<p>LOL and expect things to change before (and after!) he applies to various colleges. It’s good that he’s really open to various ideas. My S, also a junior is still trying to figure out if he wants to go to college, much less which ones and for what, so your S is ahead in this game :-).</p>
<p>Here is the Arizona school I mentioned earlier: <a href=“http://www.uat.edu/”>http://www.uat.edu/</a> (University of Advancing Technology)</p>
<p>Be aware that UAT isn’t accredited. Not necessarily a deal-breaker, just know what you’re getting into.</p>
<p>It looks interesting, crazymomster. I’ve been avoiding “for profit” schools because they offer such little need or merit aid. And then there’s the, “what if he changes his mind?” 
Probably better to go to a school that offers other possibilities like music, architecture, etc. just in case!</p>
<p>sbjdorlo: Just curious - if your son opened this thread, what kinds of questions would he be asking?</p>
<p>Interesting question, jpm. He and my oldest son aren’t ones to look too far in the future. Other than wanting a community of friends that share his interests, he says he hasn’t thought much about it and has a whole lot of “I don’t knows” in his vocabulary when it comes to the future. He lives pretty much in the here and now.</p>
<p>My oldest son, the MIT sophomore, didn’t think he wanted to attend a STEM school and in fact, MIT wasn’t even on his college list until October of the year he applied. He only decided on MIT on the flight home from attending Princeton’s accepted student’s weekend (missing CPW). He accepted MIT at the end of April with a couple days to go.</p>
<p>So, unlike the majority of kids who post on CC, my kids just live their lives and don’t think too far ahead. Since I function as a guidance counselor and facilitator of their education, I try to gather information like a good guidance counselor does, and then share that info and equip them to make decisions.</p>
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<p>How’d that happen? There sounds like more to this story :)</p>
<p>process of elimination - eliminated caltech upfront, didnot like Princeton (from what I remember…).</p>
<p>Ha-ha, Piper. No big interesting story. I think it was just a compilation of information over the past 5 months. He’d been flown out to MIT for a fall program and spent 3 days there, and that was when he knew he would apply. He’d been accepted to Princeton SCEA and I had to nail down plans and choose one of the accepted student’s weekends before he’d heard from MIT; I chose poorly (as they say in Indiana Jones) and picked the weekend that conflicted with CPW. And because Princeton paid for the flight, I told him if he wanted to change plans, he’d need to come up with money to do so. He wasn’t a happy camper to be missing CPW since it’s so highly touted.</p>
<p>He’d visited Princeton once before,but this time,he really didn’t feel he met anyone who shared his loves. He said he met a few engineering students but no math loving, physics loving, etc. kids like him. And I think the long flight home allowed him to process everything and help him to realize (after also knowing that about 6 other kids from his math circle were going to MIT and one other homeschool friend) MIT was what he really wanted.</p>
<p>He was actually deciding between MIT and Mudd, but MIT was bigger, more interesting, he had lots of friends there, and it was in Boston! :-)</p>
<p>Texas, my son likes almost everyone and every place but he <em>really</em> disliked Caltech. The word he used to describe the students was coarse. FWIW.</p>
<p>I think what he meant by that is that the students he met were less friendly, more intense, and perhaps less fun loving than what he likes. He tells me there are “normal” students at MIT-plenty of non-super stars, plenty of kids like him who have no clue what they want to do with their lives. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to knock Caltech. The kids there are amazing, I have no doubt!</p>
<p>Having a top noch medical facility associated with a school gives me peace of mind since my DD also deals with chronic health issues. UW in Seattle is clearly a great school for engineering but the vibe is nothing like MIT. </p>
<p>sbjdorlo: Did you consider flying into Princeton and driving to Boston in a rental car? It’s only about 5 hours.</p>
<p>I think that was talked about, bangkok, but not sure 18 year olds can rent cars. (I wasn’t with my son) Plus, the flight was paid for by Princeton, so we really didn’t have extra money at that time.</p>
<p>belleuemom,</p>
<p>I don’t the the finances would be ideal for out of state residents, yes? I have never really looked into large universites out of state other than UTD and Pitt that I know offer good merit aid.</p>
<p>You indicated you were on the west coast. Look into the WUE program and see if that reduces tuition in Washington. </p>
<p>I had looked before and U Washington isn’t a WUE school, unfortunately. </p>
<p>After my son has a few trips under his belt without us (like the robotics trip in March and probably April) and we see how his SAT II tests turn out, the summer should be a good time to really sit down and talk about realistic choices and do some visits. He’s loving both his physics and his animation class at the CC, so it will be interesting to see which way he eventually goes-hard sciences or creative design/CS. (Or music since he’s also always heavily involved with music) </p>
<p>It seems that if he sees a practical use for math, such as he’s seeing in the physics class, it makes a lot more sense to him and he finds it easier. </p>
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I thought I’d close it out two years later!
