Thank you for the great detailed response. I don’t think he has a case of grade inflation. Normally, he is a great test-taker, but that day was not the best. He will take the SAT again. So, we will see if it improves. (and then we would know about grade inflation) But, I do like some of your other school options and will discuss with our son.
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It would still help to know - what does he want in a school - size, weather, environment, etc. and if you’d like to spend less.
He’s probably good for 80% of the schools in the country - would help to narrow down!!
If you are considering schools in washington, does not hurt to add Oregon St. Is SMU a STEM school, I thought they are more known for business and humanities? Atleast to me, it sticks out as an odd school in the list.
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Similar to Purdue in many ways, but with much better hiking and a slightly less reachy admissions profile would be Virginia Tech. (Also much better food, fwiw - VT is known for great campus dining.) As at Purdue, there is First Year Engineering with secondary admission to the specific engineering majors; but unlike Purdue, VT includes computer science in their engineering school and thus in this structure. So a prospective CS major would apply to General Engineering (which would have better odds than applying to CS at Purdue); but the student then has to get at least a 3.0 GPA to be guaranteed their first choice major. Still, a 3.0 threshold isn’t brutal like TAMU’s 3.75!
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Is Lehigh worth a look? Still test optional, but Lehigh’s CDS says that standardized test scores are important. My S23 had similar GPA but a 34 ACT - accepted with $15K/year merit. I expect you’d need a higher SAT score for any merit (or have your S25 try the ACT - my kids all had strong preferences for one or the other). Middle 50% scores for kids admitted to Lehigh’s class of '27 (from their website): SAT 1400-1510 and ACT 32-34.
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Only 43% submitted a test - what majors were those, that I can’t say. So perhaps - if it fits OP - but I’m not sill sure what they’re seeking - again, 80% of schools will work based on what OP described - anywhere under $75K.
That it’s over $80K - it would require merit.
The students who get accepted to places like MIT and Stanford get high SAT scores on their really bad days.
Has he considered Texas Tech or TCU?
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Everyone is mentioning hiking - I see OP likes hiking.
How about U of Arkansas - Fayetteville is great.
I think Oregon State was mentioned.
How about WPI or RPI?
UTK - great hiking in the Smokey Mountains…or a smaller school like Tennessee Tech which will crush the budget. Both are near hiking.
Wyoming? New Mexico? South Dakota School of Mines - by the Badlands. Colorado School Mines? Arizona was mentioned. You can try a Cal Poly SLO. It’s a reach and CS Mines - due to the score…might be tough.
Montana State could be interesting.
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Is he prepping for his next test? He has 3-4 test dates left. He doesn’t have much time before the next test to prepare, but he could still take it and have a back up or two if he still isn’t hitting his goal. Also, the difficulty level of the tests aren’t consistent, so he may luck out with an easier one if he takes the test a couple more times.
Have him get on Reddit to see what test prep books and websites kids are using. Just learning test strategies alone, (answer the easy questions first, eliminate the obvious wrong answers, learn grammar and punctuation rules, learn the necessary pacing, etc.) could raise his score.
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