<p>Wash U is similar in many ways (though not the weather!), and is easier to get into than Stanford.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of state flagships have a lot in common with Stanford – strong faculty, lively campus, big-time sports, a core of highly motivated students. Warm-weather candidates might be UGA, NC State, Clemson (Texas and Carolina probably too selective out of state).</p>
<p>UNC is a very tough admit for OOS but unlike many other state flagship schools they are not wholly about the numbers and do look at the whole application and really place high value on the essays as well. If he has the SATs but is a little lacking in GPA he may be able to overcome that with his essays.</p>
<p>I’ve been posting on the UNC threads for about six years now. PM me with his specifics (class rank, GPA, SATs EC etc) and I can give you a little more info. </p>
<p>Admittedly, UNC is not a school that ANYONE can safely project but I may be able to offer a little more guidance for you if you are interested.</p>
<p>eadad, i sent you a pm…</p>
<p>UNC is not on our list since its a reach for son, and we had too many reaches already (vandy, rice, cmu, usc).</p>
<p>pixeljig, have you considered USC? Like Stanford, it’s private and on a beautiful campus, but USC’s downtown LA neighborhood is NOT the burbs, of course. Your S may like Southern California weather, the well-regarded engineering school (Viterbi), friendly and diverse student body, and they welcome international applicants. My S1 is a Soph there and the TO honors program is amazing (if you S wants a highly challenging, very small classroom experience for his GEs). With their top rated film school, well-known music school, Annenberg School of Communications, and well-ranked Marshall school of business, there are lots of different types of kids there with many talents. Hope you check it out.</p>
<p>What about U of Washington? </p>
<p>I feel like I’m the only person in Calif. who sees something good in UC Merced, but if you can get past the awful summers and complete lack of anything to do in Merced itself, it may be worth a look. According to an admissions guy from Olin, the school of engineering at UC Merced is adopting a lot of the hands-on collaborative curriculum they’ve developed. It’s still really small, so lots of attention for undergrads. Plus - 2 hours from Yosemite.</p>
<p>USC seems to be more accepting of high test scores/less wonderful grades. A friend of my d’s who fell into that category got nice merit aid from USC.</p>
<p>^^ USC was on our short list at first, but our GC was not very optimistic. We have been discussing this at home and are not happy leaving USC out. So, in order to put it back on we have to trim another of her choices out (she has added U of Richmond, UVa, NYU, NEU,WM, Brandeis).</p>
<p>Disclaimer - I am bias here. To me, there is not really any school that is like Stanford.</p>
<p>The weather - just almost perfect, especially in the Spring. The town - Palo Alto has so much going on. During one of our three visits, we saw an art show at downtown where they block the whole street. The next day, we went to the local farmers’ market where they sell all local organically produced fruits etc. One could easily go to SF with either train or bus. They has a golf course and they has a horse farm on campus. It is 45 minutes away from some of the prettiest beaches.</p>
<p>The best part about Stanford is its people. I saw one post on the other forum that says you could spot a Stanford intern from other students from a mile away. Don’t know if it is the weather or the Carlifornia culture, everyone seems to be naturally high wearing a big smile.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you Dad II.</p>
<p>My son is so in love with Stanford, he even says he will camp out on campus and attend classes even if they do not take him. Sad that even though he has the passion he does not have the GPA and really there are many many good schools out there for our B/B+ kids, its just a matter of finding them! </p>
<p>Yes, the weather, the kids, the faculty, the charge in the environment will be hard to duplicate…all in one place? sigh! Son has done EPGY there and he knows the feeling.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the guidance counselor’s criteria. She has included schools that are harder gets than USC.</p>
<p>Is he set on a university? Because Trinity in San Antonio might be a possibility. University of Miami. Here I am thinking of the weather issue.</p>
<p>If weather is not an important issue I suggest University of Pittsburgh and University of Rochester.</p>
<p>pixeljig, I agree with you that there are many many excellent schools for all the students who want to study. </p>
<p>On DS’s birthday the other day, we had a good discussion over a very nice meal. My point to him is that it is up to the student to make the best of him/herself. The school is just an environment and/or supporting factor. As long as there are basics for him to excel, all others are just nice to have. </p>
<p>best of luck to you and and your son. Remember, at the end, everything will work out just fine.</p>
<p>Yes, that is so true that the kids should take advantage of what a college has to offer. There will be pros and cons with each choice.</p>
