<p>WOW! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all of the interesting discussion and opinions. My younger son (unlike my older one who is a guitar player and wants to be a Senator) does not know exactly what we wants to do. He is not driven by any particular obsessive passion (besides the NY Knicks which is clearly not giving him the results he desires ). He is a charming and funny straight A and A+ student who seems to like Math better than the other subjects. A big factor for him in determining whether or not he likes a subject is the connection and has with and the respect he has for the teacher. He has participated in student government and Destination Imagination for the past 6 years and did do some acting when he was younger. He also played Lacrosse for a few years. But he is not interested in really participating in sports and does not have much interest in the arts beyond film and is not outdoorsy in cold weather places. So all of this has taken us in a direction of pursuing academically challenging, personal environments, a place where social life is not centered on sporting events necessarily, opportunities to find his passion with strong a Math department (maybe even Econ) the opportunity to take some film classes and with a faculty/student ratio that will give him the guidance needs to help shape his future ambitions. </p>
<p>We are still in the early stages. As I learned with my other son, even with great test scores, a stand out GPA, and IB Diploma and a ton of interesting EC with leadership roles, if the acceptance rate is below 20% it is still a crap shoot. Perhaps if we didnt live in Westchester, NY my boys would be more geographically interesting to admissions counselors. But thats life. My older son found a home at Vassar and I am sure when all is said and done, my younger son will find the right place (which he will no doubt hate on some days) for him</p>
<p>Thank you again! I love this forum</p>