<p>My son is a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, number one on the US News public high school list. He gets all A's in science, math and computer science, got 5's in AP Chem and Computer Science, and 800 on his chemistry SAT. Has yet to take the full SAT. Thinks AP Calculus and AP Physics are his easiest and most fun courses this year, although he also likes Artificial Intelligence and Parallel Computing. He wants to go to the strongest possible undergrad science program, probably in physics, but the real question is whether to go to a large, mid-sized or LAC school. He worked as an intern in a Georgetown University chemistry lab this past summer and fit in very well. But he has lingering shyness/anxiety issues and ADHD, so we afraid he might fall through the cracks at a large school. On the other hand, we wonder whether he would exhaust the science offerings at a smaller school too quickly. He dislikes languages due to his anxiety in speaking but is good at history and english, although these are not his favorites either. What should he do?</p>
<p>My D1 went to a large, stand-alone LAC, coming in with a lot of AP and advance standing, and did encounter some course limitations in her senior year, that caused her to take some courses she did not prefer.</p>
<p>Another former poster here, Marite, had a kid who experienced the same thing at a different large LAC, for the same reasons.</p>
<p>Most people do not have any problems, but based on these instances, in your situation I personally would prefer to look to larger schools, or LACs only if they are part of a well-utilized consortium that can functionally extend advanced level offerings.</p>
<p>Perhaps Harvey Mudd, Olin or Cooper Union may be viable, they may offer more advanced level science/technical courses than a normal LAC, you’d have to look into it. But IIRC Mudd is bigger than most on taking courses in non-technical areas, so that might be an issue too.</p>
<p>I think CalTech would be a good fit.</p>
<p>Agree with Tipu, also MIT and maybe apply to some match schools just in case like Rensselaer (RPI).</p>
<p>Carnegie-Mellon</p>
<p>All good suggestions. You might also look at medium sized universities. My daughter started out in Physics but switched to CS and she was able to take grad classses if she wanted. Schools like that often offer a Master’s degree with an additional single year.</p>
<p>At almost all schools you will have to be proactive in meeting with Profs and seeking out research opportunitites. Just that at some schools it is as easy as showing up and knocking on the door and at others it can be very competitive at the undergrad level. So do the research.</p>
<p>Caltech is known for having a sink/swim environment and a highly driven student body, which doesn’t seem to fit a shy or anxious student. (Caltech students, correct this if I’m wrong.) Rather than engineering colleges, a school like Chicago comes to mind. Admittedly, its Core may be a problem if he truly hates languages.</p>
<p>Rice certainly comes to mind, with strong sciences and a house system that encourages social bonds. Rochester and Brandeis are other small universities strong in the sciences.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is strong in the sciences and has consortium access to Penn. Carleton, Pomona, Amherst, Wesleyan, Haverford, and Reed also have great graduate placement in the sciences – I think the offerings should be adequate for his purposes. Wesleyan and Haverford (Bryn Mawr, technically) even have graduate programs in physics, so advanced courses are readily available.</p>
<p>If the west coast is at all an option, check out University of California, Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies. It’s a small, highly selective, quite prestigious program that includes accelerated, research-oriented programs in math, physics, chemistry, biochem & a few other fields.
<a href=“http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/[/url]”>http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/</a></p>
<p>Not all large universities allow undergrads to fall through the cracks. My undergrad experience, at a large state university, had problems with this. However, at Duke this isn’t the case. My wife works in the pre health advising office where the deans know the students so well that they write committee letters of recommendation for each and every student applying to medical, dental, pharmacy and so on. The faculty that I have interacted with have several undergrads working in their labs and some even meet with their undergrads regularly to discuss scientific literature. I guess what I am trying to say, is that you can’t generalize undergraduate focus (or lack thereof) to all large universities.</p>
<p>Rice might be a very good fit. Superb in the sciences for undergrad and one of two true residential college systems in the US (the other is Yale).</p>
<p>It is virtually impossible to fall through the cracks at MIT. There are weekly assignments, generally done in small groups as well as multiple tests through the semester. MIT even has a special tracking program for entering freshmen involving free tutoring and special assistance for those that fall behind or just need some help. With only around 1,000 students admitted each year, you get the best of both worlds: the very best academics (MIT was recently ranked #1 in the NRC rankings in physics) and a very strong community feeling. All freshmen go through essentially the same core training. The work environment is very non-competitive with no grades first semester, no rankings or honors. Every single student also participates in research which is built into the curriculum. You can also take grad level courses without restriction. MIT also has a 1 month winter term (IAP) where students get involved in any number of fun activities and can destress. </p>
<p>TJHS is generally the single largest source of MIT admits in the US and your son, if admitted, would most likely be with a number of his former classmates. Greek life is also very active at MIT with about half the males students moving into fraternities after freshman year. The big brother system provides a great support and socializing structure for students who may be a little shy. Students in the Greek system tend to also do a little better academically than the average.</p>
<p>CalTech, Harvey Mudd, and Rice.</p>
<p>Carniegie Mellon is not great for pure sciences. Their strength is engineering and computer. I got accepted there and was very diasppointed with their facility for physics.</p>
<p>Northwestern has a 3-yr ISP (integrated science program) with only 20 or so people in the program per year. Students have had excellent track record of winning external awards like NSF…etc. Last year, 3 ISP majors won Goldwater. Most double-major in another science in 4 years. But the school has 8000 undergrads so it may not be small enough.</p>
<p>I agree with many of the suggestions here, including CMU, Harvey Mudd, Rice, and MIT. Carnegie Mellon in particular is one school where I’ve heard wonderful things about the CS programs.</p>
<p>
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<p>Are we forgetting something here?</p>
<p>This appears to be a very top student</p>
<p>That prefers top in physics then top in science.</p>
<p>Overall, this would be:</p>
<p>CalTech
Harvard
Stanford
MIT
Princeton
UC Berkeley</p>
<p>^ yep I second that list…</p>
<p>However due to the OP’s requirements… Berkeley might not be an optimal choice due to size.</p>
<p>Since everybody here seems to think that people with ADD cannot handle the real world or thrive at a large university and that they can only thrive in a laboratory environment, I will let the misconception linger. Clearly, my having ADD never stopped me from coping just fine at a certain largish university.</p>
<p>I would look at the following schools:</p>
<p>Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University
Harvey Mudd College
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
Yale University</p>
<p>I would like to second University of Rochester. My daughter is a graduate of Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and currently an undergrad at University of Rochester. She loves it. She is challenged but not overwhelmed. The students tend to be very bright, academically driven but supportive of each other. There are many undergraduate research opportunities. The Rochester curriculum (limited gen ed requirements) would probably appeal to your child.</p>
<p>Thank you all for these very helpful suggestions. You have hit on most of the places we have been looking at. I was particularly interested in learning that MIT has a strong support network. Is that true of other top schools as well?</p>
<p>My D is in her second year at Harvard as a physics concentrator and she has been happy with the support there. They have many layers of advising and she received good guidance on what courses to take. Students tend to form study groups to work on problem sets together and seem to be more invested in helping each other rather than competing. If you are struggling it does fall upon you to seek out help from the prof. Most Harvard students do not come out of high school with much experience in asking for academic help, but they learn to do so. As for research, my D looked at all of the profs’ web pages over freshman winter break and sent an e-mail to one asking to join his lab. He interviewed her when she returned to campus and accepted her into the lab immediately. It really was easy and should not be daunting for someone who is shy.</p>