Choosing College for kids

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firewhatfire

firewhatfire

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My son is a 10th grader and has already started getting alot of information from various colleges. He is currently ranked #1 in his class of 150ish students and tests in the top 1% in the nation. in most subjects. Now we are small town folks where a its a big deal to get scholarships to Alabama and Auburn for atheletics. He has recieved info wanting him to come visit from 3 of the Ivy League schools. Columbia, Brown and University of Pennsylvania. Request to come visit have also arrived from Rice, Duke, Ohio State, Northwestern and Vandebilt. Alot of other Polytechnic schools also.

His interests have ranged from Geneticist, Physics and Computer Science.

Anyone got advice for the proud parents? Can scholarships for schools such as these be gotten? Pretty sure I cant afford most of them.

Phil
 
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IF you child's School Counselor is worth their salt they should have all possible Scholarships in a book. And that book is available at any book store.
IF you were military see if your GI Bill still has time left on it provided you didn't use it up. Look into your civic organizations like Optimist, Rotary and similar groups.
 
Start looking for grant money in any form. Im sure student loans are available. But get as much free money as you can.
 
Our Son graduated high school with honours and then got his degree in genetics. He then found that the only jobs in his field paid just above minimum wage. If going that route your Son should likely be prepared to get his Masters degree before any better paying jobs are available. Our Son is now a police officer and because he had his degree he was one of very few "white" boys that got into the force but also since he has his education he has been sent to many training courses to upgrade his skills. He is now off the street and is teaching new recruits how to do their job safely. Our experience.
 
Side note. Make sure your son really looks at the job prospects in whatever field he is looking to get into. There are a lot of people with college degrees working in phone centers and hardware stores. Make sure you pound the pavement in the real world to see if people will be hiring when he graduates.
 
Choosing a career can be problematic today - what appears to be hot when the kid is in his last years of high school may be totally dead four years later when he is looking for a job.

I tend to favor basics - if the kid is comfortable with math and likes to solve problems, then basic engineering is always a good field. I'm convinced that the need for civil engineers is going to have to increase - our infrastructure is failing around us, and we need civil engineers to figure out how to repair or replace it. My own choice (electrical, with a specialty in power) kept me gainfully employed for almost 40 years, and the last I heard, hiring managers were still complaining that it was difficult to find good, young engineers who knew more than how to drive a computer.

You have some excellent schools in the Southeast - Auburn and Georgia Tech are excellent, and the FSU/FAMU College of Engineering is gaining a good reputation. And there's nothing wrong with a state school. My son chose an ivy League school for computer science - which is not the mismatch you might expect. Princeton has a very good compsci program, with many graduates working in application of computer technology in the entertainment industry (think visual effects). Brown's compsci program focuses more on computer basics, operating systems, and software theory and has sent a lot of graduates to Silicon Valley.

The one bit of advice I would give - pick a school that is at least three hours away from Mom. College is a full-time job and the first break away from home and childhood, and kids don't need the distraction of having Mom swoop in to nag them every weekend.
 
Been there and done that as they say. Two kids with Ivy degrees, one more in Wellesley, one looking at Ivy schools for 2014. Spending 40K this year, will go up to 65-70K with two in school at the same time. I will not let my kids borrow tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to school. It cripples them after school. I will work five extra years it needed.

Make sure your son talks to people working in his field of interest. Marine Biology and Archaeology are two interesting majors with almost no job market after graduation. An Ivy league degree without a advanced degree is in my opinion not that great of a deal. Stay local, get the same degree and save a ton of money. Now if you are building a education background for a second degree then the Ivy degree will be a major enhancement to a job and career. A CV with Ivy and advanced degree will be much more impressive as a pair. Just a Ivy degree will be nice but not that much better than one which teaches you to say roll tide or war eagle.
 
Thanks for all of this great info. I will be printing all of this to go over with him and his Mom. He does want an advanced degree, just not sure what.

Phil
 
I have a different view

Let me preface by saying I got my degree when I was 44 years old after being in the workforce and gainfully employed for 26 years (my degree was not in the field that I earned my living in). 5 of my 6 children have degrees - 3 have masters. 2 are persuing doctors. I have one EE who went to the US Coast Guard Acadamy on a full ride. 4 who got their undergaduate degrees from State Universities 2 in Education, 1 in Accounting and 1 in Political Science who later got a Certificate to teach.

