Physics for a quirky kid

[Anonymous]

Starting to look at schools for my ADHD/ASD/Anxiety kid. He has been to sleep away camp for the last 5 years for the full summer and is able to handle living in a dorm with a roommate and wants to live on campus. From an academic perspective, he will not need learning support. He could use some social support though. This is what I'm looking for:

--Strong Physics department--my research tells me to focus on schools with large departments so he can explore the various sub specialities in physics

--he will go to grad school

--city vs rural vs suburban doesn't really matter

--needs small classes and would like direct access to professors. This maybe in conflict with the large physics department requirement.

--smaller campus is better than large campus

--athletics and sports culture are not important

--greek culture is not important

--would like a program that does not require a large number of humanities core curriculum courses

---not looking at UMD as it just seems too large. Not looking at Princeton as it seems too competitive. It obviously is for admission but also the type of student that it attracts would need to be someone who is competitive and excels under pressure.

--He has decent grades (4.0 U/W) and a 1580 on his SAT. However, he has no EC and no interest in participating in school activities. Will be sitting for AP exams next month.

[Anonymous]

Northwestern

[Anonymous]

https://physics.northwestern.edu/about/#:~:text=In%20most%20years%2C%20we%20have,working%20in%20our%20research%20programs.

[Anonymous]

Budget? Can you afford top privates? Use the Net Price Calculators for aid estimates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Budget? Can you afford top privates? Use the Net Price Calculators for aid estimates.

The preference is $50K OOP after merit. I have a hard time seeing the value in paying $90K per year for an undergrad education. I'd pay it for MIT/Princeton for the name recognition. However, I really don't think those schools are the right fit for my kid. If it turned out that a $90K school was absolutely the right fit and nothing else came even remotely close, we could do it.

[Anonymous]

This site let's you filter schools by different characteristics and get a list of the number of grads in a particular major. For schools <10k students, some schools with a relatively large number of physics graduates, who might care less about the ECs, I'd say look at WPI and RPI

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jonboeckenstedt/viz/BachelorsDegreesAwardedin2022/Dashboard1

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a Harvey Mudd kid to me. It’s not for everyone, but the ones I know who do well there are of this type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget? Can you afford top privates? Use the Net Price Calculators for aid estimates.

The preference is $50K OOP after merit. I have a hard time seeing the value in paying $90K per year for an undergrad education. I'd pay it for MIT/Princeton for the name recognition. However, I really don't think those schools are the right fit for my kid. If it turned out that a $90K school was absolutely the right fit and nothing else came even remotely close, we could do it.

To clarify, have you already determined that you are not eligible for need-based aid at top privates (via the Net Price Calculators)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget? Can you afford top privates? Use the Net Price Calculators for aid estimates.

The preference is $50K OOP after merit. I have a hard time seeing the value in paying $90K per year for an undergrad education. I'd pay it for MIT/Princeton for the name recognition. However, I really don't think those schools are the right fit for my kid. If it turned out that a $90K school was absolutely the right fit and nothing else came even remotely close, we could do it.

To clarify, have you already determined that you are not eligible for need-based aid at top privates (via the Net Price Calculators)?

No, I haven't done that yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern

Appreciate the thought. However, there is a foreign language proficiency requirement. I will add no foreign language requirement to the criteria. He will have completed 3 years of ASL in HS but has no desire to continue or explore another foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a Harvey Mudd kid to me. It’s not for everyone, but the ones I know who do well there are of this type.

I think Mudd would be a great choice. However, I'm concerned about the humanities requirements. It would be a good reach school that we could explore further.

[Anonymous]

Is engineering on the table? Or just physics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern

Appreciate the thought. However, there is a foreign language proficiency requirement. I will add no foreign language requirement to the criteria. He will have completed 3 years of ASL in HS but has no desire to continue or explore another foreign language.

That may be tricky, unless there is a physics major housed within an engineering program. Many/most engineering schools do not require foreign language, though physics is often in an Arts & Sciences school. From time to time, I have come across schools that offer "engineering physics" though I can't recall where at this moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget? Can you afford top privates? Use the Net Price Calculators for aid estimates.

The preference is $50K OOP after merit. I have a hard time seeing the value in paying $90K per year for an undergrad education. I'd pay it for MIT/Princeton for the name recognition. However, I really don't think those schools are the right fit for my kid. If it turned out that a $90K school was absolutely the right fit and nothing else came even remotely close, we could do it.

To clarify, have you already determined that you are not eligible for need-based aid at top privates (via the Net Price Calculators)?

No, I haven't done that yet.

That would be useful to figure out asap. Most top privates are going to be on the 90k side rather than the 50k side, with merit being somewhere between not offered, to unlikely odds, to unknown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern

Appreciate the thought. However, there is a foreign language proficiency requirement. I will add no foreign language requirement to the criteria. He will have completed 3 years of ASL in HS but has no desire to continue or explore another foreign language.

FL requirement is a concern for my dyslexic kid as well. I’ve been told by many folks in a FB group for parents of Autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, and other LD kids that many colleges will waive the FL requirement if you have the necessary paperwork. Worth asking before writing off schools with FL requirements because so many have it.