@JulyRains I just read this whole thread almost a month late. In the event that you revisit this website…I predict that your son will have great luck getting into colleges, especially if you and he keep learning more and more about the application process.
From what little I read, I see a lot of potential in your son. He has a nice background, although, as noted, not amazing for engineering schools at places like Stanford, Princeton, MIT, etc. On the other hand, being from Montana should be a plus. And, if he will be a first-generation college student or if he has any minority blood, that could be an advantage as well. Otherwise, to put it bluntly, white and Asian boys applying for engineering with a 34 ACT are fairly common. But, what do I know? (except that I have been through this college process twice and my sons seem similar to yours in interests and stats)
Has your son taken any SAT Subject Tests? Many top engineering schools require the Math Level 2 Subject test and a Science subject test.
With an annual income around $80K, if you don’t have a lot of non-retirement savings or investments like real estate other than your primary home, I think you might receive decent fin aid from the need-blind, meets full fin need schools. Most top colleges look at assets in addition to income. If your son has any savings, they will also ask about that. Applying EA or ED or RD at a need-blind college should not affect the amount of fin aid that your son is awarded.
There are lots of articles online about which colleges are need-blind and commit to meeting full need, which offer merit scholarships and which don’t, etc. But, verify with the colleges directly too. As said earlier, California universities are definitely no longer offering fin aid to students from outside CA. If you are concerned about being able to afford the actual full price of $200K - $300K at a private or top public OOS university, do use the Net Price Calculator (NPC) on each college website so you have an idea of how much you will be expected to pay these colleges. (Sorry this is being repeated so much, but I didn’t know about the NPC when my first son applied to college.) And, be prepared that inputting your information into these online calculators, and completing the actual fin aid applications for the colleges, can be quite cumbersome. (CSS Profile, FAFSA, additional forms and documentation as required.)
If your son decides this summer or fall that he has a strong first choice college, and if it offers ED, and if you have determined that you would be able to afford it after using the college’s NPC, then I do recommend applying ED. If his top choice is a top private ED college, our college counselor encouraged concurrent EA applications at places like GA Tech, UVA, Michigan, MIT, Clemson, Alabama, Illinois, etc for engineering (where there is no commitment to attend) That way, if son gets rejected or deferred by his ED school in December, he may have other early acceptances to feel good about. Most RD colleges he applies to are not likely to give him answers until March. If he ends up choosing to apply SCEA at Stanford or the like, he can still apply EA to any state universities. I like EA for getting feedback early - and I like ED because the odds of admission are just so much higher than in the RD round at private engineering schools like Duke, Penn, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Harvey Mudd, Bucknell, Lehigh, etc. You can find ED vs. RD admissions percentages for these colleges online. USC has an early application due date of Dec 1 usually, but, if your son is not considered for a merit scholarship, he won’t hear a decision until the end of March. USC doesn’t offer true EA or ED. I predict your son will be accepted there. My older son graduated from USC Viterbi in Mech Eng, and we all LOVE that school! (But, not the surrounding LA neighborhood…) In fact, one or both of my kids applied to and/or visited almost all of the colleges I have named.
Best Wishes. Learn as much as you can from others whose kids went successfully through this process, and from the your school counselor, and from the colleges themselves. While not likely to happen, I would love to hear your son’s results next year!