College suggestions for my high stats, STEM-interested son?

Parent Cafe
1

DS, currently HS Junior
ACT 34. Will retake (whole district takes in the spring). 35+ is conceivable (though not ez of course)
3.92uw. Higher weighted - lots of AP classes, etc.
Light on ECs. Not athletic. Should have some strong recommendations.
Caucasian. No major hooks. Legacy (Parent undergrad) at Indiana, UVA. Grandfather undergrad at Northwestern and grad programs at WUSTL, Michigan. Other grandfather did med school at Penn.
We’re in the St. Louis area. Mild preference, I think, for not TOO much distance. i.e. California schools not necessarily out of the running, but probably of less interest than closer options. He likes warm weather, but wouldn’t rule out cold.
Finances are not a major concern/limiter.

Interests: Currently leaning towards engineering, with particular interests in nuclear and geology. Not nailed down though - also likes programming, and has expressed some interest in business and history, too. Years ago he had more interest in pure science, especially physics, but that’s waned. However, he’ll likely do a summer program that is essentially scientific research, and it wouldn’t shock me if his interest go back in that direction over the next 12 months. He’s unlikely to be interested in medicine - he’s squeamish (like his father)…

Currently, his #1 choice is Georgia Tech. He did Duke TIP there 2 summers (~3 weeks each). It’s got a STEM focus, is warm, and he’s comfortable there. That said, I wonder if that’s really the best choice for him, or if it’s the easy choice, because he knows it well and feels comfortable there. He’s not outgoing, nor a fan of college sports - I’m not sure how he’d react to fall football season. But then, Georgia Tech is not Alabama…

He’s seen Missouri S&T and likes it. It’s probably a safety choice, but a pretty decent one at that. He’s seen a number of other schools, too, mainly as a tagalong with his older sister (one grade ahead). A partial summary: He liked Michigan, and I think Northwestern, though (for now anyways) he likes GaTech better than either of them. We had a very brief look-see at Wisconsin (were in Madison for other reasons), and while at the time we all thought it looked too cold (around Thanksgiving), he has since warmed up to it a little. He likes WUSTL, but thinks its more for pure science than engineering.

While he is certainly not locked into nuclear engineering, it is a real interest of his, and a somewhat uncommon program, making lists a little trickier.

Over the last year or so, his “admission profile” has strengthened somewhat IMO. The 34 ACT was a mild (positive) surprise (to me anyways), his GPA has improved, and he’s generally matured a bit and is a bit more academically focused than he was. So I wonder if he should perhaps aim a little higher than Ga Tech. But on the other hand, if he’d be happy there, it’d meet his academic goals, etc, why upset the apple cart chasing schools that are super-reachy anyways? (MIT, Ivies, etc.)

I’m also a little unsure of the pecking order of STEM schools, and how important being at, say, a top 10 school is for career ambitions (should he go straight into the work force), or for grad school, research, etc. And of course, while he’s fairly focused on the engineering path right now, a lot can change, interest-wise…

Should he/we be thinking about (and/or perhaps visiting) Penn, MIT, Duke, UVA, Carnegie-Mellon, Rice, Colorado School of Mines, Illinois, etc?

(My wife has mentioned Stanford, but I think that’s such a long shot. And CalTech seems more pure-sciencey. And anyways I’m not sure how I, or he, would feel about California - it’s noticeably further than the other options…)

2

There are 21 bachelor’s degree programs in nuclear engineering in the ABET accreditation listings. There are 13 for geological engineering.

http://main.abet.org/aps/accreditedprogramsearch.aspx

Looks like Missouri University of Science and Technology and University of Wisconsin Madison are the ones with both. Note: Wisconsin weeds out engineering majors by college GPA that may be significantly higher than 2.0; see https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/academic-advising/first-year-undergraduate-students/progression-requirements/

3

Lots of options. Lucky in that Wustl is in your back yard. Check their competing schools as well – Carnegie you mentioned, Case Western. Wisconsin is cold, but awesome in summer with the lake and all.

Give some serious thought about going “away.” All the kids think its great to “get out of town.” But when push comes to shove, they get cold feet.

Keep options open and get ready to apply to a bunch. Let the merit money you get help decide.

4

Harvey Mudd is a reach, but could be just the place for him if he can get in.

When you say “Light on ECs”, what do you mean? No ECs? What does he have in that area?

5

EC-wise

Consistent robotics. Some interesting summer activities (including probably this coming summer) including a research job. A bit of debate (but didn’t stick with it). A year of tennis. A bit of a bio-diesel club. Probably other things I’ve forgotten. Not zero, but probably below average for kids on his academic level.

6

I would recommend Pitt for a look; you easily could also check out Carnegie Mellon while in Pittsburgh. I think Pitt might give your son another option with some similarities to Georgia Tech (urban, strong academics, size). Not a big sports school, although it’s there if you want it.

I would also look at a bunch of the Big 10 schools–Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, maybe Illinois (I’ve heard this is expensive in state, so imagine very pricey OOS). What about Virginia Tech?

7

Hard to go wrong with GA Tech. Such a good program and with his stats, he’s likely to get in. Not sure how much I’d be pushing to expand the field to “super-reachy” schools. If one of the super reaches were his fervent dream, as a parent I’d be trying to help him develop ECs and a realistic path to admissions because even with a 35 ACT, 3.9 gpa but no strong ECs, there’s very little chance he’d get in to the reachy reaches especially for an engineering major where competition is even stiffer.

If your son likes a great school where he already knows he feels comfy, which meets all his goals, which you can afford, I guess I’m missing why you’d want to redirect him to schools where he probably wouldn’t get in anyways?

