
Very brave to skip grades in HS. Must have been necessary for her, I imagine. This student was so bored in elementary that he refused to take a state test and the principal had to come over and ask him to erase doodles on it and complete it. Was funny sometimes, quite painful other times, when you knew the student was not enjoying any minute of learning time at school. Slowly, all equalized with time, with the HS currently providing adequate challenges. This student is showing signs of competing and ambitious mind and personality finally, but a year of extra time could and would do wonders probably. However, I sometimes feel and observe that, in the right fit and environment, the student might just take off on his own soon. As to adult environment exposure in college - I am hoping that the student might hang with people from his HS, and altogether they might make better choices. I hope.
Because you raised age, I think it has been a focus in the thread, but at this point, I donāt think itās anything actionable. This has been his peer group for a long time. Unless heās feeling unhappy socially and is looking for ways to change that in college, I think you have to treat his application as one of a "normal " high school senior.
And by the same token, early achievements are worth little at this point as they were hopefully indicators of what he achieved as he matured.
You sound very grounded about all of this, and he sounds like a good kid with a bright future!