<p>It sounds to me like Towson would be a better match. He apparently wants to have the option to change his major and not be so locked into IT, at least that is how I understand itl. I don't blame him. Have you checked out Hofstra or Marist. I know Marist has had kids placed with IBM, which is nearby. I have a relative with a CS degree from Hofstra and he has done very well. I must say that he graduated when this was a new and hot field (right time and right place- NYC). He as an extensive resume at this point and never needed to go on for a masters. These are both smaller schools, Marist being the smaller of the two. Should he want to change majors it should be easy at either of the 2 and w his stats I would think he would gain admission to both.</p>
<p>Kathie,
Has your son looked at the University of Denver at all? They have an innovative game development major --- not as techy as some, with more of an emphasis on development than programming. They also have a very strong business program as well. Nice size school with an emphasis on internships. His stats sound like a great fit for U of Denver. Easy plane trip from most of the country to Denver, probably quicker than getting to Champlain. They can be good with merit money. <a href="http://www.du.edu%5B/url%5D">www.du.edu</a> is their main link but here's the link to their game development program: <a href="http://www.cs.du.edu/gameDevelopment/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cs.du.edu/gameDevelopment/</a> I know Digmedia's son looked at U of Denver back when he thought game development was a possibility.</p>
<p>Carolyn,
Strangely enough, his Aunt graduated from University of Denver and his Grandparents live about 1 1/2 hours from there. That's closer to family then Champlain would be. I do think Digimedia mentioned this before - another bell half rung. I've just realized the down side to starting the college search early; I've forgotten half of what I learned...</p>
<p>The thing about Champlain is that there are a few majors that sounded interesting if the game design didn't pan out.</p>
<p>Hofstra - friends daughter graduated from there. She said that most of the students were from Long Island, jewish, and that it was big with soroties and frats. Not true? Apology, nothing wrong with jewish, just not our religon - sort of like La Salle and Catholic majority. Marist I know nothing about. Will look into.</p>
<p>Kathip, I am not sure what the religous breakdown is for H. It does have frats/Sor. but you do not have to join to be happy from what I understand it. H is in LI.</p>
<p>Take a look at the Digital Media programs in the College of Business and Technology at East TN State University. It's a relatively new program with a beautiful state of the art facility and has been getting lots of good press.</p>
<p><a href="http://avl.etsu.edu/web/home.php%5B/url%5D">http://avl.etsu.edu/web/home.php</a></p>
<p>ETSU is a medium sized regional university in small city of appx 55,000. OOS tuition is reasonable, and the area is nice for outdoorsy types, with mountains, lakes, hiking, skiing, whitewater, etc. Would be cautious, though, about being OOS at a place where so many students are from the surrounding area. Campus appears to be pretty dull on weekends, and I suspect many students go home.</p>
<p>We visited Hofstra last year. Beautiful, contemporary campus. Actually a very small % are in fraternities/sororities per CB website (5%/6%), and we did not pick up on any frat/sorority feeling at all when there. Also (altho we are <em>half</em> Jewish in our family) we did not pick up on any dominant Jewish influence. It was a real safety for S, but he liked it a lot. They have strong ties to business/industry in NYC, including entertainment field. Francis Ford Coppola is an alum as are other key entertainment biz figures. Ranked decent in the engineering arena which, combined with entertainment relationships, might bode well for someone interested in the gaming world. Worth checking out. OP's S has SAT stats which are pretty strong for this school. Merit aid might be possible (just a guess). Strength in other fields make it attractive for someone who isn't totally sure they want the IT field.</p>
<p>I have a relative that transferred from a so-called elite college he couldn't stand to Hofstra. He absolutely loves it. In his junior year he got a high-powered NYC internship in his chosen area. He is on cloud-9.</p>
<p>jmmom, We visited last year and I agree that the campus is beautiful. It was much nicer than what I expected. They are landscaped with manicured lawns and outdoor sculpture. Class sizes are small overall, but a 101 class like biology will have 100 ppl and then that gets broken down. We did eat lunch in the student union and the food was excellent. Mid range sat scores are v-510-600, m-520-620. This is not a 40,000 school and 58% receive 6,250 in grants. A 1220 is the top 75% here. </p>
<p>To be fair, we were talking about bad neighborhoods and as I understand it, when going off campus there are some high crime areas around here as well. I am not that familiar with the area so I cannot elaborate, but I am sure ppl from LI can chime in about the neighborhood.</p>
<p>When we visited we came across quite a few students from the New England area and our tour guide was from Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Hofstra does not have a very deep computer science program, and no information technology at all. Thanks for mentioning it but the combination of location (as the bird flies, it's not far, but I know there's alot of traffic choked roads between here and there), program and price is not gonna work.</p>
<p>This is turning into an Allegheny lovefest so I guess I can chime in too! Our son had Allegheny on his short list and our response was, "Whats an Allegheny?" Well we visited it in his junior year and it was by far the best visit we had. It is a beautiful campus but the academics are top notch too. They dont call in Agony College for nothing. The computer sciene department is one of the oldest and best offered by a LAC.</p>
<p>The curriculum is such that your son could probably put together a major-minor that would essentially be an IT major as long as the minor was not in another science. For gaming a compsci-psych combo would work.</p>
<p>Allegheny seemed like a hidden gem to both our son and us. He applied and was offered a $15k scholarship plus a $4000 stipend for the required senior thesis project/internship/etc.</p>
<p>On a final note, when he informed Allegheny that he would be attending elsewhere, they wrote him a nice letter wishing him success and offering to keep his scholarship available for one year if things didnt work out!! How nice.</p>
<p>Go onto the Allegheny web site. There is a nice online tour which gives an accurate picture of the campus. If you cannot visit now, I suggest that he apply and if accepted, visit in the spring.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>