Physics for a quirky kid

[Anonymous]

I would really check out the social supports at whatever college you look at. My kid's experience with a SLAC is that it is a lonely place if you aren't involved in activities and social life.

[Anonymous]

This is going to sound weird, but what your kid wants is a school like Iowa State. Engineering is huge, and almost all of the STEM kids are in engineering. The physics department has like 25 kids per year. Once you get beyond the physics 101 classes with all of the engineering kids, the classes will be tiny.

But, and this is the important part here, Ames/ISU is the host of AmesLab, which is a US DOE research laboratory. So, there are a lot of physics profs working on various projects there. It's really easy for a bright physics undergraduate to get research assistantship positions and work side by side with professors and grad students.

I imagine the same would be true for any physics department at a huge engineering school that also has significant government lab facilities. That might be something to consider for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Harvey Mudd will be more expensive than Princeton. Rochester with merit coukd get you down to 70K. Recommend Case (generous merit) or W&M. Rice also great but pricey.

[Anonymous]

Carleton does not give merit and is $$. Would consider RIT.

[Anonymous]

UChiacgo

GATech

Carnegie Mellon

Leheigh

Bucknell

[Anonymous]

Rice would be good - no Greek life, no language requirement, smart somewhat quirky student body, nice residential college communities

[Anonymous]

Agree with Rice
Not Cornell, c’mon- he needs support
Rochester and Case give a ton of aid
VATech is big but homey and friendly and supportive, oddly enough.

[Anonymous]

I have the same kid, but she wants other sciences. After scouring DCUM and attending hours of virtual info sessions, we have come up with this list(not applying to all of them - these just seemed like the right fit):

Rose
Colorado School of Mines
Rochester
RIT
RPI
WPI
Case Western
Pitt
GT
Purdue
Wooster
NC State
William & Mary

I am glad we did virtual sessions before planning any in person visits. Virtual gave us a great overview of curriculum and insight into students so we could plan trips based on fit.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to sound weird, but what your kid wants is a school like Iowa State. Engineering is huge, and almost all of the STEM kids are in engineering. The physics department has like 25 kids per year. Once you get beyond the physics 101 classes with all of the engineering kids, the classes will be tiny.

But, and this is the important part here, Ames/ISU is the host of AmesLab, which is a US DOE research laboratory. So, there are a lot of physics profs working on various projects there. It's really easy for a bright physics undergraduate to get research assistantship positions and work side by side with professors and grad students.

I imagine the same would be true for any physics department at a huge engineering school that also has significant government lab facilities. That might be something to consider for your kid.

Thank you for this. It's an interesting thought. The ability to do research as an undergrad is huge!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have the same kid, but she wants other sciences. After scouring DCUM and attending hours of virtual info sessions, we have come up with this list(not applying to all of them - these just seemed like the right fit):

Rose
Colorado School of Mines
Rochester
RIT
RPI
WPI
Case Western
Pitt
GT
Purdue
Wooster
NC State
William & Mary

I am glad we did virtual sessions before planning any in person visits. Virtual gave us a great overview of curriculum and insight into students so we could plan trips based on fit.

Hope this helps.

Lol. He's visited the top 6 on your list. He came along when we visited for his sister. She ended up at Mines and is loving it. Good luck finding the right place for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Bizarre that NT is so rare now that "quirky" means ASD etc.
Used to be the kids riding unicycles at MIT or into folk dancing or Tolkien.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvey Mudd will be more expensive than Princeton. Rochester with merit coukd get you down to 70K. Recommend Case (generous merit) or W&M. Rice also great but pricey.

Wouldn’t recommend Harvey Mudd. You’re basically paying to be mistreated by faculty and they do have weed out courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bizarre that NT is so rare now that "quirky" means ASD etc.
Used to be the kids riding unicycles at MIT or into folk dancing or Tolkien.

Agree, hate the word quirky. Can mean anything, so it means nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice would be good - no Greek life, no language requirement, smart somewhat quirky student body, nice residential college communities

But you need a lot more than stats to get into Rice. The lack of ECs is going to be an issue for any student applying to highly selective colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bizarre that NT is so rare now that "quirky" means ASD etc.
Used to be the kids riding unicycles at MIT or into folk dancing or Tolkien.

It doesn’t mean that…but it’s how people try to put a positive spin on their kids with LDs and other problems.

It also doesn’t result in good advice for a kid with LDs vs a kid that is actually quirky.