we are comfortable being full pay.
i know that is insane, especially at almost $90k a year.
we are also happy to not pay as much and go where the National Merit money will be an advantage.
I’m sorry if this doesn’t provide enough direction regarding budget.
Clarkson in New York? Haven’t heard of it. Will research now. than you. And will look harder at the other three. Tulsa seems to have good feedback from students and parents on this site.
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Since budget is not a big concern, just apply to a balanced list of schools, including some that will offer merit. You can decide in the spring how much weight to put on the COA once you know the options.
When you’ve somewhat narrowed your list, I encourage your student to browse the college social media pages and student run newsletters to get a sense of the campus culture. Many college clubs maintain SM pages so perhaps look for an LGBTQ club page (or any club) to see how active and engaged it seems. Your student can also ask Admissions to connect them with students sharing similar interests. We found students to be quite forthcoming when my D did this.
Best of luck to your student!
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Tulsa is free for you - nmsf. A quarter or more of the class is NM. The president posts on here. He seems to connect kids with resources.
Whether it’s strong in your areas and socially (lgbtq friendly) I can’t say.
You can research.
If you want to reach him type in @pres and his name will pop up first. You can send him a message if desire.
As for 3-2, my concern will be so they really do the two. If not, then what plus there’s a year of extra $$ and lost $$ and you mentioned a Masters. The extra $$ cost and lost $$ warnings would add another year.
As for Mines and others, please don’t go by I heard. Go visit, stop and talk to kids, and see for yourself.
Where there is competitive secondary admission, the more competitive behavior is likely to be found in the pre-major weed out courses.
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Thank you.
Carleton is probably out b/c of location/weather for him, but I will mention it.
Emory and U Miami he hasn’t looked at, so i’ll put that on the list to research.
And Case Western. He should really give that a serious look as I think he would have a decent chance, we just don’t know about the culture or if the students are happy there.
Tufts looks like they will be a hard reach (although they seem to have some great programs) so maybe he should keep it as a reach school.
Rochester he didn’t like from the visit.
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Helpful feedback.
Tufts definitely a reach for all students.
What did he not like about Rochester? (details can help posters better help you) IMO Rochester and CWRU are similar in many ways (harsher weather in Rochester to be sure.)
If he does pursue CWRU, demonstrated interest is important there. Ideally do an in-person visit, but also do an online admissions session and sign up for emails then open those emails and click on links.
He should sign up for email lists for the schools he’s interested in…even if a given school doesn’t track interest, the info in those emails can help with Why Us? essays.
thank you! very helpful ideas.
I can’t speak for whether it is worth the money ($75K/yr). Within the UCs, you might look at UC Davis. It checks off most of your boxes. It is a very friendly, very collaborative campus. While there are parties to be found, and they have a football team, it isn’t the primary focus of students. UC Davis is very inclusive. It has a great college town. It is close to a major airport in Sacramento. The only thing that doesn’t fit is that it is a biking campus.
really good to know about the learning communities at Purdue. thank you! That does make a big difference.
Student has heard from guidance counselor that very recently it’s gotten extremely hard for OOS to get into engineering or CS at Purdue. Our high school’s very top students are no longer getting in, and just a couple years ago it was a safety for these kids.
May be worth applying though b/c of the learning communities and how strong the programs are.
Would calpolySLO work for this student?
OP commented on the difficulty to get there from PA.
Purdue would be a reach for your student’s intended major but worth a shot.
Clarkson was a great recommendation!
Just to orient you, Clarkson is a smaller private R2 research university. I believe it typically has around 2700 undergrads and another 1100 grad students (at the Potsdam campus), making it sort of like an LAC in undergrad size. Potsdam the town is small, but there are some other colleges in the area they apparently might socialize with. The nearest really large cities are actually in Canada, Ottawa and Montreal.
It has long been known for its strength in engineering, and in fact is #11 on the per capita version of this list of top feeders to Engineering PhD programs:
You have to take that with a bit of a grain of salt, because over half the class ends up graduating with an Engineering degree (and it is more like 2/3rds if you include CS and Engineering Management), which is going to boost its per capita score (same thing with other similar Engineering-focused colleges on that list).
But still, that means despite being a smaller university it has a very robust engineering program, lots of engineering alums, and so on.
In terms of vibe, you always hear a mix of things, but I have heard most people say it is pretty academically challenging but also supportive, collaborative, friendly–generally the sorts of things you tend to hear about smaller but academicky schools.
Just to give you an idea, here is a brief conversation where a couple parents were talking about why their kids chose Clarkson. These are pretty typical comments from what I have seen:
Anyway, I just thought of it when you were describing what you were looking for. Maybe the location is a deal-breaker, though. Entirely up to your kid.
