Even though this is my 3rd kid, I feel more lost with him than the others. Could you please help recommend schools? I teach so we are pretty limited to summers for most of the far away visits. He has a whole list and I’d like to focus on the ones that make the most sense.
Major-CS focus in gaming or AI, would love school that has Lacrosse program-he plays but would only make lower level club or intramural, no pref on size, East Coast preferred, no in state (Midwest)schools on his list, EFC-30k or below, we will have 2 in at same time
Stats-
ACT-35
GPA-3.8 uw, should go up next quarter
Taken-APUSH, AP Lang, Calc BC, 4 yrs German, comp sci principles
Scheduled for next year-Calc 3, AP Stats, AP Physics, computer science
EC-orchestra, Lacrosse-4+ yrs each
On list-
U of DE
Lehigh
RPI
NC State
U MI
U MD
We’re not really sure where we should look. He does not have tons of EC so we’re not sure how colleges will view him. He does not want a super high pressure environment. We toured Miami U and he did not like the rural location, frat boy/party rep but loved the look, ice arena, and lax.
You might want to check out Stevens institute of technology, similar in price to Lehigh but they give $$$ for merit
VA tech, beautiful area & great campus town.
You need to run the net price calculator on each college’s web site. Because much of the list is out-of-state publics, you may want to see the bad news now before the application list is made rather than next April.
Just FYI, Lehigh, NC State, UMD, and RPI were absolutely BRUTAL this year for Comp Sci admissions. I had several students with 4.0s+ and 1400 SAT get rejected from each of these schools. They’re definitely worth applying to if he has a great SAT score, but they seem to be more reach and less match!
So proceed with safeties! Look at Ohio Univ and University of Alabama for great merit aid and a surefire acceptance.
UPitt would be another solid choice. I agree Stevens and Virginia Tech are also good options. And how about RIT?
UDelaware would also be a match/safety - but have him apply EARLY!
Take a look at Pitt (35 ACT puts in possible merit category). Drexel has a good CS Gaming degree and 35 ACT might get him enough merit to make it possible. Both are urban both have lacrosse. Pitt doesn’t seem to play Div 1 lacrosse in the ACC. Drexel has D1 team and club open to everyone.
UMass Amherst would probably be a great addition.
@RustyNail17 @ucbalumnus @STF4717 @Dolemite @PengsPhils
Thanks so much for the replies! DS is sitting next to me now working on his college spreadsheet. He nixed Stevens for size because his HS is 2300 and he wants something bigger. The others are being looked at and we tried the EFC but I’m not sure how to look realistically without knowing if merit is available. The info on Lacrosse is helpful, he really enjoys watching and knows he can’t compete on the East Coast unless it’s very low level club.
He will probably be my kid who applies to the most schools just because of the marketplace.
I forgot to include Stony Brook as one of his options.
I second Drexel, also take a look at WPI, RIT, Northeastern, and CMU
If it is not affordable without competitive merit scholarships, the school should be treated as a reach, since there tends to be much less transparency about competitive merit scholarships than for admission, and larger competitive merit scholarships typically require being at the top of the college’s range of applicants. However, automatic-for-stats merit scholarships, if they make the college affordable, and the student has the needed stats, usually mean safety (though there may be some colleges where admission is not assured with those stats, but a student with those stats who is admitted automatically gets the scholarship).
I would look at WPI. They have an “Interactive Media & Game Development” program that looks well-developed, including BA, BS, minor, and MS options. WPI is also known for robotics, so they probably do AI.
https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/interactive-media-game-development
They play club lacrosse at the lowest level (MCLA D2). The team claims to “accept anyone who has a passion for athletics and would like to learn how to improve or play the sport of lacrosse.”
https://orgsync.com/40880/chapter
Don’t know about merit aid, but a 35 ACT would probably get their attention. Wouldn’t surprise me if they want to recruit more students from the Midwest as well.