I think Purdue is a match. Honors college a reach.
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He applied there the first week of August since no essays required and it is a 5 min application. Doubtful he will do the honors application. It is one of the schools he has visited and he liked it a lot but pretty far down on his list. His brothers both got the max merit award from Clemson but it decreased from 20k to 12.5k between the two. Not sure whether it has dropped even lower, but wonāt match Auburnās initial 16.5 which may increase. Never toured Auburn engineering personally but know others who have who were impressed. Itās a good little engineering school and a great size for him.
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Thatās your opinion - with this studentās stats, Iād say a match. Thatās my opinion.- but I also think theyāll get into Ga Tech so it will be moot. Itās fine for you to state that itās a reach - but no need to denigrate someone else.
@SouthYankie - I think people overrate the rankings. I see all these companies - they want ABET. Yes, some have schools they hire directly from - Iāve seen listings only wanting Bradley, Michigan Tech, Kettering.
Most these kids Iāve talked to or my son has worked with - have been with kids from a spectrum of schools - from Houston, LSU, Ole Miss, Ga Tech, Purdue, Wisconsin - all at the same companies. And my sonās two Ga Tech roommates from last summer were not invited back. So I donāt doubt in certain organizations, there is a pull to the ranked schools. But for most of these kids, if itās ABET - theyāre going to be fine. My old bossās son went to Kentucky, did a co op with - I want to say Procter and Gamble - and had several great offers and is excelling somewhere in Cincinnati.
UGA and Alabama are very different. Georgia, for the most part, doesnāt let the smart kids leave the state - similar to Florida so their geographic diversity is less. Alabama doesnāt have the populace.
Alabama and Auburn are vastly different. It sounds like @VirginiaBelle son would prefer Auburn and I get it - nicer, cleaner town, closer to home. The advantage of Bamaā¦is moneyā¦which is why it is much more geographically diverse that most other schools.
Not sure where you are from @SouthYankie when you talk about yield - but I hope each kid ends up where they belong.
Iām very thankful that job wise, it appears my son will likely end up in a similar place as had he gone to Purdue - because it did have me worried - but as it turns out, the companies are interested more in what these kids have done work wise (I think they prefer co op but my son interned twice and worked one summer)ā¦itās less about where they went.
My sonās friends at MTSU, Auburn, Western Kentucky, UTK and more have similar experiences.
Itās tough getting a gig after sophomore year - but most did - and those that did appear to be ahead.
Anyway, good luck to @VirginiaBelle .
My only real comment was - if youāre going to potentially add schools and I donāt know which - but if itās schools like NC State or Maryland or UTK, I think you need to make that decision now - because in December it will be too late.
It really depends on what the criteria is for an OOS school - is it fit (heās not been everywhere yet), is it distance to home, is it cost, is it prestige (doesnāt sound like it) - and I think you go from there.
If he wants to be close to mom, then maybe the Purude/Illinois arenāt right - and an Auburn works better, etc.
I donāt think youāll get to that point though - and best of luck to your son.
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The issue with that 35% number is that populated areas of the state come in lower, and males also come in significantly lower. According to Georgia Techās admission lite data that they used to publish a couple of years ago, and which has now been made private, the admit rate for females was roughly 18 percent higher than for males.
Georgia Tech could fill their entire class from Atlanta with very high stat kids. They strive for geographical diversity both in and out of state, which means it is quite a bit easier to get in from more rural areas (which we are not). All this to say, not sure that 35% number applies to my child, although I wish it did. He is a legacy and will get a pathway and I do think based on the fact that generally the top 10 kids in my sons competitive high school get in and he is one of those kids heās got a decent chance but not counting any chickens before they hatch. Thatās why I just need some reassurance about his list
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Donāt think he would be interested in a UTK or Maryland - although I did say during the Alabama game on Saturday that Knoxville is a place Iād like to go see a football game :-). Iām not really sure why heās not applying to NC State honestly. He did a competitive residential engineering camp (had to send transcript and test scores, write essays, etc. for admission) there this summer. I think his thought was he wouldnāt go there over some of the schools he applied, and I donāt know where it falls as far as competitiveness. Iāll ask him again his thoughts, assuming the deadline is November 1.
I was just throwing out schools I thought might fit the list of what you mentioned.
The main point was - and it depends on the schools - if he plans to add any, December might be too late. I donāt know what schools he might be thinking but yeah, youād want to look up admissions deadlines (the real ones, not the RD ones) and merit app timing, etc.
Heās gonna be fine as is - but I totally get your nerves - itās easy for others to say itāll be ok 
That heās got those two letters already in hand hopefully makes the rest of it a lot easier!!
There is a huge difference in acceptance rates between college of computing & engineering vs Sciences, Liberal Arts & Business. And the gender ratio varies among them.
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Virginia Tech is actually pretty high up on his list. Heās never been there but I toured it with my oldest and loved it. Current senior is a big mountain biker and wrote one of his Va Tech essays about related volunteer work. I think having all those great trails up there easily accessible is a big draw.
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Itās all opinion of course - but for my money, the nicest campus in the country. That their food is highly thought of is a huge bonus as well!!