None of them finished lower than the top 10% of their high school class and 5 finished in the top 5%.

All of them applied for and were accepted by top colleges some Ivy League others at schools slightly below but still "most selective".

Still 4 of them chose State Universities and one a military acadamy. The other chose a private university and dropped out (btw - he was the 2nd most successful as far as earnings)

I had 4 of them in college at the same time....

That is the background.

I did not go in debt to get them through and I don't recommend that you do it either. They went into debt to an affordable degree and they have managed to pay off the debt. But, I would not allow them to go to colleges where either they or my wife and I were going to be up to our nose in debt for the rest of our lives.

There are a lot of good fields to go into. But, keep in mind that a lot of the "hot" fields today might not even exist in 20 years. My own field - Electronic Test Engineering - was like that. From 1950 to 1980 or so it was great and growing - now it is barely hanging on.

There are some that I think most young folks should avoid. Many basic research fields don't pay well and you need a PhD to get in the door. Others, like Social Work, usually require a Masters Degree, and don't pay well either.
 
Best of luck to you Phil. I agree with a lot of the advice above. The highly selective schools on your list have tons of money but can be quite stingy with it since demand for attendance is high. Select the school for the intended major (within reason) and plan on an advanced degree. It may be best to select affordable and worry about Ivy for the next level when the school will pay them to attend. My daughter has a very expensive BS degree in biomedical engineering from one of the schools on your list. She is back in school working on her advanced degree just to be competitive in her field. Maybe the cost of the undergraduate degree was worth it, maybe not.
 
Defense Language Institute

The U.S. Government operates one of the best language schools in the world, the Defense Language Institute - previously the Army Language School - and its probably the best kept secret in military service. The school has about 3000 students, is co-ed, classes are 8 -11 AM, 1- 4 PM, 5 days/week, class size is limited to 8, all languages are taught by native speakers from the country. The school is fully accredited and 45 units are transferable to most universities. Students live 2/apt in dorms. No drill, no formations, no police calls, and is open to all branches, although the Army and Navy get the most slots.

My son enlisted in the Navy at 17, studied Chinese for 80 weeks, was assigned to Honolulu for 3 yrs, during which time he enrolled part time in the U of Hi and earned 40 units (if I remember correctly). Upon separation he enrolled in UofMd, graduated in Computer Science, then enrolled in medical school, graduating this May, intending to continue in organ transplant surgery. While at UofMd he used his language background to challenge some courses, and took Chinese as electives.

While on active duty he was receiving about $40,000/yr in the form of basic pay, separate rations, separate quarters, and skill bonuses, and upon separation from active duty he drew his GI Bill of $1200/month for 48 months while enrolled full time.

The 5 years my son spent in the Navy helped him grow in many ways, gave him an opportunity to do an important job and learn both discipline and how to work with a team of people. Additionally, I can add that learning a new language can help in getting a job in a tough market.

Perhaps your son, children of those who commented, might find a new idea to consider. Being a military linguist is not spit and polish.
 
If your Councillor has not already told you about it, your son needs to take the PSAT/NMSQT test in the fall. This will set him up for consideration for the national merit scholarship program. If he is selected as a finalist, he will be highly recruited - read most if not all expenses paid at least that was the expectation we were given a couple years ago when we looked into it.

I agree with what has been said, 2-3 hours away is the closest you want him to go, you both need the space.

Also agree with the fact that a Bachlers is the minimum and expect to get at least a masters to get the "big bucks".

I have a nephew that got accepted to Berkley PhD program in cancer research and only lasted about 1.5 semesters, he came from a smaller college and was not ready for the culture.

After a year off, was accepted into PhD at ASU and was doing welll. He just decided to drop the PhD and go for a masters as this will let him do the real work in the lab. He realized the PhDs spent all their time writing proposals to get money to fund the labwork.

So it's something to think about when selecting colleges, what the culture will be like and will your son feel comfortable there.

