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02-17-2017, 05:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-18-2017, 02:48 PM by Tonto.)
Was talking to my oldest son's guidance counselor today. My son has been getting unsolicited info from the University of Chicago. http://www.uchicago.edu/about/
He's in 11th grade right now, taking 3 AP courses & a math course for college credit (next year, he's taking 5 AP courses). Anyway, the University of Chicago invited him to attend an open house at the end of March or in the summer.
So I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it for him to go to the open house, how much it'll cost me, and anything else about the school. His guidance counselor did say that last years valedictorian is going there & she was the 1st from the school in about 8 years to get in.
Anyone have any info/advice?
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Probably should be a separate thread, hard to type from the phone.
I would do a phone call with the school first. Lot's of questions, what does he want to major in, is the school know for that, how much of a free ride are they willing to give him including room and board (buy him a gun if he goes to Chicago), what's his SAT scores, sometimes taking a bunch of AP courses can actually hurt you, it's a different ranking..the H.S. Counselor should be able to help you with other schools that would also offer scholarship money etc.
When my kids looked around I drew a circle on a map that was within a 4 to 5 hour driving distance and told them they could look at any schools within that distance.
Also, if money is an issue, going to a 2 year community school and then transferring to a well known college is something a lot of families are doing these days.
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(02-18-2017, 09:22 AM)Jimmie the Mum Wrote: Probably should be a separate thread, hard to type from the phone.
I would do a phone call with the school first. Lot's of questions, what does he want to major in, is the school know for that, how much of a free ride are they willing to give him including room and board (buy him a gun if he goes to Chicago), what's his SAT scores, sometimes taking a bunch of AP courses can actually hurt you, it's a different ranking..the H.S. Counselor should be able to help you with other schools that would also offer scholarship money etc.
When my kids looked around I drew a circle on a map that was within a 4 to 5 hour driving distance and told them they could look at any schools within that distance.
Also, if money is an issue, going to a 2 year community school and then transferring to a well known college is something a lot of families are doing these days.
Good idea...I split these posts off into a new thread.
We're in the process of trying to get info on the school.
He's looking to major in something in Robotics/Computer Science/Physics.
He's vice president of the school's robotics club. They are doing the Vex competitions.
He hasn't taken the SAT test yet...his first is set for early June.
Why would taking more AP courses hurt?
They weigh the course grades now.
Honors classes get a factor of 1.05 (or 5% higher), College level classes get 1.065, AP classes get 1.075
For example, last year he too AP Social Studies (World History) He got a 5 on the AP test (the highest grade & the only 5 in the school district).
Anyway, his final course grade was a 99. That 99 gets multiplied by 1.075, so instead of a 99, a 106.425 gets used to calculate his school average.
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My point on AP courses is the extra workload. Taking so many could cause a lot of extra stress. Other than that, sounds like he's on the right path.
My best friend's son just got accepted to law school. 3 extra years of school. He's been paying $62,000 a year for Bucknell. Anyway, Seton Hall wants $54,000 a year, Rutgers wants $23,000 and he just got a letter from Drexel, they only want $8,000. All good schools for patent law.
He's hoping his son picks Drexel.
It's never too early to get a head start on all of this.
I' m sure Maytag can add some insight on this topic.
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(02-18-2017, 09:37 PM)Jimmie the Mum Wrote: My point on AP courses is the extra workload. Taking so many could cause a lot of extra stress.
Ah, good point. He seems to thrive on the extra work, loves all his classes & hasn't stressed out at all this year. So he should be okay.
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His guidance counselor has said that the University of Chicago is a top school, a "dream school".
Just to note, the school manages two U.S. Department of Energy laboratories, Argonne and Fermilab.
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Don't know anything about UofC.
AP coursework and extra GPA points are becoming more of a "normal" thing now. Things are only going to get more competitive as applicant numbers climb for a finite number of college slots. That coursework should look good on applications, and he may be able to get some college unit credits for passing AP tests... I skipped 3 Freshman English classes in college for passing the AP English exam back in the day.
I agree with Jimmie about the radius - stay in state if possible unless there is a ridiculous offer somewhere.
Look into all of the NY school that are highly ranked in his major areas and go from there. Apply for grants and Scholarships at every opportunity... (You're lucky the FAFSA is online now... LOL) And apply at as many schools in his top ten as possible. Better to have a clot of choices!
Best of luck!
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