Tech Prodigy and College Choices: Balancing Advanced Skills with Less Prestigious Schools

[Anonymous]

Look for schools with a co-op program. The many internships will open the doors for employment regardless of the name on the diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I have a lot of experience with this

1. Get rid of that college list it’s absurd for a tech prodigy
2. Many tech prodigy kids are like yours
3. Schools like NC state are better than any of the crap ones on that list .
4. Whatever your state schools are would be best here there is zero reason to pay oos tuition for a tech prodigy that’s just dumb they can go to any instate school not only the flagship just major in CS
5. They can do a boot camp program instead start at the bottom as a cs employee and do quite well if they are motivated

For god sake get rid of that list waste of time and money

Signed owner of software company

Legitimate employers hiring developers with a boot camp certificate and a high school diploma is the most ridiculous myth this site seems to love

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I would suggest looking for an open curriculum college that has CS. There are no or minimal distribution requirements at these schools. Brown is actually one of them. But students that are pointy can take the classes that interest them.

Also, if he does not already have it, I would consider getting your student an EF coach. I have an ADHD kid and the EF coach has helped tremendously.

Yes, he could certainly specialize at an open curriculum school, although such schools generally offer more of an "individually tailored" curriculum than a true open curriculum. Advisors typically encourage students to try out a variety of different areas.

Another possibility would be an honors program at a state university. Many honors programs require a mentored project or thesis, which allows students to explore a topic in depth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I have a lot of experience with this

1. Get rid of that college list it’s absurd for a tech prodigy
2. Many tech prodigy kids are like yours
3. Schools like NC state are better than any of the crap ones on that list .
4. Whatever your state schools are would be best here there is zero reason to pay oos tuition for a tech prodigy that’s just dumb they can go to any instate school not only the flagship just major in CS
5. They can do a boot camp program instead start at the bottom as a cs employee and do quite well if they are motivated

For god sake get rid of that list waste of time and money

Signed owner of software company

Legitimate employers hiring developers with a boot camp certificate and a high school diploma is the most ridiculous myth this site seems to love

The "boot camp certificate" and "high school diploma" are just distractions from CS prodigies that in fact are getting hired without college degrees. I don't think you appreciate that there are some very skilled CS developers that are way, way better than nearly any college graduate. These kids are usually self-taught and highly advanced.

I actually agree with you that the boot camp certificate won't do much for just a HS graduate...it is something of value to a college graduate that decided to learn some coding and get a job.

It is not a huge %age of the population, but if the OP is being honest about her kid's talents, he absolutely does not need to go to college if he wants to go work right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I have a VERY hard time believing your work at a FAANG. If you did you would immediably relize your child is employable now and pertige does not matter. Or maybe this is why you work at a FAANG and not a MATANA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I have a VERY hard time believing your work at a FAANG. If you did you would immediably relize your child is employable now and pertige does not matter. Or maybe this is why you work at a FAANG and not a MATANA.

Hmmm. Any overlap between those two acronyms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I have a VERY hard time believing your work at a FAANG. If you did you would immediably relize your child is employable now and pertige does not matter. Or maybe this is why you work at a FAANG and not a MATANA.

Hmmm. Any overlap between those two acronyms?

DP: non common b/n the two are Msft, Tesla, and Nvidia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does it irk you that your kid who isn’t even getting all A’s in regular classes, and is getting some C’s in regular classes isn’t going to get into prestigious colleges? With those grades he doesn’t deserve to attend a prestigious college. Why would you let him take regular classes and get C’s? You should be irked at yourself for not being more proactive in his schooling.

I take a different approach. The kid has a talent in one area, let him put energy into that as he has been, he will be fine if the school he goes to can meet his needs with their program. I doubt he will have regrets if he is successful in the field he wants to pursue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I have a VERY hard time believing your work at a FAANG. If you did you would immediably relize your child is employable now and pertige does not matter. Or maybe this is why you work at a FAANG and not a MATANA.

Hmmm. Any overlap between those two acronyms?

DP: non common b/n the two are Msft, Tesla, and Nvidia.

as well as Netflix, and Amazon.

[Anonymous]

Busting on someone for only working at Facebook, Apple, AMZN, NFLX or GOOG because they don’t work at Nvidia, MSSFT or TSLA seems weird. They’re all great companies to work for and hire all types of high-achieving executives.

The argument/comment I was responding to made an argument akin to: You’re just FAANG. You’re not MANATA material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I have a lot of experience with this

1. Get rid of that college list it’s absurd for a tech prodigy
2. Many tech prodigy kids are like yours
3. Schools like NC state are better than any of the crap ones on that list .
4. Whatever your state schools are would be best here there is zero reason to pay oos tuition for a tech prodigy that’s just dumb they can go to any instate school not only the flagship just major in CS
5. They can do a boot camp program instead start at the bottom as a cs employee and do quite well if they are motivated

For god sake get rid of that list waste of time and money

Signed owner of software company

Legitimate employers hiring developers with a boot camp certificate and a high school diploma is the most ridiculous myth this site seems to love

The "boot camp certificate" and "high school diploma" are just distractions from CS prodigies that in fact are getting hired without college degrees. I don't think you appreciate that there are some very skilled CS developers that are way, way better than nearly any college graduate. These kids are usually self-taught and highly advanced.

I actually agree with you that the boot camp certificate won't do much for just a HS graduate...it is something of value to a college graduate that decided to learn some coding and get a job.

It is not a huge %age of the population, but if the OP is being honest about her kid's talents, he absolutely does not need to go to college if he wants to go work right now.

However, even if you get hired, at some point a lot of programmers reach a cap as individual contributors and tend to move into management. That would be very hard without a degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I have a VERY hard time believing your work at a FAANG. If you did you would immediably relize your child is employable now and pertige does not matter. Or maybe this is why you work at a FAANG and not a MATANA.

Ehhh. I mean, this is true, but my husband has worked for Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. And the students who he has had as interns have all been from some pretty good colleges. That is different than getting a job straight out of college, but those students are guaranteed jobs after they graduate (at least they were....not sure about now with all the hiring freezes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills?

You can want him to look at selective schools, but if he's getting C's on a routine basis, he might be excluding himself.

Yes, you're right. I've been contemplating whether I should be strict about the 'no C's' rule or just let him follow his current path. It's a tricky situation, especially when I compare it to my other child, who isn't as clear about their future goals and doesn't have any "natural" talent so graders are important. With this son, I feel like he'll do well regardless, but I do worry about him having regrets later in life. He's demonstrated in the past, before high school, that he's capable of high academic achievement. This makes me wonder if he should put in more effort now, so he doesn't look back and wish he had done things differently.

This is the piece that would concern me. OP's son sounds incredibly motivated and focused on areas he is interested but lacks any drive in other areas. Overall life does not reflect this. We all have to do things that we may not be as excited about and we all have to deliver. It sounds like OP's son is extremely talented in his specific area of choice but might lack important soft skills that in the end is what really makes a strong candidate (for anything) stand out.