looking for input on my son's college list -- unique student/unique list

Parent Cafe
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<p>I am looking to get some input on my son's college list -- his background is unique and what he is looking for in a college are quite unusual. </p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>Attends a United World College
US citizen
White Male
5 years of high school total (due to the UWC requirements)
2 years International Baccalaureate
3 years of homeschooling, including many dual enrollment classes and a semester boarding school program</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.9 for college classes/boarding school classes, UWC grades are out of 7 (with a 6 and a 7 being an A, I have been told) -- UWC average is 6+
School does not rank nor will it give deciles, etc.
most rigorous curriculum</p>

<p>predicted IB scores:
HL Spanish 6+
HL English 6+
HL European History 7
SL World Religions 7
SL Math Methods 6+
SL Environmental Studies 7</p>

<p>4+ years of math, science, language, english, social studies. More of a social sciences/humanities person</p>

<p>ACT: 32 composite (35 reading & english, 29 math)
SAT II: 740 US Hist; 700 Lit (will be retaking Lit and a third SAT II test)</p>

<p>Significant ECs, focusing on international relations, community service, the environment and world religions. ECs include multiple competitive national awards over a period of years. ECs are coherent, focused and have lasted over 4 years. (I would be more specific, but it would be easy to figure out who he is).</p>

<p>ECs include Eagle Scout, Boys State, etc. plus some very unique ECs.</p>

<p>ECs do not include any sports, art or music.</p>

<p>He is looking for a college that offers upper level Classical (written) Tibetan, a strong religious studies department (with no slant toward a particular religion -- but an academic approach), a strong program in southeast Asian studies and a strong psychology department.</p>

<p>He would prefer to be in an Urban area with good public transportation and access to multiple religious practices (temples, synagogues, churches, sanghas, etc). Size, weather, location don't matter. </p>

<p>financial aid will be a factor.</p>

<p>He has a safety he is ok with, so that is covered. He may only apply to 5 schools and he is planning a gap year, so he will not apply to his safety this round. So far, his choices are:</p>

<p>Columbia (ED) -- he thinks that this is his best fit right now
University of Chicago (EA)
University of Michigan
University of Virginia
Harvard</p>

<p>If anyone has any other suggestions or information about these schools, that would be great. I am also looking to gauge his chances.</p>

<p>thx!</p>

2

<p>yes you have reaches and yes you have a safety, but perhaps some schools in between (matches). just a suggestion.</p>

3

<p>I did suggest that – the issue is that the “matches” that meet his need for Classical Tibetan (what an arcane language!) are state schools with not so great financial aid for OOS students (University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, Austin). He would probably end up at his safety over either of those schools unless the FA was better than the local flagship uni.</p>

<p>His thoughts are that he could apply to more “matches” after a gap year if he is unsuccessful with this list. It kind of makes sense, but I am not sure of his strategy.</p>

4

<p>This student needs to go to UChicago. There’s no two ways about it.</p>

5

<p>cosmos – that was my conclusion also.</p>

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<p>From what I can see from your list the I have read here on CC that Columbia & UC give lousy FA.
UM & UVA you would be paying out of state tuition, not much FA from stte schools.
Harvard is providing better FA but getting in is a crapshoot for everyone.</p>

<p>You don’t seem to have any “financial” safeties.</p>

7

<p>Columbia has a new financial aid policy – and students who got packages this year were very pleased. No more loans for any students – so I think Columbia would work.</p>

<p>I know that UC is a crapshoot with FA – some kids are thrilled, others not so much. </p>

<p>He does have the Davis Scholarship – which is worth $10,000 a year. Unfortunately it cannot be used at University of Michigan, but it can be used at UVA, UC, Columbia and Harvard.</p>

8

<p>Have your son get into contact with the professors of his intended major this summer at his #1 choice. If he gets close to this professor, it might heavily tip things in his favor. :)</p>

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<p>Columbia, Chicago and Harvard do not have strong Southeast Asian Studies program. Michigan would be better in that regard.
If he wanted to combine Tibetan and South Asian studies, Chicago and Columbia would be his best fit (and from a purely intellectual point of view, Tibetan and South Asian studies are a better combination).
Also look into Emory:
[Emory-Tibet</a> Partnership | Academics & Study Abroad](<a href=“http://tibet.emory.edu/academics/academics.html]Emory-Tibet”>http://tibet.emory.edu/academics/academics.html)</p>

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<p>Has he tried the SATI? He certainly sounds interesting and to be a great fit for theses schools, but higher scores would certainly help.</p>

11

<p>So I have no constructive advice with regards to navigating colleges, but I do want to say that people like your son make me want to do a jig.</p>

