DS has started getting his admision decisions. He has strong credentials
SAT: 1580
MATH II - 800
Physics: 800
Chemistry: 770
IB Predicted 43/45
Taking Math HL, Economics HL and Physics HL along with Chemistry SL, English SL and Spanish SL
Extra curriculars include building and launching a full game, ML model for school, Podcast channel, Student editor in school,. volunteering for last 3 years at a vision rehab center. Has strong recommendation letters.
He is applying to Computer science and applied mathematics.
he got into so far - UNC Chapel Hill, ASU Honors Barretts, Ohio State Honors and Univ of Pittsburgh.
ASU Barretts also offered a scholarship of about 15000 per year.
I know UNC Chapel Hill is more prestigious and better ranked but, I have also heard ASU Barretts honors is a good school with good focus on the students with research and internship opportunities. UNC CH seems to have better opportunities for a well rounded education with mix of humanities and social sciences which DS is interested in. Overall peer group may be better and different as well. But, Barretts is also a small community within the large ASU campus. So, we are not really sure.
What do you all suggest? Finances is not top concern, but is definitely a point to consider. Please post your views and pros and cons of each school.
Will he have a chance to visit each? Chapel Hill and Tempe have very different vibes, not to mention temperatures. The overall student body is also dissimilar, although probably the students within Barretts are more similar to Chapel Hill.
If costs aren’t an issue, I would choose UNC unless there are compelling benefits from certain honors colleges. In the case of most honors colleges, you take a bunch of classes in the honors college but not most of the ones in your major. There are some honors colleges/programs where the honors students go through a major in their own honors cohort (UTD comes to mind as a school with programs like that, and they have all sorts of perks for honors college students too). Also, for better or worse, Barretts is more the student body size of a mid-sized uni (within a gigantic uni).
So definitely visit all your top choices to get a feel.
Though, to me, costs would be something I would consider, if only from a value perspective. Is he in-state for any of them?
You mentioned that Barretts honors has research and internship opportunities. I wanted to mention that UNC also has plenty of research opportunities for undergrads and well as internship opportunities.
You mentioned that finances are not a top concern but will still be considered. Are you instate for any of these schools?