<p>Interesting, coffee. I noticed that this year they admitted fewer students than last year at my son’s high school.</p>
<p>My son was accepted & will be attending</p>
<p>Congratulations Dina77! You & family must be proud of your son. An excellent way to usher the weekend…</p>
<p>Son accepted at TCNJ, Villanova, American with $10k scholarship, and Stevens with two scholarships totaling $24k a year for the full 5 years of their accelerated Masters. Due to his Computer Science major and scholarship $$$, Stevens is the clear choice. He will be enrolling on Monday. As for the 6 schools that turned him down, THANK YOU for making our decision easier!!! :)</p>
<p>Son accepted at TCNJ, Villanova, American with $10k scholarship, and Stevens with two scholarships totaling $24k a year for the full 5 years of their accelerated Masters. Due to his Computer Science major and scholarship $$$, Stevens is the clear choice. He will be enrolling on Monday. As for the 6 schools that turned him down, THANK YOU for making our decision easier!!! :)</p>
<p>Congrats to all admitted!
Any advice for my son and me? He is a junior this year and knows that he really wants to go to Stevens. I have one in college now and we really need merit aid. Here are his stats:
ACT 34 composite/Math 36 Science 35, PSAT 217 (will take SAT soon)
GPA 4.0 unweighted, 5.17 weighted.
This year: AP History, AP Statistics, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors Physics, Honors Latin
Next year: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, IB Economics, AP Chemistry, IB Computer Science
Works part time same place for 3 years. Last summer: Internship with the town Engineering Board. Peer tutor.
Thanks for any words of wisdom!</p>
<p>Pikabhu, it looks like your son is doing very well right now. Just have him keep it up. My son was the same as yours though he had 6 APs in senior year, that was rough but toughened him up --wouldn’t recommend having more than 4 next time around though. Have him really, really prepare on his SAT. My son’s SAT score was very high and we believe that helped a lot. I’m sure your son is also in other extra-curricular activities and maybe with active, leadership roles. Another thing I learned from other postings is that you have to do very well on Stevens interview if it’s suggested. It seems your son is on the right track though…</p>
<p>Pikabhu he will certainly get merit money. Definitely do the interview as well. Are you in NJ?</p>
<p>Yes we are in NJ!
Other than Peer Tutoring, he doesn’t have that much for extra-curricular activity. He works a lot at a retail store, doing their website and social media and of course helping customers. The engineering internship last summer took up the rest of the time he had off.
I know that he is very interested in the Stevens Honors program…do you think he has a shot?</p>
<p>Yes he will get into honors. (Assuming his SAT compares to his PSAT, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t.) Is Stevens the only school he is applying to?</p>
<p>He is taking the SAT this weekend and he will take the ACT again in June.
The ACT score of 34 was from the end of his sophomore year and with absolutely no prep. It was just on a whim that he took it…so we will see…
We are just starting out with him, we went to Princeton and toured the engineering school, just for fun, but he really didn’t like it. We also went to NYU Poly…which he really liked until he got to Stevens. He says that his mind is made up, but I would like him to see another school or two…any suggestions?
We live mid way between Princton and Stevens.</p>
<p>Have you considered Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, RPI, and Lehigh?</p>
<p>dadinator’s choices are good, but why did he like Stevens so much? I am guessing he likes the city. I would still visit at least 2 of dad’s choices so he can compare. At least go to Lehigh, it’s pretty close (if distance to home is a parameter for him).</p>
<p>I know that he is very interested in the Stevens Scholars Program and the opportunities that are afforded those students. The office of career development and availability of internships/externships and co-ops was also of great interest to him. The campus is beautiful and the close proximity to NY, Hoboken and home are also great perks.
We are considering Dadinator’s choices now…
Here is the question…if they are all about the same academically, where would he get the most in merit aid? The opportunity of a special research/honors program?</p>
<p>I think merit aid amount will depend on the mix of students who apply with your son. The only way to really know is to apply to all the schools he is interested in, and then sort out your choices when he is accepted. It’s hard to know what they are looking for from year to year.</p>
<p>S got very good aide, scholar’s program, etc. from Stevens with a 34 ACT. I do think a good interview helps… S had a great interview.</p>
<p>If his heart is set on Stevens, would you suggest early decision?</p>
<p>Pikabhu, what are you asking? If he only wants to go to Stevens, early decision seems reasonable, but it is binding. According to Stevens, he would still receive merit if he qualified, but I am not sure how much they would offer. This is a decision that my middle son faced. He wanted to go to Stevens, but he wanted to see his various offers first. </p>
<p>My opinion is that I believe that he would get offered merit, but I do wonder if they save their best offers for students who have not promised commitment via early decision. I don’t know the answer. </p>
<p>Maybe someone who has done early decision can remark on what merit they were offered.</p>
<p>ED can work when there’s one school above all others, and you don’t care about comparing offers. If the ED FA offer isn’t enough to support attendance, you decline the offer and apply RD elsewhere (though some schools want you to appeal before declining).</p>
<p>Pikabhu,</p>
<p>It looks like your son is doing better on the ACT. That’s supposedly common for boys. Don’t let him take the next one on a lark… without studying for it. A 36 ACT is a 2400 SAT. A 35 is a 2340. In contrast, he’s barely pulling a 2200 for an SAT… and then he might also need the subject tests. A lot of schools don’t require SAT subject tests if you provide ACT scores.</p>
<p>ACT measures High School curriculum up until 11th grade. SAT only measures up to 9th grade, but they offer subject tests to make up for the deficiency. Keep in mind, some colleges like the subject tests, so even if you go with the ACT, you might still need them.</p>
<p>Anyway, it would seem fool-hardy to not make an effort for the best score in the test he already seems to do much better on.</p>