<p>vlines, thanks for all your suggestions. I will check out those links. I am well aware of the benefits of AP credits: My d went to a private school and was able to graduate a full semester early, saving us thousands of dollars. It’s hard to believe, but the cost for private school back then is about the same as for oos public now! Thanks also for your personal take on the social climate at U MD. It’s a bit hard to get that from guidebooks. We are actually from WA-not CA- but I think my kids have grown up with a more “chill” attitude. DD went to school in boston, thinking she wanted east coast, but found many kids too uptight for her comfort, and ended up hanging out with the southerners and mid-westerners. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to a bunch of constraints that i won’t belabor here, my son’s college search has necessitated that “fit” be relegated to a lower level priority than i would like. In seeking out a school with a good program in computer science, we have had to focus on large publics (as he is not a competitive applicant at the top cs-ranked privates). Trying to find those publics where tuition is not in the $35k+ range means that we are looking at some schools we would not consider otherwise. </p>
<p>fieldsports, I was pointing out a possible pitfall of the application process at huge public schools. We are not trying to hide information- just the opposite! If the school asks for all scores, we would hope that they would consider them all. My concern was that, because of a vagary of the system, my son’s least persuasive scores would be considered. Also, as I mentioned, one admissions counselor actually gave an audience of prospective applicants directions completely at odds with the suggested policy on their website.</p>
<p>mommeleh- my son is CS major, he is Going to Alabama. Good program, maybe not ranked like UMD- but accredited and graduates do well. Because of all of his AP credits, he is able to be in University Scholars, which allows him to get his masters in CS in 4 years. I believe (hope!!) that will take care of the difference in school prestige. His ACT scores were high enough to earn him the presidential scholarship at Alabama (full out of state tuition value), + 2500/ year through engineering. So basically, we only pay for room and board and travel. There is another student on the Alabama forums on CC from Seattle (Sea_Tide). He may be a good resource if you want more info on fit from a “local”! </p>
<p>BTW- my son graduated HS with a 4.589 GPA, was salutatorian, and earned his AS in math at the CC his senior year in HS. His dream school since 7th grade was CMU. There was no way we could afford the $60,000/ year +, and we knew that although he had a potential to get into CMU, his chance to get merit aid was probably zero. So I understand where you are coming from!!</p>
<p>Bama - My son visited this month. He loves LACs and prefers west coast schools for the attitude. He was VERY impressed with Bama. He was very surprised that he liked it.</p>
<p>He promptly wiped off lower level LACs from his list after the visit.</p>
<p>It is worth a look, especially if he can get 1400 M/CR in one sitting. Have him reach out to the honors coordinate and be put in touch with faculty in his field of interest. It was the faculty bending over backward for my son that created the extremely positive impression.</p>
<p>Wowee!!! That’s a nice scholarship. I have repeatedly seen reference to Alabama for good merit. I will have to seriously take a look. (And thanks for the referral to a seattle native )</p>
<p>I think your son will be well-positioned upon graduation. While there is no doubt that some schools have more name recognition in CS, I get the feeling that, after the first job, you sort of make your own destiny. At least, that is what my bil tells me from canvassing people where he works. Being from NY originally, I think it is my own bias to direct my son to places that would feel more familiar to ME. I think I may need to broaden my view a bit.</p>
<p>I must admit that I feel a bit guilty that my son will not have the same freedom to choose schools without regard to finances as did his sister. But, after the COA surpassed a certain threshold, we just decided it does not make sense at all. Our situation is made all the more frustrating by the fact that our flagship is extremely highly ranked in CS. Problem is that admission is extremely competitive. He may, in fact, go there and give it a shot. But, if he doesn’t get in, he will need to transfer.</p>
<p>And Alabama’s scholarship is guaranteed, not competitive. You get the stats, you get the scholarship. Done deal. </p>
<p>This is the scholarship:</p>
<p>College of Engineering Scholarships 2013-2014</p>
<p>Out-of-State
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.</p>
