I appreciate this thread – thanks to OP for sharing a compelling story about a unique application process. I am sure this kid knows exactly what he wants at this point in his journey and may very well be chairing the Chem E dept at his in-state in 25 years. All respect to the family for raising such a mindful young man. My niece, a brilliant young woman, spent her high school years pursuing a future in neuroscience–multiple national science awards, research at local in state, publication by junior year, valedictorian in private girls’ high school, varsity athlete…by senior year, just as application season was getting in full swing, made a precipitous departure to international studies, accepted to Tufts, studied Arabic, now works for NGO in the Middle East. Will pursue PhD soon. Older son–alternative high school–pursued museum education/music in college; chose an LAC with heavy internship program, spent winters/summers interning at some fine, exciting science-oriented museums in Boston and San Francisco. Took a programming elective on a bit of a whim his senior year of college (had always been a passionate hobby). Did his final required internship at a startup in Seattle. Ended up getting hired there, bootstrapped his way through multiple startups and is now a senior engineer at Microsoft. Younger son, heart set on MIT since a 7 year old. Toured it; no feel for it at all. Didn’t apply. Went through the fall application preparation process his senior year of high school and then, lit up by a series of linguistics lectures in a senior high school elective, starting talking more about that than his lifelong love of physics. Good thing the college he is heading to has both a strong physics department and nationally ranked linguistics department–that was a complete coincidence since his search was all about physics. You never know. All colleges on your son’s list are wonderful–if he ends up studying Music Composition or animal science I am sure they will serve him well!
@cypresspat My S19 had somewhat similar stats to your son and applied to schools for chemical engineering. He had the same GPA, same math SAT (but lower verbal), more AP/DE classes, not an athlete, heavy music (vocal all state level) and musical theater ECs, and attended a Gov. STEM school for math and science classes his 11th and 12th grade years. He was no where as thorough in his investigations of the Chem eng. departments as your son, though he did apply to 3 of the schools on your sons list. He was accepted at UVA (in state), Ga Tech, and wait-listed at U of M. He ended up not accepting the w/l as by the time he received that decision he was pretty sure it was going to be Ga Tech or in state at UVA or VT (one of his safeties). Also, it was going to be significantly more expensive if he was accepted. He ultimately chose Ga Tech but has decided to switch to Material Science Engineering. I look forward to your report on the Ga Tech visit.
Midwest state flagships can be excellent choices for STEM, and other fields.
@cypresspat if you happen to still be reading this…one of our kids applied to colleges that actually were viewed as “safety” schools for her…3 of them. They were her top choices. She matriculated at one and attended. It was a great choice for her, and a well regarded school…actually it is a very well regarded school in its region.
@VickiSoCal Why turn down Harvard (twice) for OSU? I guess she had her reasons (twice).
@racereer I am very bullish on GA Tech. First, besides the L.A. schools, it is the only one in a warm climate. Second, I love the materials they have sent. Well-done. Third, his GC, who knows him really well, thinks GA Tech and Cornell are the best fits for his temperament. But none of that matters to him. HE likes GA Tech for their chem eng dept. a lot. But it seems like a super reach for him being OOS. That could be irrational; not that familiar with the nuances of OOS/in state rates at GT. That is the one visit which actually may not happen. He has ONE day off during his soccer season and that is when we are scheduled to go. But all sorts of things could mess that up. Fingers crossed because I think he will really like ( or at least notice) the vibe there. Thanks for the info…gives me hope!
@thumper1 His top two choices right now are his safety and one of the high reaches. It kind of makes me wonder…why are are you not one-and-done, then? Hmmmmmmmm…
He may not be one and done because he/maybe you also are “not immune to the prestige factor.”?
And you seem to have opened up the financial parameters for him and he has been able to explore lots of schools. And he may feel he will stand out more from his peers if he goes to an OOS school . You seem conflicted as well about the “safety school.” Who knows really but he/your family will figure it out. Good luck!
A tiny handful of students do receive non-need based funding for med school at Harvard. It isn’t “merit scholarship” though. It is funded through their MD-PhD program. https://www.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd/admission/funding.html
I cannot fathom turning that program down, however, if admitted to it.
On CC kids do crazy things every day- we read about the kid who felt that Southern CT State College was a better fit than Yale because “he’s not into prestige”, or the kid who turned down JHU for Towson because she didn’t like the neighborhood in Baltimore.