12

<p>He does sound like a fascinating student. I’m wondering if it would be easier to find a college that is strong in two of his core interests (religious studies and psychology) and save the other two for summer programs and a junior year in Asia.</p>

13

<p>Unfortunately, Tibetan and Tibetan Buddhism are the main areas he is interested in studying – so he would prefer not do those as just summer programs. He really hasn’t made the college search easy with his interests – but I can’t get him to change. Makes him stand out – but not many places are a good fit.</p>

<p>marite – that is what I am thinking, Columbia and Univ. of Chicago are probably the best fits for his interests. he did check out Emory – but for all the publicity about their partnership, they don’t offer much in the way of upper-level Tibetan or Tibetan Buddhist studies. Their study abroad program does look good – but he is planning on spending his gap year studying at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India or Nepal, so I think the semester abroad program would be redundant at that point. </p>

<p>He is definitely in contact with the professors at the various schools – he has read many of their papers and books, familiar with their backgrounds, etc. Don’t know if that will help – but it can’t hurt. He didn’t get in contact for admission’s purposes, but to clarify points of research.</p>

<p>He is a pretty interesting kid, but unusual enough to make it tough to chance him. between homeschooling and the UWC, I just don’t know how to compare him with the standard kid. He is thinking of taking the SATI – like every other kid, he hates taking standardized tests, but he may just give it a shot.</p>

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<p>If he doesn’t get into Chicago then I’ll faint. Getting enough FA from Chicago is another matter, unfortunately.</p>

15

<p>You have your safety covered, and I am going to assume it is a financial safety as well. So you are fine with your reaches, and they could all be financial reaches. Hopefully you have filled out the financial aid calculators for each of the schools and seen what THEY, not you, not FAFSA define as need. You then have to see what the schools actually end up offering in terms of grant/self help mix. </p>

<p>As far as getting into a school,Michigan and Chicago will let you know pretty early in the year. Columbia as well being ED, if he takes that route. But it is pretty much game over if he is accepted ED at Columbia, and if their interpretation of your need does not match yours, you could be in trouble. Also bear in mind that financial aid is given on an annual basis and what he gets after the gap year is dependent on family financial situation a year later. They will not freeze and keep a financial aid package on ice. I really do not recommend ED for those who need the money and want to shop around. </p>

<p>Michigan, VA and UChicago have often gapped students or given awards that are not favorable compared to other schools. So you may have an issue here.</p>

16

<p>If FA matters, he should not apply ED to Columbia, IMO. Remember if he should get into both Columbia and Chicago early, he HAS to attend Columbia, even if he gets merit money from Chicago. (I know someone that happened to.) </p>

<p>I would advise him not to apply at all this year if he is sure about the gap year. A colleague’s D wants to take a gap year. Applied to top colleges, assuming that if she didn’t get in, she’d reapply next year. She got into one and was wait-listed at several others. School which accepted her made it clear that if she accepted and deferred, she could NOT apply elsewhere during the gap year. It’s a member of the Ivy group, so, if she did apply to other schools in it, the odds are good the college would find out. Plus, her high school wouldn’t co-operate in sending out new apps if she accepted the acceptance.</p>

<p>So, she was stuck with the very difficult choice of taking an acceptance from a college which was not her top choice or passing on it and reapplying next year. She’s decided to accept it. However, if she had it all to do over again, I think she’d wait and apply during the gap year. </p>

<p>Just my two cents.</p>

17

<p>Check out Wesleyan, which I believe has one of the country’s experts in Tibetan.</p>

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<p>I immediately thought U of C. But the need-based FA is often not great, especially if you are self-employed or have any assets (even if they are not liquid assets and you have absolutely no ability to sell or borrow against them). They will count the Davis scholarship against anything they might give him.</p>

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<p>I believe Emory has a good program for studying religion (I know someone there in a graduate program focusing on Buddhism) and has decent access to Atlanta’s offerings–might be worth looking into. Georgia has immigrants from around the world so he could probably find a lot of different houses of worship. Emory does offer good merit aid, but to relatively few students.</p>

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<p>My kids’ school has lots of kids who do a gap year. The GCs strongly advise getting your college apps out and taking a gap year over waiting to apply the year after taking the gap. So much can happen in a year, and you may not have the momentum and crowd pressure to get things done. You’ll be doing your gap year worrying about app deadlines, interviews, etc. As a senior in highschool, so many kids are doing apps, that a lot is automatic. Harder to do solo. Also teachers may leave making recs problematic. Yes, you do have to make a commitment to a school, but in turn you have their commitment to you at the end of the gap year. </p>

<p>Also if you need FA, ED is not advisable because you will not be able to compare packages. Columbia is a great school for fin aid, so the risk is not as high with it as your ED school, but you had better be sure that your definition of need and the school’s is the same. I’ve known so many kids who got burned on that one.</p>