<p>Honestly your son will do better than SDSU…I hope he’s applying to Pomona with his profile. I got a full ride back in the day, and Pomona still has a very strong tradition of giving 100 percent of demonstrated need. Another one: Harvey Mudd is easier to get into for reasons that make no sense because it is filled with brainy math types who go onto PhD programs in high numbers.</p>
<p>“precalc is definitely no piece of cake.” - True. But… it is more likely to be a piece of cake for kids headed to Engineering. Continue to keep a pulse on the math readiness as decisions are made about major / school. It sounds like there had been good progress, and that is encouraging 
</p>
<p>stw, ha-ha, no Pomona on the list. They require four subject tests and he only will have three. Otherwise, yes, it would have been a good school-good music, good liberal arts, good city and outstanding f. aid.</p>
<p>I did hunt around and he decided to apply to U Alabama Huntsville. With the full tuition scholarship and Pell Grant, it brings costs within the affordable range. And @colorado_mom , it was a choice between engineering and art for a major. He still chose engineering for the moment!</p>
<p>You’re right, though. Each math class he takes will be a test. The biggest thing he learned this semester is to set aside his pride and ask for help. Just going to the office hours before the last test clearly helped him. It was a strange semester in that he had a low A through about 2/3 of the class, but then the test before the final, the one on trig, he totally bombed. So then he was fretting that he was going to fail the class. But when he went to the office before the test, he found out he only needed a 60% to get a C and an 87% to get a B. Clearly, he got at least an 87%. </p>
<p>My hope is that he will use the resources available to him. He learns well by asking questions, and if he can avail himself of office hours and any tutors, he might do ok in Calculus I. We’ll find out this spring. :-)</p>
<p>Gee, in many places, 87% would be an A- or close.<br>
It’s excellent he’s learned about asking for help. I know he may not stay in engineering, may discover other drives, But collaboration is important in that field. Asking for help, getting/giving feedback, etc, is part of that. Best wishes to him. </p>
<p>“then the test before the final, the one on trig, he totally bombed” - He should considered some self-study (maybe Khan Academy lessons?) on trig. It is something that really confused me the first time it was explained. </p>
<p>And he admitted to my dh tonight that had he asked for help from the professor early on in the game, he quite likely could have gotten an A. Perhaps it was a costly lesson, but he is learning, and I’m glad for that!</p>
<p>Good idea on the self-study of trig, colorado_mom. Trig seems to be a bit more mystifying than other concepts in the class. In his trig class at the college, he bombed the final and got a B. I think self-study is a great idea, or at least collaborative study with his brother and friend. (And his brother’s headed to town and will be helping him learn the physics he missed in order to do well on the subject test)</p>
<p>What will be interesting is having a different professor. This guy is an awesome professor, but my son wanted to go ahead and try someone new. We’ll see if that works or not. Both profs have good ratings. The pre-calc teacher has higher ratings, but is considered a harder grader.</p>
<p>Thank you, @lookingforward.</p>
<p>THought this may be of interest:
- This major is CS+ Digital Arts and requires 2 semesters of Calc, 2 semesters of stats, and 1 semester of discrete mah
<a href=“University College | UNCW”>http://uncw.edu/uc/advising/documents/ProgramSheets/13-14/1314cas-csc-digitalart.pdf</a></p>
<p>Not sure whether those are reaches or very selective matches:
<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/camd/artdesign/academic-programs/bs-in-computer-science-and-digital-art/”>http://www.northeastern.edu/camd/artdesign/academic-programs/bs-in-computer-science-and-digital-art/</a>
<a href=“http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~digitalarts/”>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~digitalarts/</a></p>
<p>I saw the Dartmouth CS major with digital arts minor, and man, we talked about this. It looks so good, but the drinking reputation…I just don’t know. The program itself looks incredible and the f. aid at Dartmouth is incredible. (Getting in is pretty incredible hard, too!) I’ll ask my son again about this. </p>
<p>Oh, and that is the program to which he applied at Northeastern. 
