<p>During my time here, I've seen there's lots of knowledge on these boards. I'm hoping that you all can help me out.</p>
<p>He's thinking of majoring in computer science. He'd prefer website development/design but I'd prefer he learn to create programs rather than simply use them. He also has interests in media. He prefers smaller schools with lots of class discussions. His high school is very collaborative and has a project based curriculum. He enjoys being allowed to demonstrate his knowledge in whatever medium he chooses. He's pretty creative when it's a topic he's interested in. Flexible curriculums will suit him best. He has Aspergers and an IEP although he does not make use of it. He likes to write science fiction and horror stories, play video games, and has dreams of being a comedian. He would like to be involved in those activities in college. He has no geographical preferences. I think he would be upset with a school that was more than 60% male. </p>
<p>Oh and FA need is huge. I expect he will be Pell eligible if regulations do not change between now and then.</p>
<p>Stats</p>
<p>URM - African American male
First gen</p>
<p>GPA 3.2 uw His school offers no honors or AP classes but is a small magnet school in a poor, kinda crappy, urban school district in Pennsylvania
By graduation he will have taken
3 years of Spanish
4 years of Math including calculus
4 years of science including physics
4 years of English
4 years of History/ Social Studies
He's taking Psych 101 this summer at the local community college</p>
<p>ACT - 28 composite - 26 eng, 25 math (highest subsection was plane geometry/trig), 33 reading, 26 science
SAT - 1860 - 660cr, 580m, 620w
No accomodations on either test</p>
<p>No real ECs - track and field, improv, various writing workshops, a paid summer internship creating content for a website, various computer camps, current school based internship is with an organization that creates educational multi-media products.</p>
<p>ACT 28 and GPA >3.0 should get him the $15,000/year Blazer Elite scholarship at University of Alabama Birmingham, leaving about $10,000/year remaining cost of attendance. That may be worth considering as a safety if $10,000/year is affordable. UAB has an ABET-accredited computer science degree program.</p>
<p>Thanks for that suggestion. It certainly was not on my radar. Now can you tell me how that school would compare to West Chester or Kutztown in PA. Those would be his instate safeties and probably similar in out of pocket costs.</p>
<p>Erin’sDad - Thanks for those links. While I’m not a huge fan of rankings it did make me look at the stats for the last entering class and UAB did have the higher stats. I’m sure that’s primarily due to the scholarships they offer. The PA schools have nothing like that, even for in-state students.</p>
<p>Oh, I see I forgot to mention that my son is a junior.</p>
<p>Are there any more suggestions?</p>
<p>reeinaz – Think seriously about whether your son should go to a college more than a few hours’ drive away. There have been several threads on here started by parents of Aspergers students, and the topic of having those students go to college close to home has come up time and again – even for students who are very high-achieving. Here is one of those threads: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/962903-college-high-functioning-aspergers.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/962903-college-high-functioning-aspergers.html</a></p>
<p>I also strongly suggest the book Realizing the College Dream With Autism or Asperger Syndrome by Ann Palmer, who is the mother of a college graduate son with autism. The book is full of useful information for parents of college students on the spectrum. [Ann</a> Palmer](<a href=“http://www.annpalmerautism.com/]Ann”>http://www.annpalmerautism.com/)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You might want to put Truman State University in Missouri on your radar. I don’t know about the strength of their CS program, though they appear to have a fairly wide variety of courses ([Program:</a> Computer Science (BS) - Truman State University - acalog ACMS?](<a href=“Program: Computer Science (BS) - Truman State University - Acalog ACMS™”>Program: Computer Science (BS) - Truman State University - Acalog ACMS™)). They are very affordable, even for out-of-state students, and your son’s stats would put him just about in the middle of the admitted applicant pool.</p>
<p>BTW, your son sounds like he will be a great student wherever he winds up!</p>
<p>For CS, he should take a look at the course catalogs to see what each school offers in terms of upper division level CS courses (and how often – some smaller departments may offer some courses only once every two years), because CS departments may vary in what subareas they emphasize.</p>
<p>For typical industry software jobs, upper division courses in algorithms/complexity, operating systems, networks, software engineering, databases, and security/cryptography will contain commonly used concepts. Additional subareas may be used in specific types of jobs (e.g. graphics and artificial intelligence in gaming).</p>
<p>If you live in PA and want your son to be close, consider Drexel.
NJIT in Newark and is great for STEM majors.
Both schools are worth a visit.
NJIT has a lot of great scholarships.
Both are easily accessible by mass transit.
