<p>Most important is whether the school is a good fit or not. My D is not really interested in Ivies. She did apply to a couple reach schools as she likes one of them and the other one is within 4 hours driving distance. Although she was accepted by one of the reach schools, she is more than happy to attend the in state flagship and she is really enjoying her freshmen year right now.</p>
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<p>From that link, the yearly offering of CS courses seems to be rather limited. Even the not-offered-this-year list at <a href=“WesMaps - Wesleyan University”>WesMaps - Wesleyan University; seems to be missing some typical core upper division CS courses, like operating systems and compilers, the popular elective in artificial intelligence, and hardware courses.</p>
<p>“I am a firm believer in the value of the visit.”
- I am in the same category, but I believe strongly in many visits, overnights, talking to current students and even staying with the potential sport team. That what takes my D. to decide and she could not make her decision even for the Med. School until after the Second look event (thank goodness they had it), her decision flipped after. She visited UGs under consideration multiple times, one even had event specifically for dads and my H. went to this (it included overnight, so he had to use couple vacation days for this).
LIstenning to others or make decision based on rankings is simply dangerous. If one is lucky it may work, but you are pushing luck here.</p>
<p>Sorry for any misinformation I may have posted about Wesleyan.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
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<p>It’s true. The Wesleyan CS dept. won’t teach you how to build a computer, if that’s what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>Ack! I just talked him out of applying early decision to Brandeis. I wish they had an early action option. He was kind of freaking out that he would miss his chance if he waited for RD. I think he’s just really starting to feel the stress surrounding the application process and just wants it to be over.<br>
I was able to convince him otherwise and we talked about how he should try to do overnight visits at his top 2 or 3 choices once he knows where he’s accepted. He agreed that was a reasonable approach. </p>
<p>If cost isn’t a concern and Brandeis is his top pick, I’d have supported the ED application. And given the overall process stress, why add Ivies? He’s got a great list that HE selected.</p>
<p>@Knoxpatch - I think it’s too soon for him to decide. Many other posters commented that their kids really changed their minds from September to April, and I wouldn’t want him to be without options. My gut feeling when he brought it up was that it was coming more from a fear of not getting in than from a certainty that he would want to go there no matter what. The fact that he came around so quickly once we started talking about the importance of spending more time at Hampshire or Wesleyan before tossing them out convinces me that he’s not quite ready to make the final decision. I am sincere in my commitment to let him go wherever he wants, but I want him to have several choices.
I applied ED to Wesleyan, got in, and never looked back or regretted it. I’m not convinced that he’s at that point yet. We can re-evaluate the idea of ED II once he hears from his early action schools.</p>
<p>What about Carlton? Great school for smart and quirky kids!! I have friends who love love love it there. What about Tufts, which many people apply to in addition to Brandeis? I toured Wesleyan and found it quirky, but Brandeis – not at all --what makes Brandeis quirky?</p>
<p>@connect1234 - He really wants to stay in New England which is why we didn’t look at Oberlin, Swarthmore, or any other similar schools that look like they might be a match. Brandeis has a pretty quirky reputation around here - and if you google “quirky kids at Brandeis” you’ll get a lot of hits. I guess it depends on what you mean by quirky. When I see kids who are science geeks and music/theater nuts at the same time, have no interest in the latest fashions, and are pretty far to the left in their politics, I’d call them quirky. I saw a lot of that there.</p>
<p>Sounds a lot like Tufts! I thought Tufts and Brandeis seemed very similar with Tufts having the easier commute to Boston. My son didn’t like Brandeis’ modern architecture and we visited the morning Passover began so the campus had pretty much already emptied out. Should have looked at the Calendar more carefully!</p>
<p>I think he did the right thing to not apply ED. It doesn’t seem like he is ready to commit and I think leaving options open is the best thing. And I really think he has a very strong chance to be admitted to Brandeis, and I don’t think he needed the ED odds boost at that school. I think he needs to explore more and this way, he can. </p>
<p>I also suggested Tufts and think it is worth his doing a visit there. (I’m an alum, but I would have said it anyway!)</p>