He was deferred EA as I said up thread because his SAT II scores were late.</p>
<p>I had not heard of UNCW. We will check it out. Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Not everyone at Dartmouth drinks. And although it is a major journey from California, it has a large and sophisticated medical center (which not every rural university can boast).</p>
<p>There is a counter culture of microbreweries in Salt Lake City, for heavens sake. Students who want to drink can do so near or on any college campus. Students who don’t want to drink, don’t have to. I’m not sure I would use this as my first criteria for selecting colleges.</p>
<p>The only sure way to make sure your son isn’t living near folks who drink alcohol is to have him live at home. </p>
<p>He is a smart kid…and he also seems to know and understand his diabetes. He should be able to,find his non-drinking tribe wherever he goes to college…or a group of friends who don’t care that he is drinking seltzer water!</p>
<p>I never knew about the microbreweries! I learn something new each day.</p>
<p>Point taken-thanks.</p>
<p>A lot of great suggestions here. I agree with your criteria as far as staying away from loans and think you are really smart to look for schools that you feel your son can afford. I also think he sounds like a top-notch applicant with a wide range of interests- I would think a lot of schools would love to have him! I really do think you are letting the drinking factor play too heavily in your criteria. We have 4 kids who range from one who was a pretty big partier down to one who does not drink at all. There was drinking at each of their schools, but it was never a factor in fitting in, even for the complete non-drinker. One who was a very minimal drinker was at a HUGE party school and had no issues with findng a group of friends with similar interests. There will always be alcohol and drugs at any college, but there are always plenty who do not partake. Each kid will find their own little niche and find a group of people they feel comfortable with. It sounds like your son has good common sense and a good understanding of his diabetes. He will figure it out wherever he ends up and be just fine.</p>
<p>UNC Wilmington does have the 18% cap for OOS as do all the UNC schools. So keep that in mind. Middle son was accepted to Dartmouth for undergrad and later for med school (same son that was accepted EA to MIT) and the drinking culture did NOT play a part in his decision to not attend. The financial aid package from Dartmouth rivaled his package from princeton, penn and amherst. If I recall correctly it might have actually been better than pton’s, I know it was better than MIT’s and about the same as Penn’s. Dartmouth waived son’s summer contribution and the work study time was replaced with grants, same as Penn’s offer.</p>
<p>If the app deadline for RD to Dartmouth is still open, I would seriously consider it. Son was picky and Dartmouth was one of his top choices. So much so that they were one of his top 3 choices for his med school acceptances. Seriously.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>The app is done including music supplement. It just needs to be submitted. I think my son is leery of applying to schools where he has to interview and he doesn’t know enough about them. But he interviews well, it seems, and I do remind him of his ultimate goal and encourage him not to close any door unnecessarily.</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, katwkittens. Very helpful.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo While I commend you for your realism, from a financial standpoint, you have some serious misconceptions about drinking and drugs at college. Do kids at Skidmore or Vassar smoke and drink more than kids at Brigham Young or Grove City? Of course. But believe me when I say that drinking is EVERYWHERE in college. Teenager aren’t really known for their common sense or inhibitions. You’re writing off incredible opportunities for your son simply because you have this preconceived notion that any school with a drinking culture will ruin your son. I mean, writing off DARTMOUTH for a drinking culture is absurd. You could qualify for some great financial aid at these schools you’re ignoring, and they would give your son a fabulous education. If your son doesn’t want to drink, he would NOT be alone, especially at high-caliber schools. Don’t restrict his opportunities for success just because of your misinformation.</p>
<p>I disagree with Qwerty. Although every school has some students who binge drink, not every school has the same percentage of students who binge drink. Dartmouth, and schools like it-- rural schools with a high fraternity and sorority membership- have a higher percentage of drinkers. There’s a big difference between a third of students binge drinking, and over half of students binge drinking. If over half the students binge drink, which last I checked was true at Dartmouth, then binge drinking is the default social outlet. If a third of the students binge drink, then most students are doing something other than binge drinking on weekends.</p>
<p>I think rejecting Dartmouth out of hand because of drinking (given the family’s aversion to debt, the kids somewhat specific academic requirements, etc) is crazy.</p>
<p>I side with Cardinal Fang on this one. I definitely agree that a non-drinker can do just great at most schools, but I do think there is truth in what Cardinal Fang says-the fact that at rural schools with high frat/sorority membership makes for the majority of kids invested pretty heavily in serious partying. I have spoken to one Dartmouth alum who confirmed this, and said it took her a couple of years to break from the partying mode of her first two years there. </p>
<p>My son has been clear about finding balance. He doesn’t have a couple of years to figure it out; he really needs to be fairly grounded from the get go, at least in terms of taking care of his health and finding a good group of like-minded friends in that regard.</p>
<p>Believe me, this isn’t a quick, flippant decision. My oldest son is giving input on this, advising not to apply to Dartmouth, but it’s been difficult. (And it’s still ridiculously hard to get into)</p>
<p>As of now, my son has applied to 5-6 schools that meet full need. Today is the last day for a number of apps, so we’ll talk some more.</p>
<p>I appreciate the feedback, truly. </p>
<p>I think you did give D a fair enough look. There are so many reasons, some big, some toss-ups, that lead us or our kids to like a college or not. Mine went to a work hard/party hard- and one spent most of her Fri/Sat eves in the library, where there were plenty of other kids there, too. I talk about the balance she found (she was also deeply into music and a volunteer program.) But it was an effort for her. Of course, it’s hard to generalize- but I don’t think you’re wrong to consider this aspect, as well as his strengths, needs and wants. </p>
<p>I disagree with QWERTY: At Darmouth (as at DePauw or Washington and Lee), drinking is the most common form of weekend “entertainment”. When 85% of a small school goes to a party, where most people aim at getting very drunk/high, it’s not just a matter of saying no or not wanting to drink - it’s a matter of finding entertainment and not being socially isolated. It’s also a matter of not especially liking vomit all over the corridor/bathroom, and, sorry, that’s a reality on some campuses and if the student does not want to subject himself to that, it’s important to take into account.
The issue is less dire in a large school (where even a sliver of the student population means hundreds or thousands of students) ,an urban school (where students who don’t want to drink and don’t have on-campus options have local entertainment as a fallback) or a school where there’s less of a drinking culture (ie., where it isn’ the norm or where the school offers plenty of alternatives to drinking). It’s especially important to see how many alternatives are offered on weekends (for instance, last I checked Pomona’s schedule, there were more than 20 offerings on a random weekend, ranging from feminist theater to standup comedy to quidditch to films to cardgames to crafts to things I’d never heard of plus various bands - and I’m sure plenty of Pomona students get very drunk every weekend). one can try to have an idea of what percentage students participate in the alternatives, roughly (which can be done with an overnight visit). I’m the one who recommended the Dartmouth program but I admit the situation there has gotten so out of hand in the past few years that it’s absolutely turned off some students from going there. </p>