<p>Weather is an issue with son - he keeps harping on that, he was born in NY but the last few years he has gotten used to warm weather and now feels that he won’t be able to deal with extreme cold. Our school GC was saying that WM and U of Richmond has good CS programs together with good faculty and friendlier weather. I had done no research on these 2 so I came out of the meeting all excited and confused at the same time, thinking that perhaps we have found a “perfect fit” for son, the GC knows him, she surely knows!! </p>
<p>I asked for opinions on this board and got some good feedback, I also went on the websites and read student opinions on a few blogs. As we stand today, we are still not 100% sure of those 2 choices for son. I cannot put my finger on it but perhaps there are other colleges out there for son where he can get a total college experience in a multi-cultural environment, where drinking is not the only source of entertainment, where people like to teach and students like to learn. But does a place like that exist?</p>
<p>Check out Wake Forest
[WFU</a> | Computer Science](<a href=“http://www.cs.wfu.edu/grad/10reasons.html]WFU”>http://www.cs.wfu.edu/grad/10reasons.html)
Follow link for undergrad info.</p>
<p>Usc?</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>USC, definitely is going back on our list. We were not happy taking it out based on our GC’s suggestion. She does not want us to touch any CA colleges and the irony of the situation is thats where my son wants to go!</p>
<p>With good SATs and less good grades, maybe you should look into state flagships with defined campuses. Although they are mostly much larger than Stanford, it’s not like Stanford feels that small, because it’s so spread out. They almost all have good to excellent computer science programs, as well as a diverse student body (that will be somewhat laid-back, and at least not haughty), a lot of spirit, and a full range of “traditional college experience”. I’m thinking of places like Penn State (which is in a beautiful setting and can feel a lot like Stanford, although not necessarily in January), University of Illinois (probably higher ranked than Stanford in computer science), University of Texas (Austin being not unlike San Francisco, spiritually). University of Oregon, the University of Arizona or Arizona State. Lots of other possibilities, really. Around here, the University of Delaware has gotten very popular. It is smaller than most state universities, less selective than some of the ones mentioned already, has a lovely, traditional-looking campus, and is actually about as far from Philadelphia as Stanford is from San Francisco, and is accessible by public transportation. I don’t know anything specific about computer science there, though.</p>
<p>On the private university front, maybe Emory? Suburban/urban, a little smaller than Stanford, smart kids but slightly less selective than many of the others mentioned. Pepperdine? The most beautiful setting imaginable, full of beautiful, friendly kids, and minutes from L.A., if you don’t mind Evangelical Lite.</p>
<p>JHS, thank you for your thoughtful advice. Emory is on our list, seems a bit of a high match for son with his GPA issue. Someone was saying that if he applies to GTech, he should not apply to Emory since they have a 2+2 dual program between them, so its sort of redundant to apply to both, have to check this out…</p>
<p>I have heard the University of Maryland College Park is also good for CS.</p>
<p>We had Penn State, U of Pitt on our long list which got cut out due to weather.</p>
<p>We do have UT Austin and Trinity U in SA on the short list.</p>
<p>So far we have Rice, GT, Emory, Vandy, UT, Trinity, USC, Santa Clara and Stanford. We may end up applying to UCI and one more UC.</p>
<p>Check out www . stanfordrejects.com… ;)</p>
<p>I would definitely apply to some of the UCs…UCSB has top-notch physical science programs, Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, and California weather despite its reputation as a party school. It’s also much less selective than Berkeley or UCLA. </p>
<p>UCSD has top-notch biological science programs, Nobel Prize winners, California weather and is situated in the gentrified La Jolla suburb of San Diego. It’s slightly less selective than Berkeley and UCLA.</p>
<p>You can apply to all UCs with one application…just write a couple essays and pay additional application fees for each campus.</p>
<p>I worry that your list is still reach-heavy. With the exception of Trinity (SA) and Santa Clara, nothing on that list is a lay-down for someone who believes in his heart that Stanford is a pipe dream. I don’t know much about Trinity. (I actually have a cousin who went there years ago, but he was run out of town by a girlfriend’s father after a year. San Antonio was MUCH smaller then.) Santa Clara – if Stanford is the dream-school standard by which your son judges everything, I wonder whether going to its little-sister college virtually next door is the healthiest psychic choice. That’s why I might look at Oregon and Arizona, too. I think they have the Stanford look/feel, and West/Southwest weather, and more forgiving admissions, without being in Stanford’s back yard.</p>
<p>One school not yet mentioned was Occidental. The campus definitely has a Stanford feel. You may want to check it out.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>