Next steps for talented, hardworking student

Applying to College
101

OP, if you son sees a good fit at UTD, count me as a plus one for that option. From the list, it seems like the best chance to find a good set of peers especially if he wants to pursue a CS degree. It doesn’t hurt to inquire about the ability to be part of

Even if not accepted into the honors program, being able to take the classes may be an option. UT schools are generous with AP and dual enrollment credit and allow for testing out of classes with CLEP. It is possible he would be applying to grad schools in 3 years after multiple internships.

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102

Agreed, UT Dallas is a great fit. Plenty of internship options too

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103

It didn’t sound like these were affordable.

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104

So, in sum, it seems that aside from the confounding nature of the process in general, the problem might be boiled down to:

  • unreviewed essays with no “massaging”
  • extremely STEM-heavy academics
  • no high school leadership positions (for a club, team, student government etc)
  • little or no community service
  • no sports
  • apparent lack of guidance from high school counselor or independently hired college coach

All of those, together, say a lot. it’s a shame that somebody so very accomplished had no knowledgeable person in academia to guide him. This doesn’t surprise me at all, BTW — I’ve seen atrocious guidance counselors at even highly respected schools. That said, so many options have been offered here. It seems you should pick the best program for your son from among the ones he’s been accepted to — either commit to four years at that school or consider a transfer, bearing in mind that you need some form of professional guidance (even if it’s only asking an English teacher to review an essay- the HS teachers should accommodate that request, I’d think).

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105

Hoping the OP clarifies…but it didn’t sound like any of these were affordable. This is a low income family where the student got accepted to schools that didn’t provide enough financial aid to make attendance possible….or so it sounded.

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106

Pretty sure that NMF Scholars must matriculate the same year they graduate.

But you can always call the Scholarship Office and ask.
Phone: 505-277-8900 or toll-free 1-800-CALL-UNM

UNM allows students to stack scholarships so if the student earns any outside scholarships he’ll be able to keep them and add the monies to what UNM offers.

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107

Very well-summarized.

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108

I was going to mention this as well. First of all he’s over-achiever. He’ll be successful whereever he goes. Two of my D’s school friends recently got into Stanford and multiple other ivys. From what we learnt, they should high demonstrated interest to the colleges and had their own 501(c) for some good cause. In addition both of these kids (male asian boys) had debate club awards and national level sports awards. Sometime colleges see too many academic awards as a robotic personality who doesn’t have a social life. My friend’s son went through this last year, finally joined ASU Barrett with full tuition waiver and plans to graduate early. He’s also an over achieving kid (perfect scores in everything, lots of research etc). Being unidimensional is considered a no-no these days by colleges as what I understand.

Can he not try transferring his second year? I’m sure he can work towards that. BTW if you know the details, Ian Waitz (MIT’s vice chancellor) is from Penn State and Phd from CalTech. I’m not trying to justify here but your son still has chances to make it big. Good Luck to him and God bless the achiever.

109

OP
Your son did nothing wrong. He is academically gifted, followed his own academic interests and achieved a high level of success.

The Ivy League schools (and equivalents) seem to select against quiet, introverted students so perhaps those schools are not as good as a match for your son as you may have thought. The environment there may not suit him.

Virginia Tech would be fantastic for your son’s interests and is a great campus. Your son would also be able to use his AP credits and should be able to graduate in 3 years, or do a BS/MS degree in 4 years (Ivy League schools generally do not let you do this). With a degree in CS from Virginia Tech, your son will be set up for a very successful career .If he decides to go on for a graduate degree, a degree from Virginia Tech won’t hinder him and he could very well end up with a PHD from some of the schools that rejected him.

In our area, students with your son’s interests who are NMF go to UTDallas for free. The students who I have seen enroll there have been FGLI students like your son taking advantage of the free education. There are many students who fit your son’s profile and he would be among academic peers. It sounds like it would be a great option for him. You should look into it tomorrow and see if they will still allow an NMF finalist/scholar to enroll.

Your son has accomplished alot in high school and he will continue to excel.

Best of luck and use the next few days to figure it out his next steps.

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110

@davidng - You should watch this Ted Talk video.

If you’re still considering any of the colleges that your son DID get accepted to, make sure to actually apply for financial aid if your son hasn’t done so already. This will require filling out a FAFSA, which will require your household’s tax return info (stuff like annual adjusted gross income).

