<p>Looking for a strong science, most likely physics or possibly engineering college for my son. He doesn't want a tech school. Not the party type. No extreme cold (ex. Minnesota) Our income fluctuates from around $60 - 70k. We do have significant home equity, and no debt. We are in California.</p>
<p>I think his gpa is around 3.78 unweighted. His counselor told him that his UC gpa is 4.2.
Test scores
PSAT 222
SAT 2200 CR 720 Math 740 Writing 740
Sat2 Math 730. He will most likely be retaking this in Oct
Sat2 Physics 760
Will have completed 10 AP classes and 1 college class
4 years of foreign language</p>
<p>Plays AYSO Soccer and volunteer coaches soccer
Interact volunteer and other misc volunteer work about 150 hours total
Summer job at fast food place
UC COSMOS program last summer and a UC engineering program this summer.
Vice President of Robotics club
Designed and built a motorized skateboard
Self taught electric guitar</p>
<p>My son is leaving for college in the fall and is majoring in engineering. If he doesn’t want a tech school, I would try Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD.</p>
<p>What about California privates for engineering, such as Santa Clara University? And Pomona College has a 3/2 program with some outstanding engineering schools. There’s also Pomona’s sister school, Harvey Mudd College.</p>
<p>On the east coast, Worcester Polytechnic Institute near Boston, and Rensalaer Polytechnic Institute have done a lot to shed the “tech school” image by enhancing liberal arts offerings. Additionally U of Rochester is a very fine, excellent college. It does get cold in Rochester, however.</p>
<p>UC-Berkeley and Stanford can’t be beat, but obviously not every applicant will be admitted. The other schools I named provide good opportunities to its underclassmen and.</p>
<p>Pomona College and Harvey Mudd are very, very competitive with regards to admissions. The OP mentioned her son was not interested in a tech school so I think that would rule out Mudd. I know that technically it’s not a tech school but the vibe there is very much that way… My son actually got accepted there so I have been on the campus and experienced it first hand.</p>
<p>But Momfirst3, HMC’s membership in the Claremont consortium would alleviate the tech school emphasis [for those whom want to avoid it as such], shouldn’t it?</p>
<p>Yes, it does to a degree, but seriously, the school is so demanding that I would really think twice before going there. Some people like it and some people don’t. I most often hear of students surviving Harvey Mudd, not enjoying Harvey Mudd. It is an absolutely excellent school but a student should definitely visit to see what he/she thinks. It is a very unique student body and it is not for everyone…</p>
<p>I’ve actually read posts suggesting that. If true, that would not be a good thing IMO.</p>
<p>At Cornell one can select, to a limited extent, the degree of challenge you are up for. For example there may be 4 or 5 levels of intro physics, 3 of which may optionally be selected by future scientists. At least that was the case when I attended. Mudd is a tiny college, though claremont would help for outside electives, it likely would not match the depth and breadth of course offerings in core engineering-related areas. There may be less ability to choose your level of challenge there. But that’s just my speculation.</p>
<p>most top schools will suit your son, at several of them with a family income of 60-70K, you would be expected to contribute virtually nothing to your son’s education, perhaps $1000 -$2000 a year, which is a small enough amount that he can even take a loan for it. He has the stats to get into an ivy or equivalent school. Some schools which come to mind: stanford, harvard(cold), princeton(quite cold), yale(quite cold), columbia(quite cold), upenn(quite cold), dartmouth (very cold), rice - while all of these are reaches, he definitely has a shot at them and all offer great and need blind financial aid for your income level. Stanford, princeton, columbia, upenn and rice has large and well respected engineering programs, all the schools would have good physics departments.</p>
<p>Actually, I think Harvey Mudd would be as difficult, if not more difficult than Cornell. It is a math and science school, and they look for extreme ability in this regard. Check the stats on their website and you will see what I mean. If you are interested, I will share my son’s stats with you. He got in, but it was not a sure thing and he had quite impressive stats. As far as the difficulty of the curriculum, quite honestly it is brutal. Many have trouble maintaining a 2.5 average. It’s just really, really tough. A lot of people don’t know of Harvey Mudd, but those in the know do. It’s a top notch university. My son was trying to decide between there (he was a recruited athlete for Mudd) and Berkeley. In the end, he went with Berkeley because he felt he fit in there better, wanted a larger university and wanted to be in/by a big city.</p>
<p>with your financial situation, I would target elites/ivies for reaches, some UCs (for matches/reaches), and some merit scholarship schools (since he will be a National Merit Semi-Finalist and a likely Finalist).</p>
<p>He definitely does not want a brutal workload. I took him to look at Mudd last year, he liked it a lot, but felt the area was too remote. We will be going to look at USC in late August. Hopefully by then he will know if he even wants engineering. Are Rochester and Ithaca as cold as Minnesota/Chicago? We are in California and feel low 50s is cold. For a great school I’m sure he would be happy to buy a coat We’ll check out Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Rensalaer Polytechnic Institute as well as Santa Clara and Cal Poly SLO. He doesn’t want a 3/2 program, but does want to go to grad school. Thanks for the great input!</p>
We’ll check out Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Rensalaer Polytechnic Institute as well as Santa Clara and Cal Poly SLO. He doesn’t want a 3/2 program, but does want to go to grad school. Thanks for the great input!</p>