Get ROI (return on investment) out of your brain now! There is so much more to a college education than a business model can handle. You would be very short sighted to only look at which schools offer the cheapest education. For your son quality matters a lot. Not all state flagships are created equally for academics. Neither are private schools. Some upper tier publics are better than most private schools. You need to look 20 years in the future for deciding which school was most beneficial to your son, not just immediately after an undergrad degree.
Most college students will change their major, if they even start with one. This includes gifted students also. Your son may decide not to go to law school also. He needs to consider the general area of majors. STEM, social sciences and humanities- he is good at all from his gpa and test score but should have some fields he actively likes better than others. Law students can have any major, just as medical students can.
Your son needs to visit your flagship and other nearby schools in Illinois and nearby states to see similarities and differences in them. He also should come up with a wish list and visit schools in other regions if he has any interest. btw- not every gifted student has an interest in Harvard- we couldn’t get our son to visit it when seeing nearby MIT (he ended up at UW). You are lucky that UIUC is one of the top flagships- be wary of a cheaper ride at a lesser school.
If he really wants to go to the Ivies have him also focus on something very civic minded. Volunteering in the community, get involved in human rights organizations, etc. not something forced, but a real interest. I believe this really helps to show he has a life outside of school and cares about the world beyond high school walls.
My eldest and her BF had similar stats to your son. Her friend had a 2350 on herb SAT and was salutatorian of a class of approximately 700 students. (My daughter was just a few behind her) Neither got into any of the Ivies.
After graduating 3 kids through the college process I would say to not only apply to the “big name” schools but also some smaller quality private universities that have large endowments. My youngest has gotten into a great private school for the same price as a state school. Her good friend who had similar stats to your son has already been offered 3 full scholarships to private schools that have a very good reputation. She has not been accepted by any Ivies though. Do your research and with stats like your son has you could get a full ride.
My eldest who wanted to go to the Ivies so badly has received quite a few accolades and honors while working on her PhD. She attended an out of state State university because it had a strong department in the field she wanted to major in. She was accepted to 4 major universities across the country and chose the best college for her particular field. Best of luck.
The ivies and some similar schools don’t give any merit, so If you won’t qualify for aid, and you don’t want to pay $65k per year for college, then you need to strategize.
USC has terrific merit based scholarships. I admit to not having read the rest of the advice so I apologize if I’m being duplicative. Also, I’m hoping he has more ECs that you mentioned because he will need it. My friends son with fantastic stats and few ECs was denied admission to most of the selective schools he applied to, let alone getting money from them. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer…
Op,
There is a section on cc which lists colleges which have full tuition scholarships based on certain stats. You could look there.
Also univ of so cal (USC) often gives high stats kids full tuition scholarships (you still pay room and board).
Elite colleges like HYPS will not give merit scholarships. But you can run the NPC on each schools website to see if you would qualify for financial aid.
And many less than elite privates will give large merit schollys such as $20k per year off of $65k per yr price tag. Or $15k per ur off of $50k per yr price tag.
Just read a post a few above. No, you don’t have to be civic minded to get into an Ivy. Dd was accepted to yale without being civic minded. My interpretation is that you need to have ECs that you pursue deeply and passionately and write essays which show your real voice and happen to have a ad com reader whose passion aligns with yours and who appreciates your voice.
Lastly, just to adjust your exceptions like Debbie Downer above, your DS sounds great!! But remember, there are maybe around 30,000 kiddos in the US that are vals with 36 ACTs. And at HYPS there might be 4,000 - 6,000 spots. And cc is filled with kiddos with similar stats who were rejected (look on each individual college forum). So yes, it’s still a lottery at the top even with great stats.
The best scholarships (merit aid) that I’ve seen come directly from colleges, sometimes not even requiring additional application. Outside sources are less common. As you read more on cc, you’ll notice some small LACs offer fabulous merit aid. The more selective the school, the harder it is to get.
“I can pay whatever it takes but am willing to pay only within reason.”
But what do you consider reasonable? Would you pay $60k per year for Princeton or Stanford, knowing that he’ll have a full tuition scholarship for sure at a place like Alabama and very likely at LACs like Lewis & Clark?
Definitely possible, but don’t hedge your bets, especially when looking for merit aid. I know someone who this year was rejected from 7/8 of the Ivies as well as many comparable elites… with a 36 ACT (first attempt, cold), 4.0 UW, unique ECs/great writer and recs, Valedictorian with 5s on every AP test taken, having already maxed them out and taking CC classes - similar to your kid, is what I’m getting that. She found great merit aid at smaller LACs and state schools.
@YoHoYoHo Every year 600 kids ace the sat and 750 ace the act so you are way, way off about 30,000. Assuming theres some overlap between the 600 and the 750, thats like 1100 kids, and there’s no way more than half of them are vals. There are probably around 300 perfect test score vals out there.
Also I doubt there is nearly as much overlap in those groups as you assume. Many of those students won’t have a reason to sit for the other test. Of those who do, according to the college board the majority of students who score 800 on a section are not able to reproduce that on a second sitting of the SAT much less a different test. So I would not assume that nearly every student with a perfect score on one test would also be able to achieve that on the other test. The OP’s PSAT score was only 203 and I am skeptical that he would have jumped to a 2400. A lot of students seem to say that one test or the other is easier for them.
“My bet is that he’ll get into HYPS or the like” Quite possibly, but the OP should be aware of the following statistics from the Princeton admissions site: http://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/admission-statistics
Percent of students accepted by SAT range:
2300-2400 14.8%
Percent of students accepted by GPA:
4.0 9.9%
If you look at the complete tables, clearly better scores and better grades help but even for students in the top categories the odds are low.
It all depends on what he wants to do and where he wants to go. Many posters have made many good points for you, but perfect scores are not the end-all. He needs to have multiple layers beyond being a statistical stud. His essays and recommendations need to be different and revealing. It’s a complete package these days and the top 15 schools are pretty much a crapshoot once you get to a certain level. I am an alumni interviewer for Duke, and I see many kids like your son, even ones who are mature beyond their years and articulate, who don’t get in. Duke actually gets twice as many applications from valedictorians as there are spots in the freshman class, so they reverse-discriminate against valedictorians so that the class is not comprised of all valedictorians (I think they cap it in the 20-25% range).
However, if you are willing to explore options and drop below the top 20 schools, your son will find many opportunities for merit scholarships, and full rides. Duke is notable among the elite schools for giving out a handful of full rides, USC hands out 150 full rides and 200 half-rides each year, and as you go down the roster there will be more and more full ride or heavy merit opportunities for your son. I suggest doing your research and figuring out what type of school he wants (large, small, LAC, comprehensive university, geography), and then start narrowing it down from there. Good luck!!!
