@davidng, I re-read your post again. I don’t see community service. That is important. If he takes the year off, please add some community service with relevance and meaning.
He is a pianist. Can he play the piano to entertain seniors? Organize concerts? Maybe volunteer at a community center to give lessons?
What are his passions besides math and cs? What does he care about?
I don’t know, but imo, only my opinion as a parent, nothing more,
UAH, UA, UNM are more similar to VA Tech and Penn State.
Northeastern or other private rejective colleges generally have more full pay students as percent of student body than they have FGLI.
Edited to add:
I would contact
https://uah.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/sase
The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) was founded in November 2007 to help Asian heritage scientific and engineering professionals achieve their full potential.
UA has
And Vietnamese Scholar group and other Asians
I am not so sure it’s worthwhile to imagine how this young man might have done high school differently. For this student, getting in this year vs next seems a toss up.
In reading this though, I wonder if this truly excellent student might have put together a very mediocre application. It sounds like he didn’t seek counsel on his essays and that overall, he wasn’t well -advised. Maybe he would have been eligible for Questbridge. Maybe he didn’t think to ask for help or to do the research on how to "present " well. It is mentioned that he is “shy”, but he cannot be invisible. Doing background work and consultation is something pretty much every school values in students.
It sounds like now, the goal should be matriculation at an affordable school, and posters here have suggested a numberof options. He has what it takes to be a standout scholar anywhere. He’ll need to be sure to make the most of mentorship when he’s on that path so he can seize opportunities as they come along.
@davidng So I rattled off all the points about gap year/computing job without talking to my spouse. Who may or may not be a top quant.
First, he is impressed by the programming skills (oculus, cool!).
Second, he had the same reaction I did. Gap year, and programming job. Re-apply.
Doesn’t sound like he has an affordable option on the table and has to go scrounging for NMF at schools he has never looked at.
Can he accept Penn state, defer and have a plan of working on essays all year? And meaningful community service and paying programming job.
“go scrounging for NMF at schools he has never looked at.”
I think he should see what that turns up.
I have not read all replies.
I see various options for NMF finalists have been discussed. It’s probably already been said, but I suggest a gap year. Unless there’s a good reason a gap year won’t work.
This student can get a bunch of CLEP credits, enter community college, and transfer soon to an affordable state Uni, or between CLEP and AP Credits, might even be able to transfer in as a junior and be done with college in a couple of years. It’s possible if the college that accepts a lot of CLEP and AP credits. But these will be public Uni’s and unless you’re instate, they will be unaffordable.
I suspect the student had poor advising and wasn’t made aware of Questbridge or how to successfully complete the applications. He may not have asked the best teachers for recommendations. He may not have written his essays in the best way. There can be a lot of factors we are unaware of. The OPs son has acceptances, but no affordable ones. If he tries again next year, I think he might have better results with the benefit of hindsight.
Another thing - interviews. These can keep you out. One advantage of questbridge and other programs is that they guide you on interview skills.
Soft skills are important.
And the Profile where required.
See above posts. Student really needs a full ride or as close to it as possible. Many of the schools offering this to NMFs require that the student start college the fall after graduating from high school. This student didn’t apply to any colleges that have these auto awards for NMFs. This opportunity will go away with a gap year.
Yep, I know. I meant that if they really want different choices of colleges they can try again next year.
@WayOutWestMom can someone take a gap year and still apply for the NMF awards at New Mexico? Or does the student need to apply for this immediately after high school.
Can anyone provide this information about any of the other college NMF awards. IOW…will these still be an option for this student if he takes a gap year?
And to the original poster…I would suggest you and your son meet with the high school guidance folks at the high school ASAP to discuss options. And if applications are going to be sent now…to get those done very very quickly! So call Monday…get an appointment for Monday afternoon or Tuesday. Insist on it.
I agree. The OP should call all of the NMF schools suggested on Monday. Speak directly to the Admissions office right away to find out.
In addition, call or email questbridge now to ask for advice.
If the student’s interview skills are a bit lacking, one thing to consider is I’m pretty sure none of the NMF schools mentioned above require an interview.
Re: concerns that the schools might not be a good “cultural fit”:
UAH - 28% minority
UofA - 52% minority
UTD - 71% minority. More Asian students here than Caucasian, according to Common Data Set
Univ of Alabama - 23% minority
UNM - 71% minority, majority of those being of Hispanic/Latino descent.
If this student is interested in attending one of the schools with a large NMF scholarship AND a larger Asian-American community, University of Texas-Dallas seems best (30% Asian, according to Niche).
Niche indicates University of Alabama Tuscaloosa is only 1% Asian.
I’m sure I missed this in the long thread…but are Penn State or Virginia Tech affordable for the family, and if so, what do folks think of this student heading there to be a absolute rock star (big fish in small pond) with the ability to really be the most desirable person for faculty to mentor (research, internships, sponsor for grad school or competition or other opportunities…) and then write his ticket to the next stage of life without having to fight so many “equals” at a higher prestige school? Undergrad isn’t the end game for a kid like this, is it? In fact, if undergrad prestige was the reason for all the amazing accomplishments thus far…I won’t bother to finish the sentence. He is undoubtedly better qualified as a student than many (most?) attending T10s. But that isn’t the game.
Totally.
OP’s son can be a rock star at a non-Top 20 school and then go to grad school at MIT, etc if he wanted to.
Yes, I think the consensus was this student can succeed anywhere.
The posters above only started to suggest options for NMF scholarships and Questbridge because OP is low-income and we don’t have any info about state of residence or whether financial aid is adequate at schools where the student is already accepted.
Out of the above, it seems that UNM is the outlier in terms of students from below approximately median income families (Pell grant recipients). The others are in the same ballpark as Harvard and MIT.
| School | Pell grant percentage |
|---|---|
| New Mexico | 39% |
| Penn State | 23% |
| Alabama - Huntsville | 23% |
| MIT | 20% |
| Alabama | 17% |
| Harvard | 17% |
| Virginia Tech | 14% |