<p>msheft-</p>
<p>My child applied and was accepted to both KU and U of I. There is a local architect he spoke with who is a grad of KU and also Columbia, who enjoyed his years at KU very much, although quite a few many years ago.
As far as financial aid, KU was far and away more generous than UIUC, we are OOS for both. UIUC was actually more expensive for us than several private colleges/universites on our son’s list.
Feel free to PM or e-mail me for further info.</p>
<p>jacdad</p>
<p>msheft, you have a really nice list of schools. I think your son would get a good education at any of them. I think what your son accomplishes at any of those schools is more imporatnt than the specific school he chooses. When I was in graduate school at Columbia I was struck by the wide range of undergraduate schools that the students came from. </p>
<p>About 15 to 20 yeasr ago KU was really one of the best undergraduate programs in the country. It was one of the schools that a lot of the Ivy graduates that I knew wanted to teach at so they could get some experience before trying to come back to the east coast. I don’t think it is quite at that level now, but it is still a very solid program.</p>
<p>rick</p>
<p>So far, my son’s non-wighted GPA is 4.96/5.00 and weighted is 5.34. In math he will have AP Calc as a junior. As a senior, he will have AP Calc that is equivalent to Calc II in college. Through the high school’s Talent Development Program, he will have an internship (non paid) with an architectural firm after school for 2-3 days a week for a semester.</p>
<p>Our high school district consists of 6 high schools. The high schools offer an Architectural Design and Advanced Architectural Design classes. The high schools use AutoCad. The district purchases land every year and has a contest for the Advanced Arch Design students. The winner has his/her plans built by the construction trades classes and then the house is sold. Each student in his school comes up with a floor plan. The students vote on the best. The top two are chosen and the class is then divided into two teams to refine the top two plans. My son’s plan was voted the tops in his school. Against 8 other teams, his team using his floor plan (and most of the other plans–elevation, front view, side view, etc were his) won. The students actually had to dress up and formally present their plansto the judging panel. His house will be built in the starting in the fall. The judges were architects, builders, and realtors. Among the requirements, the house had to sell for $400,000 to $600,000 and be a ranch.</p>
<p>How cool is that!?!? What a great opportunity for all involved! I wish our school had something like that.</p>