<p>In my initial post to you, I hesitated to mention the engineering school my son is at, UIUC, because your son sounded quiet, thoughtful, not very outgoing, and I thought a smaller (nerdier) school is a good option…But then I reread your post and realized I had originally misread it… Also, you son is ONLY 14!!!. I couldn’t have pictured my son at a large State university like UIUC when he was 14. My son was also a great student (SAT was 2310, ACT 36) and he was totally in love with physics. He was quiet, not particularly aggressive, somewhat introspective. When he was 16, we visited UIUC, and I <em>KNEW</em> it wasn’t the right school for him…something smaller and nerdier would be more appropriate for him. Well, i have to say, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Kids Change SOOOO MUCHHHHH in those years, and as it turned out, the size, the opportunities, the diversity, and absolutely everything about UIUC is perfect for that former nerd. He is embracing his opportunities, and having a blast to boot. Keep your options open.</p>
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<p>Yes, the University of Iowa is a very good school but not particularly strong in the areas of your S’s interest. Iowa State is maybe a little stronger in engineering overall and not bad in chem.e. (#30 per US News) and materials science/engineering (#26), but not notably strong in physics (#48). Still—assuming your S’s interests in these fields hold, a big assumption at this point—I think Iowa State should be on his list as an in-state safety. If his SATs come up as strong as you expect, it’s worth taking a shot at an MIT, Stanford, or Caltech, or even all three at the high-reach end, though they’re longshots. But there are a bunch of plausible schools between Iowa State at the lower end and MIT/Stanford/Caltech at the high end. For an Iowan, Minnesota seems like a natural—close proximity, academically a step or two above Iowa State in these fields, relatively affordable OOS tuition, and a shot at some nice merit money for stats like those you’re projecting for your S. Wisconsin and Northwestern would also be strong choices, with need-based FA probably easier to obtain at Northwestern. A little further afield, Cornell would be excellent, and Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon not too far behind; all give a lot of need-based aid, though I’ve heard financial aid can be a bit spotty at Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>menlo, well how bout that! I had no idea. I figured the top schools would be more likely to offer merit aid! I have so much to learn. </p>
<p>jingle, we took a look at RIT and DS#2 loved the video game design! He’s just 12 (ok almost 13) and he is the type of kid who , although he has always loved math and science, might end up going into a STEM field but would be just as likely to end up studying Latin. He has always loved languages and is now trying to figure out how to learn some programming but he needs to get some more math in first I think.</p>
<p>d101, thanks for the additional comments. I do have a very hard time imagining him feeling at home on a large campus. BUt, as you say, kids change so much in the teen years. The past year has already brought so much growth (physically and academically). I was thinking we’d start visiting colleges when he is 16, so we can cover schools in a variety of locations–spread it out. Actually, now I wonder if it is better to do all the visits in a single year or 6 month period so there is a more consistent basis for comparison.</p>
<p>bc–yes we have seen that Iowa State at least does have a materials science option. We spent a bit of time looking around at some of the schools mentioned and the eng programs. Northwester’s Mat Sci program looks much more along the lines of his interests than Iowa State. Made him more interested in physics…unless he could get into something really weird like the quantum eng program at Stanford. That sounds like about the least employable field of engineering I have ever heard of!</p>
<p>I think I’ll keep on reading the messages, but back off my son for a while. I don’t want to over pressure him at this point. DH and I were on our own for our college application process and I am amazed at how little anyone talked to us about our options. I’d like to be sure the kids know they have options, but be realistic about what choices have to be made.</p>
<p>There is a financial aid forum here and the parents there are good!</p>
<p>I’m not one of them, as we didn’t qualify for financial aid. You should definitely post a question there to begin to get the best idea of how financial aid is likely to pan out for your family. There are not a lot of definites, but you will learn a ton.</p>
<p>A couple of basics that I <em>think</em> I know:</p>
<p>the FAFSA will yield your EFC (“expected family contribution”). This is important to know. But this does NOT mean that any given school will give you the financial aid to fit that contribution. Some cannot meet full need. Some don’t pledge to meet full need. Some will meet the need with varying combinations of grants and loans. Grants are obviously more desirable (they’re “free” money)</p>
<p>Some schools are not “FAFSA” schools; they are CSS Profile schools. That means they use the CSS Profile form to estimate financial need, not the FAFSA. CSS Profile schools and FAFSA schools treat certain assets differently, such as home equity.</p>
<p>The schools which are generous with either type of need-based aid tend to differ from the schools which are generous with merit-based aid. Neither one is better than the other and your S may end up applying to both types.</p>
<p>Bottom line, you are very wise to start learning how all of this works now. It is <em>not</em> too early to make sure that the schools where he applies have the potential to be financial fits. It probably is too early for him to start focusing on specific schools (or even major field), but it is also not too early to be sure that his academic preparation/coursework is i line with what the schools he might choose want (for this, if you haven’t already, you can look at several schools’ websites. Pretty much all of them list out the required/recommended curriculum for hs preparation).</p>
<p>Great good luck to your family. You have found the right place for great information, brainstorming and support.</p>
<p>'the FAFSA will yield your EFC (“expected family contribution”). This is important to know."
