Thanks so much, everyone! I love all the input.
@hs2020dad - he definitely likes the Boston area, so WPI is now on the list. And that’s great to hear about your experience recruiting from Northeastern, as well. That one is definitely a front-runner. OSU is on the radar too, but he’s probably gravitating to a smaller school, as opposed to big ten (UIUC would be at the top of that list for him). He will also be listing Northeastern as his first choice for National Merit stuff, so if he gets in, I’m hoping he’s got a chance at that. I’m thinking we find out soon if it is officially a NMSF. 
@Knowsstuff - Thanks for your feedback about UIUC. I hope that’s the case! That was a front-runner for him for a while after visiting and being at a few state math team competitions there, but I think he finds smaller schools a little more appealing. But it would be good to have as a back up. And you’re probably right, he has a better chance there than at Michigan. U of C should probably be on his list as well. We did visit there. We’ll hopefully get to visit Northwestern soon - that should be an easy one to visit with it so close, too. Good to know about Vandy and WashU like the attention. It’s hard to keep track of what schools really like the attention. We also have a meeting with the CS department while we’re at Vandy and will try to do the same at WashU.
Thanks @NCKris - GT should go on his list too. For whatever reason, he’s not looking to go out west, which I guess helps him take quite a few off his list. Merit would be AWESOME, but it’s not a necessity in putting a school at the top of the list. But it would for sure be nice if it happens. He wouldn’t qualify for any other FA.
Thanks @Hapworth - we’ll look into U of Rochester too.
Get a few school apps out early. If accepted EA to MIT , it Becomes his safety school. What I hate about the California state schools is that they don’t let you know till spring whether you are accepted or not. You have no such issues with UIUC. Once you are in at any early school, just apply to your heart’s delight with impunity. Just get those rolling state school apps in early. They don’t take Einstein if seats filled in a department.
@cptofthehouse I read somewhere that if you apply EA to MIT, you can’t apply EA to any other private schools. Now I forget where I read that, but it may have been on their website. Has anyone else come across this information?
^You are thinking of other schools with restrictive, single choice early action, which is not MIT. Read the early application rules on MIT’s website yourself to make sure.
Reread MIT’s EA rules. Last I looked, they don’t care as long as you are not violating other schools’ rules. You can apply to all the rolling App schools you want, particularly state schools even with those with restrictive EA but neither MIT nor CalTech have any restrictions. You cannot combine HPY REA with MIT or CalTech because those three Ivy’s gave restrictive Single Choice EA policies. But you can certainly combine any schools that don’t have such restrictions
@cptofthehouse - I will go back and reread those. I jotted that down a while ago and I don’t believe it had to do restrictive, single choice early action. I will try to find it though, to confirm one way or the other.
OH!! You know what, I just realized it was Harvard. Nevermind! Lol. Too much research is making my head spin.
@Knowsstuff - I think what you are saying would be true for any major at UIUC with the exception of CS. You can see the horror stories on the UIUC forum here of people with perfect scores and grades (even in-state) getting rejected for CS. It’s the one program in the university where they are legitimately using holistic admissions because they’re getting an astronomical number of applications for that major, so having high stats isn’t enough. (The hooks and admissions priorities that you normally see for just elite privates become relevant here. For instance, Illinois has very purposely attained a 50/50 male-to-female ratio over the past few years in its CS program for what has been a traditionally male-dominated major.)
From my recollection, Michigan’s CS program isn’t a restricted or impacted major, so anyone that gets into either the College of Engineering or LSA can declare it. In that respect, Illinois CS could be more difficult to get into compared to Michigan since Michigan isn’t admitting or rejecting an applicant for that specific major.
@dreambig55 - USC might be a good school to put on the list, especially if your son ends up being a National Merit Finalist (as all admitted NMF recipients receive a half-tuition scholarship). It has a great CS program while not being quite as large as the Big Ten schools. Of course, it’s not a safety by any means.
For true safeties, Alabama is always a popular one here for high stats kids and your son would get a full tuition scholarship with his scores. (I’ve lived my whole life in Illinois and it’s unbelievable how many kids from here are heading to Bama compared to a decade ago due to the high merit aid offers.) Iowa State is a good safety with strong STEM programs that is relatively close to home (assuming that you live in the Chicago area). Drexel also comes to mind as an urban school in Philly (with a co-op program similar to Northeastern) that isn’t as large as the large public universities.
The good thing with CS is that it’s in high demand from a large range of schools, so it school prestige isn’t anywhere near the factor that it is for, say, finance. Of course, the flip side is that this means that many of the larger public universities punch far above their overall weight in terms of CS strength and often provide the best ROI, which doesn’t help your son if he’s not as interested in larger schools.
Thank you for the information, Frank the Tank. We’ll think about USC. Is that 1/2 tuition scholarship even if they don’t list USC as their first choice in the NMF application? Thanks!
@FranktheTank. Totally get it. I live in Chicago (but son goes to Michigan for engineering).
It’s more of a huntch from his profile.
Michigan is more lax since once you make into engineering they will support any decision you have to switch majors. They want the kids to be happy and don’t penalize the kids. They treat them with respect like their adults… Crazy idea…
Also yes tons of Alabama for the free ride and Iowa State does a great job with half merit and makes it a very affordable option that kids end up with great internships and jobs. Just not the sexy choice for some.
Take WashU off the list for CompSci. Engineering isn’t the school’s forte and of the programs, BME is the favored one there.
I’m saying this as a WashU parent whose son is a CompSci minor. You could probably find a better school for the subject at a cheaper price.
UMass Amherst is extremely underrated. And if WPI and Rochester are on the list, RPI and RIT should be strongly considered.