One thing you might look into is summer internships or study programs. All the colleges you listed will have one or both of these programs and you should let him try something these next 2 summers. Try contacting a couple and see what they have available. If you have trouble try finding this book Amazon.com: What High Schools Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You toKnow): Create a Long-Term Plan for Your 7th to 10th Grader for Getting into the Top Colleges (9780452289529): Elizabeth Wissner-Gross: Books in the library, or purchasing a copy. I found it my son's Junior year and wish I had found it earlier.

It's an exciting time and I wish you luck.
 
Visit as many schools as you can. Once your son walks around the campus it can help with the decision of where to go. My daughter picked a school 8 hours from home even though she was accepted at another just an hour away. She felt more comfortable there and is scheduled to graduate in Dec. next year.
Lots of scholarships out there, it takes a LOT of time and work to apply for them all. But money is available so take advantage of it all.
best of luck.
 
First he should take the ACT & SAT as soon as possible, HS grades and National Honor Society are 'door openers' for academic scholarships but the collage boards are the 'finishers'. Noting, and I mean nothing, will bring in scholarship offers than a 2300 + SAT score (perfect SAT score is 2400 / average score is 1500) or an ACT score of 34 + (36 is a perfect soccer on the ACT / 30 is the cut off for many schools big $ offers). These test can be taken multiple times (I think the max is somewhere around 12 times!) and it is better to start too soon than too late. Keep in mind these offers will be for tuition and possibly books … room and board are not normally covered by academic scholarships.

One final thought … almost any science field is nearly worthless (other than teaching HS or middle school) without a PHD (cost about $100,000) and there are very few scholarships for advanced degrees. My oldest daughter has a DPT (Doctorate of Physical Therapy) and the debits to prove it!
 
The financial number to examine is cost after scholarships, not value of the scholarship. My oldest son was a high school 4.0/valedictorian, he had a perfect ACT, and 2300 plus on SAT, including a perfect 1600 on the basic SAT. Scholarships came in every day from the many schools he applied to. A scholarship for $25M is nice, but where tuition, fees, room and board is $50M for a top school, there is still a lot to pay.

Now my twins are now HS seniors and co-valedictorians, although their test scores are not quite as good. We get school related scholarship offers ever day now and I'm still looking at cost after scholarships. None of my kids expect to go into the job market without a graduate degree, the older son will start medical school next year, girl twin also has med school aspirations.

Another financial consideration is % of placement for grads, average number of offers that new grads receive, and average first job salary. In my opinion quality of school matters, the highest paid jobs and prime grad school plaements come disporportinately from the top schools. My oldest is at Norte Dame, one twin is looking at top tier small engineering schools, the other is likely to go to Notre Dame.
 
yup

Chasper said:
The financial number to examine is cost after scholarships, not value of the scholarship. My oldest son was a high school 4.0/valedictorian, he had a perfect ACT, and 2300 plus on SAT, including a perfect 1600 on the basic SAT. Scholarships came in every day from the many schools he applied to. A scholarship for $25M is nice, but where tuition, fees, room and board is $50M for a top school, there is still a lot to pay.

Now my twins are now HS seniors and co-valedictorians, although their test scores are not quite as good. We get school related scholarship offers ever day now and I'm still looking at cost after scholarships. None of my kids expect to go into the job market without a graduate degree, the older son will start medical school next year, girl twin also has med school aspirations.

Another financial consideration is % of placement for grads, average number of offers that new grads receive, and average first job salary. In my opinion quality of school matters, the highest paid jobs and prime grad school plaements come disporportinately from the top schools. My oldest is at Norte Dame, one twin is looking at top tier small engineering schools, the other is likely to go to Notre Dame.
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You said it there. Another consideration is what is happening to education costs at the school - one of my daughters got a $7500 scholarship equaling 50% of costs the first year. By her junior year the cost at the college had gone up $4800 and was projected to go up another $2500 the next year so what paid half the cost in her freshman year would have paid about a third in her senior year. Our out of pocket would have doubled - with 4 in college there was no way we could do that so she had to change schools.
 
I will add the point, that in 5 to 10 years the need for Plumbers and Electricians will be at an all time high because most of those in that trade will be of retirement age. May not be a career of one with such potential yet as it seems, might be able to have a car and the money to put gas in it.
 
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