@MYOS1634 We just made a list at cappex. His top 5 schools are in Va. I went to register him for the Career/College event at RIT for August and they’re not taking registrations this early. Who knows, he might change his mind by then. One good thing about him is he’s very conscious of money, thank goodness! Of course, we’d like to do what we can. I wish we had planned better. Kicking myself.
@dadinator that makes complete sense! We’re not going to get to excited about RIT, unless we hit the lottery!
I think it’s wise to have a caveat that if the money doesn’t come he has to walk away. That’s certainly what we stipulated! Also - there’s a big financial aid session for parents at the Career and Colleges event.
And don’t kick yourself. You’re much more organized and on top of things at this stage than most people are. You’re doing fine and sounds like you have a cooperative, reasonable son so you are ahead of the game.
I’m trying really hard not to completely take over. He has to make these decisions himself. He’s a good advocate for himself . If there’s one thing I learned after going through the teen years with his older sister, it’s that the best thing we can do if make sure they can do for themselves. I failed miserable with my daughter. Thanks so much @mamaduck and @sevmom!
@ThreeRedheads It is indeed disappointing that schools usually don’t stack the merit scholarships and financial aids. My D’s financial aid package was revised several times last year and each time they reduce the exact amount from grant for a scholarship she won. But if your son has loan and/or work study in the financial aid, the school may offset those first with scholarship money. So the actual cost may still be reduced.
@billcsho I’m learning that there are so many intricacies when it comes to applying to college and getting aid. It certainly wasn’t that difficult when I went to college, but that was some time ago. Thanks for the info!
Also if he’s really good at comp sci, he may make a lot of money in the summer. I realize you can’t count on it, but it is possible - much more likely than if he majors in International Relations like my younger son. (Who did have a nice summer job on campus that came with housing.)
Engineering is a very tough program, and it’s becoming even more competitive to get into. If your son is interested in CS, compare programs at different Unis. At some Unis, CS is in LAS; at some Unis, it’s in Engineering. A program in LAS will not be as rigorous overall but will still give him the CS degree. My son hated lib arts classes in hs so that wasn’t an option for him, but that might be perfect for another child.
OP, you’re getting lots of great advice here. I just wanted to point you to the ABET site, where you can search by state, degree sought, and the type of program you’re looking for:
A school offering engineering technology degrees might be a great option if there’s any concern about the rigors of engineering for a kid who’s clearly gifted in the applied side of things.
ASEE is another great site you might want to bookmark for future reference, as you can look up a specific school and get all kinds of detailed information about its engineering/CS programs: http://profiles.asee.org/profiles
Engineering majors and engineering-based CS majors will require humanities and social studies breadth courses. It is a misconception that a student in such a major can avoid such courses. In some cases, the humanities and social studies requirements for engineering majors may be greater than for non-engineering majors (e.g. at Brown).
Engineering-based CS majors usually have increased requirements in math and (non-CS) science than non-engineering-based CS majors.
@ucbalumnus I didn’t say there were NO liberal arts so if that’s what it sounded like, then thank you for clarifying. At ANY school and any program, you need to look at the specifics of the curriculum. The schools my son was looking at, the CS in liberal arts contained many required arts courses (including a music class and foreign language) and few core CS classes. In his current Eng program, he has to take English and only a few electives, and everything else is engineering. It fits him. My neighbor’s son, interested in computers but without the grades or work ethic, thinks he will do better in a CS program in an LAS school. Just my .02
While this is true, it may be worth checking out the various school’s AP policies. My older son took 1 required English Comp course, one writing for Comp Sci course and one World History course. Everything else was covered thanks to his good AP scores. He majored in Comp Sci, minored in physics and was happy that after freshman year he only took courses that interested him. He was at Carnegie Mellon which has a stand alone computer science school - it’s not part of engineering there.
@PBrain That’s excellent info! He does really well in areas other than math and science. We will pursue this option. THanks so much!
@Luciethelakie Great sites! I’m glad it’s the weekend so I can really do some research.
@mathmom We are picking his schedule for next year and those are some excellent points!
My son emailed his GC to get access to the naviance results in Family Connection. Very helpful!
Thank you again to all who have reached out, in the thread and in private messages. I would have been completely lost. I just didn’t realize there was so much to it.
I am not always a big fan of loans , but CS and engineering students are generally well positioned to pay back the amount they can borrow in federal loans. Don’t be too skittish if you are confident he will be majoring in something with strong job prospects.
Found out my son’s ACT score today. It was 28, with no prep and without a calculator. Should he retake it or just send what he has on to the schools of his choice, which may change. Or does he do this later? He is scheduled to take the SAT in May.
Writing score not in yet, but as I understand it, it does not affect the overall score. I guess a 28 isn’t too bad for absolutely no prep. Also, he thought he couldn’t bring a graphing calculator in,b ut it was only certain models.
Nice scores! The math might be even higher with a calculator. Have him review the SAT format before the test. He sounds like a strong student, but it’s good to have an idea of format and ideal pace. The SAT and ACT are quiet different. Good luck!
Those are good scores but since your question was specifically about engineering (/CS), I want to caution you that engineering students usually (if not always) have higher math scores than admission criteria averages for a Uni. If you are looking at a particular school, make sure to find out the specific 25/75 for accepted engineering students.
@colorado_mom now that Robotics build season is over, he will have time to prepare for t he SAT in May. Thanks so much!
@Pbrain I found a few websites with that info. Excellent point about scores for Eng/CS students. We will have to dig a little deeper. Do you recommend he wait for his SAT or just plan on retaking the ACTs? TIA