<p>Quantitative ability he CLEARLY has. B/C calc as a junior. Extremely high PSAT quantitative score. We are hearing from every engineering school in the country. 9th in Indiana on state math exam. Father is a doc, grandfather a Rose Hulman engineer…great grandfather, as well. Does not want to be an engineer. End of story. Not open for discussion. Same with medicine. His dad has convinced him it is a terrible profession.</p>
<p>And he’s pretty sure he isn’t interested in a Fortune 500 career. Unless you want to spend your whole life on a plane, you’re not likely to do very well. One thing about being a doctor’s kid. You get to see the lives of affluent people…for better or for worse. And in his eyes, Fortune 500 is worse. We’re all different, fortunately.</p>
<p>Having quantitative ability is one thing. Choosing an undergraduate program that develops it (for business applications or otherwise) is another thing. </p>
<p>debrockman, has your son considered majoring in math (or double majoring in math/econ, math/CS, etc.) to prepare for work as an actuary?</p>
<p>Debb, your son might enjoy Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern or Wharton, although neither would be a safety.</p>
<p>Given your son’s sterling credentials, I am surprised you think that IU or BYU business would not be a shoo-in; what are the actual median GPAs and boards there? Whether he would enjoy the vastness of IU or the very strict rules of BYU are different questions.</p>
<p>He sounds as if he might thrive at a smaller school, where his credentials might a good merit scholarship. Although not all of them have undergrad business programs, many do.</p>
<p>Good heavens. He is totally NOT an actuary. He’s very social, and smart, not bookish. Hence his mediocre 3.8 WEIGHTED gpa. He’s a shoo-in to be accepted at IU and meets their qualifications for a strong undergrad scholarship, but direct Kelley admit is tough. Very tough. He happens to have gone to a great HS, but he’s still right on the border of a direct admit. IU is a very challenging social environment and he is young. My daughter found it unmanageable. She transferred. I have pretty much told him if he doesn’t go in as direct admit, he needs to go to a small school close to home for his freshman year…perhaps Anderson or Butler…both perfectly fine schools…or maybe Taylor and live on campus. Grade acceleration has made this process a challenge. Not to mention his personality. Very “chill”. Doesn’t have to study for his mediocre grades and he kills much harder workers on tests. The perfect combination for a total college crash and burn if he doesn’t go to the right place. Fortunately he isn’t a partier and is conservative. He is handsome and charming and adults always tell me he is so “adorable”. A bit of a con artist. Everything he does is easy for him. A black belt at 7, grade-accelerated, math advanced, basketball, cross-country, track, world champion gamer (just kidding about that part). He is likely to be a successful business guy…but finding the right college for his personality and age and interests…a little bit of a challenge. It’s hard to consider having him stay home a year and let his maturity catch up with his ability, but it is a consideration…that or military academy.</p>
<p>yabeyabe…I don’t consider a 3.8 weighted gpa to be sterling. Truth be told, he does really well in strict environments. That aspect of BYU is appealing to him, honestly. He has said so. His dad keeps saying “Utah?!?” and I keep saying we could fly him home a lot
for the price of BYU. I wouldn’t be thrilled if he became a mormon, however. I have nothing against mormons, other than the fact that they aren’t really Christians in a protestant sense of the word. There’s still the military academy option 
His gaming talents might serve him well there.</p>
<p>And he does like Econ…a lot. The question is, are you better off in life with an accounting major with an econ minor and a cpa (if you decide grad school is not for you), or an econ major. I think that choice is clear.</p>
<p>i thought umich was very selective</p>
<p>umich is very very selective. Particularly in certain areas of excellence…business being one.</p>
<p>Elon. It is a VERY good school… but you can’t have any sort of bad grades to attend.</p>
<p>Based on my experience (the perceived respect):</p>
<p>Boston College
Villanova
UNC
UVA
NYU
CO College
Tulane
Bates/Colby
Boston University
Syracuse</p>
<p>Of course, this is highly subjective. Depends on your definition of “Highly Selective” and “Highly Respected”</p>
<p>I really see this list as so highly subjective. I think in every area of the country, you know what colleges are excellent and what colleges are iffy. In our immediate area, we have some really well thought of smaller schools…Huntington, Taylor, Earlham, Butler…that people probably haven’t heard of as much as schools like DePauw, which has a more affluent, but perhaps somewhat less academic student body. We made a decision that at 17, we would not be sending our son more than 2 states away (unless he gets a ridiculous scholarship so we can afford to fly him home on a whim). He knows what he wants to study, so the decision is, which school with that emphasis makes him feel most at home…and a lot of factors go into that. Religious or not, big, small, medium, conservative or liberal, friends there or not, activities, dorms, school sports…a whole host of things. </p>
<p>I feel like there is a weird belief on this board that east coast and west coast schools are superior, and that certain schools guarantee success. That just isn’t true. I even know some extremely happy and successful people who went some very circuitous routes to completion of their education.</p>
<p>Certain schools give you acceptance with a “certain” group of people. But for 99.9% of the world, there’s a whole world, thriving and achieving, outside of those very narrow circles.</p>
<p>Ultimately, success in those “exclusive” circles…banking, finance, law, medicine…goes to the kids who make extremely good grades and produce strong test scores in undergraduate school, and then go on to a strong graduate school…and in many states, that is State U. It is certainly true in our state, where I suspect that 90% of the partners in big law firms went to IU or Notre Dame, and 90% of the physicians went to IU. And if you think that a partner in a large regional law firm doesn’t earn a huge income (not to mention, live in a much less expensive region), you’re out of touch.</p>
<p>And whether you went to IU or Harvard for your medical training, the insurance company reimburses you exactly the same.</p>
<p>Prestige has become a very “regional” thing, and is defined differently by different people. In our area, which is one of the most affluent counties in the nation, people consider it prestigious to have been part of specific fraternities and sororities at IU.</p>
<p>Bottom line, the top student at State U. is pretty damn strong. I’ll put him up against the top student anywhere else.</p>
<p>Agree with the list. I think George Washington University is an excellent University and very underrated.</p>
<p>Now that several hundred schools have been mentioned, all fine schools, turning from the trees to the forest, does anyone think that a list of hundreds of schools has real value? </p>
<p>Would it not be much more useful to have a list of schools more like debrockman’s: Colleges which are not in the top 100 for selectivity; not well known for sports teams; not state flagships or number 2’s (Michigan State, Oregon State, etc); and very good?</p>
<p>I think CC is most helpful when it comes to “Not the Usual Suspects” schools.</p>
<p>yabeyabe…something tells me I would really like to have coffee with you and have you spend time with my kids.</p>
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<p>Isn’t this counterintuitive given we are living in a smaller and smaller world?</p>
<p>It may be counterintuitive, but the other aspect that I think is driving the truth of my perspective is that limited budgets are impacting 99.9% of the world. The European college model looks nothing like our own. People go to school close to home because it is affordable for everyone. Most of the world is not elite, or even trying to be elite. I think the “elite” are becoming less and less relevant…except to themselves.</p>
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<p>CC is not “most of the world.”</p>
<p>prodigalson…true.</p>
<p>Auburn University, University of Alabama</p>