<p>My compsci kid applied to Harvard (legacy), Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, RPI, WPI and Caltech. Decided Berkeley would be better for grad school. Other schools to look at for computer science would be some of the other UCs (I think San Diego and Irvine), U of Texas I think was mentioned often, my nephew lobbied for Rice. There are some good techie schools in the midwest - Rose Hulman, Case Western. Here’s a good starting point - it’s for grad schools, but they are all strong for undergrad too: [GRE</a> Guide - Computer Science Rankings](<a href=“http://www.greguide.com/comps.html]GRE”>University Rankings - Computer Science) And here’s another amusing ranking by how often the schools show up in google’s search engines: [Google-based</a> Ranking of Computer Science and Engineering Departments](<a href=“http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/rank.html]Google-based”>Google-based Ranking of Computer Science and Engineering Departments)</p>
<p>Thanks to all for your advice and college suggestions. CMU has always been his “dream” school but I’m afraid that the “C” may have taken CMU off the list. Mathmom, the schools you have listed will definitely be on his list. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Thanks for this interesting thread!</p>
<p>Paying3tuitions, I appreciate your post (#33) which I found insightful, thoughtful, and very, very instructive. I will counsel my 3rd daughter to take this approach when the time comes.</p>
<p>My eldest is the poster child for lopsided. (She won awards in English, History, and writing, earned perfect CR and writing scores on the SAT I and on the literature SAT II without any prep at all along with woefully poor scores in her math classes and on the math SAT I.) To be honest though, she’s also a slacker, who has never cared much about grades and who works hard only when she is engaged or thinks it worth her time–and sometimes when threatened. By the time she realized that her math scores actually mattered, she was in her senior year of high school. She did some prep, took the ACT and earned a 33 or 34 on the math section.) Some of this was a matter of maturity and has changed as she’s made her way through college and work. Some of this is stubbornness and persists to this day.</p>
<p>In her case, the high test scores coupled with leadership roles at school and awards compensated for a weak gpa. (Two C+s in math classes and a number of B’s scattered across her transcript) To be fair, she attended a private school where grades are deflated and only a few kids graduate with grades at or near the 4.0 level. She was not an Ivy candidate but she was accepted at schools like Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Middlebury, and Georgetown. I am thrilled that she ended up at the school she did. She had acceptances to more “prestigious” schools but honestly, she would have been miserable in an atmosphere that demanded more of the same slavish attention to grades and rank–she’d had her fill in high school.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight on kids with lopsided test scores? Friend of the family has 750CR, 800 W, and 550M. Low B math grades but everything else is strong. Very bright, intellectual, and mature in writing and the humanities, with no interest whatsoever in math. Would top schools be out of the question? She’ll need significant need-based aid.</p>
<p>Redroses, I definitely agree, but where to find one? Believe me, we’ve looked. It’s not a common college program. Frequently, it’s a major offered by Catholic colleges that began as schools for nurses and teachers. The student does 2 years at this college, transfers to a hospital certificate program, and then the original college awards the Bachelor’s. Very few schools do this, so the pool is quite small, especially factoring in that d1 doesn’t want to go “too far.” </p>
<p>The one in-state public U that offers the program in-house (large U hospital) comes with a sticker price not substantially below the private schools, and it’s all four years at that price, as opposed to 2 years of private school tuition and 2 of certificate program tuition. Plus there’s no chance at all of aid there at all. The additional danger of large public U for these kinds of programs is what a friend of mine discovered when she sent a D there for nursing. Lots of kids applying at the end of freshman year for just a few spots. Added a year to the program, and once we’re talking about a 5th year, all the savings from going to in-state U have been erased. I’m very aware of this as I see it happen to my students(mostly when they switch majors into educaiton or nursing, but sometimes other kids, too). </p>
<p>In other words, if there’s a financial safety out there offering this program, I’ve yet to locate it. I just have to keep my fingers crossed for exchange.</p>
<p>levirm, I will take a look at McMaster with ShawD. Thanks. I know it only because I did a scan of medical schools in Canada and it shows up. </p>
<p>ShawD is lopsided only in preferring concrete and hands-on to theoretical or high concept kinds of thinking/courses. Her favorite subjects so far have been biology, statistics, trigonometry, and art history. [The stats and math have concepts but are very applied]. The problem-based learning model of McMaster might be right up her alley.</p>
