<p>Thanks for your suggestions. Actually, what would be most helpful is if he could decide on a major. If he doesn't decide then he will have to go to a university where he can wait a couple of years before deciding, and it can sometimes be difficult to change majors even then.</p>
<p>well, I was certain of what I wanted to study before I began the college search, so I can't offer any suggestions there. Try to feel out if he can make any decisions. Another good idea: look for schools with strong programs in BOTH, that way, he can decide when he gets there... Junior year is a year of a lot of growth (or it was for me) so maybe he can decide after that, just have 2 lists of schools: one for each...</p>
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<p>I saw you were considering the UMD honor program so, as always, i felt I had to say something. :D. Your son has a higher GPA than me, I had a 3.45 and a 4.0 W. I took some college classes at a CC while in HS and got As for 6 credits. I had very similar SATs to your son though. I had a 770M 610V. Its a good thing your son will break 1300 because that is the minimum, as far as I can tell, standard for LEP programs and business and engineering are LEP programs. Smith has a 1360 average. Now you said you were thinking about the honors college. Here is the thing. I have yet to find out what they are looking for when they distinguish scholars and honors. Some are not even sure which is "better". I have heard that scholars is more career focused but who knows. All i know I know people at 1330 getting into honors and others with great stats and much higher than those in honors getting scholars and the same is true the opposite way. I got scholars and a selective scholars program, the business program. I suggest you ask UMD about scholars and honors and how they distinguish because I can't tell. I am EXTREMELY happy with my choice for UMD. I have yet to go there but have felt welcomed. Who would ever think that about a big place like UMD? The scholars program is about 70 kids per year per program. Everyone lives in the same dorm as their fellow scholars in their program and it is focused on a career goal. I feel fortunate for being in smith and the scholars program. The quest program, through smith, which is applied to during the freshman year seems great for tech and business students and i can only hope I get accepted. Its my state school and they gave me the aid I needed. </p>
<p>Now for other schools for your son. Give a shot at Umich, though i doubt he will get into ross. A good GPA at Umich will allow him to transfer into a great business school in ross. Have PSU as a safety. Its great at engineering and business. IU might give him a full scholarship and that is, by most accounts, a top 10 business school. You may want michigan in the mix and give a shot at emory(try the ED application if money isn't an issue). Allong with IU, UIUC is my biggest regret for not applying. I think your son should also check it out. It is a good overall school with a 4.0 Peer assessment ranking and a highly ranked business school. Uwisc seems like a great option and is underranked. It does not allow anyone freshmen into business and they apply their junior year. I believe Emory is the same deal. Boston college seems like a great fit.</p>
<p>Collegehelp provided the gourman rankings for computer science in this thread on post number three:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2132843&highlight=computer#post2132843%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2132843&highlight=computer#post2132843</a> This should be helpful for Ida also. </p>
<p>These are very old rankings but for the most part are still accurate. The general area of the schools shows how good it is. Number 15 might not be number 15 anymore but I think it isn't far from it, up or down. I just looked at it was i was happy to see UMD was top 10. Uwisc and UIUC are there(i think UIUC is very hard to get into for engineering programs but I am not sure). Now its time for me to give a call out to UMD again :D. Its business school is good and so is its engineering school. Your son, in my opinion, is a lock and may want to break 1400 to hope for some type of scholarship(most honor students get some kind of scholarship). The Management information systems program at Smith is ranked 6th in the country. That is the implementation of technology into business. I think UMD would be a good saftey as a university and a solid match for honor or scholar programs, while still providing a great business and technology atmosphere. </p>
<p>4 national championships can't hurt either. Go terps!</p>
<p>Cheapseats: Thanks for your comments. Perhaps he should consider Boston College as a safety. I ruled out Emory because they require a year of foreign language. Will look at the other state schools eventually, but still looking for a good medium-sized private school.</p>
<p>BC is a hard school to get into. I think it would be around the match area. I think he could get in but I wouldn't leave that as his only safety. </p>
<p>here is my school website for the students from our school that applied to colleges. This is a top 20 school in the nation and is in maryland so adjust accordingly</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tcci.naviance.com/wootton%5B/url%5D">www.tcci.naviance.com/wootton</a>
go to enter as guest
Scattergrams
go to the college you want to look up. </p>
<p>For people applying to UMD its a great tool as it has 800 examples. More will be up soon from this year. Look at BC also.</p>
<p>You seem to be up on top of things though. I am sure he will apply to all the right schools.</p>
<p>ricegal: Lehigh, Wake Forest, Univ of Richmond. These are some of the schools my son was recently accepted to and his interest is business. Also Dickinson and Gettysburg are small Lacs in PA with business programs and they give good $ too.<br>
I agree that PSU is a good safety (along with UMD).<br>
Also, you might want to consider applying to the PSU Schreyer Honors College. Honors dorms, smaller classes, travel grants and priority registration are some of the perks - and you'll get more individual attention overall. Avg SATs are low to mid 1400s. Only 300 enter each year as freshman. The admission process is very competitive. My son has a friend there (eng major) and he raves about it. PSU Eng and Bus programs are quality programs on their own - but like UMD, the honors college can add a special boost - and it comes with money too! Good luck.</p>
<p>Everyone always talks about the big state schools when it comes to computer science and business. I'm still searching for a safety that has a student body less than 10,000. Penn State, UIUC, UMich, etc. do not fit the bill. We did go look at Lehigh, Bucknell, and Lafayette. They are all fine schools, and my son liked two of them, but they are not exactly safeties for a 3.6 GPA. At this point, all I have for safeties is public schools in CA. I don't see any reason to send him across the country for another public school when I can pay less for the same experience in CA.</p>
<p>Absolutely agree ricegal. Looking back on the process - I think we had TOO many safeties on our list. And there's no way that I would pay huge $ to send our son to a big OOS public school that's comparable to our school here in PA. Our son got into PSU honors, decided to attend and has been very happy. Also not sure Lehigh and schools of that caliber are worth the extra $ over your CA state options. My son turned down Lehigh, Wake Forest, Richmond, Dickinson and Gettysburg (some of these with $). I think he would have gone to Cornell or UVA - but he didn't make it in.
But you may have a different situation since you're looking for a small school. Good luck to your son!</p>