My son is a current junior attending one of the most rigorous public high schools in California.
Here is some background information on him:
ACT first sitting: 35, SAT Math II 800. Was signed up for Chemistry but then they got rid of subject tests.
UW GPA: 3.97
Taking all the APs available including now taking AP Calc BC, Chemistry, Spanish, etc. Next year will take AP CS, AP Macro, AP Physics
ECs:
He does not have the ECs I read on here such as starting a charity, or some huge interest in research or model UN, etc.
He does show dedication in a few ECs that require huge time commitments. For example, he has been a club swimmer since the age of 7 and in high school was a varsity swimmer as a freshman (which is quite an achievement in our district). He has the times to swim for Div II/III.
He has also been in Cub/Boy Scouts and has earned his Eagle ranking.
Those 2 ECs did require a lot of weekend outings (Swim meets can be 2-day ordeals).
He also has been a summer camp counselor, attends Surfrider, to name other ECs.
Interests: He is definitely more STEM oriented but will not likely be a practicing engineer. He says he is not interested in med school.
I also like to think of him as a Renaissance Man - he reads all the time, plays NPR in the car, etc. Not into sports other than swimming.
The issue I have with him is that he is completely undecided on a college list- so that is where I am asking all of you for some feedback.
I have safeties in mind but would also like to look a some reaches. I saw Penn has an interesting program Bachelor of Applied Science Computer Science BAS
He could also be possibly interested in an applied math/econ program or physics.
Are there any programs you can recommend that would be similar to this as a target?
Anyone have thoughts on this major?
ETA: I don’t think he’d like a very small school. Budget is not an issue.
There is a lot of overlap in swim times between DI/II/III and NAIA schools. Does he want to be recruited as a swimmer? If so, is he speaking with coaches? Swimming is only a hook if he is a recruited athlete. Go here to see where his times would fit: Swimcloud
Not wanting a quarter system school is the type of decision he should make after he has acceptances in hand. His interests/major/criteria for attending a school will change in the next year so don’t rule out anything this early. As a CA resident, he should apply to UCs and SLO in addition to the other schools you find.
You might check out College Club Swimming and see if the schools he is interested in have a club swim team.
If your son is looking to swim competitively and pursue STEM, I would definitely recommend reaching out to the Caltech and MIT coaches. He won’t get recruited in the traditional sense, there is no commitment to either school, but it will give him a slight advantage for admissions. This will allow him to keep his options open since neither have ED and getting recruited is not binding.
He will apply to CA public’s, but I just have a feeling he won’t get in to the schools he’d like with being test blind. Our public high school could probably send 20%+ of the kids to UCLA if it wanted to. So many academic superstars at the school.
Would club swimming be a potential hook? His apprehension of swimming Div II/III is due to the incredible training times required in conjunction with a STEM curriculum. Swimming now 2-3 hours everyday these past few years (and for those of you not in CA)- the practices are outside. It has been at times brutal swimming at 6 pm in December dark and cold. I think he’s burning out.
Btw if your son is interested in math/econ/CS then I’d say MIT, Caltech, Chicago, UIUC, GT and CMU are great. Its harder to do double major in MIT and Caltech but in CMU and GT a double major/minor is common