<p>ShawSon on the other hand was mega-lopsided – Thinking/High Concept R’Us while Reading/Writing R’ NOT Us. Among schools where the kids were likely to be smart enough for ShawSon, our primary criterion were curricular flexibility (which is the one most relevant to this thread) and the supportiveness of the disabilities services office (not necessarily relevant here). </p>
<p>In both cases, we are putting a heavy emphasis on curricular flexibility – if you can’t stand history (ShawD’s case) or handle the volume of reading/writing required in humanities courses that would be required by, say, Princeton or Yale, (ShawSon’s case) don’t go there (and probably don’t apply there). I think that may make sense for some of the lopsided kids referenced in this thread. Help them find places where they can play to their strengths.</p>
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<p>Excellent points !!!, # 2 is the most challenging one</p>
<p>mathmom, I realize Harvey Mudd is in the reach category. I was just mentioning it as a lesser known school that we would be thrilled with. He will certainly have our state school as his safety. I don’t think Harvard would consider him nor would it probably be right for him (low GPA, no interest in being a ‘leader’); But, MIT and CalTech seem to care more about seeing passion and talent for math and science and perhaps being willing to overlook some 'B’s in non math/sci classes. When my son took the qualifying exam for the Johns Hopkins talent search he received the highest grade in the state in math (as he did in our state-wide math competition). I am clinging to the hope that some of that will mean more than a few ‘B’ grades. They obviously want students who have the ability, passion and determination to succeed. But, many of you are making me realize the importance of finding some more schools to consider. I especially appreciate the point about the importance of being challenged. I think my son will rise to the occasion if in a rigorous program but not necessarily push himself if in a less rigorous program to reach his full potential.</p>
<p>Compsci, I don’t think that one “C” takes CMU out of the picture, especially if he has the kind of experience that you describe. I think that it is worth the application!</p>
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<p>Not a parent, but I found myself in a similar situation. SAT 800CR/800W/650M. Lots of B’s or very low A’s in math and high A’s in social sciences & humanities. </p>
<p>I think the math score held me back substantially at some schools while the other sections were a deciding factor in my admittance to others. I was admitted to Northwestern, William & Mary, UChicago, and UGA (attending with merit scholarship) and rejected to Vandy & UVA. If my scores are any indication, top schools will not be out of the question for your friend - the best advice I can offer is to really play up strengths in essays and cast a wide net because the final results will likely be unpredictable.</p>
<p>compsci, I agree that one C, probably won’t kill the application. qgroup, I just wanted to make sure you understood about Mudd, I had assumed it would be easier to get into than some of the other schools my son applied to and it wasn’t.</p>
<p>My (older comp nerd) son BTW had lots of B+'s in English though he did have an 800 CR score to make up for it. Or not make up for it depending on one’s point of view. My son only applied to Harvard on the grounds that he had much better than average chances of being accepted and we figured it would be worth considering over his safeties. He liked it better than he expected to, but he’s much happier at a place that lets him do nothing but comp sci, math and physics. We don’t know why the places that rejected him did, he was not a perfect candidate by any means, and there are some things I’d advise him to do differently if I could do it over. However I think he landed right where he should have so I can’t say I really regret anything. I really think for kids who are very strong in one area it’s fine to aim high, you just have to have good safeties. For techie kids there are lots of great safeties in every part of the country.</p>
<p>I think it’s a little harder to pinpoint the best colleges for kids with a relative weakness in math though it’s probably just as common. I think sometimes the score choice schools may be a good option, or schools with an open curriculum (Vassar for example has an extremely minimal math requirement.) For my younger son, I think the high verbal score (more than 100 over math score) was helpful, for my older son probably not so much.</p>
<p>As to post #87, I also think there are kids who will be B+ students wherever they go, so they may as well go to the more challenging school all else being equal.</p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University : Academics : Degrees/Majors](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/academics/degrees_majors.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/academics/degrees_majors.cfm)</p>
<p>Just found this thread, our D with terrible Math SAT’s but outstanding Writing & CR scores ended up here. She must take a “101” type remedial math course because her Math SAT was below a certain score. A wonderful school & I am always mentioning it, but it is truly one of those “hidden gems”. Often overlooked! </p>