I’m sorry this is sounding harsh. It’s really not meant to be. I could be completely missing some special sauce that your son has. But with what you’ve posted, your son is definitely high stats, but not “stellar stats plus amazing ECs and essays and burning desire to attend” that he’d need to get into Stanford, Caltech, MIT, Duke, most Ivys, etc. So if that’s not who he is and he has an awesome current option, why not go with that awesome current option?

8

If he’s interested in majoring in nuclear engineering, most of the discussed schools do not offer this major. GeorgiaTech sounds like a good choice that does offer the major. It also sounds like he has an excellent chance of being accepted to GeorgiaTech.

If you are looking for “not too much distance” schools with warm weather that offer nuclear engineering programs, then the list is not long. UIUC could be another nearyby nuclear engineering option and one that has many other similarly high stat students, but it doesn’t meet the warm weather requirement well.

9

In thinking about it - I may have undersold the ECs just a little. His ECs during the school year have been admittedly thin. But he’s got 3-4+ interesting summer programs/activities* already under his belt, and probably one more to come this coming summer. Also I forgot about NHS during the school year.

  • Duke TIP, a research job at WUSTL, volunteering at the science center, a military engineering camp at a major military base.

But he’s definitely not sport-y, nor in a lot of the more “social” ECs during the school year.

10

As to why not just stay with Ga Tech…

That’s definitely a possibility. But I think he’s at least plausible for some higher ranked options. And if we were to check out some more schools, a trip during spring break would perhaps be logistically the best option.

Also, I’m not sure, among the various possible career paths he might take, how helpful it would be to attend a more tippy-top school, nor am I confident I can distinguish the school that are particularly good for STEM (engineering in particular) versus those that are good generalist schools, but perhaps not as strong on the STEM side…

11

@Booajo Interesting comment about Pitt-“not a big sports school, although it’s there if you want it.” Pitt has had lots of success off and on over the years in sports, particularly in football and basketball. Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett (Heisman trophy winner), Mike Ditka, etc. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Panthers.

Agree that CMU and Pitt would be very easy to check out on the same visit.

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@sevmom absolutely there are top level athletes and top-level sports at Pitt. But many students do not go to games or wear gear and still have an awesome college experience. Pitt is not a “rah-rah” school. I think this is an advantage for this particular student.

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Many don’t go to games, but many do.
https://pittnews.com/article/110144/featured/pitt-lit-bonfire-sparks-students-school-spirit/

Good luck to the OP and son! Georgia Tech certainly sounds like a great option, given the son already likes it and is comfortable there (and has great academics).

14

@sevmom You are aware it is 2018? :slight_smile:

15

Yes, of course . :). Here’s some recent articles about basketball. Attendance has been down since Jamie Dixon left a couple of years ago.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Zoo_(cheering_section). Click on Oakland Zoo cheering section.
https://pittnews.com/article/124382/top-stories/pitt-shoots-bigger-basketball-crowds/

Both Pitt and CMU could be good schools to look at. It is either a long drive to Pittsburgh from St. Louis or a reasonable flight on Southwest .

16

I wouldn’t completely dismiss WashU from the list of engineering schools. They are devoting resources and most of the new construction on campus are focused on new engineering facilities. Although BME seems to be more popular than the other engineering options.

Would UT-Austin or Texas A&M be viable options? They do fit the criteria of good engineering schools with a relatively warm climate and Rice is on your son’s list. Also Arizona and ASU have decent engineering programs as well.

17

Rice isn’t really on his list at the moment. It’s more on my list. :slight_smile:

His older sister did a Duke TIP program at Rice and liked it. (I also generally liked what I saw and heard of it). Not sure if it’s a good fit for him.

I’m somewhat down on U of Texas because my perception (quite possibly wrong) is that it’s overly focused on in-state kids - Texas is a very populous state. For what it’s worth, I’m somewhat down on U of Ill for the same reason. Again, may not be accurate. But it just kinda feels like the super populous states are mostly already crowded with in-staters, resulting in, perhaps, a wide disparity in admission stats between in state kids and the handful of OOSers. At a guess, I’d put Cal in the same bucket, but less so UVA, Wisconsin and Michigan. Again, guesswork by me as much as anything…

18

MY DC nephew went to Rice and thrived there. He majored in bio-engineering and just got his PhD from MIT. They had him doing research in a lab starting the first week of freshman year. We were very impressed with the education he got, the residential college system there and Houston is actually a pretty pleasant city. I couldn’t sell it to my son, but I’ve had a very favorable impression of it after nephew’s experience. My son did CS and Carnegie Mellon and had a great experience there.

19

It helps that your son is focused on engineering. An in-state applicant with your son’s stats would have a good, but by no means certain chance at engineering at UT Austin, particularly if he ranked outside the top 6 percent of his class, even at a competitive private school. Similarly, I think your son has a chance there, but below 50%. Outside of certain highly acclaimed majors and honors programs there is more variety in academic performance on the UT campus.

20

My son’s high school (Top 25 in California) has a lot of kids going to UIUC and UT-Austin. Last year’s graduation class had 15 go to UIUC and 5 go to UT. So even though some OOS public schools do prioritize their students (which I agree with), high achieving OOS students will find a place.

It’s true that UT has to take the top 8 percent of Texas students, but the engineering is top rated. A&M as well. I would personally consider those schools over some UCs.

Arizona State might be a school to consider. With your son’s stats he would get into the Honors College with a pretty decent financial package. Definitely warmer than St. Louis now. I need to make sure the kid packs enough winter clothing when he returns to WashU next week!