<p>MoH, I can see a lot of parallels between our sons’ experiences. We spent four years in Hong Kong and well understand the frenetic emphasis on scores and grades. Just put that aside. These kids are competing with each other, but your son as an American expat will fall into another category. </p>
<p>I appreciate your exasperation over the bright but lazy tendency but this is exactly the characterization that your son must counteract in his application. His upwardly mobile GPA is a positive. He will also need uniformly excellent recommendations from his counselor and teachers. It’s okay to send in one more recommendation from someone who can attest to his passion for his interests or [indirectly] his character. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about a C or 2 on his transcript, especially in math for a humanities kid. Colleges understand. SAT prep classes are good for kids who can’t be relied on to self study.</p>
<p>It’s hard for kids who haven’t lived in the US for years to differentiate between various locations or to comprehend what college life will be like. Once your son does some visiting the spark of interest will be kindled. For a summer visit, you really have to limit yourself geographically, though for the actual applications your son can cast a wider net. Eastcoast colleges are good for visiting because they are geographically compact.</p>
<p>I know you’ve had far too many suggestions already, but for some reason Wesleyan (in Connecticut) keeps floating to the top for me. Liberal, energetic, quirky, accessible to New York and Boston, strong International/Asian influence.</p>
Occidental was actually a last minute addition to my list, and I never dreamed I would end up picking it, but they were very generous with financial aid and the international emphasis was very appealing (and has been as advertised).</p>