S22 hasn’t started college search and applications and I haven’t paid much attention to his high school education (never saw his course work but know his grades). So I appreciate any suggestions. Here’s his info and my assessment of him.
High school: Midsized Midwest public that sends a handful students to top colleges in the nation, but many go to our flagship.
Grades/Test scores: 4.0/4.0 UW GPA as of now, will have 16 AP (no arts or music), and class rank could be top few (no ranking, I checked Naviance). SAT/ACT 1560/35.
Extracurriculars: Plays school team sports and participates in clubs but not an elected officer. No national awards. Some volunteering work. He says he’s active in the classroom.
College types/locations: He says he’ll major in engineering but doesn’t like nerd schools (e.g. Caltech). Any region in the nation is fine.
I’m not sure engineering fits him and he might do something else but I don’t know what. He is a happy person and likes sports. I wish I knew a list of colleges to research more but I don’t. Thus I’m here asking for suggestions. (He’s Asian if that helps)
Do you have a price limit you need to adhere to…or can you afford any amount for this kid annually?
It sounds like he would be very happy at any state flagship university. There are plentiful choices of other majors should he decide engineering isn’t for him.
He would be a great candidate for decent merit aid at University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, University of Alabama, Arizona State…which all have auto merit awards based on stats.
Like @thumper1, my initial thought goes to affordability. Many parents say “cost isn’t an issue”…until it is . I would run the net price calculator (NPC) at your state flagship, a different state flagship and a couple of private colleges just to get a sense of what the range can be. If you are truly OK with $300K+ for an undergraduate degree, terrific. If you aren’t, you need to determine what you can/will pay and communicate that to your son. It is better to let him know his budget now rather than trying to figure it out when you are suffering from sticker shock.
Then you need to talk with him about things like does he want to be in a city? Does he want winter (or to avoid winter)? Does he want to fly home for breaks or does he want to be closer? Large lecture classes with 100 students or small ones with 20 or in the middle? There are a gazillion colleges but if you can get him to narrow down a few preferred characteristics, then you can eliminate a ton right off the bat.
It doesn’t sound like there’s many limitations. Do you think he would prefer a large school or small school? Urban? Is having a large Asian population at his school important?
Your state flagship will probably be best cost option if $80k/year isn’t doable.
The usual suspects would be Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, some of the UC schools. Boston would be a great place to spend 4 years as a college student. Northeastern has co-ops if that’s an interest. Maybe some Canadian schools?
@ozishigh@chmcnm: Stated in the original post, son did not take any Arts/Music courses so a no go for the California UC’s that require 1 year of a Visual/Performing arts course as a requirement unless another type of VPA course was taken??
@ozishigh could you please clarify your kid’s arts/music courses? Did he take NONE of these in high school….or did he not take any arts/music AP courses (which is how I interpreted your post)?
If he is looking for a large college with sports and lots of majors, any of the Big 10 flagships would work. So…
I thought about Rice too but then the state’s gun policy comes in mind. We are close to Canada but never thought of going school there. Maybe it’s a good idea.
Yes, the CA colleges have a requirement that students take an arts/music course during high school. I live in CT, and it’s a HS graduation requirement here.
The test blind thing for the CA schools just began…the arts requirement has been there for a while.
If your kid is really interested in a CA public (likely at close to full cost because they don’t give need based aid to OOS students, and merit is very limited), perhaps your kid could adjust their senior year schedule and take an arts class.
Correct, UC’s are test blind till 2025 admission cycle but a year of a VPA is a minimum requirement.
There are options to fulfill the requirement other a HS course such as a 1 semester Community college course that is UC transferable or AP or IB Examination
Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP History of Art, Studio Art or Music Theory Exam; score of 5, 6 or 7 on any one IB HL exam in Dance, Film, Music, Theatre Arts or Visual Arts
Yes, band would count @gumbymom right? But it would have to be a full year, I believe.
You need to look at your kid’s transcript ASAP. There are colleges that require three lab science courses, and four social studies, and four foreign language, etc.
You need to know what your kid has taken so you will be well informed and know if he has satisfied the required courses for college admission at schools he targets.
He told his guidance counselor that he’s interested in engineering so his courses might not be enough for a non-engineering major, that will limit his college choices automatically.
There’s still time to course correct senior year by adding what he might be missing.
Can you list his full schedule junior year and planned for senior year?
You may want to investigate WPI, Clarkson, Olin. Not big but strong Engineering.
Otherwise, Big10 flagships would seem to match what he’s looking for (apply by priority deadline and to Honors college).
. I would run the net price calculator (NPC) at your state flagship, a different state flagship and a couple of private colleges just to get a sense of what the range can be. If you are truly OK with $300K+ for an undergraduate degree, terrific. If you aren’t, you need to determine what you can/will pay and communicate that to your son. It is better to let him know his budget now rather than trying to figure it out when you are suffering from sticker shock.