So with my S23, he will be majoring in Computer Science - hoping to take select engineering classes as well at Texas Tech - I know it’s not up there with respect to rank but my thought is if he actively starts pursuing internships while in college, he will get noticed, yes? I am preaching to him to get active in the industry as soon as possible - in addition to getting involved in social networks to meet others in the same industry. Is there anything else he should be doing? He’s a smart kid with lots of ideas so he’s ambitious about starting off on right foot with regards to his career.
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Yes! Get moving on securing job experience through internships or co-ops as soon as possible. Join a professional club related to his specific major on campus. Start developing relationship with professors. Go to the school career services center early (like right after orientation) to get resume help and practice their elevator pitch. Go to as many recruiting events on campus as possible, even if it’s just to practice.
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Yes, definitely. But getting a paid internship after freshman year is very hard. Most internships are for rising juniors/seniors.
But take what you can get, as long as you do real work, not just on paper (not suggesting your son would do that but I know folks who use a family connection to get an “internship”, but the kid doesn’t actually do anything. Doesn’t help!)
Get him to do coding exercises on LeetCode, and network via LinkedIn and any on campus opportunities (like career fairs - even if they’re aimed at upperclassmen). The time to build connections is early on, years before you actually need help.
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I always seem to be late to the conversation and I know the Bama talk was technically closed but just want to say that Alabama was a hard no for my son, despite the 4 years tuition/1 year housing merit on the table. He did take the time to research it and even spoke to a rep at a college fair at his school. But told me he doesn’t want a party school where Greek life is a central focus nor does he want a huge school-so how could I argue with that? Granted, we didn’t visit so maybe the vibe (in terms of the honors experience) is different than what he was envisioning. We learned that a smaller school-Troy-would possibly give him a full ride for his stats (still think it was too good to be true but website seems to support this) so he did look a little closer at that one but, in the end, said he can’t see himself attending school in Alabama and doesn’t think he can get the college diversity he’s looking for there (which is a top priority.) I do admire and applaud the minority outreach from Alabama colleges, including recruiting internaitonal students and NHMS like my son, but it’s just not for him. He has 8 acceptances, several already meeting our budget goals with merit, so I am not going to push him in a direction he is not comfortable.
He finally finished the application to Pitt (with honors essay) and got a surprise acceptance to Rollins which was a regular admission school which he wasn’t expecting to hear from until March. The good news is he received their top scholarship of $32K. The bad news is that it’s still close to $40K to attend. Our budget goal is closer to $25K. Granted, they haven’t given financial aid yet (we expect a little) and he is hoping to get invited to their Alfiond Scholarship weekend where students compete for 10 full ride scholarships (all those who attend will get merit bumped up just for going.) He’s a little worried he hasn’t heard from University at Buffalo yet, as some of his friends have received acceptances. But he applied to honors and his other friends who applied to honors also haven’t heard, so maybe that’s the hold up.
Although all apps are in, my son still has many honors or community service essays (for extra scholarships) to do with due dates between Dec. 15th-February 3rd. He finished 2 for Xavier last night which are due today. He also has Shark Preview weekend in January at Nova Southeastern to compete for extra scholarships and was invited to a trustee scholarship weekend at North Park in Chicago to compete for a large scholarship-so organizing his calendar and travel plans has suddenly become part of this adventure. This application process feels like a marathon with much more endurance needed! He’s pretty good with time management and balancing things, so he’s doing well so far!
I love reading all your updates-keep them coming!
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Texas tech should have internship fairs in the spring. My DD has them at her school and she always ends up with numerous interviews and job offers. Her internship last year will hire her full time and decides not to go to Graduate school. In the meantime, in her last semester she is only taking 12 credits, and will work that internship 2x week/during the spring semester. She works under an architect, so it all counts as hours for her licensing.
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Troy has a crazy generous merit aid program, true—they’ve been working hard to bump up their incoming student profile, with mixed to positive results. (They’re one of the many that were historically normal schools but have moved to being a comprehensive university over the decades.) They’re effectively an open-access institution—not open admissions, there’s a meaningful difference but for most practical purposes they have the same effect.
As for diversity, their DI is .56. How that compares to other colleges on his list, I don’t know.