I know that was a concern for me when I went to college.</p>
<p>Along the lines of low cost small schools, University of Minnesota - Morris has a [cost</a> of attendance about $23,000 per year](<a href=“http://www.morris.umn.edu/financialaid/costofattendance/]cost”>http://www.morris.umn.edu/financialaid/costofattendance/), about 2,000 students total, and a relatively large selection of [CS</a> courses](<a href=“http://onestop2.umn.edu/courses/courses.jsp?designator=CSCI&submit=Show+the+courses&campus=UMNMO]CS”>http://onestop2.umn.edu/courses/courses.jsp?designator=CSCI&submit=Show+the+courses&campus=UMNMO) for a small school (though you have to check what “offered periodically” for some of them means).</p>
<p>He has an IEP…why is he testing without accomodations?</p>
<p>Marsian - thanks. I’ve read that thread. My son is pretty independent. He’s not on meds and he wakes up and gets to school on his own. The things he has problems with, I can’t see how being close to home can prevent them. It would be easier for me to check in on him, yes. But I can’t do/turn in his assignments for him just like I can’t do those things now with him living under my roof. </p>
<p>Annasdad - thanks.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus - thanks. I frequently see your suggestions concerning CS coure offings. I’ve kept that in mind. That seems to be the biggest downside of wanting to study CS at a LAC. Most schools seem to have no more than 10-12 courses not including independent study/research/internship classes. I LOVE Williams’ CS curriculum but that’s beyond a reach for my son. I will take a look at Univ of Minn.</p>
<p>Siliconvalleymom - If only having an IEP were sufficient for the testing agencies to grant accomodations. But he’s fine with his scores and so am I :)</p>
<p>Check out Hampshire College.
[Computer</a> Science](<a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/computer_science.htm]Computer”>Computer Science | Hampshire College)</p>
<p>This is a small, innovative school with an open curriculum. Through its membership in the 5 College Consortium, students can leverage the many CS offerings at UMass Amherst, in addition to Hampshire’s own courses. The other 3 member schools include Amherst College (similar to Williams).</p>
<p>Hampshire’s CS offerings do look unusual and potentially interesting to some students, but it also looks like a CS student would have to go to UM Amherst to take many of the typical “core” CS courses.</p>
<p>Perhaps checking net price calculators for the consortium schools can indicate whether UM Amherst or Hampshire would be less expensive. It may also be worth checking the administrative and other difficulty of using the consortium (which may vary depending on which is the student’s “native” school).</p>
<p>reeinaz – When I mentioned having a child with Aspergers close by, I wasn’t referring to helping him/her with classwork or turning in assignments. I’ve known several parents of young men with Aspergers who went to college. None of them were involved at all with their sons’ coursework. However, they did find that being close was helpful when their sons had health problems, needed help finding housing other than in a dorm, had to go home for the weekend to get away from the stress of communal living, etc. Your son may be able to cope well with all this, and that is great. However, it is something to consider for most people with autism because of the social and/or sensory difficulties that even the highest-functioning people have.</p>
<p>I agree with annasdad. It sounds like he’ll be a good student wherever he goes.</p>
<p>Marsian - Ah ok. I’ve learned fairly recently that my son is pretty independent for an Aspie. I think he’ll be ok living in the dorms as long as he can get a room on quiet floor and/or can find a quiet space somewhere to just regroup. If anything goes haywire with him, it really would be quite unexpected. I’m trying really hard to keep a realistic view of his abilities and keep in mind what he can do as well as what is difficult for him. I’m looking very closely at supportive services that are available to the general population of students and am finding that the less selective schools have more of the coaching and mentoring that would be of use to him.</p>
<p>Look into WPI (Worcester Polytechnic University). [About</a> WPI - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/about/index.html]About”>http://www.wpi.edu/about/index.html)</p>
<p>The male/female ratio is not great, but it is a smaller science/engineering school that has some features he might really like. It’s expensive, but with financial aid and even merit awards it might work out. At private schools like this, the fact that he is a URM, first-gen, and out-of-state will help in both admissions and merit money.</p>
<p>Look into Marshall U. in Huntington, WV. They have an excellent program specifically for Aspies. Other schools with support programs are Drexel U, Carnegie Mellon and Dowling College. Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>I took a look at University of Minnesota - Morris and I really like it. It’s perfect as far as what I can afford, around $10k. It seems like such a great school with both the academic and social interests of my son. And the size is spot on! I also like that it should have a name in a nice metropolitan area like the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>Also, UAB rocks!! My only concern is that it’s in a major city. My son has stated he doesn’t want an urban campus, but when he hears urban campus, he thinks tons of concrete and no green spaces like Temple and Drexel. He also would like a slower pace and while I could assume Birmingham is slower than Philly, maybe not that much?</p>
<p>Truman was nice but the course offerings were more limited than either UMM or UAB so I don’t think that one is going on the list just yet. It also seemed more isolated to me than UMM.</p>
<p>WPI’s npc still had me coming up with over $20k a year even after $8500 in loans for my son. So that one is not looking like a possibility.</p>
<p>OhioValley - Thanks for those suggestions but I don’t think my son will need such structured programs. He really just needs like a check in person, someone he can go to for help when he gets stuck.</p>
<p>Minnesota-Morris is a 2-3 hour drive to the Twin Cities. It’s a great school but not that close to a big city. I just want to make sure you realize that because based on your above post I wasn’t sure.</p>