BUT this is not the figure you should expect at most of the tip top colleges, as they use the Profile, AND other non-disclosed institutionally based calculations of determining what THEY say you can afford. So the words to the wise are
“A CAST A WIDE NET” if you need a lot of FA. Lots of great colleges and U’s will pay you to send you kid there.
That does NOT mean applying to all of the Ivy’s, and all other top 10 highly selective Super reaches instead of a few, which is what some kids do in the mistaken belief that the chances of acceptance at ANY highly selective college go up the more applications are submitted. They don’t. Each college acceptance is a “lottery” unto itself. And applying to one has no effect on chances of acceptance at another.</p>
<p>"LOVE THY SAFETY " - Help your DS understand that he needs to find a college that-
1-most likely he would be accepted to,
2- you can afford, and
3-that he would be happy to attend.</p>
<p>Do NOT even think about allowing your DS to apply ED[ Early Decision] if you need Financial aid. It is a trap many naive parents and students, who really need to be able to compare FA offers, fall into each year. If he says ED will increase his chances, ignore him. He will do just fine without Early Decision.</p>
<p>Trilliums,</p>
<p>I did our EFC and it came out between 10-11K but our income is 78K, no savings, with about 75-100K in equity and a smallish 401K, so your EFC I would think would be higher?</p>
<p>My son has been interested in math, physics and statistics (and music as a minor) for a long time but it’s still been hard to nail down schools that would be a good fit because each of these is really unique at different schools. He’s not ever expressed an interest in engineering (wish he would; it seems like such a smart career move! LOL). Here are some math/physics schools worth looking into:</p>
<p>Harvard
Penn
Princeton
Yale
Wash Univ. St. Louis
MIT
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
CMU
U of Chicago
Stanford
USC
UC Berekley
Olin (engineering)
U of Rochester (optics)
Northwestern
UT Austin<br>
UCSD
UCSB CCS program</p>
<p>Lots of LACs have good math/physics but not great math/physics but still might be worth a look.</p>
<p>These are just a few off the top of my head from highly selective ones to selective ones</p>
<p>I forgot to add Rice. U of Tulsa apparently gives great NMS aid and has strong chemical engineering (or some type, I forget). I am less familiar with schools in the midwest and south. Oh, I think Texas A & M also has good math and good merit aid.</p>
<p>Have you checked out the major of ENGINEERING PHYSICS??</p>
<p>The above list of great schools are great for LAS Math and Science but not necessarily for engineering, in fact some of those schools ( U of C) don’t even offer engineering as a major. Top 5 schools for engineering physics are, in this order for 2011, 1) CALTECH 2) UIUC 3) CORNELL 4) CAL-Berkeley 5) VIRGINIA TECH</p>
<p>From what you say, ENgineering physics might be a good fit. Though I admit I don’t know what kind of jobs are available.</p>
<p>I am an Iowa State grad. Go Cyclones!</p>
<p>In your looking around, you might look at the University of Pittsburgh. It offers many of the things you are looking for and it offers nice merit scholarships up to full tuition, room and board. It has an agreement with Carnegie Mellon that students can take a class a semester there, which broadens the options more. My daughter (Pitt sophomore) has taken several physics classes and has lots of friends who are happy in the engineering program there.</p>
<p>OP- your kids sound great.</p>
<p>If it were me- I’d leave alone the subject of the ultimate major. Both because your son is too young, and because as the great drum beat of technology and science progress, the lines between the disciplines start to blur. There are fields that didn’t exist 20 years ago (all of Nanotechnology); there are fields that involve so many disparate disciplines (all the neurosciences and anything involving brain chemistry); and there are fields that have applications which you wouldn’t have expected (Biostatistics, Materials Sciences/surgery/robotics). So you can’t possibly try and figure out what your son is going to major in. Nor can he.</p>
<p>But what you can do is encourage three things right now:</p>
<p>1- Math. Exploration, curiosity, just for the fun of it math.
2- Reading- as widely as he can. The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, The Onion (warning- not always suitable for a 14 year old!), non-fiction, Victorian novels, anything you can stick in his hands and get him to read. You just don’t know what might spark his fancy. There may be an agronomist in Kenya struggling with a crop cycle issue and your son may recognize a geometric function to explain the issue; or a story about H1N1; or even an article about voting irregularities. Math and Physics and Engineering are everywhere in the world, and the more worldly your son can be, the better he will be prepared for college (any college.)
3- A good education can be obtained virtually anywhere. It would be great for him to end up at CMU or Caltech or MIT or one of the “name brand” places. He will also get a fine education at about 100 other places. So the more time he spends becoming an interesting high school student (via numbers one and two), the less time he will waste pining away for a lottery ticket type option.</p>
<p>What a nice problem to have. You must be very proud!</p>
<p>Sounds like you should be talking with your local HS guidance counselor. I know of HS kids in Wis who have taken flagship U courses while still in HS. Perhaps the gifted person in your school district can tell you your available options (my 16 year old- almost 17- college freshman son was not the youngest in his Honors calc based Physics- there were 2 local HS students, one a 14 year old girl). My gifted son also changed his major while in college- as many/most do- math/comp sci. At such a young age going to one of your two top public U’s may suit him best- being closer to home. Also keep in mind that there is a lot more to growing up than just academics- social growth makes a difference, be sure he gets those skills as well. Being introverted does not mean being socially immature, but lacking chances to interact with peers can. Do not count on getting into MIT or other highly elite schools.</p>