Penn State financial aid website → https://studentaid.psu.edu/
Drexel University financial aid website → Financial Aid | Drexel Central
Renneslaer financial aid website → Financial Aid | Admissions
Virginia Tech financial aid → https://finaid.vt.edu/

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111

Ty, you have outstanding skills for finding and displaying facts.:+1:

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112

The UTD cs honors classes are open to Computing Scholars only, but the program allows for a few additional students to test in during their freshman year. The incoming freshmen selection cycle is quite delayed this year, and the entrance exam is still being administered, so chances are there are still open spots. Just apply and see.

I would suggest contacting NMF coordinators in each of the universities and setting up a Zoom meeting with them and see what each of the programs have to offer. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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113

Hugs to the OP- your son sounds absolutely fantastic and I know this is a complicated situation to sort out. I think finding an affordable option- even if it’s a college that hadn’t been on the radar earlier- is job 1.

I just want to point out a very common misconception that’s been repeated a few times which is that the “highly rejective” colleges select extroverts over introverts. I don’t believe that’s true, and having gone through several years worth of training, candidate reviews, post-mortem’s etc. from one of those colleges during my years as a volunteer interviewer- it’s definitely not true for Brown.

You do NOT need leadership- it’s just that leadership roles tend to need less explanation than “quieter” pursuits like stamp collecting or reading. You do NOT need to be an extrovert, although I imagine that if you did an analysis, extroverts find it easier to write a compelling personal statement (all things being equal of course- you still need to be a capable writer). You do NOT need to have oodles of volunteer hours, or any of the other things that folks here have posted.

But at some point in the application- either the teacher recommendations, or the guidance counselor summary, or the essay, or the section on activities and awards etc.- something “personal” needs to land. The Adcom’s are accepting a person, not an algorithm of “top scores, top grades, very accomplished” and that personality (whether it’s someone shy, someone outgoing, someone who shuns the spotlight or someone who gravitates towards it) needs to come through in a way that is authentic.

I grit my teeth when I see “the Ivy’s only want leaders and extroverts” because it’s demonstrably not true. Spend an afternoon on any campus and observe, see the posters for the activities going on, pop your head into a sculpture studio or a music practice room, or even head to the rare books library and see the students in their cotton gloves (so they don’t get dirt or oil or even their genetic material on the documents) totally absorbed in their own solitary passion.

The students in Hasty Pudding, Whffenpoofs, or any of the other well known performing arts groups at the Ivy’s? There are introverts there. Not as many as the more outgoing members- but they are there.

OP- congrats to you for raising such an accomplished young man. You guys will figure this out, I think there are a lot of solid suggestions made so far. And a lesson buried here- your son can be the shyest person on the planet, but asking for help is something he can learn to do. He will need that skill in college, and he will need that skill in his future life. I am sad that his guidance counselor wasn’t more proactive in reaching out but that’s water under the bridge.

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114

He would probably be a great candidate for an internship at the National laboratories in New Mexico. I was perusing their internship opportunities last year and they want very high caliber students.

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115

I was thinking the same thing!! :slight_smile:

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116

Yes…and the University of New Mexico scholarship for NMFs…lots of internship OPs in that area.

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117

We (the company that I work for, full time in the past, part time now that I am retired) hire a lot of university graduates who sound quite a bit like your son. I work with many exceptional co-workers who again sound a lot like your son. We used to hire a lot of graduates from MIT and Stanford. Now we are hiring primarily from the public universities, often in-state public universities. The reason is that there are many exceptional students like your son who either are not getting accepted to MIT, Stanford, and other top ranked universities or who cannot afford to attend them.

The employers have already noticed this. Hiring managers (or at least the ones that I work with) have noticed this. The best employers want to hire exceptional employees as your son will be after university. In the medium term your son’s career opportunities will not be harmed at all by attending a moderately ranked public university that might (or might not) be in-state. It will take longer for the university rankings to reflect this, but eventually they will.

I am sorry that I cannot offer any good suggestions for universities to apply to at this point. I just want to offer encouragement that your son is an exceptional student, will some day be an exceptional employee, and this will work out.

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118

Good info, thanks. If it was my son, I would suggest he apply today and call at 9am tomorrow to schedule the testing if possible.

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119

Is any university your son has been admitted affordable without parental loans?

What does he want to major in?

Can he apply to all the NMF universities already listed (remain “undecided” for your NMF choice till May), ASAP?

What kind of environment does your son want?

What’s instate for you?

It sounds like he didn’t get much guidance (essay review, Questbridge) - does your school routinely send kids out of state to “famous” universities?

120

For those asking about affordability for this family….the op posted this:

“ Thanks for your advice. His mom expected him got good school with financial aids, unfortunately those schools gave offers to us, all have very limited financial aids. The student loans are also just around $3300. Attending colleges not with much funding/generous grants, is really a financial burden too.”