Our 17 year old son is researching colleges this summer and would like to earn a degree in computer science/programming or something like that. We're having a lot of trouble figuring out which colleges are good at this- we're getting a lot of ads when we try to find info online. Does anyone know of a reputable source for this type of info?
Also in this field, does where you got your degree matter that much? Or since 80% of kids change their major at least once, should we just look for a good all-around school? He had a great ACT score and will probably get a substantial scholarship, so he'll need to stay at whatever school he chooses.
Thanks for the info!
My undergrad degree is a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Math from an out of state private liberal arts university. I also have an MBA from an in-state public university. I worked in firmware development and related areas at two different Fortune 500 tech companies as well as some smaller firms over about 20 years. I also spent the last five years of my career in first level management, and was involved in hiring decisions for engineers and first level managers throughout that period.
I also have three adult offspring. The eldest just finished his degree in Supply Chain and IT Management and is working for a tech company in their operations area. The other two are sophomores, one seeking a mechE degree and the other a musicEd degree. All three have earned scholarships, varying from about 1/3 of the cost to more than full ride.
For a reputable source to search for schools, we used Big Future, which is managed by the College Board, which are the same people who manage the SAT. I thought it was excellent and unbiased and also allowed us to do searches for schools based on the criteria we were interested in. Here's a link to their search page:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
There are others of course. We also used collegefactual a bit to look at freshman retention and 6 year graduation rates.
https://www.collegefactual.com/
Since there are thousands of colleges in the US (and more overseas) and your son can only go to one of them, my thought was that one could be fairly specific about a lot of other variables that might be important - cost, distance from home, number of students, other majors, etc. We chose not to eliminate on cost at first because we thought that the sticker prices listed were not necessarily reflective of the price we would pay. More on this in a bit.
In the case of my middle son (the mechE sophomore), he wanted to get a degree in MechE, EE, or nuclear, and he had thoughts of business. He also wanted a small school, which it turns out is a pretty limiting factor...plugging those things into BigFuture, our list was only about 13 schools that met all the criteria. We visited seven, he applied to three, and got into one, which is where he now attends.
People will differ on how much the school name matters. One of the filtering steps for my son when there were too many choices, was he asked me to look at the schools from a hiring perspective and rule out those schools that didn't seem to be of good quality. So I did that, and ruled out about half of the remaining list. One school that appeared good on paper made it into our list of seven to visit, but it was obviously not to the level he wanted so it got ruled out.
The other thing I'll say about that is it might be good for your son to at least have some ideas about where he wants to end up after he graduates. There are national "big name" schools like Stanford and MIT where the graduate can go anywhere, but then there are also good regional schools where a graduate can do just as well within the region. Texas A&M is well respected in Texas and nearby, but not as well known in, say, Minnesota. Your son might not know this very precisely, but he may have inklings which are worth putting on the table. He might also have specific industry preferences which might guide him - if he wants to work at SpaceX, maybe go to a nearby school to one of their sites and aim for an internship. If he wants to work in the auto industry, then maybe a school in the upper midwest like Rose Hulman. An even third tier school is a place which might only have reach within the state, like NNU, which is a decent school near me that probably nobody on this thread knows about, but their graduates do well within 30 miles of the school.
I'd encourage you to ask your son what secondary or tertiary degree plans he might have, and add that to your search list in BigFuture. As I mentioned, my son also has an interest in business, and the school he ended up at has a good business school in addition to being good at mechE. There's a small chance he'll switch to business if he doesn't make it in his first choice program.
Based on my experience with my eldest, who changed majors three or four times, I started having more career oriented discussions with my younger two. It's really a process of exploration and thought and discussion and it takes time, but I think my two younger ones are going to be well served by talking about and exploring and mulling over those thoughts in high school rather than their first two years of college. Others can disagree with this approach, but for me, who is interested in having my kids economically launched into good solid careers more than any esoteric "college experience" or "changing lives" - although that stuff would be nice - it has worked very well.
So if you can, start looking at careers with your son. What's important to him? Living near family? Working in a big city? Dealing with people? Making a lot of money? Working indoors? Brainstorm career possibilities, do research on them, then winnow them down to a manageable list. That list can then also help figure out which schools to visit and apply to. For this aspect I like the government's occupational outlook handbook (
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/)
As far as great ACT scores and scholarships. I would strongly encourage you and your son to look at the 25% and 75% ACT score ranges for schools that he may choose to apply to - you can just google the school name and ACT range and get this info in 2 seconds. If he's at the 25% or below for a school, they're not going to give him a scholarship - he's pulling down their average. Think of a place like Harvey Mudd. If he's at the 75% or thereabouts, he's raising their average and has a good chance at scholarships from the school.
It's also possible to get outside scholarships, but those are either much more competitive (like the Coke ones), or small dollar (like the left-handed Irish scholarship for technical writing). They're also a lot more effort. But somebody gets those every year, might be your son.
It's good to put the effort in now, as you seem to understand. From what I can find out, scholarships are most easily awarded freshman year and for students who stay. Transfer students seem to get the shaft AFAIK. Also, at least in my state there are a number of scholarships and programs for students who stay in state and go to public universities, so if cost is a big concern, you might look at those.
That brings up one other thing...to whatever degree you plan to help, make sure he understands "the deal". It is cruel, I think, for a parent to let a kid apply to an expensive out of state private school, and then wait until the kid gets accepted and decides to go to tell them that it's unaffordable. It's better to be up front and crystal clear at the earliest reasonable point of discussion to say "You're getting $5K a year from us and the rest is on you" or whatever. The kid will be able to adjust.
Oh, one more. If you can visit his top several schools, being at the school in person for as long as possible is a great way to assess the school. It also demonstrates interest to the school and some note it as a favorable factor in admissions. If a school is too far away to be practicable to visit, he can apply blind and then visit if he's accepted. Some schools also have summer programs which are engineering camps for rising high school seniors, so you might be a bit late for those but it may still be possible to do if you hurry (see Project Catapult at Rose Hulman for example).
Good luck.
