Thanks and good to hear your validation ! So far he is doing SAT on his own (Khan Academy and books) and makes sense to get some 1:1 coaching as well. I’ll start looking for that.
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Also I am sure that he knows this but Reddit has a list of all of the SATs that have been released over the past many years with their answer keys if he wants to do full practice tests. My S had never sat through a full standardized test before the PSAT (yea, COVID) and doing many many practice tests will help
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I know this isn’t representative but go to this year’s admitted UPenn thread and see if you can find the stats and ECs of kids who got in. I think Reddit College results has some you can search. It will give you a good idea. If this is your first kid applying to college, I think you will be surprised to see that kids practically have to have managed an entire Fortune 500 company or researched a cure for cancer on top of playing comp and varsity sports to get considered. And then you have kids with normal stats but the essays have to bring forth insights that convince the colleges why your kid is a good match for them.
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Welcome Viki9
Sounds like your on the right path for your child. Just know the road turns sometimes and it’s ok.
This is my third time around and each time it’s been different.
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Which is why this kid should continue to do what he loves and enjoy high school and only do things that give him joy and experience that he wants.
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It’s a trade off. You either bank that your average (when I say average I mean that the top 5% of the kids who are academically and EC capable are average in the pool that these elite institutions see) portfolio is enough or you maximize the ECs to give yourself an above average shot. They’re choices the students have to make.
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I echo what @MommaLue has been saying. Your son is doing the right things. The ECs are probably a bit light for true top tier. But you also don’t want him burning out trying to get into a top school only to be rejected because the top schools get so many applications, acceptance becomes a lottery of an over abundance of over achievers.
My son (DS22) did this process this past year. He only applied to UCs and CSUs. His major is CS which is crazy competitive. But business is too. His grades were very good (4.29w, 4.0uw), AP Scores were awesome in tough subjects, and his ECs and work experience were also great with A LOT of hours (leadership and major-related). He was rejected by UCB & UCD, accepted to UCSB as undeclared (so not CS), waitlisted at UCSD, UCSC, & UCR (those last two were a shock to us, but again, CS is crazy competitive). Rejected by SJSU (though he’d have been accepted if he’d applied for Software Engineering instead), and accepted to SDSU, CSULB, CSUF, CSUSM, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal Poly SLO. SLO was his #1 choice and CPP was his #2 so there was no disappointment in our house. We’re all over the moon that DS was accepted to his first choice school, especially since they had a 9% acceptance rate for CS this year.
But all of that is to give you an idea of what college acceptance has become. Amazing, perfect students who have done everything right will be rejected from many schools just because of the sheer volume of applications they’re getting. DS probably would have gotten off some of the UC waitlists, but he never accepted his place because his top two choices both said yes.
So my advice (and what we’re going to do with my undecided DD24): visit a bunch of schools. Let him see what they have to offer. Let him hear about the different majors from current students. And then apply to a wide range of schools from guaranteed-acceptance to the lofty reaches and some in between. I don’t recommend applying to as many as we did. While that has become the norm, it really isn’t a great idea. We wasted a lot of money on applications at schools we knew he wouldn’t go to even if accepted.
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I really don’t know anything specific about Humboldt’s CS program. It wasn’t a Cal Poly when we were looking at colleges so I didn’t research it and we didn’t consider it. I did a little bit of reading about the school as it was applying for Cal Poly designation and the article said they’d already been using a learn-by-doing approach that is so key to the Cal Polys. Their CS program isn’t on the same level as SLOs and CPP’s right now; it was a lower ranked school. But none of the CSUs are “bad”. They all provide a quality education, a marketable degree, and specialize in various subjects. Demand is often what makes some of them more selective than others. And that demand is often based on location and how long the school has been around. CPP’s CS program is really good. But it’s easier to get into than SLO’s because of that demand factor. The younger CSUs often have lower rankings and improve those rankings over time. But the classes are still good classes. I’m willing to bet Humboldt has a very good CS program and due to demand it’ll be easier to get accepted. Just remember that “easier acceptance” doesn’t devalue the degree - it just comes with less stress for the application process.
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Welcome to CC. Please encourage your son to apply to several schools that he will likely be admitted to. Make sure those likely schools are affordable and that he will be happy attending if he is admitted (ie. doesn’t feel like it is below him or that he is settling if he attends that school).
