Reality check list of colleges (high stats, CS)

Rice is fabulous, but I don’t think the OP needs another reach school on the list.

And OP- does your son plan to continue his sports in college? Does he have another sport besides the riding (snowboarding)? I can’t recall if you mentioned more than one. Certainly snowboarding is going to be a non issue at the southern’s schools. Are his sports important to him to continue while in college (not just during breaks)?

*eta: you mentioned soccer too. Does he want to play club sports? intramural? Is he good enough to be a walk on anywhere? Would he have time as a CS or engineering major?

Where is the nearest skiing to Rice??‍♀️

Our favorite skiing cousin graduated from Colorado School of Mines. It checked off all his boxes, and proximity to snow was one of them.

@jym626 The OP asked for suggestions.

@txstella. I don’t believe the OP asked for more reaches. She said earlier no big cities.

If you are looking for another safety, consider Clarkson. Great engineering, more rural, and lots of snow. Whiteface is 90 minutes away and there are smaller mountains for skiing within an hour drive. Your son would see good merit money.

Also am wondering about RPI for another match.

This isn’t related to Admissions, but to what happens when he gets to a rigorous college for CS. Since he’s only taking AB calc, he might want to take calculus over the summer so he’ll have finished at least the equivalent of BC calc before he gets to college. This comment is based on my D’s experience with only having AB (where she got a 5 on the AP). There are different CS sequences at her school, and even with 5s on the two AP CS classes she didn’t qualify for the more rigorous sequence because she didn’t have enough math. And FYI, many students came to the CS program at her college with 1 year of math beyond BC calculus. She felt deficient in her math skills and that this deficiency hurt her. Different schools will have different programs, so maybe after your S knows where he’ll be going he can look into this and ask CS students at his chosen college what their thoughts are.

I surmised that if AUSTIN is on the list then HOUSTON would be ok. A number of the schools on the list are in urban areas (gritty urban areas), Rice feels much more protected from the city.

I mentioned Rice because the OPs son doesn’t want a Greek heavy school. Rice also adds some contrast to the much larger schools on the reach list - it is merely a suggestion.

^^^
His application will be considered in the context of what is offered at his HS.
If his classmates are taking 20+ APs (which is crazy IMO), then his GC will not be checking off the most rigorous schedule.
GT OOS CS admission has become very competitive (as have all CS admissions in recent years). That would be a Reach for CS at least, not sure about ME.
Most students there will have completed Calc BC and Multivariable Calc.
Also, Cornell and GT may not be a great fit, if he is laid back and does not want stressful environment.
Has he done any college visits ?
I would advise to find smaller schools, which have a colloborative environment.
Unfortunately, 36 ACT and 4.0 GPA does not do much these days.

Good luck !

At what college is calculus BC required to take the first CS course for CS majors?

I know someone who graduated as a CS major from one of the big four in CS, after entering having completed precalculus in high school (first math course in college was calculus 1). The math prerequisites for the first CS course (then and now) are that calculus 1 may be taken concurrently.

My D “only” got through AB calc in HS (no option for BC) and has done just fine in her engineering major.

@momofsenior1 I think the main question is whether there is an option for BC calc and the student didn’t take it. I do know at least one excellent engineering school for which it’s almost a disqualifier to not have taken the maximum level of math available. For my kids’ public high school, they started offering a joint AB/BC catchup class, basically designed for the kids who were tracked into a slightly lower level of math in the fifth grade because it was reducing admissions in 12th grade. Yes, admissions are insane.

@rosemaryandthyme - I was responding to post #45. I should have been clearer and quoted.

I agree that students applying to the reach schools on this student’s list need to have taken the most rigorous courses available to them.

I also believe that rigor will also help prepare students better for college course load.

@vanvalen Your kid has good stats, so why not go for it. My eldest had the best strategy of my three kids. She said she was not going to waste time and money on a bunch of Safeties and Match applications, when she can only attend one college anyways.

She had only one Safety, which was an OOS public university and Top 10 in her discipline. She preferred it over all the other Safeties and Matches in the country. It had rolling admissions and she applied very early and was a direct admit to her discipline and the Honors College, so she had a high floor within two weeks of the first application sent. She had 1 Safety (done), zero Match, and a bunch of private Reach schools, knowing full well every Reach is truly a Reach for everyone and she might not get into any.

I’m not saying that you can’t be an engineer, CS major etc if you’ve only had AB. I’m saying that at my D’s school they had different tracks for the first year classes of CS, and that she couldn’t take the one track because she didn’t have enough math. I’m sure she could have caught up somewhere along the way. But that’s just it, she would be catching up. My sole point was that once OP knows where he is going to go, he should look into whether it would be helpful/advisable to him to take a math class over the summer. My D wishes that she had.

“Your kid has good stats, so why not go for it.” Only because, for those reaches, it’s not just about stats. The whole matters. Imo, it benefits to understand what besides stats…or you’re crapshooting. Afaiac, can’t make your best presentation without understanding what else.

^ “Last year GT took about 15% from OOS”

40% of undergrad students at GT are OOS.

The OOS admit rate was 14% last year.

@Greymeer

I’m no mathematician, but how can 40% of the students be OOS with only a 15% OOS admit rate?

Or did the OOS admit rate plummet in the last couple of years?

The “admit rate” is 40% for GA and 16% for non-GA, per the website, for 2019 first-years.

That’s 40% of applicants from GA.

GT Computer Science does not have a 14% admit rate OOS, it’s much lower.
The pattern I noted on CC last year is that OOS admits got in if they had 35/36 ACT or 1560+SAT, tons of APs, advanced calculus (prefarably multivariable, but at least BC).

OP son may get in because of 36 ACT. In GA/FL some students (over)load on APs as that seems to be a measure of success in those states.

The list is appropriate. Many CS kids are advanced in math/calc/beyond calc, but some start at Calc 1 in college, which is fine (some even do that by choice).

How much Physics has son had? They like to see Physics also, and other sciences. How many years of Science total?

39% or so of the enrolled freshmen in 2018 were from OOS but only 15% or so of the OOS applicants were accepted (this past year’s admission rate was 14.9% acceptance for OOS applicants and 37.7% admit rate for instate) https://www.news.gatech.edu/2019/03/09/next-class-yellow-jackets-gets-admission-decisions