| Parent56, Welcome to CC! Please consider, given that you are looking ahead three years, that colleges like geographic diversity. I take it that the boarding school that is 7 hours away is not in Alabama, and you have to consider that there are not that many kids from Alabama that apply to top 25 schools (I don't want anyone from the South to flame me, so let me say that, yes, there are qualified kids from Alabama, but numerically there are likely to be less than in most other states). If your DS ends up in a boarding school in Texas, he might not be viewed as highly as a kid who went to school in Alabama and did well.
The other thing to consider is the National Merit program, which often leads to major scholarships. I do not remember exactly, but I think that if you are in a boarding school outside of your home state, they compare you to students in the state where the boarding school is located. Alabama has a relatively low cutoff on the PSAT for the National Merit Scholarship. Good luck to you - your son has a lot going for him. |