My son’s main strength is his stellar academic achievements. Which schools are less holistic and more academic in their selection criteria?
Many large public universities do not ask for extracurriculars or even an essay. I think this was true for the University of Mississippi, for example. Cal Poly asks for number of hours in extracurriculars or a job but not specifics.
Maybe look at large public universities that get way too many applications for an overworked staff to review beyond crunching the numbers. But even some top universities such as UCLA look at other factors even with the large number of applications.
UChicago comes to mind. State flagships are often more focused on stats. What exactly are his stats? Where do you live?
Admission to Canadian universities is almost exclusively stats-based.
UW GPA 4.0
W GPA 4.6/5
PSAT 1510
SAT 1590 (that was his only attempt with online preparation but kid doesn’t consider it a worthy cause to spend time on perfecting it or trying for ACT )
5s in 8 AP exams
780 on math and 780 on biology SAT subject tests (same thing didn’t bother to perfect it)
Most rigrous load available
Rank 13/1200 (could’ve been higher if not for 4 years of low weighted theater and physical education electives but he really enjoyed those so GPA hit was worth it)
National AP Scholar
National Merit Semifinalist
National Spanish Exam Gold
Honors Gold (District’s top award for straight A’s every year)
I never thought of Canadian schools. May be he can look into that. Do they offer merit scholarships to US citizens?
Many Canadian universities do offer merit and need based aid to Americans.
That’s good to know. Thank you.
Tuition at Canadian schools is generally lower than at American schools, especially with the current exchange rate.
Here is the fee calculator for McGill, where tuition varies greatly by program:
http://www.mcgill.ca/student-accounts/tuition-charges/fallwinter-term-tuition-and-fees/undergraduate-fees
It’s a good school and certainly more affordable as we aren’t eligible for much financial aid. I’ll certainly recommend it to him.
All selective colleges select primarily on academic achievements. It is only at the most selective colleges that have so many applicants with top-end academic achievements that greater weight is given to subjectively graded aspects to distinguish between those applicants.
Depending upon which state you are in your state flagship is often a “safe” school for students with stellar grades and SAT, even with limited or no ECs (unless you are in California, in which case I am not completely sure which would be a safety but the top ones would probably be a match with your son’s stellar stats).
As others have said schools in Canada also consider ECs less than the top American schools, and the majority of them won’t even ask about ECs. With an unweighted GPA of 4.0, SAT of 1590, and assuming strong references (which seems very likely), your son will most likely get accepted to any university in Canada. The most famous ones (McGill, Toronto, UBC, Waterloo for CS) are more expensive for international students that most other Canadian schools, but are still less than comparable US schools (other than your in-state public schools or schools where you will get great financial aid). There are other “very good” universities such as U.Victoria, Simon Fraser, Concordia, Dalhousie, and some smaller schools such as Mount Allison and Acadia which are significantly less expensive than the best known and highest ranked schools. These “good but not quite as famous” schools can in many cases for an American cost pretty close to the same as your in-state public schools (details vary slightly between schools, and depend of course on what sort of aid you get).
If your son is after merit, he will have a lot of NMS schools to consider for a full ride or near full ride. For a full ride plus an lot of extras and cash in his pocket, take a look at UT Dallas, specifically the McDermott Scholars Program. McDermott is likely the very best scholarship program around.
I heard that Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are very stats conscious
CalTech
Notre Dame this year appears to be trying to be less stats conscious but the average ACT is 34 so I’m not sure how blind to stats they really are
British universities, like state flagships, are all about stats - standardized test scores, not GPA, however- and not at all about ECs.
@happy1 Caltech has the highest stats, but the freshman class size is about 235. So, they want both high stats and science/engineering related activities, interests, and higher-level courses (usually beyond Calc BC).
The OP’s stats are high enough for Caltech with the exception that he should retake the SAT Math II subject test to try for an 800.
@Ynotgo Understood – just throwing it out there as one of many places for the OP to research further.
His ECs are really solid and long term for an average high school student but they are limited to school and community while other resume which I saw at chance me threads, all seems to have National and international awards and outstanding achievements.