I’d go where he’s going to be successful and not fail out.
@lifegarding, I still sometimes secretly, and privately, lament my D not applying to any reach, or even low-match schools. I think she would thrive at one of the CTCL LACs. for instance…
However, I also know she has everything in place to thrive at one of the directional state schools she applied to, and will choose. She preferred those, and we wanted it to ultimately be her decision. So I have to stand back and let her do that, although a big part of me thinks that she would do fine at a better-known/higher-ranked, etc. school. But it simply is not what she wants right now.
It sounds like your son prefers the lower-ranked school, for whatever reason… The good news is, he will likely not have to “catch up” with the rest of the class. I do believe there’s a huge advantage to starting out near, or at the top, for many students…
It’s my understanding that CS is in demand, no mater where the Bachelor’s degree is from, but others can correct me if that’s wrong. It’s a very in-demand major right now, I’ve heard.
With that in mind, the reach school’s program could be much more competitive. Something to consider…
@BeeDAre and @carolinamom2boys thanks for the advice. S16 is so much different from the way I was in school (and the way my D18 is), so I need to keep in mind that he’ll probably do better at a school where students are more similar to him in terms of his grades. If he starts to struggle in a class, he doesn’t make changes to fix it and just takes the lower grade (or gets close to failing until I get on his case). I am also wondering if part of the reason he got into the reach school is that his Dad went there, and I went to the state flagship for multiple degrees, so that may have helped his case. His GPA and SAT/ACT scores are much lower than what the reach school posts as their averages, so I think he’ll be out of his league.
I don’t think prestige is nearly as important in the real world, which we all know is not the same as the CC world.
All else being equal, I know my D would do better at a school where she feels like she’s in her comfort zone, rather than somewhere she’d have to really extend herself to keep up. And really, with a few exceptions, where you do your undergrad is at best a minor boost compared to what you did with it. Mr Petrichor has had interviews where his alma mater may have been a minor help (they have a very good alumni system in some parts of the country), but it’s been his portfolio that’s gotten him in the door and gotten him the job.
Thanks, @petrichor11, that’s a good point about hiring decisions. I think he has a better chance of having a strong college transcript at a school where he’s not in over his head in terms of coursework/studying, and maybe it will give him more time to find some meaningful internships. I’m not sure if the area near the school he’s interested in will have as many internship options as the other two schools, but we live between two major cities so he could find summer internships at least.
Oops, just noticed this was the 2016 thread, I’ll go look for the 2017 
My junior son has a unweighted 3.4 and a 24 on the ACT. Some AP and Honors but not all, but a fairly solid mix. Interested in Environmental Engineering / Environmental Science. We’d like to tour a couple of places over spring break to spread things out so are trying to get an initial list going and I’d love input! He doesn’t want to stray too far from home (PNW) but doesn’t want to be at home (so UW Bothell is out as far as he is concerned).
He would like a college town, wants the outdoors and not too far from a metro area but not necessarily right in a bigger city. Super anti Southern California and is not crazy about considering Northern CA but Humboldt seems like a decent enough fit to make him look at. Is not crazy about going to a huge state school, is very drawn to the liberal arts feel (big music/theater kid). So far zero interest in NM or AZ. Money is a concern as he won’t qualify for any aid so certainly state and western exchange are good but a private where there was a chance at some money would be worth considering. Right now on the list to consider are: UW, Western WA, Oregon State, Humboldt State, Montana State, Montana Tech, Colorado State, Portland State and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. What are we missing that he should maybe take a peek at? We limited it to either programs in his specific area of interest (BS Environmental Science or BS Environmental Engineering, or Civil Engineering programs that had an Environmental Emphasis available. UW is a stretch to be sure. We are hoping to bump up a bit on the ACT, his practice tests have been quite a bit higher. He’ll give it one more shot in June. At present do not plan to take the SAT.
Thanks for any input and ideas!
Ohio University.