My son took a gap year after applying to colleges, and he will be attending the University of Pennsylvania as a Fine Arts major with an emphasis in animation.
He did apply to MIT, but was unsurprisingly rejected. 
Some time during senior year when he was struggling with pre-calc at the local CC (he did manage to get a B in it, and even got an A in Calc I at the CC), he realized he did not want to be an engineer at all.
He got into some good schools, and in the end, was deciding between some vastly different schools: UC Irvine’s Computer Game Science, Univ. of Alabama at Huntsville (full tuition scholarship; originally an ME admit with honors college, but they have a game design minor, and Penn (after deciding against UCSD, Purdue, U Rochester and Northeastern-had game design, but he hated the school).
Because Penn offered a gap year and exceptional financial aid as well as a connection to Pixar, he decided to go with it. He’ll start this fall. We’ll see what happens. He still has some disabilities and health issues to work out, but we are going to hope for the best.
We’ll visit MIT for the last time in June to see my oldest graduate and get married a week later! It’s been a great four years for him. I’m really grateful for MIT!
@sbjdorlo: Wow, what a thread! What a journey!
There is so much to say and ask you, but I will start with the last…graduation and a daughter-in-law (I am assuming here; no judgments, though) to boot. Your heart must be full. Congratulations on both fronts.
I am smiling from ear to ear to hear about the corner you and your younger son have turned. You sound completely comfortable with the strides he must have taken during the gap year to familiarize himself with being responsive and responsible for his health care monitoring and maintenance, and I’m going to assume you have planned for any contingencies and made contact with many people and care facilities to aid your son should he need it.
Wow, what a bright kid. His choices were so strong, and he is headed to Penn. I hope you get to visit the city and take long walks and see the sights each time. He has made choices that fit who he sees himself as being both now and in the future, and gets to switch it up as he sees fit.
Sounds as if the gap year was one that helped answer questions for both of you.
I really hope you enjoy this next part of the journey with this son. You sound like an amazing mom. Reading your words here, this is the very first time I have ever been made to consider that sometimes we just don’t want our younger kid going far away. We’ll send the first ones, sure, but not this one! I know you spoke of the health concerns as a primary reason for wondering if he (and you) could handle his being far from you, but I began to experience tugs of the heart of my own as I connected with you. I’ve still a ways to go with my youngest, who has yet to enter high school, but who has absolutely helped me to hold on to feelings I just could never think would belong to me as I was raising the others.
Keep us abreast of things as your younger son’s academic career moves along.
Congratulations to you, again.
@waitingtoexhale, thank you so much for your kind words! I have found a lot of solace in speaking with other parents who have kids with special needs such as mine has. They have given me great suggestions and advice. We’ve been in contact with the disability office twice, but will likely be in touch with them during the summer and certainly in August when I take my son to campus. Having support systems set up will definitely be key to his making a successful transition…yet I know there will be lots of bumps!
I will tell you honestly that the journey is just beginning, and if my son finds that Penn cannot work out (for many reasons) and needs to change courses, I will embrace that and applaud him for trying. We’ll take this a semester at a time! I’m glad he chose Fine Arts/Animation/Game Design. It might be hard, but it will be something he enjoys.
Thank you for your congratulations! Yes, I am delighted to be gaining a daughter-in-law who is a delightful person!
The other great news is that they will be moving within five hours of where we live-yeah baby! And dh is chomping at the bit to retire and move near them. One step at a time, ha-ha.
Your youngest will probably change and grow so much over the next few years into high school; won’t it be exciting to see how it all unfolds? I have one more son, 11, who’s on a total different trajectory than his brothers. LOL! He’s a laaaate blooming dyslexic that may not go to college. So there you go; it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round!
“I will tell you honestly that the journey is just beginning, and if my son finds that Penn cannot work out (for many reasons) and needs to change courses, I will embrace that…”
That says everything to me.
Your sons have the greatest mom there is: One who has given to them both roots and wings.
(And on the subject of change and unfolding, my little guy is doing exactly that, having grown taller than me in the past few months and steadily growing upward. He now reaches down to enfold me in his embrace.)
What do we say about late bloomers? They get there, right? Running his own race, @sbjdorlo , running his own race.
Looks like you’ll be around CC for quite a long time!