Right, his A&M aero deal includes an additional year for his Masters. UT is a 4 year deal. All of the college’s pressure is subtle but is real. Deadlines to decide here and there are games. I feel we have one shot to make the right choice coming out of HS and are just praying for clarity. To further complicate things, now Princeton wants an interview. Couple that with MIT and Caltech wanting him to be involved with their sports programs and I am very thankful to God for the options but jeez…
He’s ready to get excited about a decision and he’s so fun, he’s ready to create a spinning wheel. My wife and I are just ready to stop having to see others and explain that he’s still undecided.
@TheTXDAD I understand your dilemma. If the costs were the same, the decision would be easy. With the cost difference, I would have struggled if faced with the same choices, especially when I don’t have the same level of knowledge about the TX schools as I do with some top tech schools (and an Ivy).
Caltech’s rigor is well known. However, it isn’t necessarily responsible for stresses. Stresses occur when there’s academic mismatch between the student and the demand of the college curriculum. A student in the bottom quartile at any college would struggle academically at that college. I always advise prospective students (to any college) to make sure that the college is an academic fit.
Caltech’s emphasis on foundational or fundamental understanding of any subject is also well known. I think Caltech believes that its students need to have a more profound understandings of the math and sciences behind any STEM subject in order to function at the level its students are expected to. Good students can, and they usually do, supplement their more formal class training with practices in research labs and other research projects on campus and at JPL.