Since you are in California, a good place to look for likely schools are the CSUs. The CSUs and UCs are test blind so his SAT score won’t matter.
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All of the CSUs offer undergrad business degrees. You can search by campus here.
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The UCs are more competitive with respect to admissions and, as @s318830 mentioned, the business programs are even more competitive. For the UCs, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC Riverside have undergrad business degrees. The rest of the UCs offer variations in business management, business economics or economics (UCSB).
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DD24 got a 4 in AP English Language this year. Very proud of her. Her weighted classes next year and the year after will be mostly IB HL. Theater, Spanish, & English. But she’s not doing the IB diploma. Also, IB HL Theater isn’t weighed in the UC and CSU system for year 1, only for year 2. So she’ll have two weighted classes junior year and three for senior.
DS22 got a 5 in Calc BC with a Calc A subscore of 5. We were waiting on that for his math placement at SLO.
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A couple of the local school districts in our area start back to school a week from today! Holy cow. We have 2 1/2 weeks left of summer break before classes begin again.
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Omg where do you live!! My S24 doesnt go back to school for another 8 week! And S21 who goes to college in NC starts in 6 weeks
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Phoenix metro area.
My kids go back on 8/3. 2 of the nearby school districts seem to be on a year-round-ish sort of schedule, where they go back next Monday (TOO EARLY!), but then for October fall break, they get 2 weeks off. Then another week off at Thanksgiving. And 2-3 weeks at Christmas. 2 weeks off at Spring Break, too. Their school year ends about same time ours does (usually the Thurs or Fri just before Memorial Day).
High temps are all 110 or above for the next week. I don’t think it’s fair that kids should have to go back to school in the middle of the summer like that! So we’re grateful for another 2 1/2 weeks! 
Speaking of the weather, I thought about taking D24 on a UofA campus tour this Friday since I have Friday off. But it’s just going to be too dang hot, and that’s coming from somebody who’s lived in AZ for almost 20 years now. LOL!
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Mine start the following week. I still dislike the early school year start with long breaks in the middle. Mine get a week for fall break.
However… on the bright side, fall break junior year is a nice time to begin official college visits, with most colleges having classes on those days.
And senior year, fall break would be super helpful for last-minute visits to potential ED options.
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We went to see Williams this weekend with a stopover at Tangelwood to see a concert. Wow that place is amazing and what they offer is insane. S24 is overly invested in a school with an 8% acceptance rate (but it does go up to 25% for ED) but at least we now know what he likes!
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We go back the 7th. 
Oh, hell no!! But I wonder if they’re on all year round? Ours is second week of Aug. even that is early but I do like the 3rd week of May end date.
I like that as they do get good breaks during the school year. I think that helps kids not to burn out instead of a big long break and continuous overwhelming school year.
Rant ahead.
Well, D24 is striking out all over the place in terms of finding a hospital volunteer opportunity. There are 2 main companies in our area that have a couple of hospitals nearby…for 1 company, they only allow high school volunteers during the summer, so that’s out…and for the other company, none of the 3 nearby hospitals have any openings for high school volunteers.
Tried looking up some FQHCs (federally qualified health center). Most are a 45 min drive from us, so that’s out…AND they’re only open on week days to 5 pm.
We DID find a local charitable organization that provides assistance to refugee families. They need volunteers on Saturday mornings to deliver & distribute move-in welcome boxes of supplies to refugee families. But you have to sign up on their SignUp Genius page…which is ok, but the first Saturdays available weren’t until October. Ok, better than nothing. AND 16 yr olds can participate, but have to be accompanied by a parent guardian, so it looks like I’m going to be volunteering, too. AND you need your own car to drive from place to place.
Our pediatrician’s office won’t need HS volunteers until the October time frame.
1 local cancer center that’s 15 min from our house needs volunteers, but only M-F 9:30 am-12:30 pm. So that’s out. Another cancer center nearby could use volunteers, but you need to be available for a 4-hr shift and they’re only open to 5 pm M-F.
WHAT THE HECK!
D24 also left a message with a rehab hospital/skilled nursing facility to see if they need volunteers. She had an interview scheduled for last Saturday at a local sandwich shop, but that didn’t pan out. Back to the drawing board on that.
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Have you checked out Red Cross volunteer opportunities in your area?
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