Questions about being an engineering major

MarinMom
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:56:29 +0000

Somehow I missed that you lived in Calif. - sillly me.

I tend to agree with Sylvan, except that I’m one of those naturally risk-averse people who always likes to have a Plan B. Sounds like UC fits the bill pretty nicely. The application process is pretty straightforward. I would encourage him to apply to a couple of other UC’s besides just UCSD, especially if he isn’t crazy about the campus (my kids weren’t either). For all that Cal and UCLA are giant, they at least have the depth in math, physics, and engineering that he’ll be looking for. And a lot can change with him in 9 months. The kid who starts out the fall not wanting to go to a big state uni can have a change of heart by next spring. It’s one application; he just clicks the box by each UC campus that he wants to apply to and pays an extra $60, so there’s no time or emotional investment in applying to additional campuses. Those 3 schools don’t really fit the definition of safety except that you can look at the grades and test scores of this year’s entering class and have a pretty good idea of whether he’ll be admitted or not. As opposed to private uni’s, where the admissions process is a lot more “black box.”

The other strategy that worked well for my kids was to apply early to their top choice school. I’m not a fan of applying binding ED, especially if cost is a concern, because it locks a kid into a choice that might not be appropriate 6-8 months later, and it can lead to real financial issues later on. My kids both applied SCEA, and it worked well for them. For my younger, it was truly his top choice, and when he was accepted in Dec. he was done - decision made. For my older, it was her top choice until her bf broke up with her (nothing like combining teen hormones with the college app process), and she later ended up making the agonizing decision to go to School B. However, it made the application process much simpler for both kids, as they only applied to schools that had an application deadline prior to when they would hear from their SCEA school (and in my older’s case, School B - after the breakup). There’s a huge risk to applying early, which is that if he doesn’t get in he’ll only have about 3 weeks to submit his other apps, and he’ll be feeling pretty dejected. For that reason he needs to have a very clear list of schools that he’s going to apply to if his top choice rejects or defers him. If he doesn’t have a clear top choice, then he might want to consider applying early to schools that have unrestricted early action, just so that if he gets in he doesn’t have to bother applying to the schools on his list that he’s not as interested in.

This strategy only works if he’s had a chance to investigate his list pretty thoroughly, which might mean making some visits if you can swing it financially. In particular I’d recommend that you visit MIT, as I think it might change his mind about tech schools.