<p>See if he'll do an overnight visit to Reed, sleeping in a dorm, going to classes, hanging out with students. Most come away with strong feelings one way or another. But I agree, Reed sounds perfect for him.</p>
<p>Have you considered Deep Springs? I concur with suggestions of the U of C and Reed.</p>
<p>BTW, my kid was a lot like this. Although he had good choices, his friends with GPAs a few points higher and lower (although still good) SATs with somewhat easier (although still challenging) courseloads who never pursued learning outside the high school curriculum were the ones who got into HYPM. </p>
<p>Of course, S refused to fill out the TASP application. That's a big bonus, as is his research.</p>
<p>I hope that your S catches the fancy of an admissions committee that will look at his potential and view his achievements in the correct light, rather than getting fixated on the fact that he doesn't have straight As.</p>
<p>Just wanted to enroll my S in the club. </p>
<p>He did find a college that fits well, and he is happy to be learning for the sake of learning. </p>
<p>Hang in there.</p>
<p>Agree that Reed is definitely worth the look. S loved his visit there. Check the UChicago threads -- there are several conversations about good correlates to UChicago.</p>
<p>i would recommend from personal experience to help him look at colleges. encourage him to explore and make him visit certain schools he has interest in. i know that i didnt care about grades my sophmore year, but when i visited Notre Dame i fell in love with the school and knew i'd have to work my ass off. i proceeded to make straight A's my junior year in good classes and now i have my fingers crossed. all because i was interested/inlove with the school</p>
<p>I will go take a look at the Reed site and see if it might appeal to him.</p>
<p>Consolation-- I fell deeply in love with Deep Springs and tried to lobby him to look at it. He is appalled by the lack of girls, but also articulated a disagreement with the school's basic approach-- son doesn't believe in learning in an isolated community that walls itself off from the world, he says he believes that education should take place in a broad, diverse group with constant influences from the broader culture.</p>
<p>Again, I want to thank everyone for the thoughtfulness of the comments and suggestions.</p>
<p>Another way to look at Deep Springs is not that it is walling itself off from the world, but that it is immersing itself in the natural world in a way that is unique to those who grow, harvest, and cook their own food, tend the land, do their own chores, et al. A far cry from the artificiality of dorm life.</p>
<p>And it's only two years. After that most DSers go to universities such as Chicago and Harvard and the like, where they can throw themselves into broad diversity if they wish.</p>
<p>In our society, it's not constant influence from the broader culture that is hard to come by: it's concentration and being close to nature. </p>
<p>Of course, I realize that I am preaching to the choir. I couldn't persuade my S to apply either. ;)</p>
<p>What you should do is be proud that he is brilliant. The true blood never fails to come through, or something like that. If you are proud of yourselves and proud of his brilliance, eventually he will figure out exactly what he cares about and he will do the work he needs to do to get there. If he doesnt care about grades, excellent, because since when were grades a good judge of how much you learn from a class? And he can clearly get into some t50, maybe t20, hell maybe even top ten schools. Either way, if he is brilliant, then that means you are reasonably smart yourself, and should know that wherever he goes, he will get funding to research his fuel cells, meet great people, etc.</p>
<p>Since he will be National Merit, consider applying to Baylor bc I believe he will automaticaly get accepted with full tuition scholarship just bc he is national merit, without needing to also have straight "As"along with his national merit status.. (my duaghter currently attends Baylor and she got the NMF scholarship. . .was nice to have the bird in the hand... and then she decided to accept their offer, turning down Duke, UCLA, etc)</p>
<p>Things change between now and April/May. IF your son decides to attend college, Baylor's offer is there, if he declines, he doesn't have to go ( or he maybe can defer admission).</p>
<p>Reed is a great school. D had a close friend that recently graduated from Reed. It's in our neck of the woods so it does get looked at here but I would have to say that it is only considered by a rather small group of college bound kids because it is thought to be really 'out there'. Now that can be good or bad-depends on the person. </p>
<p>Reading through the posts I did think of Chicago as a good potential match for your son and I know that Reed is also known for intellectualism...but based on what you've said about your son I think it would NOT be a good fit for him. For one thing, it is very small...about 1400. It's a liberal arts school. Somewhere back at the start of your thread I think you mentioned the potential of engineering as well as science and humanities. Reed only has 3/2 programs for engineering.</p>
<p>Reed has a very active gay community. Given your comments about girls, this probably isn't important to him unless it might bother him but it's just a thought. Also it is very anti-religious. Again, don't know if this would be a plus or a minus. D's friend was religious but kept her mouth shut. Also, she was determined to go to Reed for the academics and because she knew she wanted to go on to get a PhD. Spent most of her time studying anyway. Another common trait at Reed. Lots and lots of study time. The girl is not too social and she said that Reed had quite the relaxed drug culture. Not her thing either. Reed is far left on the liberal scale. Maybe like Pitzer or Hampshire. I don't think there are the moderate/conservative areas that temper Chicago, like in their econ dept. Again, maybe that is great for your son? Maybe not.</p>