In real life, the stats-- the actual stats- not so much. I’m always wondering why Harvard’s yield is so high if so many kids are turning it down for Stonehill, or who discover they’d rather major in accounting at Endicott than study econ at Harvard. Harvard DOES track it’s yield- and for kids who actually got admitted, most end up at Stanford, MIT, or similar. Sadly, Harvard does not track where the kids who get rejected (the vast majority of applicants) end up.
@cypresspat the GT admissions rate for this past year was 14.9% OOS and 37.7 in for 18.8% overall. While it is a reach school, given your sons stats he should have a decent shot. My son didn’t actually get to visit campus until after he was accepted.
Update for anyone in the future who bumps into this. S20 accepted into tOSU, as they released the first round of acceptances tonight. When I learned tOSU was releasing first round notices tonight, I hesitated to tell my son. I think if he had a ‘so what?’ attitude, I would be deflated thinking he is losing out on the thrill of acceptance. But he was at hockey and told me to check the portal obsessively and text him if I see anything. So, relieved he didn’t manage to mess up his college app to win the honor of being the first high stats kid rejected at tOSU and more relieved That he was excited to find out.
Next phase…ensuring he is positive tOSU is what he wants. Hey, the common App is complete. What’s another essay and the cost of dinner and a movie? Let’s throw another app out there! He has begrudgingly agreed to apply to GA Tech. He was previously in love with Cornell (so was I) but we are full-pay and he can’t see a big enough difference between Cornell and tOSU in what he wants to study to justify the cost difference. Plus he just loves tOSU! But…he has never visited GA Tech so oddly enough, it gets an app because he hasn’t had the chance to reject it (if that makes sense). Getting accepted by GA Tech as OOS is a very different ball game. But Cornell and GA Tech were the two schools his GC said were a great fit for my nerdy hockey player. So, maybe the GC has magical powers.
Will update if this course of his changes. If radio silence, that means O-H-I-O and Go Bucks!
Congrats!
Big Congrats coming from a Michigan guy… At least he knows he is going somewhere. Now it’s all gravy and he can enjoy his senior year!
The Ohio State University is a first rate flagship research university. I can’t imagine why you aren’t jumping for joy that your son got accepted to a great school that he wants to attend.
As an anecdote. Our DD really only wanted to apply to three schools. She was accepted to those before Christmas. Actually one even before Thanksgiving. All were in the safety for admissions range for her.
We insisted that she apply to a school closer to home…just in case. She agreed to do so if she could also apply to a real reach. Frankly, the money spent on those two additional applications was a waste of money…and it all was a waste if her time. She already had acceptances at her top choices.
I guess I wonder why you feel it’s necessary for your son to continue to apply to more colleges when he is happy with the acceptance he has.
Thanks…we got a rare full-toothed smile out of him. Feels good.
@knowstuff. Michigan, Michigan…give me a minute to place that one. I know I have heard of it, just can’t remember when. ?
@thumper1 Your points are all good ones. And we are totally over the moon (and his older brother is beyond psyched). But May 1 feels reeeeaaaalllly far away. And he has done quite a 180 within the past few months (was willing to sell his soul for Cornell…then…not). So I fear he will have regrets not giving himself options.
One of the weird influences for him is his hockey team. He has a freakishly high achieving cohort for hockey (which NEVER happens) and of the five seniors, he’s the only one not applying to 10 schools. So while he might be thinking ‘haha, you suckers, have fun with THAT’, he might feel left out in the locker room college choice debates. Dunno…but we won’t force him to do anything and will ultimately follow his lead.
Tonight, we give thanks to the college gods who smiled brightly on our house this year. His only words (not a big talker, that one) were ‘I am so lucky.’ Mic drop.
@cypresspat , CONGRATULATIONS! It’s great that he got into what is essentially his #1 choice. Good luck with GaTech!
By the way…quick shout out for tOSU’s marketing department. I don’t think we have gotten a single piece of direct mail from tOSU (considering literally one-third of each senior class applies there, it probably isn’t seen as necessary. One cannot walk down the street of downtown Cleveland without seeing at least 50 people with some sort of OSU spirit wear on - much to the anger of the Indians, Cavs and Browns team shop managers).
But…yesterday…a nice little ‘view book’ showed up. I wondered…hmmmmm. Is this timing on purpose? Do they drop these 3 days before acceptances roll out? If so, kudos to those who pull that one off. Clever.
And to the University of Chicago…please, stop. There’s a tree out there somewhere which deserves to live a few more days.