Could use some advice

Parents Forum
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<p>S has 3 colleges on his list of acceptances, but he's not sure which one to choose. We plan on asking his college counselor for her input and revisiting all 3 this month, but I wanted to get some feedback from others who might know a little about these schools.</p>

<p>So here's the deal: S got accepted to CMU's Humanities & Social Science but not Comp Sci like he wanted (he wants to major in comp sci - specifically game design, virtual reality, or maybe a cross between neuro/cognitive psych and comp sci - not really sure yet.) He chose CMU's H&SS as well because he loves liberal arts and creative writing. He can maybe transfer into CMU's Comp Sci if he does well in the intro classes and there's space in the school - it's not definite though. He can major from outside the school, but he may not be able to get into all the classes he wants to take, especially for the higher classes. Plus the liberal arts at CMU is good but not great. It's a little limited when compared to strictly a liberal arts school, and is a little more techy oriented.</p>

<p>Then we have 2 liberal arts colleges - Haverford and Conn College. Haverford is better academically across the tri-co consortium, but Conn College has more of the comp sci he's looking for. But I don't know if either of them has a good cs program - there's really no rankings on that, so how can you tell?</p>

<p>But that's not the whole story because you have to understand S's personality. He's a quiet, shy kid who's very sensitive and not very self-assured. He loves to learn and is looking forward to taking lots of different courses in different departments to explore. He wants to learn computers, but he wants to work on his creative writing as well, which he can do at all of these colleges. I'm not sure that he can advocate for himself at CMU, and he'll probably need to do that. For his personality, Haverford probably fits him best, but Conn College has what he's looking for in cs. But if he wants to major in cs, he can't do much better than CMU. How can you turn down that opportunity?</p>

<p>I'd love to hear some of your thoughts. Thanks.</p>

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<p>70% of college students change their major at least once.</p>

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<p>Fwiw, in addition to checking course catalogs to see the actual classes offered in D’s major, we checked profs’ backgrounds in her particular sub-field. This was mostly to see what their own particular research interests are and how active they are in that. It made a big difference to her to work with profs who themselves were currently competitive in their fields. Thats been one of the highlights of her college experience and helped her get some addl unique opps.</p>

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<p>My thoughts are to put this on the back burner mentally. It’s wonderful that you are re-visiting all three schools. I think this will clarify things for your son. Rather than trying to decide now, I think you should talk about other things (prom/graduation/parties/. . . . anything but “which college?”) and see what he says after the visits.</p>

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<p>If he likes CMU, do some checking on the CMU threads about likelihood of being able to transfer into CS. </p>

<p>Another factor to consider - how in depth is his current cs experience? That may be a factor when trying to decide how heavily to weigh cs priorities. A fair amount of students in cs (and engineering) transfer out once they hit the heavy course, especially if no prior exposure. It’s nice that his schools have a variety of options.</p>

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<p>If he really wants CS he should follow his major and make sure he attends a college where he can pursue his interests. It doesn’t make any sense to not do it if he feels strongly about it or to assume he’d change his major anyway so why bother.</p>

<p>I’m not convinced about the 70% figure mentioned above - at least not in CS.</p>