<p>Somehow I don't think your son would want to bury himself in his room so at a school that small and quirky I would want to be sure that it truly is a good fit for him in the non-academic areas. You could take a bus into Portland but it is no Chicago. Not sure he would get the diversity he wants either. Lots of whites and asians, (85-90% maybe) with a few hispanics and very few african americans. That's not unusual for the PNW.</p>
<p>Let's see..it's been a few years but as I recall Reed was big on grades. I think the average incoming class gpa was a good 3.9 or so...don't know how they rate test scores and if that would be a big plus for him. They do admit at least a third of their applicants and I can't imagine that they wouldn't be interested in your son! He is certainly interesting.</p>
<p>Also, with all of the kind advice that is being sent your way, I don't remember if you ever said if he has geographical boundries. I know the NE and upper midwest have been mentioned. He might be a good candidate for a school like Rice and someone mentioned Baylor but would he even consider the south or the west? Has he given you a potential list of colleges that he is seriously considering yet?</p>
<p>I have a kid that is more a 'learning for the sake of learning' kid. It would not surprise me at all if he isn't taking care of applications on his own time and in his own way...and he could be giving you just enough information to keep you off his back in the meantime! He has to be doing something right to have that long list of accomplishments! Have a little faith. I think an early poster said they bet he would get into a very good school. That was exactly my first thought. Your son is unique and that in and of itself makes him a stand out at an age when everyone needs to fit in- that is a trait that will take him far in life.</p>
<p>Ok, let's start by getting real. The chances of a boy with record this being admitted to a school like the University of Chicago or even the least selective Ivies are vanishingly small. They have plenty of applicants with substantially better gradepoint averages whose record looks just as bit as good in every other way. Frankly, even if he wanted a very highly selective LAC (which he doesn't) he is unlikely to be admitted there either. That leaves an honors program at a large state university (take your choice, although some such programs might reject him because of his GPA).</p>
<p>I couldn't disagree more with statements like "What you should do is be proud that he is brilliant. The true blood never fails to come through, or something like that." Being born with more intellectual firepower than most people is not something to be proud of; the boy had nothing to do with that. What matters is what you accomplish. And there are plenty of "brilliant" people who never accomplish anything significant--particularly if they have the attitude that they can do what they darn well please. </p>
<p>It strikes me that this could be a teachable moment. You could point out to S that because of his attitude, he is not getting something he wants (a school like Princeton) and that unless he changes his attitude, this pattern is likely to recur in his life (yeah, we can all point to exceptions, but that's what they are, exceptions--even for "brilliant" people).</p>
<p>Hi All- A quick check back in to let you know how Brilliant but doesnât give a Crap came through the application process.</p>
<p>In the end, he applied to a lot of schools! But, I think the actual application process forced him to narrow his focus and really begin thinking about what fields of study are his top priority.</p>
<p>He was accepted to:
UVA
WashU
NYUâ7k
Brandeis
American-- 30k
Tulaneâ26k
USC- 19k</p>
<p>Waitlisted by:
University of Chicago
Harvard
Georgetown</p>
<p>Rejected by:
Princeton
U of Penn
Cornell</p>
<p>He has sort of narrowed it down to WashU and American, with a study of IR, polysci,.
Thanks all for the great suggestions, great support and thoughtful commentary. Your advice enabled me to offer him the right mix of encouragement tempered by realistic expectations.</p>
<p>Hey ho! How wonderful!</p>
<p>I hope youâve got a cake already baked and in the freezer ready to decorate with the chosen schoolâs colors. What a great and encouraging journey you have posted.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update
BTW, in our experience Brilliant overcame the âdoesnât give a crapâ persona as soon as he set foot in college.</p>
<p>THANK YOU for the update. </p>
<p>And Major CONGRATULATIONS, those look like fine choices.</p>
<p>I keep my eye on this thread because Iâve also got one of those boys HS class '10. Weâll see what happens next year. He did kick it up this year and changed schools so is doing better, GPA wise anyway. Still no progress on eagle or other stuff that could help.</p>
<p>I am thrilled to notice that ânot giving a crapâ thing seems to be rapidly fading. I think he even actually discussed his third quarter grades with his teachers!</p>
<p>Congrats!!! Do you mean he got $30K in merit at American vs. 0 at WashU and he is still âthinkingâ? The choice would be a no-brainer for me, especailly if he wants to major in poli sci and go to law school later.</p>
<p>Congrats-- ditto, American is in a great area for internships, etc. DC is a fun town.</p>
<p>Yes, Bunsen that is exactly the case. I am all for American, but I am not making the decision (although, going to WashU will mean that he has to come up with via work/loans apr. 50k vs. still having about 70k to put toward law/grad school if he attends American).</p>
<p>Thanks for the report back. Iâm happy to hear such great news!</p>