Thanks for your input - I love Tufts too and I think it’s a top contender, but we’ve got lots of conversations to have. Also, wanted to mention that we totally get that he is in a super fortunate place to be able to make this decision without worrying about $$. All of this input is super valuable. I was an almost full financial aid kid at CMC in the early '90s and I’m 100% OK with the fact that now it’s my turn to be full pay.
I think legacy is helpful, but not huge at CMC, and while I wish that he would have considered ED, I don’t think he was ready to commit yet, so it wasn’t an option. My older DD did get admitted to CMC four years ago (with lower stats) but ended up turning it down because she was offered a full ride that required her to pick a school in CO. Most of my CMC friends haven’t had amazing luck with their kids getting in. I think DS did a good, but not great job on his application (his optional video was just OK, and he felt like his interview which was with a student didn’t go as well as he hoped). I also think he might have been hurt by his sister turning CMC down a few years ago. It was far and away her first choice, but the full ride was something we couldn’t turn down at that time financially (it’s a pretty prestigious scholarship in CO called Boettcher that affords her a ton of other opportunities too, but I have a feeling her admissions officer really went to bat for her and I wonder if it affected his app)