Edit:
Oh, and this is their Computer Engineering Major page. Again, it strikes me as really talking about the sorts of things your kid is looking for:
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I think Pitt, currently top choice, takes a TON of weight off your shoulders - and now you can explore others as time permits - or even apply and explore later should you get accepted and a package you like. There are 20 common app spots - so you can use many, knowing that Pitt (if you apply early) is happening and you like it. So Purdue - if you get in, you can go visit - if you don’t. No problem. You had 20 app spots. Don’t forget, in the end, you’re only going to one school. On the other hand, Lafayette you didn’t love - so why apply unless you think the student could change their mind over Pitt.
I don’t see on line how many students attend but given the breadth of the academics and student population, probably not overly large. You can reach out to the departments and ask.
So many kids don’t have a “top choice” - or a school they really like - so you’re well ahead of the curve.
Pitt is really a fine school in so many disciplines - so if he decides to switch out, he’s in a great place too.
You noted you wouldn’t apply to a few schools like Harvey Mudd because you don’t see the student getting in. OK - so they don’t get in. You don’t need to apply to 10 schools and get into 10 schools.
You need to apply to at least one school (preferably two), get in, be able and desiring to afford it and love it.
That’s Pitt.
So apply to Harvey Mudd or Claremont McKenna or Pomona or Cornell or wherever else you think is a - we’d love to get in because it potentially fits but we don’t expect to.
It doesn’t matter - because you have Pitt - and you might end up surprising yourself at one or two. I hoped both my kids got turned down and one did at WUSTL (another for you to look at) - he was WL and didn’t get off. The other at Rice and UNC and then had two wait lists, one of which they stayed on (and didn’t get off) and one they didn’t stay on. That told me - hey, at least they strived. Not saying to applying to 20 places that 19 are likely rejections because that can be hard on the psyche. But applying to only assured or likelies isn’t necessarily a great strategy either.
Good luck.
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Admission to Caltech as the “2” school in 3+2 arrangements is competitive. The other possible “2” schools with Oberlin are CWRU, Columbia, and WUStL, each of which may have its own admission requirements and processes for transfer as the “2” school. If none of the “2” schools is particularly desirable to the student (for whatever reason), then it is unlikely that the student will make the transfer. Of course, if any of them are, then the student may want to apply to them for regular frosh admission.
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Just wanted to add to the chorus to take a look at Case Western.
Also, about Pitt, you maybe know this, but their admissions are rolling, and they just started sending out acceptances: University of Pittsburgh Class of 2029 Thread. The sooner he gets his application in there (even if he takes a while to figure out where else he wants to apply), the sooner he can relax on that front, and have fun exploring his various options.
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I note I know most about WashU’s 3+2 engineering program, and on the plus side it appears to still have pretty transparent admissions requirements, and no additional scarcity if you meet the requirements:
https://engineering.washu.edu/academics/dual-degree-program/FAQs.html
Is admission guaranteed?
All applicants are admitted as long as the candidate:
- is currently attending one of our affiliations schools
- completes all of the course requirements for admission and achieves a 3.25 GPA or above (overall and math/science)
- is endorsed by their current institution certifying aptitude for engineering study and the completion of a bachelor’s level, non-engineering degree at the current institution no later than receipt of the engineering degree from WashU
The only reason a student would not be accepted after meeting the above requirements is if they had an anomaly on their record such as a felony or a severe academic integrity violation, for example.
As a result, it appears quite a few LAC kids do in fact do this program collectively–around 300 at a time according to them. And from the pictures at their website, it appears to often include Oberlin specifically, like as in I could see four standing together in the group picture (and possibly there were more I could not see).
Oberlin also specifically has an Engineering major, designed for 3+2 students. Not all affiliate LACs have that sort of thing, so that is a possible plus to choosing Oberlin specifically:
All that said, personally, I am still skeptical it is a good idea to actually start off at an LAC without four-year engineering if you KNOW you want to do engineering.
By the way, I actually do think WashU sounds like a potential fit for this kid, but it is very reachy and they are known to be pretty numbers-driven. So again if it were me, I would be more interested in finding the right four-year college, rather than trying to back door into WashU (or other “2” schools).
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a lot to think about. great points.
he isn’t going to do well with 10 rejections, but a few is expected.
Ok… looking again at Harvey Mudd b/c it really seems like a great fit and you are right, there isn’t a downside other than the application fee and time.
Wash U came to his high school and he went to the meeting, and he doesn’t want to apply. I’m not exactly sure why (these are like 16 year olds after all) but something about the Wash U rep. saying they are just as selective and hard to get into as the most selective schools, including Ivies. Which (I think) he took as “then why would i apply to you over an Ivy?” We know someone my age who went to Wash U and loved it, but I’m not sure i should push it.
That’s kinda the point of this post. To get reality checks and real world experiences to advise him, as we are pretty late to do a complete overhaul of his list (which is basically what’s happening)
Thank you again. Great advice.
UCSD is competitive and can be stressful because everyone is competing for strong grades.
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