<p>Alfred University: School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Art & Design, College of Liberal Arts, 2200 students, Merit Aid, Need-Based Aid, Honors Program, no Greek Life, shuttles go to Rochester & Buffalo airports at peak vacation times. Small classes & actually know your professors! </p>
<p>USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide 2011
Princeton Review’s Best 373
USNWR’s Best Regional University-North</p>
<p>My son has a different kind of lopsidedness than most of you are posting about. He has relatively poor (well, really poor) extracurriculars. Basically, he plays the guitar. He gets just about straight A’s at a special school (diagnosed with ADHD, distractible type). His school has internships built in so he does have 4 years of those, including working at a major museum instructing kids, at a college library, and this year with a major rock music player/composer. He’s doing some volunteer work with rescue animals now. He’s a senior and he’s applying so far to Goucher, Clark, Hampshire, and maybe Skidmore (that’s the one we haven’t seen yet.) He’s a very talented musician and will be submitting a recording of his music (playing jazz guitar), but I think this is a very difficult sort of lopsideness to deal with – introversion and “non joining.” I blame myself and his father (sort of). We’re not into organized activities either.</p>
<p>At Clark the admissions director said in his little presentation that they’re more interested in one extracurricular that the student is passionate about — we have that – than a slew of activities that are obviously there because the kid realized he was applying to college.</p>
<p>However, I’m pretty overwhelmed at the activity level of a lot of the kids posting on CC. They actually seem to WANT to be at all these meetings and dealing with life at a level that, to me, seems frantic. But I guess we’re a different subspecies (my family, that is).</p>
<p>Anyway the kid’s quite bright and would like to go to a good school. So – I was wondering if anyone else here has a kid who suffers from Under-Extracurricular Activity Syndrome and what you’re doing about it.</p>
<p>(by the way, the advice about the essays – play up your strengths, just put in a sentence or so about your weaknesses and how you overcame them – is VERY appreciated here, because we have a whole special school to explain. Sigh.)</p>
<p>[My son’s scores, by the way, are 660 M an 690 R and 720 W. He’s going to take the SATI again next month and the ACT in December, and he’s working with somebody on his math test-taking skills (he’s actually a lot better at math than that score would suggest.)</p>
<p>Neither of my kids had tons of activities. My oldest did Academic Team and Science Olympiad, but spent 90% of his free time playing with computers. He did enough interesting things with computers that he was able to sell himself as self-directed, able to teach himself at a high level, and because of some job experience, did not look nearly as introverted as he actually was.</p>
<p>My younger son also just had two clubs, Science Olympiad and the literary magazine. He spent most of his free time even less productively, but had had an interesting volunteer experience that started as a way to fulfill a government requirement, and a hobby (playing with origami) that turned into a money making activity. (Actually I guess he had three activities since he played violin in the orchestra too.)</p>
<p>It sounds like your son has been pretty committed to music and his other activities sound great. I think the best thing to do is to present what he has done in the best possible light. I don’t think you need to mention weaknesses at all, unless the essay is actually about overcoming a weakness. (In which case it’s no longer a weakness.) 
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<p>Sounds like he has solid scores. Math should be easy to improve if he can work fast enough (younger son’s problem) or keep from making careless mistakes by working too fast (older son’s problem.)</p>
<p>My son was relatively light on ECs as well due to LDs and illness, although some of his homeschool related activities could be packaged well. At freshman orientation, the Dean commented on how interesting the class was and gave several examples, including one kid who was writing a novel (my son), but that was done as part of homeschool English. But, lots of kids pack in many activities and I don’t think admissions committees value that. One thing done with passion is the style du jour among admissions committees. The other thing we did about it, not for this reason, was that our son took a gap year and didn’t apply to college until the fall of his gap year, which meant he had more activities to put on his resume than had he applied a year before.</p>
<p>Our kid didn’t go to a special school, but was partially homeschooled, didn’t take foreign languages, and so we had to explain the reasons for that. I wouldn’t think your son’s primary essay should be about ADHD or shyness, but more about the passion or an incident that illustrates something special and deep about your son. There is a question about whether there are other circumstances, etc. that help explain your academic situation. That is where this might be addressed, if at all.</p>