Adding to the list.
S24: GA, large suburban HS
UW 3.7/W 4.2
HS does not rank
ACT 36
12 APs including 3 in progress, mix of 5s, 4s, and 3s
NMF
ECs, LORs and essays are ok and probably didn’t make much difference
Applied everywhere EA or in Aug for rolling admission schools
Accepted
University of Alabama - Presidential Elite scholarship (tuition), would qualify for NMF scholarship (full ride)
UA Huntsville - Presidential Scholarship (tuition plus 1 year housing)
Auburn - Academic Presidential Scholarship of 17k per year
Ga State - $2000 scholarship, honors
UGA
Clemson
FSU - NMF scholarship
Northeastern - ATTENDING - deferred EA, accepted ED2
Denied
Ga Tech, applied EA for Math, has pathway to return fall sophomore year
We learned a lot on College Confidential so thanks for everyone’s help and input. You may notice that we started and ended very differently. We started by bargain hunting in the southeast and then we did a 360 and went full pay for a Boston private. Older sister had a disappointing run in her college app cycle just one year earlier, so I guess we were looking for sure things going into it for S24.
S24 never really showed much love for anything but Ga Tech and is a generally a go with the flow kind of guy so we had little direction from him. His first choice after the Ga Tech rejection was UGA and pathway back to Ga Tech. He had already applied to Northeastern EA based on family recommendations, it being in a city, and the lack of a supplemental essay (that was his #1 consideration if we’re being honest).
Once he was deferred EA, we dug deeper into the program and learned as much as we could before deciding to go ED2. While it’s very expensive full pay, they accept about a year’s worth of AP credits, so we’d pay about 3 years worth of tuition, or not that different from OOS at a Clemson for 4 years. NU has a strong focus on career preparation, they do not restrict majors, so it was one way to get into a very good CS program. The CS program is well regarded and his dad, who is in the field, was really impressed with their approach - they teach them how to think about programming before introducing them to languages. S24 loves that NU is in a proper city, with T stops on campus, vs car centric Atlanta. He’s pretty excited about NU. He just submitted a couple of music scholarship auditions (great it’s available for non-music majors) and we’re waiting to find out what “competitive” amount he gets for NMF.
There are so many voices out there Locally, most kids heads to a public university, and loves their football team. My family up north thought he should go to the best school he could get into no matter the cost. I heard over and over from non-Southerners that Alabama schools would not be a cultural fit for him. CC folks tell you to take the money and find fit. We never found that magical fit because I’m not sure S24 knows even now what he wants. We as parents took the reins but I think we needed to. We are happy with the result.