30,000+ applications for 3,000 slots

[Excalibur]

With a few exceptions, I consider undergraduate education to be a commodity. Outside of a few specific trades (engineering for example), a few schools at the very top, and some of the state directional schools (not all), it's the same damn thing regardless of the supplier. Obviously, the market disagrees given the wide disparity in costs, but you're not exactly dealing with rational consumers in 17-18 year old kids.

 

[upstater]

With a few exceptions, I consider undergraduate education to be a commodity. Outside of a few specific trades (engineering for example), a few schools at the very top, and some of the state directional schools (not all), it's the same damn thing regardless of the supplier. Obviously, the market disagrees given the wide disparity in costs, but you're not exactly dealing with rational consumers in 17-18 year old kids.

I see a level of discernment today that far exceeds what it used to be in the past. Parents and students are a lot more demanding. Many of them know that schools are stronger in certain fields than in others. This doesn't mean you've closed avenues if you haven't chosen a strong school in your field, but there is definitely a difference between a great many schools. Even within the top tier, you're better off at a school that focuses more on undergrad education than schools that cater toward grad education (i.e. say Chicago). Also, some want to pay up for liberal arts college which is definitely a different product than what you'd receive at a public institution.

 

[HuskyNan]

It will depend mostly on SAT scores, especially Math. The average UCONN math score for Engineering has to be close to 700. They are not interested if you have less than 1200 for Reading and Math combined.

As an 8th grader, my son scored 590 on math and 460 on verbal. When he took his PSATs, predictors of the SAT, he scored the equivalent of 720 math and 680 verbal.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Bright kid - he'll do fine. While each school may look at tests differently, including whether they use the writing portion or not, those scores will put him in the upper echelon of most schools and in the 25th-75th percentile competitive band at even the most selective. Obviously greater is better and he should work to get the best result possible, but it's less important than many people think. I know at MIT they generally see anything over roughly 700 or so as being good (there's no fixed cut-off because evaluating scores is circumstances dependent) and they don't really put much weight into differences beyond that. I think they, and admissions officers in general, get tired of the "I got a 1540 and he got a 1450, but he got in and I didn't even though I'm more qualified" argument. The challenge for competitive candidates is to show what distinguishes them from their peers and what they can offer to the campus community. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on the school.

 

[huskypantz]

MIT is tough. A good kid who worked for me a few years back was salutatorian of his class in a public, large, fairly well off Boston suburban high school. He attended a summer program at MIT and got a letter of recommendation from one of the professors. Even with a solid resume, he did not get in to MIT and instead had to "settle" for Cornell. He heaped an unheathly level of visible stress on himself during his senior year and was devastated that he didn't get in. Wherever your son chooses to go, I hope he celebrates his achievements.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Perhaps I'm biased because I went to Cornell for grad school, but any kid that has a fallback offer in Ithaca is very fortunate indeed. The problem is that top schools accept from 6%-20% of their applicants. Even for the highly qualified its a crap shoot. That's why Connecticut kids are fortunate to have a strong public university, particularly one that is rapidly rising toward the upper reaches itself.

 

[HuskyNan]

MIT is tough. A good kid who worked for me a few years back was salutatorian of his class in a public, large, fairly well off Boston suburban high school. He attended a summer program at MIT and got a letter of recommendation from one of the professors. Even with a solid resume, he did not get in to MIT and instead had to "settle" for Cornell. He heaped an unheathly level of visible stress on himself during his senior year and was devastated that he didn't get in. Wherever your son chooses to go, I hope he celebrates his achievements.

He knows that the acceptance rate for MIT is 9.7% and that his chances of being accepted are low. He also knows there's a medical school-type competitive atmosphere at MIT that he would need to live with if he does get accepted. He wants to give it a shot, though, which is something I admire because he was pretty risk averse until recent years. He's thought about his chances and understands how he might feel if he doesn't get in and is willing to risk it. It's a very grown-up decision on his part.

My baby. It seems like yesterday I was putting him on the bus for kindergarten.

 

[kibblesnbits]

He knows that the acceptance rate for MIT is 9.7% and that his chances of being accepted are low. He also knows there's a medical school-type competitive atmosphere at MIT that he would need to live with if he does get accepted. He wants to give it a shot, though, which is something I admire because he was pretty risk averse until recent years. He's thought about his chances and understands how he might feel if he doesn't get in and is willing to risk it. It's a very grown-up decision on his part.

My baby. It seems like yesterday I was putting him on the bus for kindergarten.

He's wise beyond his age. If it helps, however, the MIT atmosphere (and, I believe, many other engineering schools - it's changed since we were in school) is not as you perceive. The workload and performance standards are obviously very high, but it is actually quite collaborative. In fact, for all but a handful of off-the-charts geniuses it's necessary for survival. Most weeks each class will have a problem set ("pset") that the students work on together. For the core classes "pset parties" in the dorm lounges with pizza are common. The only requirement is that they identify the name of each partner when they submit their work.

 

[HartfordHank]

Perhaps I'm biased because I went to Cornell for grad school, but any kid that has a fallback offer in Ithaca is very fortunate indeed. The problem is that top schools accept from 6%-20% of their applicants. Even for the highly qualified its a crap shoot. That's why Connecticut kids are fortunate to have a strong public university, particularly one that is rapidly rising toward the upper reaches itself.

Cornell is a great school. Ithaca, NY can be a tough place to live. You are pretty far from civilization. A lot of unique features but far from anyplace else. I worked for a company based in Ithaca and have spent a reasonable amount of time there.

 

[Nostical]

My twin daughters both went to school there. There's only one sunny day per year--amazingly it's the day you come to tour the campus before deciding to enroll!

 

[NHUConnfan]

I agree ... 3,000 does seem a little low. 17,800 total undergrads on the main campus and they would only allow for 3000 next fall? I think the number should be closer to 5,000.

You have to remember that the average time it takes to finish the degree is actually not 4 years, but is actually closer to 6 years.

I worked as an orientation leader at UConn. They try to anticipate 3,000 coming (meaning they accept more than 3,000). It's backfired on them in the past few years though, so I can imagine the actual number of acceptance letters going out will be much smaller than it has been in the past when UConn was not option #1.

 

[freescooter]

A number of us would burn up our pass/fail options on some of the courses the Nursing School students needed to take.

Do they still offer Chemistry for Chicks? I think it was Chemistry 101 or something. It was the less demanding Chemistry class and it was required for Nursing students, who in my undergraduate days were mostly female. A couple of guys, including me, took it with the dual motives: 1. getting our required science class out of the way without the same level of stress that engineers and science majors and pt students had with their fairly brutal chemistry class and 2. hitting on women. Truth be told #2 was the first motive for most of us.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

We took Organic Chem without the lab and such, others, maybe 101, not sure anymore. Think 101 was for non-science related fields like Psych. We did it mostly to meet girls as we only had the same two girls in all of our required classes. They always sat together, front row.