<p>jshain, congratulations on your son’s accomplishments! He can’t be too much of a procrastinator if he is already working on his essays!
Since Michigan has rolling admissions, he should submit this application first, and if he is accepted within a short period of time, this will become his safety. It is an extremely fine engineering school.
In terms of studying, I would suggest that you ask someone else, not you, explain to him before he goes to college that he will need to put in an hour a day, outside of class time, for EACH class that he is taking. That means five hours of studying a day, outside of class time. If he sticks to that schedule from the beginning, he will keep up and his life will be much better. In most of the colleges that you have listed, he will be surrounded by other students who do the same, so that will help.
Many very bright students who can slide on procrastination in high school turn it around in college.
Good luck!</p>