<p>I want to add that one of my kids had wanted to attend NYU/Tisch since she was 12 years old. But as she decided to graduate after junior year of high school, we had only visited four schools and I thought it was too early to commit to ED to NYU and so she didn’t do ED. When several friends around the country got into NYU/Tisch ED, she was venting that she should have done that as she might have been able to be done with the process. But I am so glad she got to visit all 8 of her schools (at auditions) and while in the end she landed at her first choice, NYU/Tisch, I felt she had come full circle and could really know it was the right place after having fully explored her options. </p>
<p>My kids were not interested in Brandeis, so I don’t know about quirky or not. </p>
<p>I had many Jewish friends in high school, so for I happen to know it for that aspect. For curiousity looked it up and was surprised to see it at 48% (maybe that is not right since it is not near the top of the list on Hillel website - <a href=“Brandeis University - Hillel International”>http://www.hillel.org/college-guide/list/record/brandeis-university</a> ) Depending on the student, that could be good (especially with a kosher diet) or bad… or probably most often a non-issue. I don’t know anybody that attended, but students I’ve talked to who did crossregister seemsd to like it. </p>
<p>I think the OP’s son’s list looked carefully thought out and mature. And I think it’s no big deal to not do anything ED. If he does want a long-shot school just for the heck of it, Brown sounds good. There’s a long-time poster here whose son went to Brown for CS and did very, very well with opportunities in his field. Maybe one of the other veterans will remember who he was and be able to link some threads that address his experience.</p>
<p>Aw, your son didn’t need to worry that he would miss his chance to get into Brandeis if he waited for RD. From his stats, I think he has an extremely high chance of being admitted RD. But if it’s truly his first choice and he just wants to be over and done with the process, then I’d say he should apply ED. Also, just how much quirky does he want? Yes, Brandeis has its quirks but it’s a whole heck of a lot less quirky than Wesleyan with its naked dorm, etc. There’s quirky and then there’s really edgy.</p>
<p>I think you must mean he would be <em>college</em> class of 2019, not HS class of 2015.</p>
<p>If you are paying for the application fees and you plan to pay at least some of his college costs, ask him to look at the different Ivies with you, and pick two to apply to. </p>
<p>You are lucky if he wants to apply ED and get it over with.</p>
<p>You can do what you want with your own kid, but unless there is a huge reason to force him to apply to schools he is not interested in, I would drop it. You can always make some kind of offer - “visit two Ivies and then decide where you will apply ED and I’ll”…whatever he might want.</p>
<p>Yes, it says college class of 2019 right at the top of his stats - not sure what you mean. Once he’s got all of his early action applications in (every school but BU, Brandeis, & Wes have EA) we plan to ask him if he will consider looking at a couple of reach schools. If he doesn’t want to because he’s sure he wouldn’t go, or because he just can’t bear to write another supplemental essay, we’ll let it go. As for the ED decision, I’d be more than willing to have him do it and get this process done IF I thought he was doing it because he was sure he would go there no matter what. I just get the feeling that he’s suggesting it now (and it really was just a suggestion, not a strong argument) because he’s stressed about the process, scared he won’t get in, and hoping to be done.</p>
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<p>I started this thread (and, if I’m honest, I have not read every post) thinking that your son was exhibiting great maturity and knowledge of himself, and that you should probably count your blessings and let him be. That said, if you think that he’s avoiding applying to some schools out of stress and fear, you know him better than anonymous CC members do, and you should encourage him to relax and make decisions based on what will be best for him over the long term. </p>
<p>An early acceptance to a first-choice school is a gift. My son had a much more enjoyable senior year than many of his classmates who didn’t know early, but that should not (and did not in his case) come from avoiding reaches. </p>
<p>You are obviously caring and informed parents. It is no accident that your son is mature. Good luck to all of you. </p>
<p>If he’s willing to send an app to Brown for your sake and with the guarantee you won’t push him if he gets in, go for it.
I’d like to add he sounds like he’d be perfect for Carleton; a safety for his stats that is nevertheless superb for a math and music combination is St Olaf.</p>
<p>Sounding the Tufts horn again, as others have already, but can’t help it after visiting D on campus this weekend. What a vibrant, friendly, stimulating place. What is your son’s take on the school, if any?</p>