<p>I think UT-Austin is a great option for Texans or people who want to settle down in TX, but otherwise, I don’t see the point of choosing UT-Austin OOS over UVa in-state even if he gets in to UT-Austin.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech for safety and Texas looks pretty safe. Maybe VCU for safety.</p>
<p>Officially the school does not rank but they do have a breakdown in Naviance and plenty of kids have over 4.0. He has set multiple school academic records though that he can back up. </p>
<p>What is the UW GPA? That is what matters for the schools you listed.</p>
<p>Unweighted is 3.4 something.</p>
<p>Longhorn band? Would that be an attraction? Is there a good UVA band? </p>
<p>He sounds like a great kid, but perhaps one who needs a very unstructured program, a place that will let him do what he wants. What places will have loose graduation requirements and will appreciate him even with a low-ish GPA?</p>
<p>@Miw140 I see in Naviance for our school that his weighted GPA is a perfect match for UMichigan based on past admits. His SAT is higher of course but that’s the case for every school. 1600 on CR and Math puts him into top 25% of every college admitted group, even MIT, Stanford, etc. </p>
<p>It’s in between 3.4 and 3.5, grade skipped, offered early admittance at Utx at 14 based on his PSAT and D.O.B alone. Parents of the 1 in 10,000 type of student know the challenge of a kid who thinks that their teachers are idiots and have to take 9 classes and write commercially viable software to keep from getting bored. He walked in and scored 5 on a practice AP English Language test in the first week of class. He set a school record in spite of being the youngest student to ever take the course. Same for ap American History, so he mentally checked out, wrote code, and ended with Bs in those classes. </p>
<p>@PurpleTitan he likes U Texas because they solicited him first, at a very early age and because he harbors Libertarian political views, which is fine because he avoids taking politics in social settings. In a government class though, different story. He told Terry McAuliffe his views during a school visit to his 8th grade Civics class. We live in the DC area. Texas is. Not a logical choice but if they gave him money. . . They had to point out in their literature the need for calculus for admittance to their CS program, or an SAT over 680 or something: low bar. </p>
<p>assuming likelihood of admission to very desirable majors like CS based on wtd gpa of kids from the same high school is a mistake. students applying to CS programs will find it tougher to get in than English majors. So put no faith in the avg GPA for admitted students at an OOS public. </p>
<p>OP, you have your hands full, but the child is going to go to a good school. Finding one where he won’t be bored is his job, too. Where’s his hand in all this process?</p>
<p>Students with a 3.4-3.5 GPA in a high school of high rigor still can get into the very selective colleges. High SAT I & II scores plus AP 5s can make up for the lower GPA. But it is hard to compete with those with 4.0 & other high stats for merit scholarships. The elite colleges may be concerned about the possible weakness of such smart students with lower GPAs. But they usually do well in college when they can pursue their interests.</p>
<p>LORs are very important. Ask the counselor to give strongest support for his application. I see good chances to get into the top CS schools if he can present himself well in application.</p>
<p>@BrownParent that is great advice. His unweighted GPA is between 3.4 and 3.5. The rest of his stats, and his young age put him in a very narrow category of child prodigies. He did all these APs and dual enrollment and massive CS projects before he was old enough to drive. He is surprisingly well adjusted socially however and interviews well. He has teachers, professors, and mentors who will write pretty amazing recommendations for him. School records galore. I hope that the schools that claim to want truly intellectually curious students and autodidacts will truly look at the whole picture. </p>
<p>@DrGoogle It could be and is a test for the schools that claim to look holistically. They will have to weigh the rigor and test scores and prococity. There were only 2,000 seniors out of 1.66 Million seniors with his score or higher last year. He was a 15 year old Junior. Also the College Board leaked that only a few hundred kids have ever done 14 or More APs, like him. That was in a news interview with the State AP Scholar for VA a couple of years ago. All of that put him in a narrow group compared to the tens of thousands of kids with unweighted 4.0 or near 4.0 GPA. From a pure numbers standpoint. Two generations ago he would have finished college at 15. We didn’t want that and only skipped him one year. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I forgot to tag you in my above reply. Thanks for the comments!</p>
<p>@Bamboolong that is great advice. In looking at his schools Naviance records his weighted GPA is not much lower than students admitted to CMU plus Ivies and other elite programs. I know from what that college board publishes in their data tables and the rare interview that his AP scores and SATs are a huge differentiator. His passion to learn and teach himself are quite amazing. The very toughest AP classes where they really treat the students like they are in college are where he rocks. Classes that make busy work and homework 40% of the grade, not so much. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I forgot to tag you in my above reply. Thanks for the comments!</p>
<p>It may be a long shot because the UC system looks fairly heavily at GPA, but the College of Creative Sciences program in Computer Science at UC Santa Barbara might be a very good fit for his need to skip over material that is not new to him. <a href=“https://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/computer-science”>https://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/computer-science</a> </p>
<p>Anyway, you may want to look at honors programs within state schools to see if you can find some that provide similar flexibility about prerequisites and a faster path through lower division courses.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The price of the UC system for OOS applicants is equivalent to the price of MIT, etc but without financial aid. Also, no football team at UCSB, so no marching band, just a “Pep Band”.</p>
<p>OP. Your son may be interested in this since you used the word “rebellious” and “tuba player”…besides being a mecca for CS…S is also known for this famously irreverent “so called” band…<a href=“Ohio State Ain't Got Nothing on Stanford: A List of The Most Shocking Moves from The Nation's Most Shocking Band | Music Times”>Ohio State Ain't Got Nothing on Stanford: A List of The Most Shocking Moves from The Nation's Most Shocking Band | Music Times; :)) …enjoy!</p>
<p>@DrGoogle sorry for the typo, I meant Precocity not ‘Prococity’.</p>