@eandesmom you could probably make another thread on enviro programs for the solid B West Coaster, but I think you’ve pegged some clear good choices. If you were adding LACs, I’d say to look at Prescott, but it’s AZ so that’s in his Zero Interest Zone 
@MomOnALaptop I had thought about that, those threads didn’t seem to get a ton of traction but I may do that as time goes on. I’d love a LAC if it fit well, so thank you for suggesting Prescott, I had never heard of it. In taking a quick peek at it, it is worth at least pointing it out to him, definitely has a lot of what he’s looking for. I think his AZ issue is much more focused on the state schools. Which is fine since they aren’t WUE anyway. I think it’s also an visceral reaction as to it’s the dessert and he needs his trees and even his rain. He is open minded though which is wonderful. Bigger challenge with the LAC’s is that if they have a program fit, it will be a ES BS, but not Engineering. I’ve yet to find a LAC that had an engineering fit that would work. Ultimately he will have to pick based on that I think and is where he is torn. He’d love Lewis and Clark for example…but it’s a BA Environmental program only.
AAAHHHHH! Seriously ITHACA? Just looked at the Ithaca Portal and someone in the peer section posted "just officially changed my from major music was accepted into the PT Program! REALLY Ithaca? You have the time to tell someone whom you have already accepted in another major and wants to switch their major that they are in but you can’t let my D16 who applied back in October EA (submitted the mid-term report you requested three weeks ago) and you deferred YES or NO? Wow, just wow. Breathe.
I don’t know why this one last decision is getting under my skin so much…D16 has already told me that she is really not interested in Ithaca anymore but my goodness I really feel like they are stringing her along. You either want her or you don’t.
@labegg, truly annoying. My turn to make you a cup of tea.
Newbie here, though I’ve been reading a while and thought I’d introduce myself. My D really wants to major in stage management, and learned a little too late how competitive those audition theater majors are. Most people apply to 10+, whereas she only applied to her two favorites - Emerson EA (no go) and BoCo (decision by April1). In the meantime she applied to some LAC and safety schools with decent theater programs, and we have been pleasantly surprised dealing with these schools. She has a 3.3 and SAT scores of 1240, and her options so far include Willamette, U of Puget Sound, Beloit, Pacific University and Colorado State. I think Beloit and Willamette are the front runners, and I’d love to hear if anyone has thoughts on these two schools. My daughter is quirky, liberal, not into sports teams, and very serious about theater.
@Reckless Willamette has a strong solid reputation in general here in the PNW. Have you toured? I know nothing about their theater program but the quirky and liberal would fit right in. We may be touring it in April for my DS17 (ENVS) though at the moment he is thinking Salem is a bit too far out there for his preference.
Welcome @reckless
@eandesmom we are touring the first week in April if BoCo doesn’t come through. I think it sounds like a great option, but we’ll see what she says.
Thanks @labegg !
@Reckless I would love a recap if you go, we won’t be there till the 3rd week in April if we do go.
I think we are on the verge of plunking down our enrollment deposit at Colorado State this weekend. Daughter just returned from a visit at Eckerd College today and wasn’t feeling it (it probably didn’t help that she arrived in Florida at 2:30 a.m. after a severely delayed flight). At least I don’t feel so bad for not encouraging more small schools now.
I still have 4 or 5 more days to try to get her apply to a school that’s a little closer to home (Temple has a 3/1 deadline, her transcripts, her ACT scores, and she liked it when she visited), but I supposed I should let it/her go.
@eh1234…my husband and I were just talking about “maybe D16 should apply to something a bit closer to home” this week. The last of D16’s close friends just committed to an instate school Monday night. That makes D16 the last to commit and the ONLY one going out of state.
@labegg I think I may be projecting my own desires, but it would be nice if D had one more option that’s less than 1,000 miles away. Most of her close friends are current freshman at in-state schools and they all come home (or visit each other) pretty often.