I could use some perspective from others

Ok got it. Makes perfect sense. Your son sounds quite mature for his age. Academics definitely should take precedence. Best of luck.

@moscott congrats to your son who has great options! A CS degree from either school will lead to great employment opportunities for him. That said, l recommend going with the best athletic fit for your son…coaching, teammates, the overall program and school spirit. It would suck playing football at collegiate level and not have big school spirit. Being an athletic recruit is the biggest hook for Ivy admissions and it looks like your son would have a strong AI (not to mention athletic ranking) for admissions. So I would lean toward the football camp over the science one.

My son is a varsity athlete at Cornell (not football) and he also had choices from other top schools. In the end, it was the athletic program and teammates that gave Cornell the edge for him. He spends a lot of time with his squad as will your son and that really shapes the college experience. Good luck!

@CALSmom Thanks for that. He truly enjoys the bond he has with his HS teammates so I can only imagine it being a big step up in college. While he has a very good relationship with the TSA/STEM students it is a completely different collaborative symmetry.

@moscott I agree. It’s my opinion, now that my son is in his second year, that Cornell would offer one of the best CS programs in the country while providing a D1 football experience for your son. However, if your son is good enough for PAC-12 football, Stanford would be the most elite for both CS and D1 football.

CS is a demanding major on its own but couple that with the time commitment of football, it will definitely be a challenge! Just some things to keep in mind. My son took a CS course this semester (not his major) and he said it was a very rigorous class and the most time consuming class he took this semester out of all his stem classes.

Here’s a great Ivy vs NESCAC discussion http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/2010031-ivy-league-vs-nescac-p4.html - with the exception of football, it’s not linear.