Atlanta suburbs. 20% of my D22ās HS class enrolled at either Ga Tech or UGA.
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OK - well of course yield will be higher at UGA.
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Itās closer to home and kids are competitive and UGA is a top school.
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Not everyone has the #s to get the big bucks at Bama and #3 most imporatntly
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GA and Florida make it near impossible for the top kids to leave. Some do - but it canāt be an easy decision.
I agree that Illinois engineering is a reach. I remember checking out CC when my D applied and many kids with perfect stats were denied.
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I also agree ME at UIUC is a reach, it is one of the more competitive engineering majors, so has a lower acceptance rate than Graingerās overall 23% for class of 2026. One downside to Grainger is that itās difficult to change to another major, should a student want to do that.
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Iām surprised NC State isnāt on the list. All the schools on the list are good. I donāt think the outcomes would be materially different assuming he does his part. Down to cost and preference.
I would think GT is a target/low reach based on your comments.
The real questions are how can you pass up Zell and would your son prefer a pathway to GT over other options? The good news is heāll have have multiple good options.
For us, our in-state options are expensive. Paying OOS for GT was a no brainer. Especially if he graduates in 3 years. Good luck.
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Thanks for your input. Sounds like his list is pretty balanced. I love that he has a couple of early sure things which take a lot of the pressure off. He thinks Illinois is high on his list but heās never been there. Miles and miles of cornfields may not be his thingš.
You bring up a good point though. Heās pretty confident about his major and it seems to fit him well. However, I am not a huge fan of schools that donāt have direct admit to major because that is an additional level of uncertainty. Not sure if Illinois is in that camp or not, but it made me think of it. Good thing to research before making any final decision.
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Agree. Although originally he said he didnāt want to go to Georgia Tech because he preferred a college town, heās changed his mind on that. Even though Tech is obviously very urban, it feels like a āreal collegeā when youāre on campus versus an NYU. Interestingly, it is not unusual for in-state Illinois kids to pay out-of-state tuition at Tech. There are more than a few.
It is really hard to pay out-of-state tuition in Georgia though given our two top 15 public schools, particularly when you get free tuition, just to go to another big state school. I know thatās a personal preference and there are certainly reasons to do it, but he doesnāt have any :-). I think he would be really happy at Tech, His brother is there, heās smart and social and will be pretty involved if high school is an indicator so should be able to find his group, etc. Honestly though he would be happy anywhere, and he has a realistic perspective that he may not get into Tech so he needs to keep his options open and positive.
As far as the pathway goes, he told me yesterday he didnāt want to go to a school with a plan to transfer which I think is a healthy perspective. Nice to have in his back pocket, but his plan is to go all in wherever he ends up. I know a lot of kids do it, and a lot move to Atlanta, take classes at Georgia State and immerse themselves at Tech which would be pretty easy given his brothers presence there but he is still not interested in that unless heās unhappy where he ends up.
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My daughter had a 33 ACT and a 3.9 uw and I think received $10,000 from Clemson at most (10th in her class of 300 but our HS weighs honors and AP equally and several students had fewer APās than she did). Clemson did take all of her AP credits which was nice.
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What year was that? My 2019 applicant got $20,000, and my 2021 applicant got $12,500. Both were the max at the time. 2021 kid had half the APs but 35 on the ACT instead of a 34. Seems theyāve changed things since 2021 though. Back then they released admissions in February unless you got a scholarship. Scholarships were rolling and both received them the first couple days of November.
Because, unlike UGA, Clemson gives weight to honors classes and everything heās taking is either honors or AP he should have a pretty high Clemson GPA. I think test scores are a big driver for the scholarships though so it will be interesting to see what he gets.
Is that the way it worked when your daughter applied? Iām wondering because the EA admit date is December 1 whether the scholarships come in that package or shortly thereafter.
Awesome perspective. Itās all personal choice but college should be 4 years if one can afford it. Coming in late after others have established themselves canāt be easy.
A great name is just thatā¦a great name. Itās the kids who will make their success. It may be harder at some schools but itās very possible.
Kids dream of college for four years so short of finances or a need to stay home to care for someone or perhaps other personal reasons, your two acceptance should rank over a pathway. And while itās not #1 (Bama) of the two for your son, if youāre looking at cost, it will be close to Ga tuition. It sounds like youāre ok spending and Auburn would still be reasonable $ wise and itās a very fine school.
So even if every other one didnāt go his way, heās already got a fantastic 4 year option.
Many a Ga Tech kid works for an Auburn kid. Or like where I work at for a Kennesaw person. And another a W Georgia person. And another for a UCF.
Enjoy the process. To me, the pressure is off in that sense. Many apply to Pitt for that reason. Great school. Early acceptance. They know theyāre going somewhere respectable.
Auburn and secondarily Bama are your Pitt.
My daughter graduated HS in 2021, had 7 AP classes with 5ās, all of the rest were honors, and she took 6 academic classes a year (honors physics and AP stat were taken freshman and sophomore years as electives, I donāt remember the ones from junior and senior year). It was a last minute application so she didnāt apply for honors until her first semester there. Unfortunately the ACT she was really prepped for was canceled for months over and over, so she didnāt do as well as expected (Iām sure they were all affected).