<p>Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive a tuition supplement to bring their University-level scholarship offer up to the value of tuition. In addition, they will receive $2,500 per year for four years.</p>
<p>Students who have a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years.</p>
<p>Since your son already has the 1360 in one sitting for CR&M, he already qualifies for the guaranteed scholarship that my son has for CS. However, if he decides on a different major outside of engineering, he looses that scholarship and goes down to the the general mid level scholarship (Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive two-thirds the cost of tuition for four years). Still a good scholarship, but not AS good! </p>
<p>I had my son keep testing until he hit the 32 ACT so that he would not be restricted in his major to Engineering. I can’t imagine him doing any other career, but at this age, you never know. And I wanted him to have the financial choice.</p>
<p>Oh, and one last thing, Alabama’s application, very very very easy. Not the common app. No essay. Essay only for Honors College, but a short easy one.</p>
<p>My son had his admission to Alabama a few days after he started his senior year of HS last year.</p>
<p>Huntsville is a good school too, it is more of a commuter school, so fewer students stay on campus. I understand that is changing some, and that may not be a factor for your son.</p>
<p>longhaul & vlines–I can’t understand why good math students have trouble with basic algebra & geometry just because they are “advanced.” </p>
<p>A teacher at our college-prep HS used the same argument to explain why their kids didn’t do as well on the PSAT (Nat Merit results). At our (regular) HS, our kids didn’t have that problem, evidently. My kids were all advanced and they didn’t “forget” their basic math. So I don’t see it.</p>
<p>Not to hijack the thread…</p>
<p>I second looking at Case Western BUT they do have a series of mandatory writing-based seminar classes for all, including STEM majors. So if your son finds writing painful, I would suggest thinking twice.</p>
<p>^I agree it’s a good idea, but engineers need to learn clear <em>technical</em> writing, and these seminars are in liberal arts areas. Fine if you can already write, murder if you can’t b/c it doesn’t actually teach you how to write.</p>
<p>mommusic…my understanding is that the tests pull in a few questions about concepts that were probably covered in in those classes, but are not used in the more advanced classes, particularly not in Calculus. They are often stand alone type of skills/ problems. So students that you think should/would get close to perfect scores inevitably miss a few math questions because of the stand alone skills that were tested and they could not pull the concept fom memory. </p>
<p>If the tests only covered main and pertinent concepts, you would be correct. It would not matter. But that is not how the tests are structured. </p>
<p>And my son did not want to go to Case because of the writing as well. Not that I think it is not important, or not a good thing, but it definitely turned him off from the school.</p>
<p>I do believe that there is validity to the idea that the students who studied algebra/geometry material longer ago have some disadvantage in the math section. But that may not be the source of my son’s “problems”. He tends to make careless errors- sometimes in simply reading the question. Some kids are better at focusing for 4 hrs. Others- not so much. Furthermore, there is a great deal of compression at the upper end of the math scoring. There are tests where the difference between a 710 or 720 and 760 is one more question correct. Both times my son took the test, students mentioned that the curve was pretty unforgiving. </p>
<p>We did look at Case. I have heard from several people that it is not so great in Computer Science. I will keep in mind the issue of the SAGES curriculum.</p>
<p>The problem with the SAT math test is that the curve is unforgiving. Kids taking advabced math may have become a little sloppy with their algebra because they grow accustomed to partial credit. The SAT math concepts are not difficult and I suspect most advanced students would look at the problems they missed and hit themsves in the forehead.</p>
<p>Plus, aside from the pure math knowledge SAT math has it’s own little methodology and trickiness…</p>
<p>Yes. bovertine, you hit it on the head.(pun intended). I guess my frustration comes from feeling that the measures that more accurately might predict math ability/achievement (SAT math subject level 2 or AP calc exam scores) are not even going to be viewed by admissions counselors at many of the schools my son is considering.</p>
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