<p>Dad II, I’m afraid to ask what you consider a middle tier school.</p>
<p>Your daughter is going to love Harvard, Yale and MIT. Why wouldn’t she? Who wouldn’t? At the point where she decides to actually go get that master’s / PhD, she may have a whole host of other considerations in mind. Like I said, maybe she’ll want to stay in California and a UC will be of interest to her. Maybe she’ll want to be under the tutelage of a particular professor who is affiliated with a completely different school. You are setting up, for both your daughter and your son, that the world revolves around the ultra high schools and that they are the best choices for everything. That is not accurate. It’s a big, big world out there. Please, let her explore it. </p>
<p>If your family is going to be in Boston anyway, would you be amenable to looking at, say, Boston College or Boston University to give your son exposure to something other than Harvard / MIT? Can other posters suggest good LAC’s that should be included on the trip for the benefit of the son?</p>