<p>With excellent HS credentials be sure your son considers the quality of the schools and not just the financial costs. He needs to be with his intellectual peer group and shouldn’t be at a school where he gets a full ride but isn’t as challenged. Also be aware that most students will change their major so he needs to think of other related fields and the courses available in them. He will be considering Honors Programs/Colleges as well- he needs to compare them and what each offers. He needs to look for the best fit, not just the cheapest college.</p>
<p>wis75… “He needs to be with his intellectual peer group and shouldn’t be at a school where he gets a full ride but isn’t as challenged.”</p>
<p>Seriously, people who think there kiddos are little einsteins and can only be challenged by other little einsteins need to come down to earth. You kid may be smart but they’re unlikely some rare savant. </p>
<p>When they go to college they’ll then generally associate with other smart kids at whatever school they go to, so they’ll be among their peers. I’d bet most schools within the top 200-300 ranked would have enough smart kids that the student will be able to find a peer group. The lower ranked the school the more they’ll stand out and get extra attention (like research opportunities) from the professors.</p>
<p>Thats unnecessarily mean, FooMOnChew. Fit can and is, IMO, and important part of the college experience, and while thee may be smart kids at any given school, if the majority of students at a school are not, for lack of a better word, academically minded or if the environment is not intellectually stimulating, then a serious student who looks forward to many intellectual discussions might not be happy there.</p>
<p>I would think that any good school that has good STEM programs is going to have strong students within those majors…especially if the top quartile of the school is strong. Typically, most/all of the weaker students who attempt those majors will change their majors after first year weeding from the Calc and Gen Chem req’ts. </p>
<p>There’s a regional public by my home. It’s ranked around 190 as a National University…so not high at all. However, it has very good STEM depts because it’s located in Cummings Research Park…the second largest research park in the nation. The STEM students are strong students. The top quartile of the school has an ACT 30+…and 29% of incoming frosh are in the top 10% of their class…it’s not hard to imagine that many/most of those top quartile/top 10% students are STEM majors.</p>
<p>MY friend’s s is a rising senior in a STEM major at that school, M2CK, and he has done extremely well.It was the perfect place for him to blossom.</p>
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<p>I agree. I’ve seen a decent number of top academic kids go to lesser academic schools and come back (not meaning dropped out, but summer) talking about being bored or wishing they had other opportunities, esp after freshman year. Freshman year it’s still all new, and therefore, exciting, even if the academics aren’t as challenging for them. Some of these have chosen the transfer option successfully. English 101 is not the same class at every college. Some go into far more depth. The same is true for pretty much any class.</p>
<p>It can take some effort to find a good fit academically and otherwise, but students do better when the fit is right (for them). Some may love being the top student at a lower level school. Others may prefer being a peer to many top students. Then there are those in the middle. Choose by the student and school. It’s not a blanket one answer for all.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen any mention of some of the women’s colleges. Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr have a heritage of strong science programs (not engineering, though.) They also have some nice merit scholarship programs with research components.</p>
<p>Are you any where near the mid-income cut offs for the Ivys? If yes, and any are of interest to her, they could provide some $$. Long shot for any student, but could be worth a try. </p>
<p>A number of the tech schools would be thrilled with a female STEM student with good stats. Look into RIT, RPI and WPI to see if they have merit programs.</p>