<p>Oh Dear! Thank you for pointing that out GP.</p>
<p>So for my son it should be IE and not ID - ?</p>
<p>If he chooses GT would he have to decide exactly which Major he is choosing?</p>
<p>I remember when the IPOD was announced he spent so much time reading about all the features etc and finally when it came out he was talking about the features/app they should have had but didn’t and then one-by-one the add-ons kept coming…same thing with Apple laptops. He is a total Apple freak - just loves it.</p>
<p>Would Vandy be a good place for him? As of now He is really keen on USC UCLA and GT. Do you have anyone on this board from Cal Poly SLo?</p>
<p>About Cal Poly. It is an excellent school and highly respected from everything I’ve heard. I know that because I got rejected from it as a transfer. I got into ucla electrical engineering instead, which was a complete surprise to me. Turns out, Cal Poly’s transfer acceptance rate was 10% this year for electrical engineering (like Harvard or something).</p>
<p>At GT, he can be undecided for up to his first two years. He can also change from one major to another once without any need for approval.</p>
<p>Its good to know that you can change majors at GT. At 16 years of age how can anyone know what is it exactly they want to do later on…</p>
<p>Which colleges do you guys go to and is the CS program good there? If you had to choose between USC, GT, VT and Purdue where would you go?</p>
<p>We will visit Cal Poly Slo and see how he feels there. Although it will be summer and classes will not be on. It sounds like a technical school from what I have read on some boards like you cannot change majors - or was it RPI - I am confused.</p>
<p>Based on our school Naviance my son can make it into GTech, VT, Emory and Purdue…at least he is withing the curve. USC UCLA, Vandy and Cal Poly are borderline. Rice is out of reach, so also Cal B.</p>
<p>I think it is really important that he finds a good fit - he is very bright, but can get lost in huge crowds. He is adaptable but not aggressive. He will thrive under good teachers thats for sure no matter how hard the subject is.</p>
<p>He loves Computers, Math, Business and is generally very good at logic.</p>
<p>Asking students which school they would go to is a loaded question. Everyone has a different set of criteria for selecting a school.</p>
<p>From an academic perspective, GT has the best Computer Science, Engineering, and Business program of the schools listed. For CS, Purdue is 1st Tier, VT is 2nd Tier, and Emory is not ranked. GT is the only Top 10 program listed.</p>
<p>A bit of advice on college visitations: make sure you schedule them with the admissions office. They can show you a lot more things than you can get into just on your own. If you’re headed to visit SLO, make sure to visit USC and ucla as well, since they’re all so close to each other.</p>
<p>If a school doesn’t let you change majors… I would take a very serious look at what their reasoning is. I seriously doubt any schools actually do this.</p>
<p>And yeah, I’ll definitely agree with Burdell that asking us which school is best is going to give you very biased answers. What’s important is what school you and your son decide is best.</p>
<p>Also, don’t let the Naviance numbers dictate your choices. Number are not people, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Thank you all, yes we are going to visit USC, UCLA and Cal Poly SLo, also SCU.</p>
<p>I have also read about diff semester systems on this board - quarter vs. semester…wondering which one works well for CS. My son will be able to handle the load as he is quick learner but not so sure about the lag time between assignments as he is quite laid back where HW is concerned.</p>
<p>In TX we will visit Rice, UT, TAMU and Trinity U, not sure about SMU or UTD.</p>
<p>Will not be able to visit GTech and Vandy. I guess this about rounds up his choices for now.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know a good source to learn C++ on ones own or even PHP?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I learned on “C++ Weekend Crash Course”. It’s a little dated now, but it’s a very easy read. Needless to say, he should take more than a weekend to work through it.</p>