[quote=walterwhite]thanks. he’s not a computer type person, he’s more of a reality type kid. doing very well in ap science classes. some hs alum attending cal st san marcos came by to recruit and he was excited by the guy’s pitch. maybe he should shoot a little higher though…hate the idea of encouraging him to go out and away into the world, but maybe it is the right thing after all…[/quote]
What AP sciences are you referring to? Bio/chem/etc? If he tried programming and doesn’t like it, then I agree, stay away from compsci. If he like bio/chem/etc. he can go into Bioengineering or Chemical engineering. UCSD was #1 in Bioengineering about 15 years ago. Not sure where they are today. Whether you encourage him to go out or not, whatever you do, don’t make him stay if he wants to go. He’ll remember it forever and he’ll replay the what if in his head periodically.
My thinking is, if you have the $ to pay for him to apply to various colleges, it doesn’t hurt to apply to all the big names as well as the locals (have the dream colleges, the realistic colleges, and the back up college). After he get all the acceptance letter back, then you can sit down and decide which one is right. It better to have choices and be the one who do the deciding vs being forced to go to a particular college because you didn’t apply to enough and get rejected from the one you thought you would get into.