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This is going to be a looooong two weeks waiting for ED results. If that answer isn’t what we hope then I think there may be some EAs in Jan and then the RDs in March… I was thinking of buying the ED school sweatshirt to pull out if he gets accepted but think would be too sad if he doesn’t get in - though I know he will land well wherever he ends up. Anyone else planning anything special for ED results day?
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True that local university hiring does happen even if they are not highly ranked. Example: San Jose State. we hire quite a bit from here but we also know what is taught here and how students from here do once they join.
For other states also local companies will hire from local universities but we have to keep in mind how many of those jobs will be locally. example: Lot more Engineering jobs in San Jose than in South Dakota so better chance of finding a job locally for engineers from San Jose state.
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I thought about it (for Virginia Tech), but I put the chances at less than 50% so I don’t want to over-hype it and make it disappointing if he doesn’t get in. We’ll celebrate and go out for dinner if he gets in, but if he doesn’t we’ll just move along.
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Yep I would place his chances for Northwestern ED at 50/50 so don’t want to overpresume. Do you have an ED2 lined up if VTech is a no? Wish more schools had it…
I agree that it’s going to be a long two weeks. I am going crazy already. D23’s ED I school was supposed to send a free hoodie to anyone who applied by 11/15, but my kid has not gotten the email asking about hoodie size even though we’ve double-checked her app was in on time. A friend applied there as well and got the email so she knows who to contact about it; am really hoping she does because we think she’s very likely to get in and it would be nice for her to have the hoodie to start wearing right away. Will take the whole family out to a nice dinner to celebrate.
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That’s funny about the hoodie - cool when colleges send swag. Good luck to your kid!
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Today is Questbridge Match Day. Any match stories here?
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One thing engineering programs are really good at is calibrating their output to hiring norms. More engineering jobs in the southern Bay Area? San José State will produce more engineering graduates. (Plus for the students: more job opportunities locally.) Fewer engineering jobs in South Dakota? South Dakota State will produce fewer engineering graduates. (Plus for the students: less competition locally.)
Either way, the chance of finding a job locally is pretty much the same for graduates of either school.
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I don’t think so. He’s pretty happy with the universities he’s gotten into already. He’s got a few targets and reaches for EA that he’s content to see how they play out. He’ll probably apply to one more reach and one or two more targets for RD. To tell the truth, I’m kind of souring on the more mid-level smaller engineering specialty schools (Rose Hulman, Stevens, etc) that he has a decent shot of getting into because of costs. They will likely give some merit but not enough to bring it down to the level of other schools, and I’m not sure it would be worth it. Given my kids personality, I think he’d do just as well at a large state school as a small specialty school… so I’m not going to press the issue any further. It’ll be up to him, of course, but I think he’s in good shape as is to go to a program that’s affordable and will give him opportunities to excel.
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Yes I don’t think we will Be doing ed2 either. The few schools on his list that offer it are either not that high on his list for him to be willing to commit or ones he thinks he will get into even without the ED advantage. So think will just be a long list of RDs. He doesn’t have any acceptances yet and won’t for quite a while unless ED comes through…
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I think one of the best tips I got on this board was to get some of the early rolling admissions sites done. And fortunately there were 3 that fit his criteria (near family if possible), accredited engineering program, decent merit aid or in state tuition. Getting those 3 acceptances (even if it was expected) took the stress level way down… he’s researching those programs more and allowing himself to excited for the safeties, so that if his first two choices don’t pan out, it’s not that upsetting (disappointing sure).
Good luck to your son!
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Agreed that is huge. My oldest applied to McGill and UMich (back when it was rolling) and had those in hand early and it made a huge difference. This kid just didn’t have any rolling admissions schools that he was interested in, though one friend applied to UPitt and was already accepted. It does seem fewer schools are rolling now than used to be.
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Regarding having a sweatshirt ready for the ED school… for my older son, I had helium balloons in the school colors hidden in an unused room. Luckily he got accepted. I slipped into the other room & came back with balloons. It fit the moment perfectly… yet pretty inexpensive. If it had not worked out, I would just have disposed of the balloons the next day when he was not around.
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No ED here but an EA or two are coming up…no plan for any shirt or any gear yet because she is superstitious and because ED isn’t an option here, there really won’t be any “decisions” made, so no need to buy yet!
After this, no results expected until February. Similarly, no rolling admissions were good options; her safeties do not have decisions for a while .
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