As a new member I’m getting used to the format. Here I group my responses here.
Major Choice
I’m pretty sure that he will do well on engineering. He is undecided on major, but specifically told me he does not want to have a doctor, engineering, or Wall Street job. I worried about the effect of being undecided thinking it’s harder for him to present a compelling case in some essays, but he is not ready, and I have to go with it. The interests in criminology, economics, and maybe laws after undergraduate are still vague. We know that private schools will allow him more exploration before declaring a major.
Financial Consideration
Let’s say UC’s cost of attendance is $35K/year, and a typical top 50 private school is $85k. It’s $15k vs $60k if we just look at the tuition (the cost of the education itself). Since UC represents a very good value proposition, I ask him to get some scholarship from most private schools to bring down the cost for them to be considered. $50k is not a cut and dry number, but a quarter million for undergraduate is psychologically. We (wife and I) will be willing to pay the full cost only if he can get into one of the cream of the crop, i.e. UChicago or equivalent.
UChicago
I consider UChicago as good as the best Ivies. We visited the campus, and loved it. The physical environment, intellectual level and academic orientation are all appealing, and I’d be very happy if he can go there. The school told us that ED, ED II, EA, and RD each brings a quarter of the students. Thank you @fiftyfifty1 for the insights into the admit process. We showed our interest by visiting, and will let it play out naturally.
I do wonder if I should ask my son to apply to 2-3 more top schools in December. I know the chance is very small, considering the strength of his EC is good but not extraordinary in my viewpoint, but he would complete all applications by December 1st except for Alabama, so there’s time in December to try his luck.
UC
We’d be totally fine if he just goes to a UC. As far as I know by now, UCI and Berkeley admit by major, others admit by college/school, which gives him a little more time to think about the major. Thanks @ucbalumnus on the admission information. I figure that a 4.0+ GPA applicant’s chance of being admitted by at least one of the UCs is about 90% (before considering the impacted major). That reassures me that the safety of the list if enough. Using @Gumbymom’s more specific data, the probability of an applicant being admitted to at least one of the majors/colleges is close to 80%.
Alabama
The value of Alabama for NMF students is undeniable. Transfer most APs and push it, one can complete undergraduate in three years and get two out of three years of the law school covered. Or enjoy the four years undergraduate, do well, then spend the money for a law school at a different place. I need to ask him whether he wants to get a job after undergraduate, go to law school after undergraduate, or pursue research and PhD. I cannot answer the hypothetical questions such as free Bama vs BU at $200k, since there are too many possibilities, so will have to wait for the results, compare, visit the last two or three schools during Spring break, then sit down to make a decision with son and wife together. We haven’t visited Alabama so if that become a serious option we definitely will visit it.
Arizona: will check their undergrad law degree. Thanks @tsbna44 for the link.
FSU: was on my list. But he only has so much time to prepare. I will remind him on its criminal justice ranking if it becomes clearer that it’s the area he wants to pursue.
Fordham: I know it’s a great school with good connection to Wall Street. New York City is not his favorite city however (but he only visited Manhattan).
UT Austin: will recheck their merit aid. I use full ride as an overall indicator of the availability of merit aid. I recall that they have forty-acre scholarships.
Vanderbilt: it’s on the perimeter of Nashville, but not in the downtown. We visited it and loved the overall ambience. The school gives a lot of helpful information, and is pleasant and unpretentious. It’s great.
USC: Have a lot more NMF applicants than it admits. Although it will give an automatic Presidential Scholarship (half tuition) if the student is admitted, a NMF is not a guarantee to be admitted. That’s exactly what happened to my friends’ kid. I had great time at SC.
NMF/NMSF consideration:
We’d like to capitalize it, so we picked BU, USC, and Alabama. There are certainly more great schools offering scholarships to NMF such as U Florida, U Tulsa, U Denver, Arizona State, U Arizona… The list goes on, but he only has so much time to apply.
) at $14K/yr vs USC half tuition at $33k/yr?